A Teacher Guide for the Grade 1 Field Study visit to:
This teacher’s guide includes classroom lessons designed to assist teachers
in preparing their students for a visit to the Thomas Gilcrease Museum. Academic
vocabulary lists, lessons, and resources are included in this guide. The lessons
engage students and teachers in observing, writing, listening to, and discussing
about the characteristics of the museum’s American art and artifacts; the history
of the American West, Native American art and artifacts; as well as historical
manuscripts, documents, and maps. The lessons address specific curriculum
objectives in language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, and visual arts/
fine arts for Grade 1. All curricular connections are based on Oklahoma C3
Standards and Common Core State Standards which can be used as
interdisciplinary teaching tools.
Please feel free to visit the web site: http://gilcrease.utulsa.edu/Visit
Museum Manners
Before you go: Discuss museum behavior with students.
• Gilcrease Museum is a place for learning about the American West and
viewing Native American art and artifacts. Certain rules should be followed
to keep it a place that is suitable for everyone to visit.
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Use Inside voices
Be respectful of others
No running in the museum
Do not bring food or drinks
Leave backpacks at school or on the bus
Following these rules will help keep the exhibits safe for everyone to enjoy.
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Do not touch anything without permission
Listen to the docent when he/she is speaking
Raise your hand to ask the docent a question
Stay with your group and an adult at all times
Chaperone Expectations
1. Arrive at the museum with or before the students.
2. Create groups with 10 students per adult.
3. Know the names of students in your group.
4. Continually monitor and correct poor student behavior.
5. No photography or cell phone use during the tour.
Preparing for the Gilcrease Museum
Activity 1 – Class Discussion
What is a museum?
Have you ever been to a museum? Which one(s)?
What did you see there?
What did you do there?
What do you like best about visiting museums?
What types of museums are there?
Ask your class to make a list of common characteristics of a museum.
Activity 1 – (Extended)
-Tell students they will be visiting Gilcrease Museum to learn about the Native
American Artistic Traditions. Ask them what artifacts they expect to see during
the visit.
Activity 2 – Student Art Survey
Survey your class to find out which type of art they prefer. Choices might include
painting, drawing, clay, coloring, and paper mâché. What is the class’ favorite
type of art? Create a data chart to display for the class showing their favorite art.
Activity 3 – Collections and counting
The Gilcrease Museum is a place where special objects and collections are on
display. Thomas Gilcrease collected Native American artifacts such as pottery,
paintings, maps, baskets and weavings. Ask students if they collect any special
items such as rocks, coins, cars, stuffed animals, etc. Find out how many students
collect items. Tell students that many people collect a variety of different items.
Have students use the “My Collection” worksheet provided in the resource
section to make discoveries with shapes, numbers, and colors.
Activity 3 – (Extended)
Thomas Gilcrease placed his collections in a museum. Ask students where they
keep their collections. Allow students to bring a sample of their collections to
school for show and tell. Have students give a description of their special item(s),
explain how or why they started collecting and articulate how many items they
have collected altogether.
Activity 4 – Bulletin Boards and Artifacts
Create a bulletin board in your classroom about your study of the Native
American Traditions and the fieldtrip to Gilcrease Museum. Have students use
library resources or the internet to research Native American art. Include student
created work, brochures, and photos from Gilcrease Museum.
Activity 4 – (extended)
Create a bulletin board similar to the picture below – depicting all uses of a
buffalo by the Native American people. Some of the items depicted in the
illustration below will be on display in the museum.
Activity 5 – Preparing for a visit to Gilcrease Museum
In the Gilcrease Museum students will see signs that say “Please Do Not Touch.”
Ask students - Why do you think that the museum would display this sign?
Demonstrate for students how fingerprints affect a work of art/artifact by using a
mirror or piece of glass.
Have your students take turns touching the mirror/glass/iPad.
Have them view the fingerprints that are left behind.
Discuss what creates that fingerprint?
(Discuss how these same fingerprints if left on paintings and artifacts would ruin
their value.)
Activity 6 –Use your senses when viewing art by seeing, thinking and feeling
Practice with these pictures before you go to the Gilcrease museum.
What are the main colors you see? Would this bag feel smooth, rough, soft, etc.?
Bandolier Bag
Chippewa, Great lakes Region
(ca. 1920)
Glass beads, Cotton, Velvet, Yarn
Do you see people, animals, places, shapes or patterns? Can you find similarities
and differences in their dress?
