Seminole tribe presentation
After our 4 part unit study on Native Americans, our culminating activity was a powwow. Each child presented on a different tribe and brought food from that tribe for us to share. I am also including where we went for field trips during this unit. My lessons are geared toward 3rd-4th grade level children and their siblings. These are lessons I created to do with a weekly homeschool co-op. We meet each week for 2 1/2 hours and have 17 children between the ages of 1-13. Use these fun lessons with your class, family, homeschool co-op group, camp, or after school program!
Order of Powwow Events
Our powwow was our culminating activity for our 4 week hands-on unit on Native Americans. Children dressed as members from various tribes and brought along reports, paintings, house replicas, and more to help them as they presented on their assigned tribe. They also brought food from their tribe. We feasted around a campfire surrounded by our teepee totem poles. When the moon came out, children began telling their “legends” (tribal report presentations) followed by a friendship song (our Native American Tribes song).
- Feast around the campfire
- Tribe Presentations
- Song
Tribe Assignment
Pueblo tribe presentation
- Our evening Powwow will be from 6:30-8:30PM on Friday. Please have each of your children dress up and be prepared to give a report on his/her tribe. Please also bring a food item similar to something that tribe may have eaten. If you have one child, please bring at least a main dish. If you have multiple children, please bring at least one main dish and the rest can be main dishes, side dishes, bread, or desserts. If desired, you can also make an example of your tribe’s house and/or a craft.
- This will be an outdoor event, so please bring camping chairs and/or blankets.
Tribal Group Options
Nez Perce presentation
Each child was assigned one of the below tribes or tribal groups:
- Iroquois
- Algonquian
- Cherokee
- Seminole
- Sioux
- Comanche
- Pomo
- Nez Perce
- Tlingit (Northwest Coast)
- Inuit/Eskimo
- Apache
- Pueblo
- Navajo
- Hopi
Helpful Links for Reports
Apache Presentation
The links may be helpful as your children prepare their reports and costumes:
- Easy printable Tribe Report form for children to fill out
- Drawings of clothing from each tribe
- Information about each tribe
- Photographs of each tribe
Food & Recipe Ideas
Native American Powwow Themed Dinner
Our menu consisted of:
- Iroquois rice
- Algonquian fruit and nut salad
- Powhatan deer and potato stew
- Wampanoag corn casserole
- Seminole Hominy and Chicken Stew
- Cherokee Pepper Pot Soup
- Seminole Cabbage and Wild Boar (bacon)
- Sioux Pemmican
- Pueblo Popcorn
- Apache Sunflower Cakes with Wild Dessert Fruit Jelly
- Nez Perce Salmon with Wild Greens
- Nez Perce Imitation Sweetened Dough Root (marshmallows)
- Inuit Sour Dough Bread
- Sweetened Aztec Xocoatl Bars (brownies)
Here are some links filled with authentic recipes to inspire you:
Native American Recipes from ocbtracker.com
Native Tech: Indigenous Food & Traditional Recipes
Native American Recipes from Food.com
Field Trip Ideas
Mission San Luis in Tallahassee
During this unit our family took many field trips. We visited our local Museum of Science and History, Museum of Natural History , and State Museum of History to see their exhibits on our state’s Native American Tribes. We also visited our local Spanish mission, Indian Mounds, and Historic National Preserve.
- Tallahassee: Mission San Luis, Jackson Indian Mounds, & Florida Museum of History (currently closed for renovations)
- Gainesville: Museum of Natural History
- Jacksonville: MOSH (currently closed for renovations), Fort Caroline & the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve, and the Main Library (which has French prints of Timucua tribal customs on the 3rd floor near the Map Room)
- Live Oak: Suwannee Historical Museum
Native American Tribes Song
Native American Tribes Song
After the children gave their individual reports, they sang the Native American Tribes Song that we’ve been learning during this unit. The youngest children accompanied us on homemade drums.
“Tribes of America” (tune “10 Little Indians”)
Eastern Woodlands/
Northeast, Southeast:
Iroquois, Algonquian,
Seminole/Creek & Cherokee
All lived in the East
Blackfoot, Lakota, Sioux, and Comanche
Cheyenne, Crow, and Pawnee
All hunted buffalo on the plains.
They are the Plains tribes!
On the Plateau-Basin is the Nez Perce
And Sacajawea’s Shoshoni.
Head to the Northwest to find the Haida
And the Inuit.
Pueblo (Hopi and the Zuni),
Apache and Navajo,
Housed in adobe in the desert
Wow, those Southwest tribes!
One little, two little, one-hundred little native tribes,
Covering the expanse of our land,
All created in God’s image
They are Native Americans.
You could also add a Children’s Powwow time of dancing
Looking for the lessons?
Setting up a teepee during Lesson 2: Plains Native American Tribes Lesson
Hunt for arrowheads, build teepees, paint totem poles, draw Pueblo chalk drawings, present on specific Native American tribes, and more during this fun four week hands on study of Native Americans.
- Northeast and Southeast Native Americans Lesson – This is part 1 of a 4 part hands-on unit on Native Americans. Make arrows, cook Three Sisters Stew, go on an “archeological dig” for arrowheads, create Iroquois Bowl games, bead Seminole necklaces, and more!
- Plains Native American Tribes Lesson – This is part 2 of a 4 part hands-on unit on Native Americans. Create headdresses and war shields, build a teepee, eat dried “buffalo” and more!
- Northwest and Plateau Native American Tribes Lesson – This is part 3 of a 4 part hands-on unit on Native Americans. Decorate parfleches, fry salmon cakes, create totem poles, dramatize a dramatize potlatch ceremony, and more!
- Southwest Native American Tribes Lesson – This is part 4 of a 4 part hands-on unit on Native Americans. Make Navajo Fry Bread, draw Pueblo chalk drawings, create Navajo sand paintings and concho-style belts, weave Apache baskets, and more!
- Native American Powwow and Field Trip Ideas – After our 4 part unit study on Native Americans, our culminating activity was a powwow. Each child presented on a different tribe and brought food from that tribe for us to share. I am also including where we went for field trips during this unit.
KONOS Curriculum
KONOS Volume I
Konos Curriculum
Would you like to teach this way every day?
I use KONOS Curriculum as a springboard from which to plan my lessons. It’s a wonderful curriculum and was created by moms with active boys!
© 2011 Shannon
Leave a note – Let me know you dropped by! Was this lens helpful? Do you have any questions, comments, or additional ideas? Please post here!
Shannon (author) from Florida on October 23, 2012:
@GregoryMoore: Thank you!
Gregory Moore from Louisville, KY on October 23, 2012:
What a great idea. Your kids are very lucky to get fun lessons like this!
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