Students began working on the Native Americans by exploring what they were able to design using pattern blocks. The following are two examples of designs formed by the kids.
This looks like a Native American design because of its symmetry. It is made of pattern blocks.
This is a Native American sun creature. It stands for the sun.
- The students made totem poles in art class. They worked in pairs.
- First they decorated boxes with paint. Then, they painted the boxes red and black.
- Second, they drew designs on paper. The art teacher checked the designs to verify that they were the right style.
- Third, they transferred the designs on paper to the boxes with a pencil.
- Finally, the students got the colors they needed and painted out the designs.
- It was a fun project to work on and paint together.
- Number 1 – Everyone brought in shoeboxes for the class.
- Number 2 – We stacked them up.
- Number 3 – We cut doors and windows in the shoeboxes.
- Number 4 – We wanted to make the background look like mountains, so we made the background by cutting paper and putting them over other pieces of paper.
- Number 5 – We stuck toothpicks in the shoeboxes.
- Number 6 – We placed the shoeboxes in place.
- Number 7 – We put joint compound on the pueblos to make them look real.
- Number 8 – We made ovens and a kiva out of clay.
The Pueblo Indians settled in the southwestern
part of the United States. The pueblos or villages were found in areas
of five different states.
Pueblo villages were made of stone or adobe
structures that looked like apartment buildings. These homes had as many
as four stories, and the Indians used ladders to reach the upper levels.
The Pueblos designed excellent pottery.
They also wove beautiful blankets.
The Navajo built Hogans. A Hogan is a hut made out of clay and wood. Hogans are 11 feet high and 13 feet wide and can fit 10 people.
Navajo’s real name is Dine. The Navajo are
friendly people. They worshipped Kokopeli as their god. Kokopeli had been
their god for many years. All of the southwest cherished Kokopeli. Kokopeli
protected them and he told them to live where the eagle lived.
When someone was sick the medicine man would
draw sand paintings. The sick would sit on the sand paintings and they
would be healed. They would have ceremonies when someone was named. They
celebrated big birth ceremonies.
Before they had horses they would chase
the buffalo off cliffs. Then they would go and get the meat, hide, and
the rest of the body. The Navajo were known for their weaving. They planted
corn and other vegetables.
The Navajo land surrounds the Pueblo land.
We learned many different things about the Navajo. About 1,000 years ago they began traveling south from the northern part of America. The Navajo learned to plant corn, beans, squash, and melons from the Pueblo people. They call themselves Dine which to use means "The People."
The Navajo live in a hogan. The doorway of each hogan is opened to the east so the Navajo could welcome the morning sun and receive good blessings.
When someone gets sick they will have a ceremony. But before the ceremony is held the medicine man or women would make a sand painting with rocks, and shells. After the ceremony is held the sand painting is ruined.
Our class studied the Plains Indians. One
of the things they were good at was quillwork. We made shirts. We dyed
then with walnuts and then decorated them with feathers and colored toothpicks.
The toothpicks were supposed to the quills. The following are a few T-shirt
eamples:
The Hopi are a tribe that lives in pueblos. No one knows where the Hopi came from. They belong to a tribe called the Pueblo Indians, and their language is different from Pueblo Indians. The name Hopi means good peaceful, or wise. The Hopi tend their crops rather then make war. According to the Hopi legend the first people were created in a dark cave far below the earth.
Our class did reports on the buffalo. First
we went to the library and got books. Then we decided what we wanted to
say in our reports and wrote it on paper. After we had written our paper,
we typed it. Many of the students also did poster to go with their reports.
Next, some members of our class went to
the fabric store and got material to make a buffalo. We traced a buffalo
on paper and then cut it out and traced it on the material. We glued it
onto posterboard. We added additional information on the poster display
from material found on a chart in one of the books from the library.
I made a shadow box. I used clay for the people, cotton for the clouds, and paper for teh grass, sky, and tepees. I also used clay for the buffalo.
The ancient Native Americans did not know
how to use metal. They made bows and arrows out of wood. They had daggers
made out of stone and wood.
When the white men came the Indians got
guns and knives made out of metal, and they got metal tools.
