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Indians of the Pacific Northwest
(Grades 3-5)
Gail Button
August 23, 1997

PURPOSE: Human activities are influenced by Earth1ˇ4s physical features and processes. Students may have developed a narrow view of Indians from what they have been exposed to in the media as people living on the plains or the woodlands. The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to Native Americans living in ocean and river environments in the Pacific Northwest and to elicit comparisons with native Hawaiian culture.

OBJECTIVES: Students will be able to:

  1. Listen and look for pertinent information from a story read-aloud.
  2. Organize aquired information and make inferences as to the kind of habitat and its probable location.
  3. Identify on a map of North America the Pacific Northwest territory including Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and the Canadian northwest.
  4. Identify and replicate art forms characteristic of the Pacific Northwest coast involving the use of ovoids and "u forms".

GEOGRAPHIC THEMES: II. Places and Regions

GEOGRAPHIC STANDARDS: The geographically informed person knows and understands: the physical and human characteristics of places (Std. 4).

GEOGRAPHIC SKILLS:

Lesson can be used with a unit on:

  1. Native Americans
  2. Follow-up on habitats--focusing on human interactions with the environment.

MATERIALS:
Session I:

Session II:

PROCEDURE:
Session I: Introducing the Pacific Northwest

  1. As a pre-assessment have students brainstorm what they know about Indians as you record on chart paper.
  2. As a further pre-activity assessment ask students to compare and contrast lifestyles of the Indians vs. Hawaiians using a venn diagram format.

  3. Review with students prior learning on habitats--physical characteristics of different habitats, plant and animal life, etc.
  4. Ask students to listen and look for clues in the story you will be reading aloud to identify the habitat and location of this group of people, given the region is located in North America. Display map of North America.
  5. Keeping the title hidden, read aloud The Sea Lion by Ken Kesey, . Depending on the student audience you might stop at intervals in the story to discuss and record what they have "observed" thus far on precut strips of chart paper.
  6. Have students organize the recorded "data" from the story. You may ask for volunteers to come up to group information that goes together. Elicit and record headings for the grouped information (e.g., animals, physical environment, food, clothing, shelter).
  7. Have students get into groups of 3-4 to discuss the data and make an inference as to the story's setting. Pass out a 3"x5" post-it to each group. Have students draw a symbol of their habitat-prediction (to identify their response), list the data to justify their guess, and select a general location on the North America map to attach their post-it.
  8. Have each group's representative share their response with the class. Validate the Pacific Northwest as the correct location and have students identify Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and the Canadian province of British Columbia on the map.

Session II: Introducing the Art Form

  1. Introduce The Wave of the Sea-Wolf by David Wisniewski. Ask the students to watch for characteristic artforms as they look at and listen to the story. They will also be listening for any new information to add to their habitat data from the previous session. Be sure to share the information from the author's note on the last page.
  2. Elicit, record, and discuss additonal data students collected from the story.
  3. Discussion: Elicit observations from the students regarding the colors, lines, shapes, etc. they found throughout the story illustrations. Refer back to the pages if necessary. What do they think the art forms represented? (sea serpent, fish, bear, raven) Where did the illustrator place the native artforms? (Around the text, on the canoes and paddle, on the capes and hats)
  4. The Bentwood Box activity book provides graphics and practice experiences with the ovoid and u shapes as well as explanations of how the colors are used. Provide additional resources with examples of art forms for the students to browse through. Some titles have been included in the references. Discuss the common animals and their characteristic representations (beaver, bear, eagle, raven, salmon, killer whale). What are the common colors and how are they used? The Bentwood Box says: when black is used to form the "U", the inside is red; when the ovoid formline is black, the inside is black; sometimes a third color (blue-green) appears between the red and black, but it is always found on the inside (not the outside) of ovoids and "U" shapes. Have students look for these generalizations in the examples, as well as looking for symmetry, ovoids and u shapes. Circulate and discuss what they have found and concluded. (example)
  5. Students will make oaktag canoes illustrated with the ovoid and u shape art forms using traditional colors. Patterns (and directions) for the canoe in two sizes are in the appendix. (example)

ASSESSMENT:

  1. Students will be assessed on the percentage of "data" gathered from the stories and their ability to organize the information into relevant groupings. Any reasonable inference regarding the location of the story setting based on the collected data will be considered acceptable.
  2. Students will be assessed on their understanding of the characteristic art forms through their completed canoe projects -- use of traditional shapes, colors, and animal representations as discussed in the lesson.

EXTENSION: "Habitat Brokers"

  1. Explain to students that they are real estate agents assigned the job of promoting the Pacific Northwest to other Native American clans. They will be using various sources to find out the resources in the habitat for food, building shelter, making clothing; the physical features of the land; description and explanation of the climate and weather systems that can be expected. I.e., as a “prospective buyer3ˇ4 what can my family expect life to be like if we move to this new location?
  2. Depending on the time available and the abilities of the students the teacher will decide how much information is pre-researched for the students.
  3. The final product will be a real estate brochure in which the students will include:
  4. Post-Unit Discussion: Ask students to compare and contrast the Pacific Northwest Coast Indians with Native Hawaiian Culture. You may repeat the venn diagram format from the pre-assessment or ask students to discuss in groups followed by individual learning logs.

REFERENCES:
[Books found in the Hawaii Public Library System are preceded by their call number.]

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Copyright © - Hawaii Geographic Alliance
October, 1997