Additional Collaborator (name removed for privacy)
Meagan Ackerman
Section I: Topics and Concepts
Rationale: Why is this topic
of particular interest to you
and your students? What
is the connection to the
current day lives of your
students and school
community?
Colorado SS Standard
Common Core Literacy
Standard
Essential Question (s):
Big ideas: What are the
overarching
understandings that we
want students to have after
participating in this unit?
Statements, not questions.
Cross-disciplinary Curricular Framework
It has long been discussed the plight, the hostility, and the inhumane treatment of Native Americans by white
settlers. The Sand Creek Massacre, also referred to as the Battle of Sand Creek, happened locally and affords
students the opportunity to identify with the individuals and groups involved in this situation through both an
objective and subjective social justice lens by recounting the events through the eyes of the Native Americans and the
settlers. It provides for the examination and evaluation of both the event and the aftermath, and exploring the
inherent biases of sources. The proximity provides a local connection that is meant to inspire the students to partake
as a historian evaluating the event generations apart and also as a participant through eyewitness accounts and
primary source exploration.
Social Studies Standard: 1.B and 1.C 1. Use a variety of sources to distinguish historical fact from fiction.
b. Use a variety of historical sources including artifacts, pictures and documents to help define factual historical
evidence (DOK 1-2)
c. Compare information from multiple sources recounting the same event (DOK 1-2)
Literacy Standard: 3.9 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.9 Compare and contrast the most important points and key details
presented in two texts on the same topic.
Should Colonel John M. Chivington have been praised or punished for his actions at Sand Creek?
1. Evaluate and different points of view through primary and secondary sources and analyze its effect on our
perception of past events.
2. Put yourself into the shoes of the soldiers and Native Americans and offer explanations about why the
massacre happened in the first place and how you would feel about the judgment of Colonel Chivingtons
actions.
Section II: Overview of Activities and Products

Major Activities Students will write a kid-friendly narrative book about the Sand Creek Massacre. There is not a great deal of
information available to children about what happened at Sand Creek. Pick a perspective, such as Silas Soule, Chief
Black Kettle, a Native American tribal member, a soldier, and write a childrens book from their perspective. Using
primary and secondary sources brainstorm what life would have been like in the 1860s, how would your perspective
feel about the events leading up to and including the massacre? What other details are important? What would you
want children your age to know about Sand Creek? Draw pictures to go along with your text. Brainstorm using a
graphic organizer, draft, edit, and publish. Use photographs or quotes from primary resources in addition to your
hand drawn pictures.

Community Connections
Class Speaker. After viewing animated storytelling videos the class will be able to experience live story telling
brought to them by a local Cheyenne tribal member the tribal member can also share an oral history of their
nation and students can compare what they have learned about through their resources to the oral history
being presented.
Every year the Sand Creek Healing Run takes place. It is a run/walk event from the site of the Sand Creek
Massacre to the Colorado State Capital Building in Denver. Students can volunteer at the event in Denver to
help those who participate by passing out water and snacks, and by sponsoring a runner to show support of
the community and the tribes in remembering the past.

Family Connections
Family Pocket Map. A spin on creating a family tree. Students create a fan using a large piece of cardstock
folding and stapling along the bottom to create pockets where students can store photographs, notes, and
keepsakes about the important people in their lives. Each fold is labeled with the persons name and
relationship to the student. Pocket maps will be shared and displayed in the classrooms.
Family Roots Survey. Students interview their family members to find out about their heritage and culture.
Students may ask questions such as when did you first come to our community? Who came first (great-
grandparents, grandparents, parents, other relatives)? Where did they come from? Why did they come?
How did they get here? What did they do when they settle? Jobs? Business? Farming? Fishing?
Have students take a Native American myth/legend home and read it to their family. Then, students can work
collaboratively with their families to create a myth/legend of their own and present it in a variety of differing
formats: write and illustrate a book; make a movie; make a collage; create a song; create a dance; act out the
story; etc.
Invite families to a celebratory class potluck to share in presentation of student-generated books. Students
 may also take this time to show displayed items such as family pocket maps, other written works such as the
newspaper articles or persuasive pieces, the class bulletin board, or interview questions for their dinner
guests.

