Lesson Plans

Elementary Lesson Plans

Elementary Lessons on Pocahontas
Session 1: Who Was Pocahontas?
Session 2: Pocahontas: A Friend and Helper
Session 3: What Is a Wood-and-Bark Shelter
Session 4: Pocahontas: A Review of a Friend to the Settlers

Elementary Lessons on the Powhatan Indians
Session 1: Shelters of the Powhatan Indians of the Eastern Woodlands
Session 2: Means of Survival for the Powhatan Indians of the Eastern Woodlands
Session 3: Transportation of the Powhatan Indians of the Eastern Woodlands

Elementary Lessons on Virginia Indians
Contributions of American Indians (First Americans)
Early Inhabitants of Virginia

Session 1: Who Was Pocahontas?

Materials

  • Teacher-selected books about Pocahontas
  • Chart paper
  • Markers or crayons
  • Manila paper

Instructional Activities

NOTE: The following Web resources may be helpful for information on Pocahontas:

1. Read a teacher-selected book about Pocahontas, and explain that:

  • Pocahontas was a real American Indian (First American) woman who was friendly with settlers who lived in a colony called Jamestown in Virginia
  • Pocahontas' father was an Indian chief
  • Pocahontas means "playful one"

2. Review the story of Pocahontas. Write on chart paper facts learned from the story.

3. Have students list ways in which Pocahontas might have helped the settlers in Jamestown. Post student responses on chart paper.

4. Remind students that Pocahontas means "playful one." Have each student come up with a name for himself/herself based upon the student's interests or qualities. For example, a person who enjoys dancing might be named "Graceful Dancer." Inform students that, in Pocahontas' day, girls were often named after plants, and boys were named after animals. In addition, have each student illustrate the interests or qualities expressed by the name.

5. Explain to the students that history relates events that have already happened, and teaches people about the interesting lives of people long ago.

6. Introduce the terms long ago, past, and present. Explain that Pocahontas lived long ago in the past. Pocahontas was already a young lady when the first European settlers arrived looking for a new land. Have the students describe the pictures in the book that show Pocahontas lived long ago as compared to how students live today.

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Session 2: Pocahontas: A Friend and Helper

Materials

  • A teacher-selected book about Pocahontas
  • Computers with painting software or a painting station set up for the students

Instructional Activities

NOTE: The following Web resources may be helpful for information on Pocahontas:

1. Begin by reading the teacher-selected book about Pocahontas. Remind students that Pocahontas lived in the past, before George Washington was President, and is no longer living today.

2. Throughout the story, emphasize to students that Pocahontas was a helper and friend to the settlers of Jamestown, Virginia, including Captain John Smith.

3. Share the following information from the Colonial National Historical Park: Relations with the Indians continued to be generally friendly for the next year, and Pocahontas was a frequent visitor to Jamestown. She delivered messages from her father and accompanied Indians bringing food and furs to trade for hatchets and trinkets. She was a lively young girl, and when the young boys of the colony turned cartwheels, "she would follow and wheele some herself, all the fort over." She apparently admired John Smith tremendously and would chat with him during her visits. Her lively character and poise made her appearance striking. Several years after their first meeting, Smith described her as "a child of tenne yeares old, which not only for feature, countenance, and proportion much exceedeth any of the rest of his [Powhatan's] people but for wit and spirit [is] the only non-pareil of his countrie."

4. The story of Pocahontas has enjoyed wide popularity in American culture in a number of versions and in various genres since the early 17th century. Review some of the key events of her life, ones that in resurface in the varied interpretations of her story.

  • 1595 -- Birth of Matoaka, later nicknamed Pocahontas. She is the eldest daughter of the powerful Indian leader, Powhatan.
  • 1607 -- She saves Captain John Smith from execution, thus initiating a friendly relationship with him and other Jamestown settlers.
  • 1612 -- Pocahontas captured by the English captain Samuel Argyll and used as a political pawn in his dealings with her father.
  • 1613 -- Pocahontas converts to Christianity.
  • 1614 -- She marries John Rolfe, and their son, Thomas, is born the next year.
  • 1616 -- To great fanfare, Pocahontas travels to England as the "Indian Princess" and receives an audience with King James I and Queen Charlotte. Simon Van de Passe executes the only portrait done in her lifetime.
  • 1617 -- Pocahontas dies and is buried at Gravesend, England.

