Established in the mid-nineteenth century, Native American Boarding schools were created as an attempt to eliminate traditional Native American ways of life and replace them with mainstream American culture. Often forcibly removed from their families, communities, and stripped of their cultural practices, Native American children experienced physical and emotional abuse at the hands of those in control of boarding school operations, resulting in intergenerational trauma. These sources bring users into contact with documents that help give them a sense of what life was like for students who attended Native American boarding schools. These sources also give users an understanding of the national perspective of how Native Americans and their culture were targeted.

This lesson focuses on Native doll makers and how their work is keeping old traditions and developing new ones.  Students are encouraged to examine photographs of dolls from the museum's collections and to connect them to the diverse cultures, communities, and environments they represent.

Every weekend somewhere in North American, Native Americans are gathering for a Pow Wow.

It’s not very often that students get a chance to see Native American culture up close and personal. Yes, we have the history books and the museums – yet rarely do we get an opportunity to learn and explore the celebration, life, and history of Native American culture live.

Bring Native American culture and history to life through our Pow Wow lesson plans.

Recognization of the 11 Federally-Recognized Native Nations located in Wisconsin and their placement on the Wisconsin Map.

Overview / Description: This unit will examine the participation of Native Americans in World War II and their impact on the overall war effort. It will also look at the Native American perspective on the war and their participation. Guiding Questions: Why did Native Americans participate in WWII?What roles did Native Americans play in WWII?  How many Native Americans participated in WWII and what impact did they have on the overall war effort? In what ways did Native American participation in WWII connect to and/or change their cultural identity? What are some of the perspectives related to Native American participation in WWII? Learning goals/objectives:   Analyze primary and secondary sources related to the topic of Native American participation in World War II. Using information gathered, construct an argument about the presence of Native Americans in World War II. 

Overview / Description: This unit will examine the experience of Native Americans during the Great Depression in the United States. It will integrate comparisons with the experiences of other minority groups as well as exposing students to primary source documents related to the government policies which were adopted toward Native Americans during the time. Guiding Questions: What were the US government’s policies toward Native Americans leading up to the Great Depression? Were they fair? What was FDR’s response to the struggles of Native Americans during the Great Depression? What was the Native American experience like during the Great Depression and how did it compare to other minority groups? Learning goals/objectives:    Analyze primary and secondary sources related to the experience of Native Americans during the Great Depression. Summarize the experiences of Native Americans during the Great Depression. 

An essential title for the upper elementary classroom, "Native People of Wisconsin" fills the need for accurate and authentic teaching materials about Wisconsin's Indian Nations. Based on her research for her award-winning title for adults, "Indian Nations of Wisconsin: Histories of Endurance and Survival," author Patty Loew has tailored this book specifically for young readers.

"Native People of Wisconsin" tells the stories of the twelve Native Nations in Wisconsin, including the Native people's incredible resilience despite rapid change and the impact of European arrivals on Native culture. Young readers will become familiar with the unique cultural traditions, tribal history, and life today for each nation.

Complete with maps, illustrations, and a detailed glossary of terms, this highly anticipated new edition includes two new chapters on the Brothertown Indian Nation and urban Indians, as well as updates on each tribe's current history and new profiles of outstanding young people from every nation.

Also Available, Native People of Wisconsin Teachers Guide: https://wisconsinfirstnations.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Native-People-of-Wisconsin.pdf

In this lesson, students will be introduced to five different strategies that Native nations used to protect their land and sovereignty during the American Revolution. Students will be reminded about the key ideas of the American Revolution and learn a little bit about how the Americans talked about Native people in the Declaration of Independence. They will also learn that both the British and the Americans tried to court Native nations to join their side during the war. Students will then be introduced to five different strategies used by different Native nations.
This lesson is part of a unit that includes the following lessons:
Grade 3 Unit 2 History Mystery 1: WHAT IS NATIVE SOVEREIGNTY AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Grade 3 Unit 2 History Mystery 2: WHAT CAN DIFFERENT MAPS TELL US ABOUT NATIVE SOVEREIGNTY AND NATIVE LAND?
Grade 3 Unit 2 History Mystery 3: WHAT STRATEGIES TO NATIVE NATIONS USE TO PROTECT THEIR SOVEREIGNTY DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (1)?
Grade 3 Unit 2 History Mystery 4: WHAT STRATEGIES TO NATIVE NATIONS USE TO PROTECT THEIR SOVEREIGNTY DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (2)?

This teaching guide from the OER Project outlines their courses, PD, and other resources.

The OER Project is a coalition of educators and historians committed to boosting student engagement and achievement through transformational social studies programs. By empowering classroom teachers with better curricula, content, and a vibrant community, we deliver more compelling, impactful, and usable histories. “OER” stands for open educational resources. When you grab a free worksheet off Pinterest for your tenth graders, that’s an OER resource. We recognize the value of OER resources, but want to go beyond the typical content repository approach—we aim to improve OER by providing coherency, support, and community.

