Teaching with Primary Sources
Comparing Native American Dwellings
Kristin Sims
Fairfield Intermediate School
Fall 2010
and paste one of the
thumbnail images
related to this learning
experience from your
View of thetable.
south-side
Pueblo of Taos Pueblo, New Mexico. The three and four story adobe cluster homes have wooden vigas and canales. Wooden ladders rest against the
resource
Resize
adobe walls.
the image to fit within
this
frame. will learn how Native Americans interacted with their environment and what types of homes they build as
Students
they adapted to the environment in the different regions.
Overview/ Materials/LOC Resources/Standards/ Procedures/Evaluation/Rubric/Handouts/Extension
Overview
Objectives
Recommended time frame
Grade level
Curriculum fit
Materials
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Students will:
 Compare and contrast pictures of Native American
homes in different regions of North America.
 Students will learn how Native Americans interacted
with their environment and what types of homes
they build as they adapted to the environment in the
different regions.
One Week
5th
How Native Americans settled the land.
Poster paper, KWL Chart, photo analysis worksheet,
Venn-Diagram, smartboard, power point presentation,
printed pictures of each of the Native American homes.
Ohio State Learning Standards
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Social Studies:
History II:
 Explain how American Indians settled the continent
and
why different nations of Indians interacted with their
environment in different ways.
Social Studies Skills and Methods 1:
 Obtain information from a variety of print and
electronic sources.
Social Studies Skills and Methods III:
 Differentiate between primary and secondary
sources.
Procedures
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Day One:
 The teacher will give each student a KWL chart to
complete independently about anything they know
about Native American homes and want to know
about Native American homes.
 The teacher will write the students’ responses on
poster paper at the front of the room for students to
refer to later. The class will fill in the “L” part of the
chart at the end of the lesson.
 The teacher will teach about the different regions of
North America and the climates of each.
 The teacher will ask the students if they think that
all Native American homes were the same and if
they were made of the same materials.
 The students will work in small groups making lists
of what they think Native Americans used to make
their homes.
 A whole group discussion will develop and the
teacher will give examples of Native American
homes using a power point presentation showing
pictures of various types of homes. The teacher will
instruct about where Native Americans settled in
North America and how they interacted with their
environment by the homes they built.
The students will learn how the Native Americans
built their homes based upon what they had
available to them in their environment.
 In small groups again, the students will look at the
pictures on the power point presentation and decide
in which Native American region the home was
built. Discuss as a group.
 Each small group will then be given their own
copies of one Native American home. The groups
will complete the photo analysis worksheet.
Discussing where they think this home may have
been located in North America based on the
materials it was made with.
 The small groups will now receive two more
pictures of Native American homes and create a
Venn-Diagram looking at the details in each picture
and compare and contrast each one.
 The students will now choose one region of North
America where Native Americans settled and
research the environment. This will be done during a
research day in the school library or using the



Evaluation
school’s computer cart.
In small groups, the students will create their own
model of a home that would be built by a Native
American group in that region. The students will
need to decide what materials they need to bring
from home. The teacher can provide materials that
are available in the classroom.
The students will present their projects to the class
when they are completed.
Students will complete the “L” portion of the KWL
chart on the final day of the lesson.
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Students will be assessed on their Native American
home models using the rubric form with at least 35 out
of 50 points.
Extension
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Students could create a newspaper that would take place
in the Native American region of their choice and use
the information they learned about that region to write
articles about what is going on with the Native
Americans in that area. They could include information
about the weather, animals, and other natural resources
available in the environment.
Primary Resources from the Library of Congress
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IMAGE
DESCRIPTION
CITATION
URL
View of the south-side
Pueblo of Taos
Pueblo, New Mexico.
The three and four
story adobe cluster
homes have wooden
vigas and canales.
Wooden ladders rest
against the adobe
walls. A Native
American (Taos)
man, woman and child
stand on a second
floor terrace. The man
is wrapped in a
blanket.
Pine Ridge
Reservation, South
Dakota, shows Native
American Sioux men
in overcoats, trousers,
and hats with
moccasins, and
women wearing
dresses and wrapped
in blankets.
A Native American
(Kiowa) woman walks
through Lone Wolf's
camp in Fort Sill,
Indian Territory,
(Oklahoma); she is
wrapped in a blanket.
In the camp are
several tepees, wood
piles, and platforms
made of branches; the
trees are without
foliage.
View of Cliff Palace,
a group of Native
American (Anasazi)
cliff dwellings, before
excavation, Chapin
Mesa, Mesa Verde
National Park,
Western
History/Genealogy
Department, Denver
Public Library
http://memory.loc.gov
/cgibin/query/r?ammem/h
awp:@field(NUMBE
R+@band(codhawp+0
0171184))
Western
History/Genealogy
Department, Denver
Public Library
http://memory.loc.gov
/cgibin/query/r?ammem/h
awp:@field(NUMBE
R+@band(codhawp+1
0031476))
Western
History/Genealogy
Department, Denver
Public Library
http://memory.loc.gov
/cgibin/query/r?ammem/h
awp:@field(NUMBE
R+@band(codhawp+1
0032141))
Western
History/Genealogy
Department, Denver
Public Library
http://memory.loc.gov
/cgibin/query/r?ammem/h
awp:@field(NUMBE
R+@band(codhawp+0
0170313))
Montezuma County,
Colorado. Window
holes are visible
throughout the adobe
homes' walls. The
wall of one tower is
almost completely
missing. Adobe bricks
and rocks litter the
grounds.
View of a Native
American (Tewa)
woman walking near a
large adobe horno at
Santa Clara Pueblo,
New Mexico. The
horno is next to a one
story stucco Pueblo
house with a flat roof,
a wooden pole porch
and wooden vigas.
Possibly a man stands
on the roof. The
woman wears
moccasins, leggins,
possibly a manta, a
light shirt, and a dark
cloth head covering.
Other Pueblo homes
and a horno are visible
in the background.
View of a Native
American (Flathead)
man and two other
men outside of a hewn
log cabin, home of
Dirty John, with a sod
roof and chinking, at
Saint Ignatius Mission
on the Flathead
Reservation in western
Montana.
Western
History/Genealogy
Department, Denver
Public Library
http://memory.loc.gov
/cgibin/query/r?ammem/h
awp:@field(NUMBE
R+@band(codhawp+0
0170336))
Western
History/Genealogy
Department, Denver
Public Library
http://memory.loc.gov
/cgibin/query/r?ammem/h
awp:@field(NUMBE
R+@band(codhawp+1
0031057))
Rubric
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Native American Model Home Rubric
Students are able to show where the Native American home would be built using a map of North America. ____/10
Students are able to identify the materials and use the correct materials that the Native Americans
would have used to build the home based on the materials they had available in their environment.
_____/20
The model of the Native American home is neat and well put together.
_____/10
Students worked cooperatively in groups when creating their model home.
_____/10
Total points
_____/50
Handouts
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Insert each handout as a separate page so that it can be printed for student use. We have provided four blank pages for
you to copy and paste your student handouts.
Native American Homes
VENN DIAGRAM TEMPLATE
What I KNOW
What I WANT to
Know
What I LEARNED