Name: Kayla Fredette

Inquiry Design Model (IDM) Blueprint

Compelling Why is it important for us to learn about the lives and traditions of Native Americans?
Question

Standards and SS SOL Content:

Practices
2.3 The student will compare the lives and contributions of three American Indian
cultures of the past and present, with emphasis on

a) the Powhatan of the Eastern Woodlands;

b) the Lakota of the Plains; and
c) the Pueblo peoples of the Southwest.
SS SOL Skill:
2.1 The student will demonstrate skills for historical thinking, geographical
analysis, economic decision making, and responsible citizenship by:

b) using basic map skills to locate places on maps and globes to support
an understanding of American history;

c) using and creating graphs, diagrams, and pictures to determine

characteristics of people, places, or events to support an understanding of
American history;

e) comparing and contrasting people, places, or events in American

history;

j) defending positions orally and in writing, using content vocabulary

Interdisciplinary SOL:

2.10 The student will write in a variety of forms to include narrative, descriptive,
opinion, and expository.

2.11 The student will edit writing for capitalization, punctuation, spelling and
Standard English.

C3 Standard:
D2.Civ.6.K-2. Describe how communities work to accomplish common tasks,
establish responsibilities, and fulfill roles of authority.
D2.Civ.14.K-2. Describe how people have tried to improve their communities over
time.
D2.Eco.1.K-2. Explain how scarcity necessitates decision making.
 D2.Geo.1.K-2. Construct maps, graphs, and other representations of familiar places.
D2.Geo.3.K-2. Use maps, globes, and other simple geographic models to identify
cultural and environmental characteristics of places.
D2.Geo.8.K-2. Compare how people in different types of communities use local and
distant environments to meet their daily needs.
NCSS Theme:
1) Culture
3) People, Places, and Environments

Using the book “The Very First Americans” and a powerpoint, students will be
introduced to these three Native American tribes. The book discusses more tribes than
Staging the
Questions
we need to cover for the SOL so it will be used to introduce who and what Native
Americans are. The powerpoint will be more specific to the three tribes we need to
cover, giving students clear characteristics of each tribe.

Supporting Supporting Supporting

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3

What/Who are Native Americans? How do the three tribes’ lifestyles Why were some tribes nomadic
differ? vs. stationary?

Featured Sources and

Featured Sources and Activities Featured Sources and Activities
Activities

Sources: Movie (If allowed), Sources: Native American

Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron
Activities: Students will watch
the movie and identify which
tribe they think is being depicted,
they will also be asked to write 3
cultural elements they identified
during scenes within the tribes’
village.
Ask students to pay special
attention to how the army
soldiers treat the Native
Americans. Class discussion
about it after.
Review Powerpoint
Sources: BrainPop Video about
the Pueblo tribes from YouTube
Activities: This powerpoint
contains a sorting slide for
Activities: Students will be asked
each of the 3 tribes. As a
to identify a part of Pueblo
class, students will be called
culture, can be what they craft,
upon to go up to the
what they grow, etc.
Smartboard and drag one of
the characteristics to the
correct category.

Formative Formative Formative

 Performance Task Performance Task Performance Task

Students will be given a blank Sorting Activity: *Do a day or

Students will be asked to
produce a short writing about if
they would prefer to be a
nomadic native american, or a
stationary native american. In
this writing students will also be
asked to compare/contrast why
some tribes might need to be
nomadic or not.
United States map and asked to
shade in the areas, in different
colors, that each Native American
tribe lived in. Students will need
to create a key to identify what
each color means, as well as
label the areas by name i.e. the
Woodlands, the Plains, the
Southwest.
This activity will be used each
day of the unit. As we learn about
each tribe the students will add
them to their maps.
so after the above activity*
Students will be given a blank
Venn diagram along with a
word bank. By cutting and
glueing, students will place
the correct words into the
correct sections of the
diagram.

Students will be asked to recreate a Native American artifact. This can

include a necklace, a piece of pottery, a miniature dwelling, handmade
Argume tools, etc. Along with the artifact there needs to be an explanation of
nt which tribe this artifact would belong to. This will be completed at school
Summative and at home.
Performance We will then share our artifacts aloud to the class.
Task
In addition to the activity above, students will be asked to construct a story
Extensi around the artifact they created. This story needs to include a Native
on American name they make up, the situation their artifact would be used or
found in, and a narrative to tie everything together.

