2011-2012 Lesson Plan for Henrico 21 Awards

Lesson Title: State Recognized Tribes Target Grade/Subject: 4th/Social Studies Length: Three 40 minutes sessions

Summary: Students researched Virginia’s eight state-recognized tribes. Kevin Krigsvold, a member of the Pamunkey Indian tribe, blogged and Skyped with students about life as a Native American and growing up on the Pamunkey Indian reservation in King William County.

Essential questions: What are the eight state -recognized Indian tribes? Where are they located? What are some interesting facts about the tribes? What was life like on an Indian reservation?

Lesson Development: Process/Tasks/Assessment: Day 1: Students, divided into eight groups, research Virginia’s eight state-recognized tribes using http://www.indians.vipnet.org/tribes.cfm and fill out chart on Google docs. Teacher goes over similarities and differences. Students share interesting facts. Students then go to teacher’s blog and post questions to Kevin Krigsvold, a member of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe. Day 2: Read responses from Mr. Krigsvold. Share with class. Day 3 – Skype with Mr. Kirgsvold to discuss life growing up on a reservation.

TIP Chart Assessment:

Categories: Research and Information Fluency (approaching): Students are using Web site to discover information about the eight state-recognized Indian tribes. Communication and Collaboration (ideal/target): Students must work together to discover interesting facts and information about their respective tribe. Then, they communicate via blog with a Native American who grew up on an Indian reservation. The lesson concludes with personal interaction where they meet and ask questions. This interaction allows real-life situations the Native American experienced to enter the classroom. Stereotypical views of an Indian reservation are broken down with this face-to- face interaction. Students discover the Native Americans they read about are not like present- day Native Americans. Students Critical Thinking and Problem Solving: (ideal/target) Students learn what life was like for a Native Amercian. They discover his life is really not that different from theirs, which contrasts the questions that were posed on the teacher blog. Creativity and Innovation (approaching) The questions posed by the students were linked to the Indian life they had been studying. By the end of the lesson, they learned from a Native American how life really wasn’t all that different. He enjoyed doing some of the same things they enjoy doing as a kid.