Currently, the OER Project offers two courses—Big History Project (BHP) and World History Project (WHP)—both of which are completely free, online, and adaptable to different standards and classroom needs. Unlike textbooks, lesson websites, and other commercial products, everything has been purposely built to truly empower teachers and leave traditional history courses in—sorry for the pun—the past. We also offer short, standalone courses for those who want to try the OER Project approach, but aren’t yet ready to take on a full history course. Our current standalone options include Project X, a course that uses data to explore historical trends to help make predictions about the future; Project Score, a course that uses writing tools and the use of Score, a free, online essay-scoring service to help support student writing; and Climate Project, an evidence-based overview of the global carbon problem that culminates in students developing a plan of action they can implement locally

The "Observe, Think, Wonder" sheet was written (along with other resources) from a grant from the Library of Congress. It is based off their 6-12 analysis of primary sources documents. This is geared more towards elementary primary source analysis.

A K-5 student can analyze appropriate primary sources such as photographs and maps. Using the "Observe, Think, Wonder", students can walk through age-appropriate analysis by taking some time to look closely at the source (observe) and write down what they see; then dig a little deeper into what they think is happening in the photo or reading (think) before finally writing down any questions they might have about the source (wonder). This is great practice for further analysis and evaluation as they get older.

While the United States had officially guaranteed Native American rights and recognized the sovereignty of Native American nations through several legally binding treaties since the eighteenth century, the government repeatedly violated these treaties, opening land that was reserved for Indian nations to settlers, speculators, and developers. Native Americans’ right to a sovereign existence included maintaining traditional relationships to the lands and waters that Native peoples had historically used. But 200 years of treaty violations, land theft, and forced assimilation by the federal government threatened the existence of many Indian nations. In their protests to the federal government from 1968 to 1978, Native American activists demanded that the federal government honor its treaty obligations so that tribes could restore their traditional relationships to the land, an effort that continues today. The National Park Service, as a steward of many Indigenous lands, played a significant role in this history that will continue into the future.

Explore the Society's online exhibits to uncover unique facets of Wisconsin history. Exhibits are based on past gallery exhibits at the Wisconsin Historical Museum and include curated images, trivia and brief historical essays.

Note that the viewing of the resource does not meet social studies standards. Teachers are encouraged to consider the use of primary source analysis documents such as those from the Library of Congress and the National Archives in order to help students access social studies curricular objectives.

The PBS Wisconsin Education team creates and curates great educational resources, while connecting with Wisconsin’s most valuable resource – teachers. Our network of resource developers, teaching and learning advisers includes partners like PBS, but more importantly, it includes innovative educators and organizations throughout Wisconsin – a network that grows stronger with every project and idea.

Explore our high-quality, cost-free PK-12 resources at pbswisconsineducation.org.

Contemporary powwows bring together Native Americans from many different Nations, providing opportunities to gather and celebrate. Learn how Dylan Jennings, a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, dances the Men’s Traditional dance, which for him, mimics hunting movements.

This resource is part of The Ways, a collection of educational media resources for middle and high school classrooms from PBS Wisconsin Education.

Explore the full collection: https://pbswisconsineducation.org/theways/about/

In “Prayers in a Song” Minneapolis-based hip-hop artist Tall Paul (Paul Wenell Jr.) raps about his struggle to learn his indigenous language, Anishinaabemowin. Learn about his journey toward a deeper understanding of his Native identity.

This resource is part of The Ways, a collection of educational media resources for middle and high school classrooms from PBS Wisconsin Education.

Explore the full collection: https://pbswisconsineducation.org/theways/about/

Recollection Wisconsin brings together digital cultural heritage resources from Wisconsin libraries, archives, museums and historical societies and shares them with the world in partnership with the Digital Public Library of America. The webpage provides different 4-8ideas for teaching about Wisconsin history.

In this lesson, students will understand some of the struggles and prejudices Native Americans faced
in 19th-century Wisconsin. They will also be able to articulate the various concerns expressed in 19th-century
petitions as they relate to the Native American relationship with white Colonizers.

Note: Primary source materials such as petitions, letters, and diaries capture history as it happened, and
many customs, terms, social mores, and attitudes that are considered offensive now were
commonplace at the time. Please read through the primary source material before assigning it to
your class.

Students will learn about how certain Indigenous Communities of Wisconsin are revitalizing their language, maintaining treaty rights, and harvesting practices to ensure that their roots continue to flurish as Indigenous Peoples. 

Jason Bisonette, an Ojibwe of Odaawaazaga’igan and Marine Corps veteran, is a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe. Learn how he takes part in safe spearfishing harvest limits through Ojibwe sovereign nation rights in order to preserve Ojibwe education and tradition and to protect the practice for future generations.

This resource is part of The Ways, a collection of educational media resources for middle and high school classrooms from PBS Wisconsin Education.

Explore the full collection: https://pbswisconsineducation.org/theways/about/

This text set includes a variety of multimodal resources designed to help learners understand treaty rights as they apply to the state of Wisconsin, giving special emphasis to the court cases of LCO v. Voight and State v. Gurnoe.  Indian tribes were independent, sovereign nations, before the arrival of Europeans in North America. Despite ceding their lands in the northern part of Wisconsin to the U.S. government, Chippewa tribes reserved the right to hunt, fish, and gather within the Ceded Territory. In the 1980’s, these court cases affirmed those rights. The year 2024 celebrates 50 years of the court decision.