Understand: Why is it important to learn about the cultural impacts of Native Americans?
Taking Informed
Assess:
Action
Act:

Inquiry Description. In two or more paragraphs, provide a description of the inquiry. Be sure to
highlight the importance of the inquiry and the amount of time it will take to implement in the
classroom.

Throughout this Inquiry lesson students will be learning about Native Americans,
specifically the Powhatan, the Lakota, and the Pueblo tribes. The class will learn about each
tribes’ cultures, dwellings, ways of life, and the contributions they made to society. This lesson,
or unit, will take about a week of class time to complete.
On day one of the unit we will start off by reading the book, “The Very First Americans”.
While this book does not feature the three specific tribes we are focusing on, it does give
students a good definition of who Native Americans are and how they lived their lives. After
completing the book, we will review a powerpoint about the Powhatan tribe. After learning about
the Powhatan tribe, students will begin the map activity by coloring in and labeling the Powhatan
territory. Moving into the second day, students will be shown the powerpoint about the Lakota
tribe. They will then complete the writing activity about nomadic vs. stationary tribes, and they
will also color the Lakota territory on their map. On the third day students will review the
powerpoint for the Pueblo tribe, and complete their colored and labeled maps. They will then
watch the BrainPop video and complete it’s activity. On the fourth day of the unit, as a class,
students will complete the sorting activities regarding all three tribes, then watch the movie Spirit
Stallion of the Cimarron and complete the activity that accompanies it. On the final day of the
unit, students will complete the sorting activity by themselves.
The final activity, creating the artifacts, will take place both at school and at home.
Students will be allowed to work on these artifacts during class time as “silent” work while
waiting for classmates to finish the assigned tasks. They will then finish these artifacts at home
over the weekend. Students will orally present how and why they chose their artifacts on the
following Monday.

Content Background. In two or more paragraphs, provide a description of the content teachers
and students must be knowledgeable about in order to enact/learn the inquiry.
For this lesson, there is definitely important background information that is needed for
students to adequately understand and absorb the lesson. First things first, students need to come
to class ready to learn, and ready to listen. It is important for me as a teacher to ensure my
students not only learn the information, but to do so in a way that will not require them to sit and
to take notes the entire lesson. I enjoy doing mini projects, and incorporating things that I believe
students will enjoy, but in order to do so students must be cooperative and follow direction.
Going into any lesson, it is imperative that teachers have a solid platform of what they
want students to get out of the lesson. Having a steady plan, and being prepared with your
materials are two things that will prepare any teacher to perform a positive lesson. It is also
important that teachers are prepared for things to go awry.

Reflection. Provide a substantive reflection (approximately one-half page, single-spaced) that

considers what you personally learned from designing a lesson using the inquiry arc model.
Consider the following question: How did the experience alter or reinforce your thinking about
your current and future practice as an educator?

I believe that this experience reinforced the way I create lessons. Prior to creating this lesson I
was unsure exactly what creating a lesson using an inquiry model would entail. Now looking
back I see that I usually create lessons with this approach, I just did not realise it had an official
title. I also learned more about the way I plan and create lessons. I remember during the unit our
class did on planning I initially thought I liked to choose all SOLs prior to creating a lesson.
However, when creating this lesson I did choose one SOL first, but all of the other standards I
found throughout, and even when finished with the lesson itself. I really liked the process of
creating this lesson. I feel as though choosing the SOL first, but not the other standards, helped
me to shape a lesson around what is important, rather than solely basing it off what will be tested
on.
Sources. Provide copies of or links to sources used in this inquiry.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002) | Movie Scenes | Movieclips - YouTube | Spirit the horse,
Dreamworks animation, Scene - Skip to minute 1:30 to see Native American village scene, there
are other scenes with Native American culture throughout the movie but this is the main one.

BrainPop Jr. Pueblo - BrainPop about the Pueblo tribe.

The Very First Americans - Youtube reading of the book, “The Very First Americans”