James Auchiah, Kiowa
Four Dance Figures
tempera on paper, 1939
If this Kachina figure could sing, what song would it choose? What instrument
would it play?
Kachina – Mud Head
Hopi (ca. 1900s)
Feathers, Wood, Cotton, Pigment
What do you think is happening in the picture? What sounds do you hear? Can
you pose like one of the people in the painting?
Paul J. Goodbear, Cheyenne
Cheyenne War Dance
tempera on paper, 1939
What would it feel like to be in this photo? What season do you think it is in the
photo? What would the temperature be?
Autumn Leaves
Activity 7 – Design a Totem Pole
Totem poles are monumental sculptures carved from large trees by Native
Americans from the Pacific Northwest Coast. The images on totem poles vary.
Some totem poles represent historic persons, legends, family lines, or important
events, but others are simply artistic.
Have students choose a historic person and design a totem pole for him/her.
Students may research totem poles and/or they may use the web link found in
the resource section.
Students will see this totem pole at Gilcrease. How big do you think it is? What do
you think it represents? What animals do you see? Do you see any specific shapes
or patterns?
Teacher Overview
First grade students will visit Gilcrease Museum’s The Enduring Spirit: Native
American Artistic Traditions which houses Native American art and artifacts.
Students will tour the exhibit and discuss art and artists from the Plains, the
Southwest, the Northwest Coast, and the Arctic regions of North America. Major
themes of this exhibition include change and continuity, cultural differences, and
Native American expressions of self-identity.
Lesson Summary
This lesson will use primary resources, art and artifacts to create a deeper
understanding of the native peoples from the Indian Territory, the Great Plains,
the East, the Southwest and the Northwest Coast. Students will also increase their
understanding of geographic regions and how those regions influenced Native
American art.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
 Use a map of the United States of America and point out regions where
native peoples lived in the past.
 Understand that art tells a story of the people/culture that made it.
 Recognize patterns and materials used in creating art.
Academic Vocabulary
SOCIAL STUDIES
ELA
SCIENCE
MATH
FINE ARTS
Atlantic Ocean
atlas
buffalo hide
continent
cradleboard
Eastern
encyclopedia
feather bonnet
Great Plains
Indian Territory
Inuit
kachina doll
map
moccasin
community
North America
Northwest Coast
Pacific Ocean
past/present/future
symbols/traditions
seasons
shield
Southwest
timeline
totem pole
trade
beginning
character
conversation
date (written
form)
discuss
ending
illustrate
language
middle
noun
poem
predict
sentence
setting
verb
vocabulary
animal
desert
moon
nature
safety
shelter
sky
star
sun
chart
circle
describe
direction
explain
greater than
guess
less than
list
pattern
size
square
triangles
ancient art
artifact
balance
ceramics
clay
color
design
docent
drawing
emphasis
form
landscape
loom
materials
paint
pattern
portrait
pottery
repetition
sculpture
shape
symbol
texture
tools
weaving
yarn
Instruction
Gather examples of artifacts of major Native American tribal groups (Great Plains,
Northeast, Southeast, Southwest and Northwest Coast) for the students. Choose
examples from library books, encyclopedias, websites, and/or personal effects.
Have the students identify each example. Ask the students how they can "read"
or recognize each of the artifacts. What clues are they using? Many children
connect the words and patterns they see with a person, a place, an experience, or
a story.
Using each of the items gathered by the students, draw their attention to the fact
that information often appears in different ways. For example, sometimes a letter
might be written in cursive or in upper or lower case. Sometimes objects are big
or small and sometimes there are specific colors. The same object can look
different when it appears in different settings. For example, we wear clothing but
it looks different depending on the season. What are the differences?
Have students use different colors for coloring in the different regions of the
“Native American Tribal Regions Map.” Talk about the differences in each region
such as climate, animals, food, clothing and people. Next, students will write or
draw next to the region’s name to help them remember a specific fact about that
area.
Lesson Extension – Provide students with several examples of Native American
symbols (e.g., sun, moon). Discuss with them that symbols tell a story in different
cultures. Have students research symbols used by Native Americans. Using only
the symbols, have students create and tell a story.
Native American Tribal Regions Map
Post Gilcrease Museum Visit
Activity 1 – Thank You Post Card
Create a Post Card to send to the Gilcrease Museum guides thanking them for
sharing the stories and explaining the artifacts to the group. Include an illustration
of what the student remembers from the fieldtrip.