Section III: Linguistic Analysis and Support

Territory
Key Concepts and Massacre
Vocabulary Native American
Settler
Raider (Native American warriors)
Hostile
Judgment
Praise
Punish
Primary and Secondary Sources
Perception
Forces
Treaty
Proclamation
Cheyenne
Arapaho
Truce Flag (the white flag flown above the Native American camp indicating peace)
Compare
Contrast
Explain
Perspective
Martial Law
Uprising
*All vocabulary will be presented with visuals and pictures to help all students make the connection as to what the
vocabulary is referring to. Also, the vocabulary will be presented in contextualized situations with discussions and
examples, such as maps, to assist all learners, including students who are English language learners.
Specific ideas for visual A map of the Colorado Territory during the 1860s and a present day map to assist in understanding of the
representation of the location using present day landmarks
 abstract concepts Hanging the painting by Robert Lindneaux (1871-1970) of surprise attack by troops under Major John
Chivington on November 29, 1864 at the Big Bend on Sand Creek which depicts the US Flag and white truce
flag flying high over the camp as described in multiple eyewitness accounts to provide context for their use
and display at the time of the attack and providing a visual support for the content-specific vocabulary
Photographs of key participants (Silas Soule, Chief Black Kettle, Chivington, Smith, Ned Wynkoop)
Photographs of contextual settings (city, rural spaces, people, etc.)
Overview of Language The enclosed activities utilize writing and speech through the following Language Functions:
Functions and Sentence Inquiring/seeking information
Starters/Frames Expressing an opinion
In my opinion, John Chivington _________ have been punished because.
I believe that Governor Hickenloopers apology was
Agreeing & disagreeing
Sequencing/ordering
The first event that impacted the Sand Creek Massacre was
Another event that impacted the Sand Creek Massacre was
Classifying
Analyzing
Inferring, predicting, and hypothesizing
I can infer that the tension in Native American and Colorado Territory Settler tension occurred because
Justifying and persuading
As a member of the Cheyenne tribe, this event was
As a Colorado Territory Settler, this event was
Synthesizing
Evaluating
The original judgment of Chvington and the Sand Creek Massacre was
If ______ had happened, this would have changed the ending of the Sand Creek Massacre because
Cause and effect
The Sand Creek Massacre was the effect of
As a result of ______, the events of the Sand Creek Massacre occurred because
Summarizing
What was the problem that lead to the Sand Creek Massacre? What are three key events that occurred?
What occurred as a solution to the problem? Put these ideas together to summarize the event.
Section IV: Matrix of Literacy and Oral Language

Fiction/Narrative Non-Fiction/Expository
Reading/Viewing
Book titles, Narrative and Fiction Books: Non-Fiction Books:
websites, The Sand Creek Massacre Narrative Voices By Tribes of Native America Arapaho By Marla
multimedia, Bruce Cutler Felkins Ryan & Linda Schmittroth
primary sources, Month of the Freezing Moon: The Sand Creek The Sand Creek Massacre By Stan Hoig
no need to Massacre, November 1864 By Duane Schultz Silas Soule: A Short, Eventful Life of Moral
annotate Sand Creek By Kevin Cahill Courage By Tom Bensing
The Quilt Walk By Sandra Dallas (kid-friendly) The Cheyenne By George Amos Dorsey
Many Nations: An Alphabet of Native America By Death of the Iron Horse By Paul Goble
Joseph Bruchac The Cheyennes A First Americans Book By
Night of the Full Moon By Gloria Whelem (kid- Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve
friendly) The Arapaho and Their History (We the People)
Cheyenne Again By Eve Bunting (kid-friendly) By Natalie M. Rosinsky
People of the Buffalo: How the Plains Indians Lived My Life as an Early Settler By Nancy Kelly Allen
By Maria Campbell (kid-friendly) Who Were the American Pioneers? And Other
The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses By Paul Globe Questions about Westward Expansion By Martin
Websites: W. Sandler
http://native-languages.org/children-books.htm
Videos: Reviewing primary and secondary sources:
The Sand Creek Massacre Documentary By Kristen Reading excerpts of letters from Arapaho Project
Moon at CU Boulder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbiJRzjhejU Newspaper clippings discussing event
Photographs of people and places

Websites:
Facts About the Cheyenne (written by young
people)
http://www.bigorrin.org/cheyenne_kids.htm

