Title of Lesson: Learning about How People from History Treated the Environment Enduring Understanding and Question:

How the Native Americans and Early Americans did or

did not take care of the environment in the past; How did the Native Americans and Early Americans have a positive or negative effect on the environment?
Teacher Candidates: Amanda Inks and Jessica Cummings Subject(s): Social Studies, Science, Language Arts Grade Level: 3rd Grade Materials Required: Grade level history textbook, Pearson Learning Core Knowledge History & Geography Computer with internet access and digital projector 2 YouTube clips from Pocahontas: (1) Steady as the Beating Drum + Reprise Pocahontas (lyrics) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC0422nteJg); (2) Mine, Mine, Mine Pocahontas (Sing Along Songs) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k78oGuehXro) Vocabulary poster for the term natural resources (see last page of materials from Kapok Tree lesson for directions on how to make this)* PowerPoint entitled Learning About the Environment Through History: Native Americans vs. Early Americans* Pencils Fill-in-the-blank worksheets for PowerPoint (one per student) Native American headband props (one per student, enough for the class)* European flag props (one per student, enough for the class)* Compare/contrast chart worksheets, with rubric included (one per student, plus a copy for the teacher) *The teacher will have to gather/make these items him/herself; they are not included in this unit. _____________________________________________________________________________________ 34 Time Allotted: 60 minutes

GLCEs/Common Core Standards: (Number and narrative) Social Studies: 3-H3.0.5 Use informational text and visual data to compare how American Indians and settlers in the early history of Michigan adapted to, used, and modified their environment. Science: E.ES.03.52 Describe helpful or harmful effects of humans on the environment (garbage, habitat destruction, land management, renewable, and non-renewable resources). Language Arts: Reading Standards for Informational Text K-5 Key Ideas and Details 3. Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect. Objective(s): Social Studies: The student will compare/contrast the ways that the environment was treated by the Native Americans and Early Americans (Analysis). 3-H3.0.5 Science: The student will dramatize the positive/negative effects that humans (Native Americans and Early Americans) have had on the environment in the past (Application). E.ES.03.52 Language Arts: The student will describe the positive/negative effects that humans (Native Americans and Early Americans) have had on the environment in the past (Comprehension). Reading Standards for Informational Text K-5, Key Ideas and Details, Standard 3

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Purpose of the lesson: To help students learn from the mistakes the Early Americans made in their treatment of the environment and to help them realize why it is better to treat the environment as the Native Americans did, with kindness and respect. _____________________________________________________________________________________ Instructional Procedure: Time Allotted 15 min. 1. Anticipatory Set: a. Today were going to be learning more about the importance of conservation which, if you remember from yesterday, means taking care of the environment by taking a look back at history. Weve learned from our Lorax book and our Kapok Tree story that conserving the environment is very importantbut not everyone who used to live in America realized that it was so important. Some people did a very good job of taking care of the environment, but others made a lot of mistakes in the ways that they treated the environment. Today were going to learn more about these peoplethe Native Americans and the Early Americans and how they had a positive or negative effect on their environment. b. At this point in the school year, students should be reading about the Native Americans and Early Americans in their Pearson history textbook, History and Geography, so they should already have an idea of who these groups of people are. Tell them to open their books to page 127. In our textbook, weve been reading about the Native Americans and the Early Americans. One thing weve noticed from our reading is that the Native Americans and Early Americans didnt always get along. Lets take a closer look at this in our textbook. Please read Essential Elements

