Teaching Resources

Teaching environmental issues in your classroom is a critical component of providing your students a Meaningful Watershed Educational Experience. Discover a wealth Chesapeake Bay related books, multimedia, curriculum guides, individual lesson plans and online data sources.

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Resources > Language Arts   > Native American  
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Riverworks Discovery: Wheel House Log Book

The Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna, Potomac, and James Rivers are some of the most important in the Mid-Atlantic region. These historic rivers contribute to our nation’s economy, history, and culture. This information and activity packet provides content on watersheds, early exploration of the region, the history of water travel and trade, and more.

Subject(s): Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies
Type(s): Lessons and Activities
Level(s): Elementary School
Keywords: boats, canoes and kayaks, development, air pollution and fossil fuels, culture and watermen, John Smith and colonial times, litter, trash and recycling, Native American, restoration, transportation

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We Have a Story to Tell Teaching Guide -- The Native Peoples of the Chesapeake Region

This teaching guide is intended for use with students in grades 9-12. The guide identifies Native American ways of life before, during and after contact with Europeans. It focuses especially on how Powhatan, Nanticoke, and Piscataway peoples responded to the upheavals that began with the colonial period and includes activities that focus on critical contemporary issues that affect Native communities in the region.

Subject(s): Language Arts, Social Studies
Type(s): Curriculum Guide
Level(s): High School
Keywords: John Smith and colonial times, Native American

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Captain John Smith 400 Project: Curriculum Guide

In conjunction with the Maryland State Department of Education and the Maryland Geographic Alliance, the Sultana Project has developed a curriculum unit based around the history of John Smith's 1608 voyage and the world of the early 17th century Chesapeake. The Captain John Smith Curriculum Unit consists of eight separate lesson plans designed for 4th and 5th grade students. The unit is aligned with goals and outcomes from the Maryland State Department of Education's voluntary state curriculum.

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science, Social Studies
Type(s): Curriculum Guide
Level(s): Elementary School, Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s): Maryland
Keywords: population growth, land use, development, ecosystem and biomes, forest, John Smith and colonial times, Native American, renewable resource, water quality, wildlife

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Native Americans of the Chesapeake Bay Lesson: Using Primary and Secondary Sources

This is a great resource. Students will interpret primary and secondary sources to gather information about the American Indian tribes present in the Chesapeake Bay region in the 16th and 17th centuries. They will then identify basic elements in American Indian culture at point of first contact in the Chesapeake region such as clothing, agricultural practices, architecture, cooking techniques and diet.

Subject(s): Language Arts, Social Studies
Type(s): Lessons and Activities
Level(s): Elementary School, Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s): Maryland
Keywords: John Smith and colonial times, Native American

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Waterways

As a result of this lesson, students develop a map that identifies waterways that have been important in the transportation of goods and people in the United States. Students will use color to show how the use of waterways has changed over time, and will diagram the methods of water travel through history.

Subject(s): Language Arts, Social Studies
Type(s): Lessons and Activities
Level(s): Elementary School
Keywords: boats, canoes and kayaks, culture and watermen, John Smith and colonial times, Native American, transportation

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Henry Spelman: The Powhatan Indians' English Boy

Henry Spelman was an English teenager who was among the first settlers at Jamestown. He lived with the local Indians for several years and gives us a unique perspective in this auto-biographical excerpt. This exercise will test students' reading comprehension and writing skills.

Subject(s): Language Arts
Type(s): Lessons and Activities
Level(s): Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s): Virginia
Keywords: John Smith and colonial times, Native American

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Powhatan Living Lesson

Using colonist William Strachey's account of a Powhatan settlement, students will interpret how the Powhatan people built their homes and produced food throughout the year.

Subject(s): Language Arts, Social Studies
Type(s): Lessons and Activities
Level(s): Elementary School, Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s): Virginia
Keywords: Native American

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Folk Tales from American Indian (First American) Tribes Lesson

Students read the folk tales and then examine the stories.

Subject(s): Language Arts, Social Studies
Type(s): Lessons and Activities
Level(s): Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s): Virginia
Keywords: Native American

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Pocahontas: A Friend and Helper Lesson

Students begin by reading the teacher-selected book about Pocahontas. Throughout the story students learn how Pocahontas was a helper and friend to the settlers of Jamestown, Virginia, including Captain John Smith. Then students participate in art project painting two pictures.

Subject(s): Art, Language Arts, Social Studies
Type(s): Lessons and Activities
Level(s): Elementary School
Aligned with the following standard(s): Virginia
Keywords: John Smith and colonial times, Native American

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Who Was Pocahontas Lesson

Students learn about the like of Pocahontas and list ways in which Pocahontas might have helped the settlers in Jamestown.

Subject(s): Language Arts, Social Studies
Type(s): Lessons and Activities
Level(s): Elementary School
Aligned with the following standard(s): Virginia
Keywords: John Smith and colonial times, Native American

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Beyond Jamestown: Virginia Indians Yesterday and Today Teacher Guide

This teacher guide explores Virginia Indian history from the Indian perspective and shows that Virginia Indian cultures are vibrant and thriving. Activities include pottery making, corn husk dolls and three sister gardening.

Subject(s): Art, Language Arts, Social Studies
Type(s): Curriculum Guide
Level(s): Elementary School, Middle School
Aligned with the following standard(s): Virginia
Keywords: John Smith and colonial times, Native American

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Colonial History Unit - Sea of Change

Sultana's Colonial History classroom unit, entitled "Sea of Change: Sultana, the Tea Taxes and the Dawn of the American Revolution," is targeted towards 4-6th grade students. The unit examines the world of pre-revolutionary America through the lens of the 1768 British Royal Navy tax collecting schooner Sultana.

Subject(s): Language Arts, Social Studies
Type(s): Curriculum Guide
Level(s): Elementary School, Middle School
Keywords: boats, canoes and kayaks, land use, culture and watermen, John Smith and colonial times, Native American

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Captain John Smith's Shallop Curriculum Guide

This curriculum guide contains lessons that teach students about Captain John Smith's Shallop. Students will learn the part of a shallop, give examples of how shallops were used by the colonists and compare Captain John Smith's shallop to an Indian dugout canoe. This resource contains four teacher transparencies and four student handouts.

Subject(s): Language Arts, Science
Type(s): Curriculum Guide, Lessons and Activities
Level(s): Middle School
Keywords: culture and watermen, John Smith and colonial times, Native American

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