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Lesson plan · Grade 5 · 45 minutes

Nations of North America

I can explain how the land shaped the ways of life of Native nations in different regions, and name nations that live there today.

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Standard
D2.His.2.3-5 C3
D2.Geo.6.3-5 C3
Shape
Explore first
Grouping
Whole class, then pairs on devices.
You need
The tool on the projector and on student devices. A chart with columns for region, food, homes and travel. The name of the nation or nations whose homelands include your school, from the nations' own websites.
Tool
curioclass.org/tools/nations-of-north-america/
  1. Hook5 min
  2. Explore15 min
  3. Make sense10 min
  4. Apply10 min
  5. Exit check5 min

Before class

  • Read the notes on regions: they are a tool for comparing, not boxes nations fit into.
  • Look up whose homelands your school is on, using the nations' own websites.
  • Plan to talk about ways of life before contact in the past tense and the nations in the present tense. These nations are still here.
  • This content has not yet been reviewed by tribal educators. Native Knowledge 360° from the Smithsonian is a good companion source.

Hook 5 min

  1. Read the welcome together. "If you lived on this land long ago, what would you need?" (Food, shelter, a way to travel.)
  2. "The answer depended on where you lived. Let's find out how."

Explore 15 min

  1. On the projector, tap the Northwest Coast, then the Great Basin. Compare food and homes.
  2. Pairs explore three more regions and fill in the chart: food, homes and travel for each.
  3. Pairs tap at least one nation's name in each region to read about its language and its life today.

Make sense 10 min

  1. "Why did people in some regions move with the seasons, while others built towns that lasted for centuries?"
  2. Pairs share one way the land shaped life in a region they chose.
  3. Point out the names: Diné (Navajo), Nimiipuu (Nez Perce). "Why do you think the tool uses the name each nation calls itself?"
  4. Name the nation or nations whose homelands include your school.

Apply 10 min

  1. Pairs switch to Which region? and match clues to regions on the map, explaining each choice with a land clue.
  2. Pairs who finish pick one nation and write two sentences: one about the past, one about today.

Exit check 5 min

On a card: "Pick one region. Name one nation that lives there today, and explain how the land shaped one part of life there." Cards that talk about Native nations only in the past tense show who needs the "still here" talk again.

Support and stretch

  • Support: compare only two regions with very different land, like the Northwest Coast and the Southwest.
  • Support: give sentence starters: "In the , people ate ___ because the land ."
  • Stretch: "What might a student in one of these nations do today that is the same as you?"
  • Stretch: visit a nation's own website and share one fact the tool doesn't mention.

Short on time

  • Compare two regions in Explore (8 min).
  • Which region? as a class (6 min), then the exit card (4 min).

How each button works is in the teacher notes. From Curio Class, free under CC BY 4.0: change it, print it, share it.