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along in your books as I read aloud to you the section on page 127, A Sad Struggle Between People. Read the excerpt aloud to them. Afterwards, ask students what main points they took away from the excerpt, allow a few students to share their answers with the class, and expand upon them. Yes, their ways of life were very different, werent they? Well, a couple of the ways in which their lives were different is that they had very different views about the environment, and they treated the environment very differently. c. Who has seen the movie Pocahontas? Were going to watch a couple clips from the movie to help us see the differences between the Native Americans and the Europeans views about the environment and their treatment of the environment. As you watch, make sure you pay attention to the words on the screen. Show them the first YouTube clip (Native Americans, 0:00-1:16), then the second clip (Europeans, 0:30-3:51). Afterwards, ask the students how the two clips made them feel and what differences they noticed between the clips in regards to what the people seemed to think of the environment and how they treated the environment. Allow a few students to share their answers with the class, and expand upon them. The Native Americans from the first clip treat the environment with kindness and respect. We saw them spearing fish and gathering corn, and you may have noticed how many of the things they usedcanoes, toys, weapons, houseswere made of wood, which they got from the trees. They were using the natural resources of the earth. (Hold up vocabulary poster for this term and read off the definition.) Natural resources are Things supplied by nature that are valuable and useful to humans. There is nothing wrong with using the earths natural resources for our benefit, but we shouldnt use more than we need. The Native Americans from the first clip used only what they needed from the earth;

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they recognized that natural resources are gifts from the Earth. Thats why their land looked so beautiful and full of life. But the Europeans from the second cliff, especially Captain Ratcliffe, had a very different opinion of the earth. They thought that everything was theirs for the taking, and they didnt care if they wasted or destroyed tons of natural resources. They were very selfish; they wanted gold and were willing to tear apart the earth to find itthis is why they destroyed so many trees and dug up huge amounts of soil. We just learned from the Kapok tree book how destroying trees hurts the environment. And digging up large amounts of soil without replacing it is bad for the environment because it dries out the earth, and many plants and animals depend on it to live. d. Before we move on, I just want to make sure you know what I expect from you today in regards to your behavior. Im going to be presenting lots of important information to you, and youll be doing a couple different activities afterward to show me that youve learned it. So, its very important that you pay attention and stay at voice level zero while Im talking. When its time for group participation, I expect everyone to be very enthusiastic and involved; but when its time to work on your own, I expect you all to be very quiet and focused on what youre doing. 1 min. 2. State Purpose and Objective(s) of Lesson: a. Direct: Now that weve gotten a glimpse of how the Native Americans and Early American settlers treated the environment and its natural resources, were going to learn about this a little more in-depth. Im going to present a slideshow thats divided up into two parts. Each part will compare the Native Americans to the Early Americans in how they treated a natural resource of the environment. The first part will talk about animals, and the second part will talk about land; these are both natural resources. After each part, well do

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a little skit to bring our learning to life. During the skits, half of you will play the part of the Native Americans, while the other half will play the part of the Early Americans, showing how both groups of people treated the environment. After were done with the slideshow and skits, well work independently on filling out a chart that will allow you to compare and contrast the two groups views about the environment and treatment of the environment, and then have a final discussion about what we learned. b. Explicit: It is important to study history because we can learn from it. The purpose of todays lesson is to help us learn from the mistakes the Early Americans made in their treatment of the environment. It is also to help us realize why it is better to treat the environment as the Native Americans did, with kindness and respect. 3. Instructional Input Plan: a. Part 1 of PowerPoint and Skit/Role Play 10 min. Modeling: Pass out fill-in-the-blank worksheets. As you do so, divide the class into two groups, simply by splitting the class up down the middle of the desks: explain that during the first part of the skit, one side is going to be Native Americans, and the other side is going to be Early Americans (Europeans). Tell them to pay extra close attention to the PowerPoint when they see information about their side so that they will know how to act during the skit. Pull up the PowerPoint presentation and instruct students to fill in the blanks on their worksheets as you go along. Read off the title slide: Learning About the Environment Through History: Native Americans vs. Early Americans. Switch to slide #2: Natural Resource #1: Animals. Present/expand upon the points on this slide, then switch to slide #3: History Skit Act I. Invite all students to get up from

