📚Lesson

Introduce the lesson

Use this Google slides presentation to introduce the lesson and provide some information on traditional and modern uses for cattails. It also discusses the use of plants by Native Americans and in games.

Personal Dictionary/ Word Journal

Students read the seven new vocabulary words introduced, with definitions. They then add these seven words to their personal dictionary.

If this is the first time your students have had a personal dictionary assignment, they can read What is a personal dictionary? in this Google Doc. This link is also within the assignment.

Reading Activity

Students read the passage, How Native Americans Used Cattails.

Writing Activities

Students complete an assignment given at the end of the informational passage they have just read.

Game

Play Making Camp Dakota: Past and Present. After logging in, select LIFE.

From the LIFE section, select the icon with the pink and yellow flowers (the first icon in the bottom row). This will play a short video on use of herbs in traditional indigenous cultures in the upper Midwest.

After watching the video, students complete an activity where they match the herb with its use.

OR

Have students play either Spirit Lake: The Game, available for Mac or Windows.

In the Spirit Lake game, students learn that the purple cone flower was used for medicine and use multiplication to compute the number to bring back from the woods in the virtual world.

Assessment

Students produce written assignments assessing vocabulary and reading comprehension. Data reports on students’ performance on math problems and progress in the game for Spirit Lake can be accessed at growingmath.org with your password.