Native Americans

Created by
Cindy Proctor

Introduction | Task | Resources | Process | Evaluation

Introduction

You have been commissioned by the United States Postal Service to develop a series of postage stamps for the coming year to commemorate Native Americans. These stamps will be used all over The United States and even put into stamp collections. This assignment in an important part of our history as a country. [Examples for teachers]

Click on this link to read an introduction to Native Americans

The Task

You will work as a team of researchers to learn more about Native Americans. As a team of researchers, your group will find facts about Native Americans that lived in a particular region and design a set of 4-5 stamps for your series. You will use internet and classroom resources to learn about the tribes: types of homes, clothing, transportation, jewelry, pottery, rugs, and any other artifacts found. You will also be required to tell people about your stamp: a short paragraph describing what your stamp is about.

[Southwest] [Northwest Coast] [ Plains]

[Eastern Woodland]

Resources

Northwest Coast	Northwest Culture Native American
Southwest	Southwest Jewelry Southwest Culture Navajo Nation Native American
Plains	Plains Culture Native American
Eastern Woodland	North Georgia Seminole Tribe Cherokee Native American Eastern Woodland

Other resources:

Internet

The Five Cultures
Indian Homes
Native American
Indian Village
Shelters

The Process

Divide into teams of 4-5 students depending of the size of class.
Your team will be assigned a group of Native Americans from a region of the United States to focus your research.
Each member of the group will take notes about the tribes they are learning about.
The team members will compare notes.
Each team member will choose a particular topic to illustrate and write about - every member should have a different topic. ( For example: member A - homes, member B - tools, member c-clothing, member d-jewelry,rugs, pottery)
Your stamp illustration must have detailed pictures that are drawn large enough to fill up the whole page.
Your paragraph should be at least 5 complete sentences long describing the article on the stamp including other facts about the group of Native Americans.

Evaluation

Completing this project will earn you 100 points for a Social Studies Grade.
Your grade will begin with 100 points and points could be deducted according to the rubric provided:

Off task behavior	5 points/occurrence
Messy illustrations	5-10 points
Incomplete illustrations	5-10 points
Incomplete sentences	5-10 points
Incomplete paragraph	5-10 points

Conclusion

By completing this project, you will earn an appreciation for our rich history. You will also learn through research that Native American groups are still active and are preserving their way of life.

Credits & References

Poison's Page