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their desks and move to an open part of the room, but have them distinctly split up into their two groups. Read off the title of Scene 1: How the Native Americans Treated the Environments Animals. Pass out headbands to each of the Native Americans as you explain the skit instructions. Alright Native Americans, its time for you to show us how you treat animals. Put on your headband, and when I say Action! I want you to act out Scene 1. There is no script for this skiteach of you is going to make up your own script as you go along. Good actors do 3 different things to help their audience understand what they are doing, thinking, and feeling. (Point to points on slide as you explain them.) Firstly, they do actions or make gestures; we are going to have to use our imaginations for this because we will not able to actually do many these actions, so well just have to pretend to do themlike Im pretending to play the guitar (play an air guitar). Secondly, good actors use facial expressions to describe how their character is feeling. So if my character is feeling angry, Im going to make a very angry face (make an angry face). Thirdly, good actors use words to describe what they are thinking and feeling. If Im acting like a student who just got done taking a difficult test, I might say something like Wow, that test was really hard! Im so glad its over! A lot of times, actors will do all three of these things at once. 5 min. Guided Practice: Now that weve learned how to be a good actor, its time to perform the first scene of our skit. Native Americans, I want each of you to use actions/gestures, facial expressions, and words to show us how you treat the animals of the environment. Youll know when to stop when I say Cut! Early Americans, youre off-stage for this scene, so please be a respectful audience for the Native Americans. Ready? 321Action! Allow the Native Americans to perform Scene 1 for a minute or so. Cut! Great performance, Native

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Americans! (Have the audience applaud for them.) Alright Early Americans, its your turn to take the stage and act out Scene 2. (Point to slide and read off title of Scene 2: How the Early Americans Treated the Environments Animals. Pass out flags to each of the Early Americans.) Here are your European flags. Remember what I said about using actions/gestures, facial expressions, and words to make the scene come to life. Native Americans, please be a good audience for the Early Americans, like they were for you. Ready? 321Action! Allow the Early Americans to perform Scene 2 for a minute or so. Cut! Nice job, Early Americans! (Have the audience applaud for them.) Alright Native Americans, time for an encore performanceyoure going to take the stage one last time to finish out Act I of our history skit. This time, youre going to show us your reaction to scene we just watched, so I want you all to close your eyes and think to yourself how you feel about what the Early Americans just did. (Give them a few moments to ponder this.) Alright, open your eyes; its time to perform Scene 3: How the Native Americans Reacted to the Early Americans Treatment of the Environments Animals. (Point to slide as you read off title of Scene 3). Remember: actions/gestures, facial expressions, and words. Early Americans, youre the audience again. Ready? 321Action! Allow the Native Americans to perform Scene 3 for a half-minute or so. Cut! Excellent acting, Native Americans! Thats the end of Act I! Have students leave their headbands and flags in neat piles on the stage and return to their desks.

b. Part 2 of PowerPoint and Skit/Role Play

8 min. Modeling: Alright, were about to move on with the slideshow. After we go through this next slide, were going to be performing Act II of our history skit but this time, youre going to switch roles. So Native Americans, youre now

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Early Americans; Early Americans, youre now Native Americans. Again, make sure you pay extra close attention when you see information about your group so youll know how to act during the skit. Also remember to fill in the blanks on your worksheet as I go along. Switch to slide #4: Natural Resource #2: Land. Present/expand upon the points on this slide, then switch to slide #5: History Skit Act II. 4 min. Guided Practice: Once again, invite all students to get up from their desks and move to the stage, but have them distinctly split up into their two groups. Repeat the skit process with the scenes from Act II: (1) How the Native Americans Treated the Environments Land, (2) How the Early Americans Treated the Environments Land, and (3) How the Native Americans Reacted to the Early Americans Treatment of the Environments Land (refer to Part a., Guided Practice). Remember that the groups roles are switched this time, and dont forget about the props (headbands and flags). At the end of Act II, congratulate all students on their wonderful performance and have them all applaud for themselves. Have them return to their seats and put away (but not turn in) their fill-in-the-blank sheets. 13 min. c. Conservation worksheets Independent Practice: Pass out compare/contrast chart worksheets as you explain instructions for next part of lesson. Weve learned so much about the differences between the Native Americans and the Early Americans in their views about the environment and their treatment of the environment. Now Id like you to show me all the things youve learned about this by filling out this compare/contrast chart. (Hold up a copy of the worksheet for all to see, read off the directions, and point to each section of the chart as you explain it.) In the left side of the chartthese two

