Unit Overview

Please use this Unit Overview as a coversheet for your lesson plan.

Name: Addi Freiner

Unit Title: The Original Inhabitants of Oklahoma: Native Americans

Unit Main Ideas from C3 Standards: Students will understand that Native Americans
inhabited Oklahoma Territory first. They will know the various tribes that lived in Oklahoma
Territory and how their culture impacted their lifestyles. Students will be able to discuss the
Indian Removal Act and describe how this impacted Native American tribes and culture.
Students will know the purpose of Cowboys in Oklahoma Territory and know about the
Chisholm Trail. Students will be able to distinguish Native American and Cowboy interactions as
well as perspective on Oklahoma becoming a State.

(Standards retrieved from 3.4.)

Lessons:

Lesson 1: Native America tribes and lifestyles in Oklahoma Territory

Lesson 2: Indian Removal Act and Trail of Tears (Lesson Plan lesson)

Lesson 3: Cowboy Life

Lesson 4: How Cowboys and Native Americans REALLY interacted

Unit Assessment:

There will be formative assessments as we discuss the differences and similarities of the
cowboys and Native Americans life styles/cultures.
The summative assessment of this unit will be for students to write a 5 entry diary in the
perspective of a Native American being relocated. They will need to include how the Native
Americans use to live and how they felt about leaving their home/territories, as well as how this
move impacted their tribe and their tribes culture.
Name: Addi Freiner

Title of Lesson: Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears

Grade Level: Third Grade

Social Studies Themes and Concepts to Teach:

Theme 2: Time, Continuity, and Change
Theme 3: People, Places, and Environment
Theme 6: Power, Authority, and Governance

Essential Questions or Inquiry:

What was the real reason behind the Indian Removal Act/Trail of Tears? What is the Trail of
Tears and what was its impact? How did the Indian Removal Act affect the Native American
population and culture? Why and how were the Native Americans Americanized?

Specific Objectives:
1. Students will be able to analyze key information from the literature, Only the Names
Remain: The Cherokees and the Trail of Tears, and use in-text information to benefit their
understanding.
2. Students will be able to comprehend the reasoning of the government behind the Indian
Removal Act and how this Act affected the Native Americans physically and within their
cultures.
3. Students will be able to apply their learning about the different Native American cultures
and create a Venn diagram of the changes in the culture before and after the Indian
Removal Act.
4. Students will be able to understand the impact of the Trail of Tears and create a letter in
the perspective of a Native American to Andrew Jackson detailing fictitious personal
experiences about real events.

Standards Addressed (Social studies and related disciplines):

Grade 3-4.5 (Grade 3, Content Standard 4, Section 5) Describe the migrations and settlements by
Native Americans including the Trail of Tears

Required Materials and resources:

Only the Names Remain: The Cherokees and the Trail of Tears
A Smart Board or a White Board
Paper and Writing Utensils for Students
Pre-made Letter Paper

Step-By-Step Procedures:
Begin this lesson by having students break into pre-set small groups after giving them the
question of writing down some of their prior knowledge about Native American
culture/customs/lifestyles. Then introduce the Trail of Tears (The Trail of Tears was the forced
removal of Native Americans from their homes to Oklahoma Territory). Then ask students how
they would feel if someone came to their home and forced them to walk miles and miles to a new
location without bringing any of their belongings. Have students discuss this for a minute or two
then begin the lesson.

(Plan for Practice)

After having students write down their prior knowledge about Native American culture,
have students bring their paper and pencil, grab a clipboard, and come sit on the carpet.
Once all students are on the carpet with a clipboard introduce the book Only the Names
Remain: The Cherokees and the Trail of Tears (For your introduction: This book
discusses the Cherokee Native Americans and how they lived in North Carolina and
Georgia. The President at the time was Andrew Jackson and he implemented the Indian
Removal Act that forced the Native Americans East of the Mississippi River to move to
relocate to present-day Oklahoma.
We would read a few of the excerpts from the book including, the pages detailing life
before their removal, life during the removal, and life after the removal.
Take group notes during these readings of the initial culture, culture during the removal,
and the change of culture.
Once the reading is complete, instruct students to flip over their piece of paper or grab a
new piece of paper. On that piece of paper have students draw two circles that overlap, in
the formation of a Venn diagram.
On the left circle write culture/life before the Indian Removal Act. On the right circle
write culture/lifestyle after the Indian Removal Act. The middle symbolizes how the
culture and lifestyle of the Native Americans stayed the same.
Based off of the notes taken during the reading, start discussing different aspects of the
Cherokee culture before the Indian Removal Act, then contrast this with the changes in
the Cherokee lifestyle once they were removed from their land.
During these discussions and the Venn diagram whole-class activity, ask students
questions like:
o How did the Native Americans live before their forced removal?
o How do you think the Native American felt during this process?
o What changes of culture occurred during the removal?
o What hardships did the Native Americans face during the Indian Removal Act?
o What did Americans do to try to Americanize the Native Americans?
o How did this change their lifestyles/cultures?
As a class make the Venn diagram of the differences and similarities of Cherokee culture.
Discuss how the Native Americans were treated during the Trail of Tears (forced to walk
through terrible conditions, starved, sometimes beaten, fend from animals, no shelter,
etc.)
Make sure each student is kept accountable by calling on students for answers about the
Cherokees culture as well as the hardships the Native Americans faced during the Indian
Removal Act/Trail of Tears. Give verbal feedback to students answers and allow for
 other students to build their understanding off of each others comments during both the
conversation and while making the Venn diagram.
Have students discuss their learning in their previous small groups and compare their
initial thoughts to their new knowledge.
After 2-3 minutes of discussion have students return to their desks and hand out the pre-
made letter forms.
Instruct the students that they will be writing a letter from the perspective of a Cherokee
Native American to Andrew Jackson. Remind the students that Andrew Jackson was the
President of the United States who was responsible for the Indian Removal Act.
Instruct students that their letters need to contain two examples of how the Native
Americans were mistreated during the Trail of Tears. They must have a personal opinion
of how they (as the Cherokee Native American) felt about being removed from their
homes.
Students will work independently on their letters for approximately 10-15 minutes.
Students will then staple their letter to their Venn diagram and return to their desks.
For students who finish their writing early, ask them to add details about how the Native
Americans might have felt (remind them to think of their sensory language). Once they
have added to their writing, instruct them to read silently at their desks.

