Saturday, June 11, 2011

Native American Unit Study

The girls and I recently got home from a 7 day, six night trip that covered the Great Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde, and the Grand Canyon. Earlier this year we saw Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial. Since many of our trips have been to places that have or had Native American tribes, and since I have a problem with books (and National Parks have such good bookstores!) I purchased several books to do a study on Native Americans - not sure how in depth we will get, but here is a list of the items I have so far. I think this will be a summer project, as I already have history planned for next year.

More Than Moccasins by Laurie Carlson
We have both Old Testament Days and Classical Kids Activity Guides from our study of Ancient History this year, and Eva LOVES doing all the fun activities in them!

Southwest Indians Coloring Book (Dover) - Peter Copeland
I couldn't really decide between this one or a book of Native American Patterns, so I let Eva decide which one looked better.

Anasazi Coloring Book by Sandra Stemmler
This book has fairly simple pictures, and tells a story, so it was my choice for Charlotte.

Corn is Maize The Gift of the Indians by Aliki
Oh Aliki, you never disappoint me! I hope I like this book as much as all the others we have read. It is nice to find books that are fun and educational and at an easy reading level.

I is for Indians of the Southwest by Judy Rosen and Biff Baird
This one is a really cool Alphabet book - it has the usual "A is for Anasazi, B is for Baskets" with a short paragraph about each letter, but it also has whole pages explaining some things in greater depth. For Charlotte, I'll probably read just the Alphabet part, but Eva will love all the extra information.

Life in a Pueblo by Amanda Bishop and Bobbie Kalman
Very informative book about what the Pueblo people did - about food, fun, clothing, art, beliefs, etc. I am thinking that Eva will be able to read this one with some help.

The Goat in the Rug by Charles I. Blood
This is a very cute book about Navajo weaving from the perspective of a goat. I think both girls will get a kick out of this one.

The Unbreakable Code by Sara Hoagland Hunter
I am very much looking forward to reading this children's book about the Navajo Code Talkers in World War II. Honestly, I only really know the vaguest amount about the Code Talkers, so I am excited to learn with my girls.

What other books would you add? Obviously, most of my books deal with Native Americans of the Southwest, should I expand further, or leave that for another time?

2 comments:

Whimsy said...

Thank you! We've caught the Civil War bug around here. Went to a reenactment yesterday, in fact.

We're going through Ken Burns, too.

Christine said...

I would also add (if you desire) Tomie de Paola's Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, and Legend of the blue bonnet. You can probably get them through the library. He might have more stories that are more closely related to the areas you are looking at. I love his illustrations and stories.

I think your list looks great already though.