My mini-unit theme was decided after discussions with my cooperating teacher. She was going to be teaching the students about Native Americans and we decided that my mini-unit could be on the same theme so it would coordinate with her lessons. My lessons were developed for a second grade class and were designed to be an introductory unit to Native Americans. The lessons do not specifically teach about Native Americans, such as the history and involvement with Columbus. The theme of Native Americans was used as a guide to teach subject content and to give the students a general idea of what is important to Native Americans. Each lesson begins by reading a book about Native Americans, discussing the book with the focus on Native Americans, and then completing a related activity that covers content of various subjects.
The unit is introduced with the book A,B,C's The American Indian Way because it gives an overview of Native Americans by telling about different tribes, famous people, and important objects and topics. The students will write a class A,B,C book about things that are important to the class. The students will learn more specifically about Native Americans and what is important to them with the following lessons: Brother Eagle, Sister Sky discusses the importance of nature and the students will complete a science experiment by growing plants and learning the stages of growth of seeds. The Goat in the Rug explains how Indians used wool to weave rugs. The students will complete an art/math lesson by decorating individual pieces of paper with patterns and putting them together to make a class rug. The final lesson focuses on math, estimation and graphing. After reading the story Pueblo Boy Growing Up in Two Worlds, the students will discuss how important corn is to the Pueblo Indians. The students will measure a cup of uncooked popcorn, estimate the distance it will travel when it pops, measure the actual distance it travels, and graph the distances. The students are learning about Native Americans through the readings and the discussions, but the activities are teaching content in subject areas.