Southwest Native American Tribes Lesson Plan

1. Stretch & pray.

2. Discuss Romans 1:20-23.

3. Point out tribes on map. Sing the "Tribes of America" Song (Tune: "10 Little Indians")

Eastern Woodlands/
Northeast, Southeast:
Iroquois, Algonquian,
Seminole/Creek & Cherokee
All lived in the East

Blackfoot, Lakota, Sioux, and Comanche
Cheyenne, Crow, and Pawnee
All hunted buffalo on the plains.
They are the Plains tribes!

On the Plateau-Basin is the Nez Perce
And Sacajawea's Shoshoni.
Head to the Northwest to find the Haida
And the Inuit.

Pueblo (Hopi and the Zuni),
Apache and Navajo,
Housed in adobe in the desert
Wow, those Southwest tribes!

One little, two little, one-hundred little native tribes,
Covering the expanse of our land,
All created in God's image
They are Native Americans.

4. Read a section on Southwest tribes from "Famous Indian Tribes" by William Moyers.

5. Quickly discuss traits of Woodlands/Northeast & Southeast, Plains, Northwest, and Southwest tribes.

6. Begin making Navajo Fry Bread. We will divide children into 3 groups. Each group will make the below recipe.

4 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm water (or more)
1-2 cup shortening or 1-2 cup cooking oil

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Gradually stir in the water and work it in, adding more water a little at a time, if needed. Knead by hand until soft but not sticky. Form the dough into a round ball, cover and let stand for about 30 minutes. Set the dough aside while children work on other activities.

While children knead the dough, tell them about how Native Americans were sent to reservations so American settlers could take their land. The government was supposed to provide them with food. Frequently it was flour and lard. They had to figure out how to use this new kind of food. One way was to make fry bread. They wouldn't have had baking powder, salt, or cinnamon sugar like what we used and will be using.
TEACHER/PARENT 1: YOU WILL NEED: 12 c. of flour, 1 mixing bowl, 1 mixing spoon, 1 skillet, & 1 pancake turner
TEACHER/PARENT 2: YOU WILL NEED: 3 Tbsp. baking powder, 3 tsp. salt, ¼ c. cinnamon sugar, 1 mixing bowls, 1 mixing spoon, 1 skillet, & 1 pancake turner
TEACHER/PARENT 3: YOU WILL NEED: 4 c. shortening or oil, 1 mixing bowl, & 1 mixing spoon

7. Look at pictures of Pueblo tribes from books.

8. Remind the children of our Bible verses and how everyone in the entire world knows about God, though they might try to worship someone other than Him. Missionaries will sometimes use legends from a particular people group and will then use those stories to explain who God truly is and what He came to do. Read "Arrow to the Sun" by Gerald McDermott. Have the children discuss how they could use that legend to explain to the Pueblos who Jesus is and what He came to do.

9. Look at pictures of Pueblo chalk drawings from "When Clay Sings" by Baylor and "Stories on Stone" by Dewey.

10. Draw Pueblo-style pictures using sidewalk chalk on our drive way. Draw pictures of a modern event or image.
TEACHER/PARENT 4: YOU WILL NEED: (per child) 1 piece of sidewalk chalk

11. Look at pictures of Hopi & Zuni tribes.

12. Demonstrate a squash blossom hair-do. Hopi girls would fashion their hair in this manner as a sign that they were ready to get married. Using a girl with long hair, make high pig-tails. Twist the hair like a bun leaving 2 inches untwisted. Wrap that around the pony-tail holders and secure with hairpins. It should look like the young princess Lela. You can see photographs at this link.
TEACHER/PARENT 1: YOU WILL NEED: 2 pony tail holders and lots of hair pins

13. (If you are not limited by time) Look at Hopi pottery and make a pinch pot by following the directions at this link.
YOU WILL NEED: 10 lb. terra cotta colored self-hardening clay, 16 squares of wax paper

14. Look at pictures of Navajo using books.

15. Look at sand paintings. Have children make a sand painting.

Glue the turtle pattern to construction paper to make it sturdier. Then place glue on various parts of the turtle picture and sprinkle a particular color of sand over the glue. Pour off the excess sand. Place glue over another part of the picture, sprinkle another color of sand over the glue, and then pour off the excess sand. Repeat this until you've finished your picture.

