Page 168 - Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students 4th Edition

140 Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students
2. Different tribes developed quite a diversity of cultures, although many of them shared common elements centered around knowledge about living off the land and beliefs featuring respect for natural elements and resources. Seasons of the year and local plants and animals often figured prominently in cultural customs and beliefs.
3. Depending in part on local geography, climate, and resources, different tribes used different forms of shelter (longhouses, tipis, pueblo apartments), clothing (animal skins, woven cloth), food (meat from hunting and trapping, vegetables from farm- ing, seafood from fishing), and transportation (dugouts, canoes, travois pulled by dogs and later by horses). Some tribes were nomadic, moving with the seasons to follow the animals that they hunted, but most tribes lived continuously in the same place and emphasized farming supplemented with hunting and fishing. Consider using the following chart to document tribes’ characteristics.
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4. In contrast to what happened in most of Africa and Asia, discovery of the New World by Europeans led not just to colonization or establishment of trade rela- tions, but also to heavy immigration and ultimate repopulation. The land was attractive to Europeans because of its many natural resources and familiar climate and geography. Also, the Native Americans were vulnerable to encroach- ment because their tribes were mostly small and spread thinly. From a European point of view, vast amounts of desirable land were there for the taking, not owned by anyone in particular. At first, some Native Americans welcomed these newcomers and enjoyed friendly social and economic interactions with them. Resentments began to accumulate as immigrants kept coming and pushing the frontiers of settlement forward, but there was little that the local tribes could do against armies equipped with firearms. Some became assimilated into European settlements or lived on small, locally negotiated reservations, but the major tribes were continually pushed back beyond the frontiers. Eventually, decimated by war, disease, and starvation, they were forcibly relocated to reservations established by the U.S. government.
5. Today, many Native Americans still live on these reservations and retain their tribal customs, but others live somewhere other than reservations. (Elaborate with exam- ples, especially of the activities and accomplishments of Native Americans residing locally; conduct inquiry into some of the social and policy issues relating to local tribes).
This treatment of Native Americans would draw on the five fundamental themes of geography as well as on the principles for developing historical content presented in the previous chapter. It also would develop knowledge of where Native Americans came from, what happened to them over the last 500 years, and where and how they live today. In the process, it would attack stereotypes (e.g., that all Indians lived in tipis and hunted with bows and arrows) and help students to see the diversity and appreciate the contributions of various tribes and individuals.
In addition to or instead of using the guidelines presented to study a single culture in considerable detail, you might want to compare selected cultures on a more limited set of dimensions. The NCSS (2010) Curriculum Standards document suggests two ways for doing this. In the first, students would compare and contrast family needs and wants
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Tribe
Food Shelter
Clothing