Native American Mythology Unit 1 week bundle Native American heritage & cultures

This Native American Mythology unit bundle includes a full week of activities to help students understand some of the key features of Native American Mythology and recognize the link between American Literature and American History. The end of the unit is a fantastic bridge between Native American myths and the literature of the earliest American settlers, which sets students up to better understand some of the conflicts that arose as settlers began to arrive from Europe.

Use as Native American Heritage month activities or as part of a wider mythology unit.

The bundle includes:

• 2 days of slide presentations with background information on the Native American tribes and myths covered in the unit (The Earth on Turtle’s Back & When Grizzlies Walked Upright)
• A website with background information on Handsome Lake and an abridged version of "How the White Race Came to America"
• Comprehension questions and higher-order analysis questions for each reading assignment
• Trickster Traits digital breakout challenge full of puzzles, riddles, and games 
• Monster Myths choice board which can also be used as a group activity
• Mythology-inspired creative writing project & grading rubric
• Compare and contrast worksheet which can be used with other texts
• Answer keys to all activities

Suggested order of the unit:

1. Earth on Turtle's Back
2. When Grizzlies Walked Upright
3. Origin Myth writing assignment
4. Trickster breakout
5. Monster Myths group activity or choice board
6. The Code of Handsome Lake
7. Unit/vocabulary test

If you are on a block schedule, the activities can be completed in a week. If you have shorter class periods, it will take two weeks to cover all of the materials.

All materials are editable, Google Classroom compatible, and ready to go!

The unit can be used in traditional or flipped classrooms, for E-learning or sub plans, as students can work at their own pace throughout the unit. Printable options are included for those who are not 1:1 or for distance learning students without reliable internet. 

As a bonus, the unit includes a vocabulary pretest, worksheet, test, and games based on the vocabulary found in the stories covered. 

Literary terms covered:

Origin Myth

Creation Myth

Archetype

Mother Goddess

Trickster Character

Oral tradition

Allusion

Author's Purpose

Moral of the story

Theme

By the end of the week, students should have a good grasp of different types of myths, be able to recognize archetypes and have a foundation on which to understand some of the conflicts which arose between Native Americans and some of the earliest European settlers. 

Students should also be able to recognize that understanding the historical context in which a piece of literature is written can help us get a better understanding of the author’s purpose, as well as catch any underlying messages. 

The lessons even introduce the concepts of themes and allusions, and in working through the texts and worksheets, students should be able to identify clues to help recognize them and analyze their development in a text.

Find other Native American Mythology resources can be found in my Teachers Pay Teachers store here: 

www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Little-Brown-Bird-Literature-Resources

For more information, see the video previews of the separate items included in the unit - sorry! There is so much included in the unit that the file is too big to upload onto one video.