Teacher's Guide
New Related Lessons:
Interactive Activity - Traditional use of Tatanka (buffalo) is a 4 part interactive PowerPoint series developed by Badlands National Park and South Dakota Public Broadcasting. The PowerPoint series includes a brief history of buffalo in South Dakota. Also, there are photos of buffalo parts, like a buffalo hide and tail. Your students are encouraged to guess the traditional use of the buffalo part and its location on the buffalo.
Buffalo Roundup During this activity your students will learn about the efforts at Custer State Park and Badlands National Park to maintain a healthy buffalo (American Bison) population by facilitating an annual roundup. Your students will also learn about traditional uses of tatanka (buffalo) by Native Americans, about the size of a buffalo head and how organisms coexist in an ecosystem by playing a hands-on game.
Winter Count Lesson Plans (Native American Studies) These lesson plans help students understand winter counts. Winter counts were pictographic historical records used by many Plains Indian Nations to maintain a communal memory and aid the groups' oral historians. Additional winter count resources.
Things To Do
1. Print out the guided notes and distribute to class.
2. Watch Dakota Pathways Episode #9 and have the students complete
the guided notes.
3. Go online and complete the Card Match activity and “Challenge”
quiz.
4. The glossary includes the Dakota pronunciation of several words.
The students will enjoy and appreciate the unique Native Language.
5. There is a list of related links that would be helpful for
student research projects.
6. Print out the crossword puzzle and distribute to class.
7. Class Activity – Modern Oral Tradition.
8. Standards
1. Guided Notes (Teacher)
- (Student)
2. Online Episode of Dakota Pathways
Episode #9
3. Online games
a. Have the students access the main page of Dakota Pathways. The
card matching game is found by clicking “Activity”.
b. Have the students access the main page of Dakota Pathways. The
online quiz is found by clicking “Challenge”.
4. Glossary
a. Have the students access the main page of Dakota Pathways. We
have included the Dakota pronunciation of selected
glossary words. We hope your class enjoys
them.
5. Links
a. We have included an extensive list of related sites. We preview
each related site looking for adult content. Unfortunately, we
cannot find all of the inappropriate material on an individual site.
Please call us Toll Free at 1800-456-0766 if you find any
questionable content and we will remove it. Thank you.
6. Crossword Puzzle
a. The students may use the vocabulary words and definitions for the
crossword puzzle if they need help.
Crossword PDF -
Answers PDF
7. Modern Oral Tradition
Intro:
Most of your students have probably played the whisper game. One
person whispers a message in a friend’s ear. Then the message is
passed on from one person to the next until it reaches the last
person in the group. Then the original message is compared to the
final message. The original message always changes drastically
during this very short period of time. This is fun game, which
reinforces the importance of documenting historical information in
written form.
Unfortunately, I am not disciplined enough to keep a daily journal.
I always thought my life seemed too boring to document. I now
realize boring to me may not be boring to my kids in 50 years. My
friend’s grandfather Oscar was a very interesting man. He was in his
80s and had kept a daily journal for over 50 years. He documented
everything, whether it was good or bad. He documented his wife’s
death, best crops, his pain with cancer, wars, my visits to the
farm, and even who won a game of cards. I read hours of his journals
because they were fascinating. My favorite entry involved a plane
that wrecked in his front yard. Without the journals his memories
would have died with him.
Original Native American history was not documented in the written
form. Stories were passed on orally from one generation to the next.
Over the years the stories changed and differences arose. There are
different understandings and versions of Native American events
based on the story passed on in a particular group or family. The
activity today will reinforce the importance of recording oral
history.
Activity:
The activity involves the making of a class history book. This can
be an annual project completed in your class, similar to a yearbook.
I suggest keeping an original copy. Then you could make additional
copies when one of your classes graduates from high school. This
would make an inexpensive gift for your prior students.
Process:
1. The students must interview their oldest living relative or
friend. (I suggest brainstorming generic questions they should ask
during the interview. This will ensure the students have enough
information to write the paper.)
a. The student should document the saddest memory the person can
recall. (The person being interviewed must know the information will
be published for everyone to see.) – This may be a family death, or
an experience in a war, or maybe the loss of a farm due to drought.
b. The student should document the happiest memory the person can
recall. (The person being interviewed must know the information will
be published for everyone to see.) This may be marrying the person
of their dreams, having children, buying a new car or winning a
battle in a war.
2. Each student should document personal information.
a. The student should document the saddest memory they can recall.
(The student must realize the information will be published for
everyone to see.) – This may be a family death, an experience in
which a parent is away at war or maybe the loss of a pet.
b. The student should document the happiest memory they can recall.
(The student must realize the information will be published for
everyone to see.) This may be receiving a horse, having a new
brother or buying a new bike.
3. Documenting
a. The students should have a minimum of one typed page for each
story.
b. The students should have a minimum of one illustration for each
story.
c. The student should hand in a total of at least eight pages.
d. The student will receive a photocopy of the other stories.
e. Each student should design an original cover.
f. The history books should be assembled with paper fasteners or
staples.
4. Some of the topics students write about may be too personal to
include
in this type of book. They may need to be reminded that this is not
a personal
journal. Use your own judgment on topics of concern.
FOURTH GRADE HISTORY STANDARDS
STUDENTS WILL:
2. explain the impact of people and geographic location on the
growth and expansion of South Dakota, emphasizing Manda, Arikara,
Sioux, and other historic tribes; explorers (Lewis and Clark and the
Veredrye brothers) and traders (Pierre Chorteau and Manuel Lisa);
railroad expansion and town building; homesteaders and gold miners;
and rainfall, prairie, Great Plains, Black Hills, and the Missouri
River system.
3. trace the history of South Dakota with emphasis on notable South
Dakotans such as Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, John B. S. Todd, Fred T.
Evans, Laura Ingalls Wilder, James Scotty Philip, Niels E. Hansen,
Gertrude (Zitkala-Sa) Bonin, Peter Norbeck, and Francis Case; impact
of the gold rush; controversy over statehood; and Indian Wars and
reservation life.
4. Analyze issues of concern in South Dakota, including water
issues; farming and ranching issues; Indian and Non-Indian
relationships; and urban/rural population changes.
FOURTH GRADE GEOGRAPHY STANDARDS
STUDENTS WILL:
5. locate major South Dakota geographical features, such as the
Missouri River; the Black Hills and Badlands; and the capital
(Pierre) and the following cities: Sioux Falls, Rapid City,
Aberdeen, Huron, and Yankton.
FOURTH GRADE CIVICS STANDARDS
STUDENTS WILL:
3. analyze the design and purpose of various patriotic celebrations,
traditions, customs, and symbols, such as the flag, the Great Seal,
Statue of Liberty, Uncle Sam, Mount Rushmore, and Tomb of the
Unknown Soldier.
5. identify examples from South Dakota history of conflicts over
rights, how the conflicts were
resolved, the important people who helped resolve them, and
conflicts that remain unresolved.
Full Script (PDF)
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