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squaresyoure going to be writing bullet points only about the Native Americans. The top square on this side is only for positive (good) views they had about the environment and positive (good) ways in which they treated the environment; the bottom square on this side is only for negative (bad) views they had about the environment and negative (bad) ways in which they treated the environment. In the right side of the chartthese two squaresyoure going to be writing bullet points only about the Early Americans. Same thing with this side: positive points in the top square, negative points in the bottom square. Ill give you a couple hints about filling out the chart. 2 of the 4 squares are going to be very difficult to come up with bullet points for; in fact, you might have to leave them blank because you cant think of a single bullet point to write in them. Also, youre going to write a lot about natural resourcesthe ones we learned about during our slideshow and skit. When youre done filling out the chart, make sure you answer the question on the back of the worksheet. After that, if you have extra time, you may draw pictures to go along with your bullet points on the back of the worksheet. Remember, you should be working on this individually and at voice level zero. Post the natural resources vocab poster somewhere for all to see so that students may refer to it if needed. Go around the room while students work on worksheets, making sure they stay on task and offering help if needed. 0 minutes 4. Differentiation Considerations (accommodations): a. Students who finish the front side of the compare/contrast worksheet early may draw pictures to illustrate their bullet points on the back of the worksheet. b. Students who are really struggling to come up with bullet points for their compare/contrast chart may retrieve their fill-in-the-blank sheet from the PowerPoint and use it as a reference.

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0 min.

5. Assessment: a. History Skit/Role Play The teacher will use this as an informal assessment to make sure that each student has understood the information presented in the PowerPointthe Native Americans and Early Americans treatment of the environments natural resources. The teacher will watch each student closely to make sure that he/she is using accurate actions/gestures, facial expressions, and words to express his/her characters treatment of the environments natural resources. b. Compare/Contrast Chart Worksheet The teacher will use this as a formal assessment to make sure that each student has understood the information presented in the lessonthe Native Americans and Early Americans views about and treatment of the environment. It should also be used to make sure that each student has understood one of the underlying points of the lessonthat overall, the Native Americans had a positive effect on the environment, while the Early Americans had a negative effect on the environment. The teacher will use the rubric which goes along with this worksheet to grade it. If any students are not able to finish the worksheet during class, they may complete it as homework. c. Informal assessments The teacher will also make various informal assessments throughout the lesson. (Asking students about the textbook excerpt, asking them about the Pocahontas clips, having them share responses from their worksheet and asking them questions about it, monitoring them while working on worksheets. Making sure that they are fulfilling the enduring understandings and objectives of the lesson.) 6. Closure:

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a. Student summarization of learning 3 min. Thank you for working so hard on your compare/contrast charts. Now I want to see what youve learned from our lesson today. (Allow a few students to share a bullet point from their compare/contrast chart; also ask these students which answer they picked for the question at the end of the worksheet. Make sure that they are presenting bullet points from different squares of the chart. Expand upon their answers.) Which two squares did you have trouble coming up with points for? (Allow a couple students to respond.) Thats rightit was hard to come up with positives for the Early Americans and negatives for the Native Americans, wasnt it? This would lead you to pick which answer for that last question on the worksheet? Which group of people had a more positive effect on the environment overall? (Allow them to respond in unison.) Yes! The Native Americans. b. Reinforce the objectives 1 min. Third graders, today youve made me so proud to be your teacher. You showed me what talented actors you are during our history skit, and what hard-working students you are while working on your compare/contrast chart. We learned a new vocabulary term today: natural resources. We connected this to the rest of our lesson by comparing and contrasting how the environment and its natural resources were viewed and treated by the Native Americans and Early Americans, during our skit and with our charts. We also discovered that overall, the Native Americans had a positive effect on the environment, while the Early Americans had a negative effect on the environment. This connects back to one of the main learning points for our unitlearning about how people have or have not taken care of the environment in the past. Today, I hope youve learned a lot from history about how you shouldand should nottreat the environment.