We did this on tables outside, and we covered the tables with newspaper.
TEACHER/PARENT 2: YOU WILL NEED: (per child) 1 copy of turtle pattern printed from this webpage. (please cut out ahead of time), 1 piece of construction paper cut out the same size as the turtle circle, & colored sand (at least 2-3 colors) (We purchased a few bags of colored sand from the outdoor department at Wal-Mart. It's used for sandboxes. Each bag cost a few dollars.)

16. Finish making Navajo fry bread. Have the children use their hands to roll the dough into a ball and flatten it. It won't get as flat as it should be, but it will still taste fine. While the children do the next activities, two moms will fry the dough until it's golden and then sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar. Let cool.

17. Show pictures of Navajo jewelry. Let children pass around turquoise & silver jewelry.
TEACHER/PARENT 1: YOU WILL NEED: turquoise & silver jewelry

18. Make cocho-style belts

Each child gets 3 ovals. Glue or tape aluminum foil to ovals and double the foil. Use a toothpick to gently indent and decorate the conchos. Glue a turquoise bead on each concho. Give each child 3 pieces of yarn. Knot the end and tape it to the table. Show them how to braid the yarn. Push through the previously-punched out holes. Attach conchos by putting the braid into one hole and out through the other, making sure the yarn is in the back of the concho. Tie a knot to secure the braid. *Note: To make this activity much shorter time wise and/or to use this for younger children, pre-braid the yarn. The moms spent the entire time braiding the yarn for those who couldn't braid.*

You can see a picture of a concho belt at this link.
(This activity idea is from "A Kids' Guide to Native American History" by Yvonne Dennis.)
TEACHER/PARENT 3: YOU WILL NEED: (per child) 4 ovals (3.5"x2") cut out of cardstock with a hole punched on each side ½ inch from edge, aluminum foil, tape, 4 pieces of yarn that are 42 inches each, 4 turquoise colored craft beads, & 1 toothpick

19. (If time allows) Look at pictures of Apache and make a simplified Southwest woven basket by following the directions at this link.

Tie a piece of yarn around one of the pre-cut pieces of the bowl. Then weave the yarn over and under. Tie another piece of yarn on the pre-cut piece of bowl next to the one you started with. Go in the opposite directions, going over and under. The fatter the yarn, the shorter amount of time this activity will take.

We were able to start this activity but no one had time to finish their basket. Do you see the yarn in this picture? It is too thin! This is what our baskets looked like after we worked on them for 45 minutes (after co-op was over).
TEACHER/PARENT 4: YOU WILL NEED: (per child) 1 paper bowls (precut in 6 places) and 4 pieces of THICK yarn each cut 3' long OR 2 pieces of 6' long THICK yarn that has various colors

20. Eat fry bread & talk about Navajo code talkers. (By the way, many children voted that making and eating the Navajo Fry Bread was their favorite part of the unit study on Native Americans.)
TEACHER/PARENT 4: YOU WILL NEED: 20 napkins, 16 cups for water

21. Five minute drill/discussion on what we learned. Review song for tomorrow night's powwow.

For each of the main tribes we studied, my sons and I completed an "Indian Tribe Report" page from this link.

We also completed a missionary report page using the form from this link. We did a missionary report on
Eusebio Francisco Kino, an Italian Roman Catholic priest who established many Spanish missions in modern day Arizonia during the late 1600's. If you would prefer someone else, you could do a missions report on Navajo Missions, a modern mission serving the Navajo people.

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