Focus: The resources for this unit (Native Americans: Cultures and Conflicts) are part of the individual resources titled Native Americans and Westward Expansion: Cultures and Conflicts. This unit (Unit 13 for schools using the CKHG series in Sequence grade-level order) explores the ways of life of diverse Native American peoples, and goes on to examine how their cultures were disrupted, displaced, and profoundly altered by westward expansion and American government policies and practices in the 1800s. Students learn about the diverse ways of life of Native American peoples in the Great Basin and Plateau regions, the Northern and Southern Plains, and the Pacific Northwest. Students explore how the lives of Plains dwellers were changed by the introduction of the horse and the near extinction of bison. Students learn about the devastating effect of diseases brought by settlers moving westward. Students learn about American government policy and actions to move Native Americans from their lands and force them onto reservations, as well as government programs to break down tribal life and compel assimilation. Students also learn how the Sioux, Nez Perce, and other Native Americans fought to maintain their lands, their independence, and their ways of life. Some of the content of this unit is tied to the “Pathway to Citizenship,” an array of civics-focused knowledge, questions, and activities.
Number of Lessons: 12
Lesson Time: 45 minutes each daily. Each lesson may be divided into shorter segments.
Additional Search Terms: social studies • map skills • nonfiction • informational text • primary sources • Bannocks • Shoshone • Utes • Paiutes • shamans • Coyote tales • hunter-gatherers • Nez Perce • Arapaho • Cheyenne • Tlingits • potlatch • totem poles • Bureau of Indian Affairs • Carlisle School • Indian Wars • Sand Creek Massacre • Battle of Little Bighorn • Crazy Horse • Sitting Bull • Custer’s Last Stand • Wounded Knee • Ghost Dance
CKHG Grade Levels: CKHG units are correlated to topics at the grade levels specified in the Core Knowledge Sequence, which allows students in schools following the Sequence to build knowledge grade by grade. In other settings, individual CKHG units may be used as supplemental resources. In general, the content and presentation in the CKHG units for Grades 3-5 are appropriate for young readers from the upper elementary grades through middle school.