5. After discussing the story together, allow students time to paint two pictures: one of Pocahontas being a friend to the settlers, and one showing how the student is a good friend to others in the class. Proudly display the pictures.

6. Have the students create a simple time line of the life of Pocahontas.

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Session 3: What Is a Wood-and-Bark Shelter?

Materials

  • Teacher-selected book about Pocahontas read in Session 1
  • Chart from Session 1, containing facts from the Pocahontas story
  • Illustration of a wood-and-bark house, or longhouse
  • Teacher-created worksheet for each student: Divide a paper into eighths, and draw a longhouse in each section.
  • Dried corn kernels
  • Glue

Instructional Activities

NOTE: The following Web resources may be helpful for information on Pocahontas:

1. Review the chart from Session 1 to remind students of the facts they learned about Pocahontas.

2. Review the teacher-selected book about Pocahontas. Ask the students to recall the type of shelter found in the book. The Powhatan people used wood and bark from nature to create a shelter that would protect them from the outside weather.

3. Show the students the illustration of a wood-and-bark house (longhouse). Explain that a wood-and-bark house (longhouse) would hold up to 20 families.

4. Pass out the teacher-created worksheet. Instruct students to number each longhouse 1-8. Then have students glue the corresponding number of corn kernels onto the roof of each longhouse.

5. Divide the class into two groups -- settlers and American Indians (First Americans). Have the American Indians (First Americans) bring corn to the settlers. Discuss how the American Indians (First Americans) traded corn with the settlers and helped the settlers plant corn for food.

Wood and bark shelter

Wood-and-bark shelter

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Session 4: Pocahontas: Review of A Friend to the Settlers

Materials

  • Chart paper
  • Markers
  • Teacher-selected book about Pocahontas
  • One sheet per student, labeled "My life is the same" on one side and "My life is different" on the other

Instructional Activities

NOTE: The following Web resources may be helpful for information on Pocahontas:

1. Draw a KWL chart, and explain its purpose.

KWL Chart

What We Know What We Want to Know What We Learned

1.

2.

3.

etc.

1.

2.

3.

etc.

1.

2.

3.

etc.

2. Have students share facts they know about Pocahontas.

3. Continue by allowing students time to think about what they want to know about Pocahontas.

4. Read a teacher-selected book about Pocahontas.

5. After reading the book, ask students to share what they have learned about Pocahontas.

6. Have students discuss how Pocahontas' life differed from students' lives today.

 

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Elementary Lessons on the Powhatan Indians

Session 1: Shelters of the Powhatan Indians of the Eastern Woodlands


Materials

  • Map of the United States
  • Brown construction paper
  • Shoe boxes (1 per student; students may bring in shoe boxes for the bases of the wood and bark house art project)
  • Twigs and grass
  • Scissors, stapler, glue, and tape
  • Brown paint
  • Teacher-selected book about the Powhatans
  • Pictures, books, and instructional materials about the Powhatan tribes

Instructional Activities

1. Show students pictures, books, and instructional materials about the Powhatan tribes who lived in the region that is now called Virginia.

2. Ask students what they already know about the Powhatan Indians, and post the information on a chart to refer to throughout the unit. contains a variety of graphic organizers The following Web site contains a variety of graphic organizers: http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer.

3. Select additional information to share with students from the following Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation Web site: http://www.historyisfun.org/PDFbooks/Living_with_the_Indians.pdf

4. Locate Virginia on a United States map, and show students the area where the more than 30 Powhatan tribes lived in early Virginia. Locate the Fall Line on the Virginia map, and point out the area east of the Fall Line where most of the Powhatan tribes lived. The following Web site may be helpful: http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Instruction/History/virginiaregionswithcounties.pdf

5. Read a teacher-selected book about the Powhatans. Ask students what information they can add to the chart from the book and other materials.

