First Day Northern California Native American Overview Lesson Plan

Grade: 4th

Standards:

4.2 Students describe the social, political, cultural, and economic life and interactions among

people of California from the pre-Columbian societies to the Spanish mission and Mexican

rancho periods.

1. Discuss the major nations of California Indians, including their geographic

distribution, economic activities, legends, and religious beliefs; and describe how they depended

on, adapted to, and modified the physical environment by cultivation of land and use of sea

resources.

Prior Learning:

This is the first lesson on Northern California Native Americans, students have zero prior

learning on this topic.

Unit of Study:

The big idea of this lesson is that it is an overview that is part of a larger unit of study that will

incorporate all of the sections in the above standard.

Academic Learning Outcomes:

Students will be able to…

1. Discuss the economic activities of the Northern California Native Americans by talking

about their trade.

2. Discuss some of the legends and beliefs of Northern California Native Americans.

3. Describe how Northern California Native Americans depended on the land to hunt food,

grow food, as well as build homes.

Implementation:

A. Introduction to the lesson

For the introduction, the lights will be turned off so students can tell there is a transition in the

day. The slideshow will be up on the board with a photo of a group of Native Americans.

B. Sequence of Activities Sequentially list the steps of your lesson:

1. The teacher will (TTW) start by explaining the importance of the land. (Slide 2)

2. TTW explain about stories and their significance (Slide 3)

3. TTW will explain to the students that they are going to read a story about Coyote, who

we learned about on the previous slide.

4. TTW will explain the photos on slide 4, explain the photo to the left first, by saying “This

is an elder who is collecting tule, tule is a reed that Natives Americans used to weave

baskets as well as use for homes and canoes.”

5. TTW explain the story by saying, “The story you are about to hear is about how the

creator coyote created the sun and the moon with his friend the hawk.”

6. TTW will ask students to help her define the word “Flint” by asking the students, “Can

anyone help me with the meaning of flint?”

7. TSW respond to her with their definition

8. TTW ask the students to please take out a piece of paper and a pencil because they are

going to draw how the envision the story while the teacher reads it.

9. TTW read the story two times to give the students a chance to fill in any missing detail

from their drawing.

10. TTW have the students turn and talk with their neighbors and share the drawing they just

created.

11. TTW walk around and ask students about their drawings.

12. TTW get students attention back to the font by saying “Class, class” and the students will

respond with “Yes, yes.”

13. The teacher will continue with the slideshow presentation and talk about Northern

California Native Homes (Slide 5)

14. On slide 6, TTW will make a comparison between Northern California Native American

homes to the variety of other Native houses found around the United States.

15. TTW will change the slide to (Slide 7) Native American Food. The teacher will read the

first food on the list, “Shellfish” and ask the students to read the following list of food

and raise a hand if the student has ever had that food.

16. TTW will explain that many Native American tribes located in our area ate acorns

because they were a prevalent food source.

17. TTW then read an origin story about the creation of acorns and how they have come

down from the spirit world.

18. TTW explain that the natives did made something called acorn mush, similar to soup and

did, in fact, using black oak because it did taste the best just like the myth says.

19. TTW will go over Native American Trade (Slide 9)

20. TTW ask students if they know what a ceremony is, the teacher will also ask for

examples from students, like birthday parties, births, etc.

21. TTW will talk about North California Native American Ceremonies, specific to dancing.

(Slide 10).
 22. TTW then play a video of a Traditional Pomo Dance Ceremony

23. TTW pass out a review sheet, titled “Social Studies Notes” wherein groups students will

fill it out and share any outstanding questions they have.

24. TTW look over the review sheet at the questions and answer them.

25. TTW introduce the closure activity where students will create their own origin stories,

using the character coyote who we learned about in this lesson.

26. TTW group students by asking them to move from their seats to sit next to someone

different and create a story with those around you.

27. TSW create their stories and present out to the class.

28. TTW end the lesson by explaining to the students that over the next few weeks as a class,

we’ll be diving into more specific tribes and learning more detailed information.

C. Closure:

The lesson will be closed by going over the “Social Studies Notes” sheet with the students to

answer any last burning questions they might have. Then, continue to creating their own origin

stories enlisting some of their creativity to make sure they understood the lesson.

V. Assessment:

The teacher will informally gage if students learned by walking around when students are

sharing with their partners about the drawing of the story the creation of sun and the moon. The

teacher will formally check for knowledge when students turn in their “social studies notes”

worksheet. Another way the teacher will informally check for understanding is during the closure

when the students share a creation story of their own using the coyote character as one of his two

forms, the creator, or the trickster.

VI. Materials:
1. A computer to access the slideshow

2. A projector to project the slideshow

3. Paper and pencil

4. “Social Studies Notes” worksheet