8.1 – Warmup and Introduction
What do you already know about indigenous peoples of the Americas?
Thinking Ahead:
Look at these three flags. Are any of them familiar?
You know that countries have flags, and states have flags, but did you know that Native American tribes have flags? Native American tribes have unique flags with symbols that represent their specific history and culture. In fact, the Minneapolis Public Schools placed the flags of various Native American tribal communities in its school board meeting room.
Click HERE to watch the video “Native Representation Matters” (3.5 min)., a video that further explains the placement of these flags. Then, answer these questions as a class.
- How many tribal community flags were put in the school board room?
- The students across the Minneapolis school district represent how many tribal communities?
- The Minneapolis school district has chosen to display (or publicly show) tribal flags representing people in their district. Why did some of the speakers in the video say this was important?
- All the speakers on the video were Native American people living in Minnesota. What were they wearing and doing? Were you surprised?
Big Questions
In this chapter, we explore the lives and histories of indigenous peoples across the Americas. Be ready to review vocabulary words that are related to this topic, discuss your experiences and how we pass ways of living from one generation of family to the next generation.
After completing this Module 8, you will be able to answer the following questions:
Question #1: How did people live in the Americas before Europeans arrived?
Question #2: What do we know about their cultures and ways of living?
Question #3: Where are they now?
Before we begin, let’s look at our Historical Timeline:
REMEMBER…when one event in history is happening in one part of the world, there are many other events happening in other parts of the world. These events can be political, social, economic, scientific, and/or cultural. Scan through the images below and see a few events that were happening at the same time as countries began to colonize North and South America.
Vocabulary Preview:
Open the Module 8 Vocabulary Notes and complete the worksheet during class.
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