6. Display a picture of a wood and bark style house in which the Powhatans lived. Have students make a wood and bark house.

Materials
- Brown and green construction paper
- Twigs and grass
- Shoeboxes for the bases of the houses (1 per student)
- Scissors, stapler, glue, and tape as needed
- Brown paint

Directions
- Paint the bottom of the shoebox brown.
- Cut a piece of brown construction paper to the size of the shoebox allowing the paper to make an arch over the base.
- Decorate the brown paper with torn pieces of the green paper as well as the sticks the students have collected.
- Glue, tape, or staple the brown paper to the base of the shoebox, and add additional sticks around the base of the house.
- Upon completion of the wood and bark houses, have the students create a Powhatan village.
- Have students write a story about what they think it would be like to live in a wood and bark house as a Powhatan child.

7. As the students learn about the Eastern Woodland Powhatan Indians, point out the many trees located in the region, and explain how the trees were used for their shelter, transportation, food source (fruit trees), medicine, tools, and dishes.

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Session 2: Means of Survival for the Powhatan Indians of the Eastern Woodlands


Materials

  • Map of Virginia
  • Corn products
  • Teacher-selected book about the Powhatan Indians

Instructional Activities

1. Explain to students that the Powhatans did not view their means of survival as separate from the rest of their lives. Everything they did in their daily living was interconnected and part of nature. Powhatan Indians had many responsibilities or tasks they performed to take care of themselves, their families, and their tribe. Powhatan Indians were mainly fisherman, hunters, and farmers. While modern-day society thinks of fishing, hunting, and farming as occupations, the Powhatan and other tribes thought of them more as means of survival. The following Web address provides a poster about the activities of the Powhatan Indians: http://chumby.dlib.vt.edu/melissa/posters/powhatan.pdf.
The Mariner's Museum in Newport News provides background information about the responsibilities of the Powhatan men and their role in the tribe. Its Web site may be accessed at the following Web address: http://www.mariner.org/chesapeakebay/native/nam005.html.

2. Read a teacher-selected book about the Powhatan Indians that includes information on farming and agriculture. The following Web site may be helpful: http:://www.virginiaplaces.org/agriculture/natagri.html.

The Powhatans used some form of corn at almost every meal. If possible, complete an activity where the students either make or sample a corn product. The following Web sites may be helpful:
http://www.nativetech.org/food/CornCakes.html
http://www.relist.net/indian/corn.html

3. Locate the James River on a map of Virginia, and explain how the James River was important to the Powhatan tribes in providing both food and transportation. The following Web site may be helpful:
http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/Rivertime/chp3.htm

4. Brainstorm with students to develop a list of animals and fish the Powhatan hunted and fished as a source of food for their tribes. Additional information is available at the following Web site designed for students:
http://www.nativetech.org/scenes/

5. Have students work in small groups to research additional information about the means of survival of the Powhatan Indians. Have groups share their research with the class.

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Session 3: Transportation of the Powhatan Indians of the Eastern Woodlands


Materials

  • Map of Virginia
  • Construction paper

Instructional Activities

1. Introduce the word transportation, and explain that most Powhatan Indians walked or paddled canoes to travel from place to place.

2. Use a map of Virginia to show the waterways of early Virginia. The following Web site may be helpful: http://www.nps.gov/fora/whitede2.htm.

3. Display pictures of Powhatan Indians making a canoe. The following Web site may be helpful:
http://www.mariner.org/chesapeakebay/native/nam004.html.

4. Help students make paper canoes from construction paper. Have students decorate the sides of the canoes with their own pictures and include an information sheet about the Powhatan Indians.

5. Describe the landforms of the Eastern Woodlands, and discuss how the Powhatans traveled on foot.

6. Have students draw a map of the region of Virginia where the Powhatan Indians lived. Have them draw wood and bark houses to represent shelter, corn to represent crops, and canoes to represent transportation.

7. Review information learned about the Powhatan Indians of the Eastern Woodlands using the poster from the following Web site:http://chumby.dlib.vt.edu/melissa/posters/powhatan.pdf.

