Last updated: August 26, 2019
Lesson Plan
Subsistence: Tribal Nutrition and Health
- Grade Level:
- Upper Elementary: Third Grade through Fifth Grade
- Subject:
- Social Studies
- Lesson Duration:
- 60 Minutes
- Common Core Standards:
- 3.SL.1, 4.SL.1, 5.SL.1, 5.SL.1.b, 5.SL.1.a, 5.SL.1.c, 5.SL.1.d, 4.SL.1.a, 4.SL.1.b, 4.SL.1.c, 4.SL.1.d, 3.SL.1.a, 3.SL.1.b, 3.SL.1.c, 3.SL.1.d
- State Standards:
- North Dakota Foreign Language Standards: Communities 4.2; North Dakota Social Studies Standards: SS.2.4.2.6.
- 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.
Essential Question
How has health and nutrition changed for Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribe members from village times till now?
Objective
1. Students will be able to share at least 3 facts about the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribe's nutrition and health.
2. Students will be able to analyze and explain reasons behind differences in the tribe's nutrition and health from village life till now.
Background
This lesson is part of Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site Teacher's Guide for Grades K-8: Guide to the Earthlodge People. It was written by members of the Mandan Hidatsa Arikara Nation for educators.
This background reading material explores tribal health and nutrition. It explains women's influence, plant watchers, processing foods, food storage, food preparation, men's contributions, hunting and foraging, and subsistence today.
Preparation
Read the background information before working with the students. Also, check out the related lessons for Women's Influence and Men's Contributions.
Materials
This is a simple 3-step recipe for making Dried Corn Soup.
Procedure
Read the background information with the students. Stop at appropriate times and initiate the following discussion questions:
- Discuss how food was preserved and prepared by the Hidatsa, Mandan, and Arikara.
- How has the diet changed from the time of the Knife River Indian villages to the present for the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara?
- How did food affect trade with other groups?
- Describe the roles of men and women regarding obtaining food amongst the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara.
- How has the buffalo hunt changed for the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara?
Vocabulary
The following words are written in English and Hidatsa. The Hidatsa word is written for easy pronunciation, not spelling.
- garden = maw-uddoo-guhdee
- corn = go-xhaw-dee
- squash = guh-goo-ee
- meat = ee-duke-shuh-dee
- buffalo = muh-day-a-gawdee
- deer = tsee-dudda-ghee
Assessment Materials
Informal Assessment: Teacher will listen for the discussion answers and clarify any information that is misunderstood.
Enrichment Activities
- Prepare a skit of a Hidatsa family using the Hidatsa words.
- Create a song you would sing in your garden to help plants grow.
- Dry some corn. Shuck the corn, lay kernels of corn on screens in direct sunlight. Dry corn for at least two days. If there is no sunlight, you may put the corn on a table and turn a fan on the corn for a few days. Continue to move the corn so that all the kernels dry. You can test to see if the corn is dried by tasting a kernel. If it is hard and without moisture, it is ready for storage. You may cook it whenever you like. Use the Dried Corn Soup recipe.
- Draw a sketch of a cache (sounds like 'cash') pit as you would imagine it. Illustrate how you would store the corn, beans, squash, and sunflower seeds. Remember to save room for a ladder to use in the cache pit. Compare your sketch with the one online. How does your differ?
Contact Information
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