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PowerPoint Content

Title Slide Learning About the Environment Through History: Native Americans vs. Early Americans Slide #2: Natural Resource #1: Animals Native Americans - Hunted but did not take more than their fair share - Used every part of the animal so nothing went to waste - Never killed for the sport of it - Friends to the animals; respected them Early Americans - Overhunted and took more than their fair share - Wasted many parts of the animal - Often killed for the sport of it, not even to get food - Treated the animals like property; no respect for them Slide #3: History Skit Act I Scene 1: How the Native Americans Treated the Environments Animals - Actions/gestures! - Facial expressions! - Words! Scene 2: How the Early Americans Treated the Environments Animals - Actions/gestures! - Facial expressions! - Words! Scene 3: How the Native Americans Reacted to the Early Americans Treatment of the Environments Animals - Actions/gestures! - Facial expressions! - Words! Slide #4: Natural Resource #2: Land Native Americans - Used the land as a source of food - Farmed the land and took care of it - Used wood from trees for making shelter, tools, weapons, etc., but did not take more than their fair share - Used all parts of the wood so nothing was wasted - Did not destroy the land - Did not see themselves as owners over the land Early Americans - Had to learn from the Native Americans how to farm the land for food - Chopped down and blew up trees just to search for gold and clear the land so they could settle there - Dug up large amounts of soil to search for gold - Destroyed the land - Thought they owned the land even though they were newcomers Slide #5: History Skit Act II Scene 1: How the Native Americans Treated the Environments Land - Actions/gestures! - Facial expressions! - Words! Scene 2: How the Early Americans Treated the Environments Land - Actions/gestures! - Facial expressions! - Words! Scene 3: How the Native Americans Reacted to the Early Americans Treatment of the Environments Land - Actions/gestures! - Facial expressions! - Words!

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Name: ___________________________

Learning about the Environment through History: Native Americans vs. Early Americans
Natural Resource #1: Animals

Native Americans - _______________________ but did not take more than their fair share - Used every part of the animal so nothing went to _____________________ - Never killed for the ____________________ of it - Friends to the animals; ______________________ them

Early Americans - Overhunted and took _________________ than their fair share - _______________________ many parts of the animal - Often killed for the __________________ of it, not even to get food - Treated the animals like _________________________; no respect for them

Go to back side -

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Natural Resource #2: Land

Native Americans - Used the land as a source of _______________ - Farmed the land and took _______________ of it - Used wood from _________________ for making shelter, tools, weapons, etc., but did not take more than their fair share - Used all parts of the wood so nothing was ___________________ - Did not _____________________ the land - Did not see themselves as ___________________ over the land

Early Americans - Had to learn from the Native Americans how to ____________ the land for food - Chopped down and blew up trees just to search for ______________ and clear the land so they could settle there - Dug up large amounts of ________________ to search for gold - _______________________ the land - Thought they __________________ the land even though they were newcomers

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Name: ________________________

Compare/Contrast Chart
Directions: Fill out the chart below, using bullet points, in order to compare and contrast the Native Americans and Early Americans views about and treatment of the environment, based on what you learned from todays lesson. Native Americans Early Americans

Positives

Negatives

Go to back side

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*Overall, which group of people had a more positive effect on the environment? Circle one. Native Americans Early Americans

Rubric 4 points 3 or more points in the correct 2 boxes which relate to the information from the lesson, question answered correctly 3 points 2 points in the correct 2 boxes which relate to the information from the lesson, question answered correctly 2 points 1 point in the correct 2 boxes which relate to the information from the lesson, question answered correctly 1 point No points in the correct 2 boxes which relate to the information from the lesson, question answered correctly 0 points No points written in any of the boxes, question answered incorrectly

Pictures:

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Directions for Teacher-Made Items

Native American headband props:

Cut out a long, thin strip of brown construction paper. Cut out 3 leaf shapes (feathers) from red, orange, and yellow construction paper. Bunch the leaf shapes together at the bases so that they are fanned out at the top and glue them together. Then glue this bunch of feathers in the middle of the piece of construction paper so that they are sticking up from it like feathers. Wrap the strip of brown paper (the headband part) around and tape or staple the ends together so that it makes a circle. The circle should be big enough to snugly fit on each one of your students heads.

European Flag props: Find an image online (about 2 x 3) of the European flag (pictured below). Print it out and cut out the flag shape. On the back side of the flag, using a marker, write EUROPE. Glue or tape the paper to the top part of a Popsicle stick so that it looks like a flag.

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