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Other Lessons


Contributions of American Indians (First Americans)

Materials

  • Materials for making crafts
  • Teacher-selected legends and books about the Powhatan, Sioux, and Pueblo Indians

Instructional Activities

1. Review the three selected American Indian (First American) groups.

2. Discuss with students the many contributions of the three American Indian (First American) groups studied in this organizing topic. All American Indians (First Americans) are known for their deep respect for nature. Their contributions in the arts include jewelry, pottery, and weaving. They are also known for their legends and oral stories. Farming was a contribution made by the three American Indian (First American) groups.

3. Have students create sample crafts of the three American Indian (First American) groups. The following Web site offers a wide variety of ideas, as well as a list of materials:
http://www.libsci.sc.edu/miller/native.htm.

4. Read teacher-selected legends and books about the three American Indian (First American) groups. A sample list of books that includes legends and books about the three American Indian (First American) groups can be found in this thematic unit:
http://www.libsci.sc.edu/miller/native.htm.

5. Learn more about how the three American Indian (First American) groups respected nature and contributed to farming, using the following Web sites:
Information on the Powhatan people: http://www.mariner.org/baylink/indians.html
Information on the Plains/Sioux people: http://inkido.indiana.edu/w310work/romac/plains.html
Information on the Pueblo people: http://inkido.indiana.edu/w310work/romac/swest.htm

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Early Inhabitants of Virginia


Materials

  • World map - classroom size
  • Virginia map - classroom size and 1 per student
  • Chart paper/chalkboard and markers
  • Index cards
  • Crayons
  • American Indian (First American) Village picture
  • Map of the Indians in Virginia 1600 from the Virginia Atlas
  • Textbook, trade books, or other instructional materials
  • Computer with Internet access

Instructional Activities

NOTE: The following Web sites may be helpful to both teachers and students:

1. Review the explorers from Session 3, and ask students if they remember the name of an explorer (from third-grade history) that traveled from Europe to America looking for a new route to India. Who was he? (Christopher Columbus) Ask the students if they recall what Christopher Columbus called the people whom he found living in America. Answer: Indians. Why did he call them Indians?

2. Locate Columbus' voyage via the Atlantic Ocean on a world map. Ask the students what Columbus saw when he arrived, and emphasize that most of the land was covered with forests.

3. Complete a KWL chart about the American Indians (First Americans) with the students, using graphic organizers from the following Web sites:
http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/
http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/actbank/torganiz.htm

4. Have students read a teacher-selected book about the early Virginia American Indians (First Americans).

5. Have students read Becoming a Homeplace from the Virginia Historical Society Web site: http://www.vahistorical.org/sva2003/homeplace.htm

6. Point out that the Virginia American Indians (First Americans) were called the Eastern Woodland Indians. Help the students conclude that the land in early Virginia was covered with forests.

7. Show pictures of a Virginia American Indian (First American) village, and discuss what the students observe and what these pictures show about the Eastern Woodland Indians. Lead the students to understand that climate and environment played an important role in the way of life of the Virginia Indians in acquiring food, clothing, and shelter for their survival. Explain that Virginia had a relatively mild climate with four distinct seasons, resulting in a variety of vegetation.

8. Introduce the term artifact. Display any sample artifacts. Ask students, "How do we know Indians lived in Virginia?" and record the responses on a chart. Define artifact with the students and make a list of possible artifacts. Discuss what the artifact tells us about the Virginia American Indian (First American). Show the picture from the Web site http://chumby.dlib.vt.edu/melissa/posters/vastudiesposter.html entitled Virginia Indians' Artifacts.

9. Explain there were three major language groups in early Virginia. Display a Virginia map that demonstrates the location of each language group. Use the available map in the Virginia Atlas.

10. On a Virginia wall map, label the location of each language group in one color and use another color label to identify a tribe of each language group. Have the students label their own Virginia maps as well.

11. Have the students draw pictures to show how Virginia American Indians (First Americans) acquired food during each season.

 

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