Last updated: December 28, 2021
Lesson Plan
Chouteau Trade/Osage Nation 5th & 6th Grade
- Grade Level:
- Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
- Subject:
- Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 60 Minutes
- State Standards:
- Missouri: Knowledge, Concept 3a - Knowledge of Continuity & change in the history of Missouri and the U.S.; evaluate the impact of westward expansion on the Native Americans in Missouri
Kansas: History - Students recognize & evaluate significant people - Additional Standards:
- & events shaped Kansas & other regions.
Oklahoma: Describe relationships between people & events of the past. Understand relationships between historic events & chronology through basic timelines. - Thinking Skills:
- Remembering: Recalling or recognizing information ideas, and principles. Understanding: Understand the main idea of material heard, viewed, or read. Interpret or summarize the ideas in own words. Applying: Apply an abstract idea in a concrete situation to solve a problem or relate it to a prior experience. Analyzing: Break down a concept or idea into parts and show the relationships among the parts. Creating: Bring together parts (elements, compounds) of knowledge to form a whole and build relationships for NEW situations. Evaluating: Make informed judgements about the value of ideas or materials. Use standards and criteria to support opinions and views.
Essential Question
In trade, how do you establish the value of the items needed and wanted.
Objective
Students will be able to determine the ways in which the Chouteau Family and the people of the Osage were able to establish a powerful trading relationship.
Background
Have access to the history of the Chouteau family.
Read the following: Osage Indians/Chouteau Trading Co.
Preparation
Have access to the history of the Chouteau family.
Read the following: Osage Indians/Chouteau trading co.
OSAGE INDIANS/Chouteau Trading Co.
Osage-Europeans and the Missouri Fur Trade
Materials
Lesson Hook/Preview
Ask students to trade you for an item in your classroom (clock, marker, chair, etc.). Then commence bartering with them. Reach a trade for the lesson and then present the next trade: ask students if they have anything that they want to trade for $20.00. (We recommend getting play money). Do not show the $20.00 bill unless a student requests to see it. Depending on the items that they offer, you will be able to direct the trade in one of two ways: balance/fairness, in favor of one party over the other. Ask the class for input to determine what would be the most fair trade for student items for the $20.00 bill. Once the item(s) have been offered, ask students the following questions:
* How did you determine the value of the item to trade for the teacher chosen item?
* What was challenging about trading item to item as opposed to an item and a $20.00 bill?
* What do you think is the best way to establish the value of items? (Based on need, the more an item is needed, the most people are willing to give up or pay for it.)
Procedure
Have students examine the background of the Chouteau family:
* Ask students to study the map and ask them to infer they believe the Chouteau Family would most likely trade with (Little Osage and
Big Osage)
* Ask them what all of the trade routes have in common? (Waterways)
* Ask students to infer which type of animals were being hunted for their furs? (Beaver, Deer, Bison, etc.)
* Ask students why they believe the Chouteau Family established trading relations with the people of the Osage (for their tribal strength and strategic location along rivers)
* Ask students to guess why the Osage would be willing to trade furs or the location of the fur bearing animals with traders? (they felt respected and valued more so by the French Chouteau family than by the Spanish and British).
Once students have the background and foundation of the relationship, have them create a PICTO word that illustrates the relationship of trade between the Chouteau Family and the people of the Osage.
* Example:
* Words that students can choose from for their pictoword;
* Trade
* Impact
* Relationship
Vocabulary
Chouteau: Chouteau was the name of a highly successful ethnically French fur-trading family based in Saint Louis, Missouri, which they helped found. Their ancestors Chouteau and Laclede initially settled in New Orleans.
Osage Nation: The Osage Nation is a Midwestern Native American tribe of the Great Plains. The tribe developed in the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys around 700 B.C. along with other groups of its language family.
North American Fur Trade - refers to commercial trade in furs in North America. Various indigenous peoples of the Americas traded furs with other tribes during the pre-Columbian era. European merchants from France, England and the Dutch Republic established trading posts and forts in various regions of North America to conduct the trade with local indigenous tribes. The trade reached the peak of its economic importance in the 19th century, by which time it relied upon elaborately developed trade networks.
Supports for Struggling Learners
SUPPORTIVE ELEMENT: Students struggling to depict their word can use prompts:
T - in trade can be two extended hands
R - a river
A - two sides (directional, with an arrow going across to join the leaning portions of the A)
D - smiley face inside the letter d and an arrow pointing up because of the success that came from the trade
E - tail of an animal that was traded
Enrichment Activities
Have students create an explanation of their pictoword in written form.