Activity 2 – Buffalo Hide Autobiography
The buffalo hide autobiography is a series of drawings on a buffalo robe which
tells about events of a person’s life from the previous year(s). Have students
draw on the buffalo hide outline to tell about their lives this past year. (Web link
below – Buffalo Hide outline)
http://americanhistory.si.edu/buffalo/files/pdf/buffalo_printOut.pdf
Activity 3 – Creating a Decorative Pattern
On strips of paper, have students use triangles, squares, circles, and other shapes
to create a pattern that repeats itself. This may be used as a border or a frame.
Ask students to explain what their pattern represents.
Resources
Tulsa Public Schools Library
Safari Montage Playlist of videos: Log into Safari Montage, click Playlist tab at top, scroll
down to “Native American Culture,” (public playlist). Please preview before showing your class.
(Teachers may log into safari with their username and password)
Britannica K-8 (TPS) database: Primary sources are brief, can be read aloud to students, and
include some good photos.
Children’s Library at Gilcrease Museum
A Braid of Lives, Native American Childhood
edited by Neil Philip
Art
Patrick McDonnell
Buffalo Hunt
Russell Freedman
Coyote
Gerald McDermott
Dancing With The Indians
Angela Shelf Medearis
Gift Horse
S.D. Nelson
HORSES!
Gail Gibbons
If you lived with the Indians of the Northwest Coast
Anne Kamma
Nations of the Northwest Coast
K. Smithyman & B. Kalman
Native American Crafts
Judith Hoffman Corwin
Northest Coast Indian Designs
Madeleine Orban-Szontagh
Oklahoma Native Americans
Carole Marsh
Places of Power
Michael DeMunn
Polar Bear Night
Lauren Thompson
Storm Boy
Paul Owen Lewis
The Button Blanket
Nan McNutt
The Flute Player
Michael Lacapa
The Ledgerbook of Thomas Blue Eagle
J. Grutman and Gay Matthau
Totem Poles of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe
Dale Faulstich, Joan Worley
Why Buffalo Roam
L. Michael Kershen
Where's the Me In Museum: Going to Museums
with Children
Milde Waterfall, Sarah Grusin
Web Resources
Cherokee Heritage Center
http://www.cherokeeheritage.org/
Gilcrease Museum
http://gilcrease.utulsa.edu/Visit
Great Resource on Native American Tribes
http://www2.needham.k12.ma.us/eliot/technology/lessons/na_regions/index.
htm
National Museum of the American Indian
http://nmai.si.edu/home/
National Museum of Natural History Website
http://wintercounts.si.edu/
Philbrook
http://philbrook.org/
Smithsonian - Buffalo Hide Outline
http://americanhistory.si.edu/buffalo/files/pdf/buffalo_printOut.pdf
Woolaroc
http://www.woolaroc.org/
Totem Pole Templates
http://www.papertotempoles.com/animals.htm
Additional Programs for 1st Graders
offered by Gilcrease
Mini Masters and Kids Dig Books - Both are hour long programs appropriate for
children 3-6 years old.
Kids Dig Books is a half hour of story time with a half hour of art making.
Mini Masters - Children will learn about art elements in the galleries with a
half hour of art making.
The Gilcrease classes have a 20 child limit. Classes may alternate with the Kravis
Discovery Center if larger groups come to the museum. Gilcrease also offers bus
reimbursement money for classes who visit.
The Kravis Discovery Center is for children 4 years old and older. There are
drawers of artifacts that children and teachers can open to learn more about
Native American life. This program offers children the opportunity to learn by
using computers with images, activity sheets, factual information, interactive
games and research.
**As a part of the Any Given Child program, Tulsa Public Schools’ 1st graders are
taking advantage of the Gilcrease Goes To School program (pre-visit
presentation), First Visit museum tour, and Art Sparks (post-visit art making).
My Collection Worksheet
My Collection
I collect blankets that have geometric shapes. What shapes
and colors do you see? Describe each blanket buy the color,
shapes and number of shapes.
My Collection p2/2
I collect old copper pennies. How many pennies do I have in
my collection? _____
I have a vase collection that has 20 geometric shapes. The first
vase has 6 blue rhombuses, second vase has 9 green triangles
and the third vase has ______ yellow hexagons. Can you help
draw my collection? (Use pattern blocks to help you if needed.
Standards
English Language Arts – Grade 1
Writing
ELA-Literacy.W.1.1 Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they
are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of
closure.
ELA-Literacy.W.1.5 With guidance and support from adults, focus on a topic, respond to questions
and suggestions from peers, and add details to strengthen writing as needed.
