Native American WebQuest

for
4th Grade Social Studies

by
Carolyn Wiseman

Introduction

Our school has an exciting opportunity!  
It has been chosen as the site of a new museum! 
This museum will show how Native Americans lived from 
about 1500 to the 1800's. 
We need your help to make this museum a great success!

You have been hired as a museum curator. It will be your job to research and 
 help set up a display of an Indian Tribe for the Native American Museum. 

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Task 

Your task is to research a North American tribe and to make some things that depict the daily life of that tribe. You will add these things to the museum display of the Native Americans of one of five Native American cultures of the United States. The five cultures we will be considering are the Indians of the Northwest Coast, the Southwest, the Plains, the Northeast, and the Southeast. 

You might make:

• a diorama

• clothing - dress a cardboard silhouette 

• a house

• jewelry

• weapons

• baskets or pottery

• a miniature rug or blanket

• a map showing where your tribe lived

• a replica of a useful animal

• anything that would show something interesting about their way of life

You will write an information display card for the objects you have made.  You will also give an oral tour of your particular section of the museum.

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Process

• First, you will be placed in museum team groups of two or three.

• Each person in the group will use an information chart to record the facts you will need.

• Each person will have a checklist to insure  that all the work has been completed.

• I am the museum director.  I will allow your team to choose on which display you will be working.
  Choose one:
  
  Northwest Coast
  Southwest
  Plains
  Northeast
  Southeast

• Print out Information Sheets (1) (2) (3) to record the information you find. (This copy will be a rough draft.)

• Use your Checklist to stay on task!

• On yellow lined paper, rewrite the information from your Information Sheets in complete sentences.  Edit this copy with the help of the Museum Director.

• Now, to display all this information glue 9 folded pieces of white paper to a large piece of construction paper. On the front of each little "door" write one of the categories that is on your Information Sheets, (Location, Shelters, etc.) and draw a picture to go with that category. Open the little "door" and copy the information for that category from your yellow sheet. Use your best handwriting!  Wa-La! a beautiful way to share all the information you have found!

• Choose a project to add to the display.

• Fill out a plan sheet for your project to be approved by the Museum Director (that's me!)

• Gather the items you will need for your project.

• Complete the project.

• Write a display card for your project.

• When the display is complete, give the museum director a tour of your display.

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   Indians of the Northwest Coast 

These tribes lived close to the Pacific Ocean and had a prosperous life of fishing and whaling.  They are famous for their totem poles.  You may choose from one of these tribes from this area:

 go to List of Books for Northwest Indians

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  Indians of the Southwest 

These tribes were desert Indians who either lived in brush covered shelters or in adobe houses.  They had a hard life because of the lack of rain.  Find out about how they survived.  You may choose from one of these tribes from this area:

List of Books

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      Indians of the Plains 

These tribes were hunters and farmers.  After 1500, many turned to hunting as a way of life because they had acquired horses.  You may choose from one of these tribes from this area:

Go to List of Books for Southwest Indians

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  Indians of the Northeast 

Tribes of this area lived in the woodlands or by the Atlantic Ocean in the Northwestern corner of the United States where there was fish and game. You may choose from one of these tribes:

 Go to List of Books for Northeast Indians

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  Indians of the Southeast 

These tribes were found in the woodland areas or by the Atlantic Ocean in the Southeastern corner of the United States.  You may choose from one of these tribes:

 Go to List of Books for Southeast Indians

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Additional Resources

World Book Encyclopedia
Indians (Edwin Tunis)
The Houses the Indians Built (Sigmund A. Lavine)
Children of the Earth and Sky Five stories about Native American children  (Stephen        Krensky)
Indian Children of America (Margaret C. Farquhar)
 Indians: The First Americans (Patricia Miles Martin)
Atlas of the North American Indian (Carl Waldman)
Indians at Home (Robert Hofsinde)
Indian Chiefs (Russel Freedman)
Indian Sign Language (Robert Hofsinde)
Indian Games and Crafts (Robert Hofsinde)
The Book of Indian Crafts and Indian Lore (Julian Harris Salomon)
The American Indian Story (May McNeer and Lynd Ward)
Iktomi and the Berries (Paul Goble)
Iktomi and the Boulder (Paul Goble)
Iktomi and the Buzzard (Paul Goble)
Fire Race: A Karuk Coyote Tale (Jonathan London)
North American Indian Eye Witness Books, (David Murdoch)

Northwest:

        Indians (Edwin Tunis) Chapter 11
       Brother Eagle, Sister Sky (Susan Jeffers)
       Indian Costumes (Robert Hofsinde) p.54-60
       Indians:  The First Americans (Patricia Miles Martin) p.21-25
       Children of the Wind and Water Five stories about Native American children, 
            (Stephen Krensky)  "A Nootka Fisherman" p.25/ "A Tlinglit Carver" p.19
       North American Indian Eye Witness Books, (David Murdoch) p.52-57

back to Indians of the Northwest

Southwest:

        Arrow to the Sun (Gerald McDermott)
        Indians (Edwin Tunis) Chapter 9
        The Navajo Indians (Leigh Hope Wood)
        Indian Costumes (Robert Hofsinde) Apache, p.13-20/ Navaho, p.49-53/ Pueblo, 
            p.72-78
        Children of the Earth and Sky Five stories about Native American children 
            (Stephen Krensky) "A Hopi Potter" p.7-12/ "A Navajo Weaver" p.21-24
        Children of the Earth and Sky Five stories about Native American children  
            Navajo hogan picture, p.32
         Indians:  The First Americans (Patricia Miles Martin) p.13-15
        Southwest Indians  (Mir Tamim Ansari)
        Indians at Home (Robert Hofsinde) "The Pueblo Adobe" Chapter 6
        The Pueblos (Suzanne Powell) 
        North American Indian Eye Witness Books, (David Murdoch) p.44-51

back to Indians of the Southwest
    

      

Plains:

        The Art of the Plains Indians (Shirley Glubok)
        Buffalo...and Indians on the Great Plains (Noel Grisham)
        Buffalo Hunt (Russell Freedman)
        Native American People: The Comanche (Sally Lodge)
        Indians (Edwin Tunis) Chapter 7
        Indian Warriors and their Weapons (Robert Hofsinde) Apache & Navaho Raiders 
            p.77 
        Indians Who Lived in Texas (Betsy Warren) Caddoes, p.5-14/ Kiowas, Lipan Apaches,
            and Comanches, p.35-45
        Children of the Earth and Sky Five stories about Native American children 
            (Stephen Krensky) "A Comanche Rider" p. 13-16
        Plains Indians (Fiona McDonald)
        Indians:  The First Americans (Patricia Miles Martin) p.16-20
        Buffalo Sunrise: The Story of a North American Giant (Diane Swanson)
        Buffalo Woman (Paul Goble)
        Little Star (Mary Packard)  Sioux Legend
        If You Lived With the Sioux Indians (Ann McGovern)
        Children of the Wind and Water Five stories about Native American children,
            (Stephen Krensky) "A Dakota Hunter" p.11
         Caddoan Mounds: Temples and Tombs of an Ancient People (Texas Parks and 
            Wildlife Booklet)
        The Legend of the Bluebonnet (Tomie DePaola)
        North American Indian Eye Witness Books, (David Murdoch) p.28-37

back to Indians of the Plains
       

Northeast:

        Indians (Edwin Tunis) Chapters 3 & 4
       Indian Warriors and their Weapons (Robert Hofsinde) The Iroquois Warrior  p.27
       Indian Costumes (Robert Hofsinde) Iroquois, p. 40-48
       Children of the Earth and Sky Five stories about Native American children 
            (Stephen Krensky) "A Mohican Hunter" p.17-20
       Children of the Earth and Sky Five stories about Native American children 
            wigwam picture, p.32
        Indians:  The First Americans (Patricia Miles Martin) p.9-12
        Raven A Trickster Tale from the Pacific Northwest (Gerald McDermott)
        Hiawatha (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
        Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving (Eric Metaxas)
        Indians at Home (Robert Hofsinde) "The Algonquian Wigwam" Chapter 2/
            "The Plank House" Chapter 7/ "The Iroquois Longhouse" Chapter 3
       North American Indian Eye Witness Books, (David Murdoch) p.12-19 

back to Indians of the Northeast
        
        

Southeast:

        Seminoles Irene Estep
        Indians (Edwin Tunis) Chapter 5
        Indian Costumes (Robert Hofsinde) Seminole, p.79-85
        Dancing Drum: A Cherokee Legend (Terri Cohlene) Cherokee information, p.34-45
        Indians at Home (Robert Hofsinde) "The Seminole Chikee" Chapter 4
        Children of the Wind and Water Five stories about Native American children,
            (Stephen Krensky), "A Muskogee Trader" p.5
        North American Indian Eye Witness Books, (David Murdoch) p.24-27

back to Indians of the Southeast
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Evaluation

You will be "paid" for your work on this museum project.  You can earn up to $100 in play money for the job that you do. $100 is worth a grade of 100 in my grade book. Here is how you will be evaluated for the pay you will receive:

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Conclusion

We will have an exciting, interesting museum of Native American daily life when the WebQuest has been completed. 

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