(Closure-Reflect Anticipatory Set)

For this lessons closure, have students get back into their small groups and share their writings
with their original small group members. Then allow for 3-4 students to share their writing to the
whole class. Lastly, summarize the learning (how the Trail of Tears impacted the Native
Americans and how it changed their culture), then have students turn in their stapled Venn
diagram and letter into the basket.

Assessment:
Formative assessment: This will occur during the creation of the Venn diagram. I will look
for student feedback and participation in adding to the compare/contrast. If students
continually provide incorrect facts about the culture or Trail of Tears, revisit the text to make
sure answers are deriving from the reading (give textual data). Based on this formative
assessment, the lesson may take longer than anticipated.
Summative assessment: This will occur while grading the students letters and Venn
diagrams. The Venn diagram will be a proof of participation during the class time and the
students will be graded on their accuracy and ability to follow instructions for the letter. The
summative assessment allows knowledge on if the student truly understood the impact of the
Trail of Tears. The rubric is below.

Proficient (4) Developing (3) Needs Work (2) No attempt (1)

Information is Information is Information in Information is
accurate. Student accurate. Student inaccurate. Student inaccurate. Student
writing includes at writing includes both provides limited does not provide any
least two hardships the one hardship the knowledge, but has hardships experienced
Native American Native American provided at least one by the Native
faced. Student writing faced and one opinion of the hardships the Americans, nor any
includes at least one OR two hardships the Native American opinion on how the
opinion of how the Native Americans faced or an opinion Native Americans
Native Americans felt faced and no opinion from the Native were treated during
about this treatment. on how the Native American perspective. the Indian Removal
Americans were Act.
treated.

Differentiation/Adaptations:
ELL: Have dictionaries for English Language learners so that they can look up words that they
do not know. Also have pre-made simplified definitions of what the Indian Removal Act was. Be
observant of if child needs help with writing letter, give assistance when needed.
Gifted Learners: Have gifted learners include sensory language to describe the hardships and the
opinions in the letter.
Students with IEPs: Students with IEPs would have a varied assessment. Based off of their need
their assessment could be verbally given or the expectation of content could be changed.
Students with IEPs that might have to do with hearing could be given their own book so that they
could follow along with the reading. Venn diagram chart would be don on the smart board or
whiteboard for all students to follow along and copy down their learning. For students who
struggle with paying attention, have them write notes about the reading during the lesson so that
they can stay on task.
Struggling Learners: Encourage struggling learners to use their Venn diagram as a source for
writing their letter. Keep the Venn diagram on the board so that if they hadnt copied down the
entire Venn diagram, they still have a resource for information about the Trail of Tears.

Multicultural and Global Connections:

Discuss that when people come into power sometimes they try to marginalize another group.
Discuss how this has happened in history and still occurs today. Since in Oklahoma, discuss how
students have witnessed or experienced Native American culture and how possible naiviety to
Native American culture could be due to the Americanization of Native Americans. ***Talk
with students about how diversity is something to be celebrated and that we should admire others
differences. Learning about culture can make us more educated and more accepting of others. If
people are not willing to learn about other cultures and accept them, people groups will continue
to be persecuted and wronged.

Academic Language:
Some key vocabulary that will need to be taught is the Indian Removal Act and
perspective. Although it is not vocabulary, students will also need to be able to see and
 understand the distance between North Carolina/Georgia/Alabama/Tennessee from
present-day Oklahoma.
Students will be read aloud to from different excerpts from the book. They will have to
analyze and listen to the text and be able to identify key facts in order to gain
information. They will also organize information in the Venn diagram, and use creative
writing to portray their learning.
In this lesson, the students will be comparing through a Venn diagram, evaluating
information from the readings, and interpreting how the Native Americans felt through
the students letter writing.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.1: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding
of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3: Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits,
motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of
events

Possible Connections to Other Subjects:

With this lesson there is a natural connection to English Language Arts. In this lesson I am using
literature to help teach students about what the Trail of Tears was and how it affected Native
Americans. Also, for the students assessment they will be writing a letter from the perspective of
a Native American to Andrew Jackson about how they were impacted by the Indian Removal
Act.

Relationship to Social Studies Goals:

This lesson relates to social understanding because it discusses the history of how thousands of
Native Americans were relocated to present-day Oklahoma. This lesson about history provides
insight into Native American culture as well as how this culture was impacted by the expansion
of the United States. Students learn about culture as well as the negative impact people/authority
can have by stifling a cultural group.