ELA-Literacy.W.1.8 With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or
gather information from provided sources to answer a question.
Reading
ELA-Literacy.RI.1.6 Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and
information provided by the words in a text.
ELA-Literacy.RI.1.7 Use the illustrations and details in a text to describe its key ideas.
Mathematics – Grade1
Geometry
Reason with shapes and their attributes
Math.Content.1.G.A.1 Distinguish between defining attributes (e.g., triangles are closed and threesided) versus non-defining attributes (e.g., color, orientation, overall size); build and draw shapes to
possess defining attributes.
Math.Content.1.G.A.2 Compose two-dimensional shapes (rectangles, squares, trapezoids, triangles,
half-circles, and quarter-circles) or three-dimensional shapes (cubes, right rectangular prisms, right
circular cones, and right circular cylinders) to create a composite shape, and compose new shapes
from the composite shape.
Science – Grade 1
PHYSICAL SCIENCE
Standard 1: Properties of Objects and Materials – Characteristics of objects can be described
using physical properties such as size, shape, color, or texture. The student will engage in
investigations that integrate the process standards and lead to the discovery of the following
objectives:
1. Objects have properties that can be observed, described, and measured.
2. Using the five senses, objects can be grouped or ordered by physical properties.
EARTH/SPACE SCIENCE
Standard 3: Changes of Earth and Sky – Observe natural changes of all kinds such as the
movement of the sun and variable changes like the weather. The student will engage in
investigations that integrate the process standards and lead to the discovery of the following
objectives:
1. The sun warms the land, air, and water.
2. Weather changes from day to day and over the seasons. Weather can be observed by measuring
temperature and describing cloud formations.
Social Studies Process and Literacy Skills – Grade 1
Skills Standard 1: The student will develop and demonstrate Common Core informational text
reading literacy skills.
B. Text and Structure
6. Distinguish between information provided by pictures or other illustrations and information
provided by the words in a text.
Skills Standard 2: The student will develop and demonstrate Common Core writing literacy skills.
A. Text Types and Purposes
2. Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the
topic, and provide some sense of closure.
Skills Standard 3: The student will develop and demonstrate Common Core speaking and listening
skills.
A. Comprehension and Collaboration
2. Ask and answer questions about key details in a social studies text read aloud or information
presented orally or through other media.
B. Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
5. Add social studies focused drawings or other visual displays to descriptions when appropriate to
clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.
Social Studies Content Skills – Grade 1
Citizenship Literacy
Content Standard 1: The student will analyze his/her role as a citizen in a community.
4. Describe how historic figures display character traits of fairness, respect for others, stewardship
of natural resources, courage, equality, hard work, self-discipline, and commitment to the common
good.
Geography Literacy
Content Standard 3: The student will demonstrate knowledge of basic geographic concepts.
2. Construct maps and identify cardinal directions of north, south, east, and west, and identify
locations on the map of their community, Oklahoma, and the United States.
History Literacy
Content Standard 4: The student will examine important events and historic figures in the
nation’s past.
4. Commemorate the contributions to the American nation of significant groups including National
Hispanic History Month, Native American Heritage Month, and Black History Month.
Visual Art - Grade 1
Standard 1: Language of Visual Art - The student will identify visual art terms (e.g., collage,
design, original, portrait, paint, subject). 1. Use appropriate art vocabulary. 2. Name elements of
art; line, color, form, shape, texture, value and space. 3. Name the principles of design; rhythm,
balance, contrast, movement, center of interest (emphasis) and repetition. 4. Use the elements of
art and principals of design.
Standard 2: Visual Art History and Culture - The student will recognize the development of visual
art from an historical and cultural perspective. 1. Understand art reflects a culture. 2. Identify
connections between visual art and other art disciplines. 3. Identify specific works of art produced
by artists in different cultures.
Standard 3: Visual Art Expression - The student will observe, select, and utilize a variety of ideas
and subject matter in creating original works of visual art. 1. Experiment in color mixing with
various media. 2. Use a variety of subjects, basic media and techniques in making original art
including drawing, painting, and sculpture. 3. Demonstrate beginning skills of composition using the
elements of art and principles of design. 4. Use art media and tools in a safe and responsible
manner.
Standard 4: Visual Art Appreciation - The student will appreciate visual art as a vehicle of human
expression. 1. Demonstrate appropriate behavior while attending a visual art exhibition in a
museum or art gallery. 2. Demonstrate respect for their work and the work of others. 3.
Demonstrate thoughtfulness and care in completion of artworks.