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Curriculum Samples (K-2)
Background:
In Lessons 1 and 2 of this standard, basic traditional American Indian beliefs regarding people’s relationship with the natural world were presented through origin stories. In this lesson, students will examine how people show respect and care for the land. The students will demonstrate what they have learned from lessons 1 and 2. They will investigate how American Indian organizations put those teachings into practice. The lesson will demonstrate how each student can care for the land and build a better community.
Many American Indian tribes across the country have in their tribal organizations a natural resources department. These departments preserve and protect tribal property, natural habitats, vegetation, waterways, lakes and dams, and parks. These departments also enforce regulations and sell licenses for hunting and fishing. These departments care for fish and wildlife. They care for animal orphans such as deer, porcupines and raccoons. They stock lakes, rivers and streams with fish.
Many tribes now have their own carefully controlled fish and wildlife populations, including animals such as antelope, deer, buffalo, elk and ferret. Regulations have been developed to control the populations of these animals. Many tribal colleges on American Indian reservations are educating the people about preserving the natural environment on their lands.
Many Native American tribes also have a department devoted to environmental health or environmental protection. This department is responsible for enforcing regulations for a cleaner, healthier and safer environment on reservation lands.
Student Activity:
- Display a map of the United States in the classroom that shows the location of American Indian tribes. Show the students where they are located on the US map and show them where a few reservations are located.
- Read selected stories from (3) through (6) below to introduce many American Indians’ relationship with animals.
- Recruit an employee of a tribe’s natural resources department to speak to the children about their responsibilities as a caretaker of the environment. Ask the employee to explain to the students how each can be a responsible environmental steward.
- Display in class pictures of endangered animals. Have the natural resource person speak to students about why these animals are endangered and what is being done to protect these animals. Have the guest introduce the subject of habitat.
- Research books and magazines with photos of a variety of fish, wildlife, natural vegetation, waterways and trees that are commonly seen in your region. Show the photos to students and explain what habitat is. Explain that all animals need certain habitats to survive. Show photos of young animals to demonstrate that young animals especially need the right habitat to grow up strong and healthy.
- Discuss the value and use of different types of habitats. Ask the students if they have seen any of the animals in their natural habitat. Have them explain where.
- Describe to the students what happens to fish, animals and birds if humans destroy natural habitat. Where would the animals go to raise their young?
- Discuss with the class the importance of plant life. Respect for vegetation includes respect and caring for trees, bushes and grasses.
- Discuss with class the consequences of injuring or disturbing animals, birds and fish in their natural habitat.
Evaluation:
- Evaluate students understanding and knowledge of habitat for fish and wildlife based upon their participation in class discussions and activities.
- Assess the students’ grasp of humans’ role in providing care for fish and wildlife in their community.
Resources:
Selected stories must be read to the class and explained to students. Students may look at pictures but may not yet have developed the skills to read these stories.
- Tribal Natural Resources Office.
- Books and magazines with photos and pictures of fish, wildlife and habitat.
- Bruchac, Joseph. Fox Song. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1993.
- Bruchac, Joseph. The First Strawberries. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1993.
- Bruchac, Joseph, Micheal J. Caduto and John K. Fadden. Native American Animal Stories. Golden, Colorado: Fulcrum, 1992.
As directed by the Indian land tenure community which created ILTF, the foundation initiated development of curriculum designed for Head Start, K-12, and college students. The purpose of the curriculum is to intellectually reconnect students to the land and raise their awareness of the land’s importance to their past, present, and future. The curriculum is freely available on this site in PDF and HTML format.
Education Strategy: Educate every Indian landowner about Indian land tenure issues so that knowledge becomes power when decisions to create positive futures are made.