Rewrite history. Brainstorm and write out a Dinner Date. Invite a participant to dinner and
Writing different ending to this event, what if the soldiers create a list of three interview questions to ask
Different kinds of never went to Sand Creek? What if Chief Black
writing, think Kettle was able to talk the soldiers into leaving?
about Fisher and School Community Education: The Sand Creek
Frye, include Massacre Bulletin board. Using information and
prompts artifacts from the mini museum project create a
class bulletin board to educate other classes,
teachers, and families that walk by our classroom.
Working in partners write your own newspaper
article about the aftermath of the massacre,
provide details, names, and quotes from available
primary resources. Include photographs for your
readers.
Write your own childrens book. There is not a
great deal of information available to children
about what happened at Sand Creek. Pick a
perspective, such as Silas Soule, Chief Black Kettle,
a Native American tribal member, a soldier, and
write a childrens book from their perspective.
Using primary and secondary sources brainstorm
what life would have been like in the 1860s, how
would your perspective feel about the events
leading up to and including the massacre? What
other details are important? Draw pictures to go
along with your text.
An apology letter. If you were Governor John
Hickenlooper and were delivering an apology how
would you format your letter? What kinds of things
would you say to the Cheyenne and Arapaho? How
would you address the length of time it took for the
apology?
Put it into words. Students pick one to two words
that describe how they feel, what they know, or
that describe the Sand Creek Massacre. They will
make a graffiti art piece representing these words
your guest. What do you want to know about that
we have not read? What do you wish you knew
that you do not already know? Share questions in
an inside outside circle format.
Walk Inside a Photograph. Share photographs of
people and places in 1864 and ask students to
choose one that strikes them. As they look over
the photograph imagine what they would see,
smell, hear, and feel in the photograph and record
their thoughts and feelings.
Write a persuasive letter to Congress about
appropriate consequences for John Chivington
and crew OR a letter to Chivington from the
future about why this event will be so damaging
and other ideas to prevent it from happening in
the first place. Living in the future and learning
about this event, what would you want Chivington
to know? What would you want the Native
Americans to know? What kinds of suggestions
could you propose that would avoid the massacre
in the first place?
Using what we discussed following the street
smarts assignment, compare and contrast what
we know about our community with the
community of the Cheyenne and Arapaho and the
Colorado Territory settlers. Create a Venn
diagram to show the differences and the
similarities.
A diary entry. Pretend you are settler or a Native
American, write a journal entry about a day in
your life or about the massacre and what
happened to your people.
 using different mediums (markers, paint,
watercolor, chalk, oil pastels, or colored pencils).
Oral Interaction Native American storytelling.
Topics http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012
Groupings: whole, /11/27/native-american-heritage-month-check-out-
pair these-animated-stories-youtube-145893 The link
above provides animated Native American stories
that bring the oral and visual learning styles
together. Class Speaker: After viewing animated
storytelling videos the class will be able to
experience live story telling brought to them by a
local Cheyenne tribal member the tribal member
can also share an oral history of their nation and
students can compare what they have learned
about through their resources to the oral history
being presented.
Mini Museum. Small student groups become
experts on particular subjects of the time period
such as art, photography, and written works and
act as curators in sharing with their classmates
their particular subject in a gallery walk (these
artifacts will be used in the creation of the bulletin
board).
Modeling after the storytelling guest speaker,
groups of four students generate a song, story,
poem, or rap about the events at Sand Creek and
share in a round robin format. Student groups can
choose freely which format they would like to
present. Topics can be chosen from a list created
during a whole group brainstorm session to focus
their ideas.
Invite members of the Cheyenne tribe and Arapaho
tribe to come to your school to discuss students
A Walk in Their Shoes. Pick a person to research
and present it to the class as if you were them.
Talk about the things you saw, heard, and felt.
This information can be used to support the
formulation of the childrens book.
A Talking Timeline. Students are paired and
represent a significant event in the chronology of
Sand Creek and do a little more in depth coverage
into the event. Students then line up in
chronological order and share out their event to
the class.
Shoulder partner discussion about the motives
behind the Sand Creek Massacre on behalf of
Chivington. Why do you think he thought that
was a good idea? Now stop and think about the
perspective of Chief Black Kettle, what do you
think he was feeling when he saw the soldiers?
How did he feel about his tribe being hurt and
killed? Once more time, think about Silas Soule,
how do you think he felt when he saw what was
happening? Why do you think he did not
participate? After each shoulder discussion have
student groups share out and record on
Perspectives T-chart that can be posted in the
classroom and serve as a support to focus and
assist students in other classroom activities such
as the childrens book, persuasive letter, and
interview questions.
Students write and orally deliver a eulogy about a
member of the Cheyenne or Arapaho tribal
members killed during the massacre.
 findings and the histories of these tribes, and work
together to create an affiliation with each other in
which tribal members will be invited to celebrate
the community connection and students from the
school can visit the tribes reservation to learn
about their community and form a new community
which involves these Native American Nations.
Family storytelling. Students interview multiple
family members to learn about oral family
traditions and compare what they hear from one
family member to another. How are they
different? Why might they be different?
Debate your side. Students will be split into two
groups one side representing Colorado Territory
settlers, the other representing the Native
Americans inhabiting Colorado. How has the
influx of settlers affected the relations between
them and the Native Americans? What factors
influenced the tension between your group and
the other? Cite specific events to back your
opinion/argument.