Multimedia in Muller's Curriculum
 Lesson Plan by Adam Kloper         2000
Topic: North American Indians

Grade level: 5th grade
Primary curricular area:  Social Studies
Connected curricular areas: Language Arts and Art
Curriculum objective: Students will be able to state the name, lifeways, location, and key information about various Indian Tribes and be able to relate that to the region that they lived in.
Students will also be able to write a concise paragraph, and enter it into a spreadsheet, stating the above mentioned information.
 Students will be able to duplicate artwork or living quarters of the various Indian Tribes.
Time Line: 1 hour homework time/ 2 hours (3 class periods)
Resources:  Apple computers with Claris Works Spreadsheet software on it.  Scholastic Encyclopedia of the North American Indian.

Activities:
 1.  Students will be given copies of articles about various Indian Tribes.  They will also be given a worksheet asking students to state key ideas about their Indian Tribes.  Students will be given several days at home to complete their worksheets and to organize their data.
 2.  The teacher will use one Language period assisting the students in transcribing their data into a concise paragraph.
 3.  Students in small groups will use the computer lab to enter their data into the spreadsheet program.  The teacher will create a spreadsheet that meets the format stated in the Navigational guide.
 4.  Once the data has been input into the spreadsheet and proofread by both the student and the teacher, the spreadsheet will be printed.  Make sure that the student understands the last cell which cites the source of their information.
 5.  The student will then either draw an example of their tribes artwork, or draw a sample of the type of dwelling that their tribe lives in.  They may also import graphics and paste them in the picture cell.  This drawing will be in the cell labeled picture.
 6.  Several copies of the card will be printed so that students can trade cards with other students and still keep one copy for themselves.  The teacher will laminate the cards so they are sturdy enough for trading.
Assessment:
 Students will be assessed on the quality of both their research and their paragraph.
Enrichment:
 Students can go on the Internet to learn more about their Indian Tribe.  Students will be encouraged to trade cards with one another, so that students can learn more about other tribes.  This process can also be repeated for Presidents, explorers, and famous African Americans.  Students can also learn to import pictures onto the cards rather than drawing them.

Navigation guide for Teachers:
 1.  The teacher must familiarize themselves with the spreadsheet program.
 2.  The teacher must create a spreadsheet that looks like the one below:
 
 
 

Name
Name
Lifeways
  
Location
  
Picture
















 

  
Their own Name
 Ciment, J. & La France, R. (1996) Scholastic Encyclopedia of the North American Indian.  New York:  Scholastic.  Pages ______.
 3.  The teacher needs to purchase quality bound paper so that the printouts are sturdy enough for trading.
 4.  You are going to need to do two sided printing, so you need to print several practice copies before you let the students begin the work.  This way you can make sure that when you cut each copy, it does not eliminate anything from any of the cells.
 5.  You may want to have page one have four copies of the front of the card and have page two have four copies of page two.  This will make printing easier.  You can set the other cells to be equal to the data in the previous ones.  Make the original cells (A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, and a6) a different color so the student will know only to write in the blue cells.
 6.  Let the students use spreadsheets prior to their work on the cards so that they are familiar with how a spreadsheet works.
 7.  The paragraph may have to be written in a text box, so that editing is easier.  Use the copy and paste commands for pasting the text box to the other cells.
Navigation guide for Students:
 1.  Have students complete the attached worksheet before using the computer.
 2.  Students will open the Indians template located in the teacher's folder.
 3.  Students will edit the spreadsheet template to contain their information.
        *Click in the cell that needs editing.
        *Type the information & press return to place the text in the cell.
        *If the information is more than one sentence, students will create a text box by selecting the letter A in the tools box and then draw a text box by dragging the mouse from the top left of the cell to the bottem right.  Type information in the box.
4.  Students will save the file in their teacher's folder and name the document with their first name and the name of their Indian tribe.  Click Save.
5.  Students will print one copy from the File Menu.  They will deselect grid headings and select Manual feed.  If necessary, select the Finder Menu and click OK (to print).  Hand feed the paper according to the instructions on the printer.
6.  Quit the word processor from the File Menu.
 
 


 

                                                                                        Name: __________________________
                                                                                        Date: ___________________________

Indian Tribe Research Sheet

1.  What is the name of your tribe? ______________________________________
2.  What region is your tribe from? ______________________________________
3.  What do they do for food (life ways)? _________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
4.  Where do they live? _______________________________________________
5.  What was the name they had for themselves? ___________________________
6.  What language do they speak?   ______________________________________
7.  List as many things that you can find about your tribe's culture.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
8.  What type of houses does your tribe live in?_____________________________
9.  What are some of your tribes beliefs? __________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
10.  Where does your tribe live now? ____________________________________
11.  How many members of your tribe are still alive? ________________________
12.  Use the back of this sheet to write down any other information that you learned about this tribe that you think is important.
13.  On the back of this sheet draw a sample picture of one of the following choices:   your tribes homes, your tribes dress, your tribes costumes, or your tribes artwork.
 

                                                                                           Name:____________________
                                                                                           Date:_____________________

Indian Tribe Paragraph

What is the name of your tribe? _____________________________
What region did your tribe live in? ___________________________
Write the topic sentence for your paragraph that includes the information from above. ____________________________________________
________________________________________________
Write a sentence about what your tribe does to get food and supplies (lifeways).
________________________________________________________________________________________________
Write a sentence about your tribe's culture. _______________________
________________________________________________
Write a sentence about your tribe's beliefs. _______________________
________________________________________________
Write one or two more sentences about your tribe.  It may be an interesting story that you learned.  It could be a great invention that they made.  It could also be anything else that you think is important about your tribe.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Now you can put all these sentences together to make a paragraph.
 
 
 

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