Unit Goal Addressed: How Communities Use Plants and Vegetables to Survive

Vegetable Unit Social Studies Lesson “A Three Sisters Garden”

Grade Level: 3 Approx. Time: 1 hour Date: April 15, 2009

Unit Goal Addressed: How communities use plants and vegetables to survive.

Objectives:

 Students will complete a webquest to identify the vegetables in a Three Sisters Garden and how they were important to the Native Americans.

Standards/Grade Level Expectations

 HP 2 (3-4) –1 Students connect the past with the present by investigating and explaining the origin, name, or significance of local and Rhode Island geographic and human-made features

 HP 1 (3-4) –1 Students act as historians, using a variety of tools (e.g., artifacts and primary and secondary sources) by organizing information obtained to answer historical questions

 LS1 (3-4)-2 Students demonstrate understanding of structure and function- survival requirements by observing that plants need water, air, food, light and space to grow and reproduce; observing that animals need water, air, food, and shelter/space to grow and reproduce.

Materials and Resources

 Book The Girl Who Helped Thunder and Other Native American Folktales retold by James Bruchat and Joeseph Bruchat Ph.D. illustrated by Stefano Vitale  Laptop Cart  Websites:  http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/teach/2003045238014436.html  http://www.nativetech.org/cornhusk/threesisters.html  http://www.birdclan.org/threesisters.htm  Webquest Worksheet

Introduction:  Begin by activating prior knowledge by asking students about how Native Americans got their food. They couldn’t just go to the supermarket and pick up something to eat, what did they eat and how did they find or get it? Hopefully students will respond that they hunted for animals and grew vegetables for food. Lesson Development:  After students have brainstormed ideas of how Native Americans produced or gathered their food, I will focus students to the topic at hand.  I will introduce the concept which will be discovered in the folktale by telling students that often times Native Americans wrote stories about things that were important to them. They wrote to give explain things around them and understand how things came to be.  I will then say that we are going to read about a story called “The Coming of Corn” which illustrates the importance of corn to the Native American culture. This will help students connect the importance of agriculture and vegetables to Native Americans.  After reading the short story, I will introduce the topic for the webquest, “The Three Sisters Garden”. I will write this term on the board and have students brainstorm what this term may mean.  I will then explain what the term means and how it was important to the Native Americans. I will explain that it is a garden that contains three important crops that the Native Americans relied on for their food; beans, corn and squash. I will display a picture of each vegetable (already printed out) on the board.  I will divide the students into three groups; each will research the “Three Sisters’ Garden”. Students will participate in a jigsaw grouping to research the three components of the three sisters’ garden. Each home group will consist of six students, the students will then break down into pairs for the expert part of the research. Expert roles will include the corn, the beans, and the squash. Students will complete questions about this vegetable and its contribution to the “Three Sisters Garden,” they will discuss the placement, the conditions needed, harvesting techniques, and nutritional information about the vegetable.  (Worksheets to follow)  After students have completed their webquest in their expert groups, students will reconvene in their larger groups and discuss their findings. They will then complete an additional worksheet to synthesize each individuals findings in a group activity.

Closure  After students have had time to discuss their findings in their “home” groups. We will then have a discussion of our findings as a class. Because the same websites were used for all groups, we will find similarities in our conclusions. Here I will encourage students to not only discuss their findings of what a Three Sisters Garden is and how it works but I will encourage them to make inferences about its influence of Native American culture. I will write the main ideas from the discussion on the board for students to see.

Assessment  The webquest will be assessed on the following rubric. Great Job! Almost! Keep Trying! Students have completed Students have three to Students have two or all of the questions of the five of the questions less of the questions six questions. completed. completed. Five or six questions are Three to five questions Three or less questions correct. are correct. are correct. Students clearly explain Students explain with Students do not make a that the Native some confusion, that the connection that the Three Americans relied on the Native Americans used Sisters Garden is an Three Sisters Garden as the Three Sisters Garden important source of food. an important source of for food. food to survive.

Learner Factors  Students will be placed in groups which facilitate the highest student understanding. Students of a higher ability will be placed with students of a lower ability to encourage the higher student will help the lower student understand the concepts behind the Three Sisters Garden.  Students who perform better in group work will be given an opportunity to discuss their findings with their classmates. Students who do better in more independent activities will have the opportunity to complete the webquest independently.  Open discussion at the close of the lesson will help students who learn better through audio information. For students who need visual representation, the conclusions formed during our closing discussion will be written on the board to enforce understanding.

Environment Factors  Students will need to be called to the back rug for reading of the Native American folktale. Here the teacher will call students group by group to ensure students moving safely from their seats. As students move from the rug into their groups the will be need to be moved in an organized fashion for safety again. The handing out of laptops will require students to be organized in their seats and on their best behavior. For students to find the websites to use for the activity, I will have created a new page to our class wikispace and provided the links there. Using the internet can be dangerous for younger students, the use of the wikispace will ensure students do not wander off into unknown websites. Finally, the collection of the laptops need to be done in an organized matter to ensure the laptops are not damaged and the students remain safe.