National Native American Heritage Month
November is National Native American Heritage Month! Declared in 1990 as a federal event, this awareness month is a great reminder to make sure your curriculum includes indigenous history, current events and culture. Here are a few suggestions that we at Kindergarten Kiosk like to use.
Listen to Native American Music
For a social studies lesson that will quickly engage your students, listen to recordings of traditional Native American songs. You can find some great recordings at the Smithsonian website.
After listening to the recordings I like to teach my students a lullaby sang in the Native American Language of the Iroquois called Ho, Ho, Watanay.
Discuss Indigenous Perspectives of Historical and Current Events
This is a great time to learn how Indigenous people view and discuss the Thanksgiving holiday. National Geographic has a great lesson plan for this activity. Another guide can be found at the Smithsonian.
Another great site to get you thinking with cultural sensitivity is the American Indian History and Heritage Resource which offers Indigenous led conversations on both historical events and current issues such as language preservation.
Learn About Native People
Teach your students about notable historical figures and Native Americans today that are making a difference to inspire people in our communities. Invite local families to speak with your students. When I lived near the Sho-Ban Reservation in Idaho, I was lucky to have the model for the Sacagawea Dollar Gold Coin, Randy’L Teton, visit my classroom and talk about her experience and even give each student a dollar with her likeness. We had visits from the Sho-ban Native American Princesses. We also had many opportunities to be entertained by Native American dancers, and even had opportunities to dance with them! Most importantly, we had visits from parents of our Native American students who worked as teachers, nurses, truck drivers, bankers, firemen, etc. This was a wonderful opportunity to learn about families and culture.
Read Books by and About Native American People
Spend some time reading books that share the stories, heritage, and current issues facing Indigenous people. Some great titles are here with affiliate links.
Also available at Teachers Pay Teachers!
Product Description
Thanksgiving Activities for every area of your curriculum.
The perfect cross-curricular Thanksgiving Theme Unit celebrating the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people that worked through conflicts to celebrate a day of thankfulness.
Are you looking for successful tried and tested activities that will thrill the students in your classroom or homeschool setting.
This Thanksgiving unit is strategically linked to Core Standards! It is divided into areas of literature, media, music, art, literacy activities, math activities, worksheets, science activities, creative writing, word wall words, and guided reading. The activities are clearly written, easy to use, and need limited amounts of preparation.
Literacy Activities:
Hop To It: Identifying Letters and Sounds
Hop To It: Reading CVC Words
Turkey Lurkey: Producing and Generating Rhymes.
Turkey Twist: Kinesthetic Practice With Letter Recognition
Dinner Rush: Naming & Generating Beginning Sounds
Thanksgiving Races: Developing Fluency
Rhyming Worksheet
Math Activities:
Turkey Guesses: Making Estimates
A Feast For All: Counting Objects to Show Physical Representation of Numbers
Thanksgiving Feast: Counting Forward From a Given Number in a Set of 10
The Turkey Dance: Identifying Numbers and Recording Results.
Thanksgiving Parade: Ordering 1-10 Ten Frames
The Turkey Bowl: Comparing Groups of Objects
Songs
Gobble Gobble Gobble
5 Fat Turkeys
I Like Turkey
A Very Fine Turkey
The River is Flowing
Rock a Bye Baby
Writing Prompts/Word Wall (Style Choices)
Thanksgiving
I am Thankful For
Thanksgiving Vocabulary Word Wall
Art Projects
Handprint Turkey
Easy Construct Pilgrim
Draw a Turkey
Guided Reading Books
Happy Thanksgiving
Social Studies
Pilgrim Kids: Compare and Contrast Facts
Wampanoag Kids Compare and Contrast
Native American Cultures and Social Study Ideas
© Kathy Crane Kindergarten Kiosk
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