1. 3rd Grade Communities Local Native Americans
Folsom Cordova Unified School District
Cynthia Casner, M.A., White Rock Elementary

2. Lesson Description
This lesson reviews the regional Native Americans in the Sacramento and El Dorado County regions; Maidu and Miwok.  You will teach the geography of the region including landforms, climate, and natural resources  and their effect on the native people.  You will then explore the native communities, comparing and contrasting them to each other and to our local community. 
Subject: Social Science & Language Arts Topic: Regional Landforms and  Native People Grade Level:3 Student Lesson name and URL:

3. Timeline Pretest Administered 1/22/01 TRIBES chosen/assigned
Research started
PowerPoints started
PowerPoints completed
POWWOW
Posttest Administered
2/23/01

4. Social Studies Standards
Third Grade Social Science: Continuity and Change Students in grade three learn more about our connections to the past and the ways in which particularly local, but also regional and national, government and traditions have developed and left their marks on current society, providing common memories. Emphasis is on the physical and cultural landscape of California, including the study of American Indians, the subsequent arrival of immigrants, and the impact they have had in forming the character of our contemporary society.
3.1 Students describe the physical and human geography and use maps, tables, graphs, photographs, and charts to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context.
Identify geographical features in their local region (e.g., deserts, mountains, valleys, hills, coastal areas, oceans, lakes).
Trace the ways in which people have used the resources of the local region and modified the physical environment (e.g., a dam constructed upstream changed a river or coastline).
3.2 Students describe the American Indian nations in their local region long ago and in the recent past.
Describe national identities, religious beliefs, customs, and various folklore traditions.
Discuss the interaction of new settlers with the already established Indians of the region.  

5. Literature Standards
Third Grade Literature   3.2 Students will describe the American Indian nations in their local region long ago and in the recent past, in terms of:
3.2.1 the national identities, religious beliefs, customs, and various folklore traditions
3.2.2 how physical geography including climate influenced the way the local Indian nation(s) adapted to their natural environment (e.g., how they obtained their food, clothing, tools) 
3.2.3 the economy and systems of government, particularly those with tribal constitutions, and their relationship to federal and state governments 
3.2.4 the interaction of new settlers with the already established Indians of the region.

6. Instructional Objectives
Using the textbook, students will define landform terms with 70% accuracy.
Given a map on page 40 in the textbook (McGraw-Hill), students will be able to label the landforms of California with 70% accuracy.
Given a regional map of Sacramento and El Dorado  counties, students will be able to identity and label landforms of the local regions with 70% accuracy.
Given direct instruction web site links, students will be able to compare and contrast the Maidu and Miwok Indians culture, religious beliefs, customs, folklore and traditions with their own culture.
Given background information, direct instruction, and web sites students will write  paragraphs about their research on the Native communities that they studied and put it together into a PowerPoint presentation to be graded by the Rubric on the "Your Grade" page.
Given the opportunity and computer usage, students will present their TRIBE in a PowerPoint Presentation Powwow at the end of the unit.

7. Overview of Activities
This unit is two-fold.  Geographical landforms of California needs to be taught initially so that students have an idea of how the environment and geography of the area impacted how these people lived.  They then need to be split into two TRIBES which will further explore the specifics of each group and present their findings in (a) their journal and (b) as a group PowerPoint presentation which will be scored both individually (for their expert page) and as a "tribe.”
Members of each group include:
Archaeologist
Architect
Geologist
Meteorologist
Sociologist
Linguist
Culinary Expert
Fashion Expert
Artisan

8. Assessments
Students will start off the lesson by taking a pretest at funbrain.com. covering landforms and Native American history. PRETEST - Regional Native funbrain.com OR black line master and ANSWERS
As a team, the students will report their findings at the class Presentation Powwow, along with  pictures, charts, dioramas, or other artifacts.  The students should include  ideas about how the tribe lived in harmony with the land.
Continued 

9. Students should provide information that answers the project research task:
What are their traditions?
What was their shelter like and how did they make it?
What food did they eat?  How did they get it?
What type of clothing did they wear?  How did they make it?  What was it made of?
How did the geographical area and temperature affect the tribe?
What type of art forms did they practice?
Finally, Their project will be graded by a rubric available on the Materials page and they will also be taking their final test at funbrain.com.  
POSTTEST - Regional Native funbrain.com OR black line master and ANSWERS
Students will go to funbrain.com  to take the tests.  You will need to set up an account for yourself and the class.  Instructions on how to do this are on the site. funbrain.com provides you with the tests and answers.  It will also grade the tests and send you the scores, if you so desire. The word documents can be found at the links above or on the Materials page. 

10. Rubrics Continued  Multimedia Project Rubric (Individual Expert Card)
Assignment: Communicate complete information on your tribe MIWOK  or MAIDU   with 9-18 Cards, 1-2 imported graphics per card, 1 original graphic or artifact per expert area, no more than 3-4  animations per card including transitions, no video clips or advanced features required. 
0 points = Beginner: 1 point = Novice: 2 Points = Intermediate:
3 points = Expert: 4 points = Self Evaluation/Teacher Evaluation
Continued 

11. The areas to be assessed are:
Topic/Content
Technical Requirements 
Mechanics
Cooperative Group Work
Oral Presentation Skills

12. Internet Integration
In this project, third grade students will be guided through their assigned pages by the teacher or other computer assistant.
Students will go to their assigned page, go to the links and make notes in their “Journal” to use for their POWWOW presentation at the end.
All links have been checked; however, if a link is down, the students have been instructed to let the teacher know and move on. I have many hard copies of the web sites if they are critical.

13. Other Technology Integration
At the end of the project, Each TRIBE will be required to create a PowerPoint or HyperStudio presentation compiling all the information that each member of the TRIBE has learned.
Students will use the Rubric to determine how many slides each member should have.
Each topic should be represented with one or two pages.

14. Overview of Lesson Plan Revisions

15. Overview of Lesson Implementations

16. Overview of Student Performance

17. Pretest Student Performance

18. Posttest Student Performance

19. Analysis of Student Performance Data

20. What I Learned from this Lesson Process

21. Summary & Observations
Don’t do this in conjunction with another big activity like the Jason Project XII!
Front Page is really easy to use, but uploading from there is not!