South Carolina ETV

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Wattle and Daub Using Natural Resources to Survive (Grade 7)

Master Teacher

Judy Olson-Robinson

Time Allotment

One 45-minute class period

Overview

The Tsalagi (Cherokee Indians) settled in the foothills of Georgia, North and South Carolina, and Tennessee. Living near rivers and lakes, they depended on the natural resources around them for their basic needs. The Cherokee made clothing, tools, weapons, and homes from the materials in the forests. Hamlets of 30 to 60 huts surrounding a large meeting place and plaza were built, forming communities. Palisades protected the hamlets from wild animals. Huts were built with wattle and daub.

After examining Web sites and video clips, students will be able to determine which items are necessary for living in the forest, identify the natural resources used by the Cherokee Indians to build their homes, define hamlet, palisade, wattle, and daub, and create a poster describing their picture of a Cherokee hamlet. This lesson can be used in a Native American unit, specifically focusing on the Cherokee Indians, past to present.

Subject Matter

World Geography

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

create a list of materials that a family of four would need to live in the forest
identify four of the natural resources used by Cherokee Indians to build shelter
create a poster that depicts a Cherokee hamlet in the summer or the winter
define the vocabulary words: hamlet, palisade, wattle, and daub

South Carolina Standards

These Standards can be found online at Office of Curriculum Standards.

III. People, Places, and Environments: Geography

Standard 7.3:The learner will demonstrate an understanding of world culture regions. The student should be able to . . .

7.3.6: Explain how humans adapt to the physical environment of each world region and how the physical environment limits and defines human activity.

7.3.7: Explain how people interact with their physical environment to create distinctive regions.

Media Components

Video

Native American Series, Lesson 4: "Indians of the Southeast" gives an explanation of how Native Americans migrated to North and South America. It specifically focuses on the Cherokee Nation and how they adapted to the surroundings of the Southeast, using the natural resources around them to create their communities.

Web Site

Native American Housing provides information on Native Americans of North America and how their houses were constructed.

Materials

Per student:

"Native American Brainstorming Sheet" (Activity Sheet 1)

pencil and paper

Per group of four students:

glue stick
colored pencils/markers
one piece of poster board
scissors
*copies of: White Clay, Cherokee Indian
Cherokee Council House
Cherokee Winter House
Inside the Winter House
Cherokee Summer House
Furnishings
*See Prep for Teacher

Prep for Teachers

Prior to teaching the lesson, preview the videotape and forward the video to the section of the clip being used for the lesson. Familiarize yourself with the video and the cues needed for the section used in the lesson.

Bookmark the Web site on the computers used by the students.

*Prepare the hands on elements of the lesson by making copies of the "Brainstorming Activity Sheet"; White Clay, Cherokee Indian Council House; the Cherokee Winter House; Inside the Winter House; the Cherokee Summer House; Furnishings; Native American Add-ons; and Native American Add-ons 2. Make certain there are enough copies of all patterns for each group in case every group decides to choose the same scene.

*Examples of the Native American houses can be found in Native Americans: Cooperative Learning Activities, written by M. Strohl and S. Schneck, and published in 1991 by Scholastic: New York.

The Native American Add-ons and Native American Add-ons 2 are assorted pictures of Native American clip art supplied by Print Art; Microsoft (1997).

Create a Teacher Observation Chart. For an example, see the one in Native American: Cooperative Learning Activities.

When using media, provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction, a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites, or other multimedia elements.

Introductory Activity

Step 1: Distribute the "Native American Brainstorming Activity Sheet" to each of your students. Ask students to list materials and items they think would be needed to live in the woods with their families.

Step 2: After two or three minutes of brainstorming, ask students to share the items listed on their papers. Ask one student to write the answers on the board. Discuss the list on the board, as a class, and come to a consensus as to the items that are necessary for survival.

(Students may respond with clothing, food, matches, radio, batteries, tents, blankets, cell phone, dishes, towels, soap, grill, pots and pans, etc. Guide students to understand which items are truly necessary and which items you could survive without by living off of the land.)

Learning Activity

Step 1: Ask students to log on to the Native American Housing Web site, http://www. greatdreams.com/native/nativehsg.htm. Explain that this Web site gives information regarding dominant types of shelter for the Indians of North America. Provide your students with a Focus for Media Interaction, asking them to scroll down to find information about the Cherokee Indians. Students should record information about the Cherokee villages and the definitions for wattle and daub. Allow students to complete the activity and check for comprehension.

(A normal Cherokee hamlet [village] consisted of 30-60 houses made of wattle [twigs, branches, and plant stalks] woven together to form a wooden frame and daub [a sticky substance like mud and clay] covering the wattle and woven vines.)

Step 2: Insert Native American Series, Lesson 4: "Indians of the Southeast," into your VCR. Provide your students with a Focus for Media Interaction, asking them to identify and list the four natural resources used by the Cherokee Indians to build their homes. Students should also define the words hamlet and palisade. START the tape when the map of the United States indicates the location of the Indian tribes of the Southeast. The narrator of the clip will say, "One of the best known groups. . . . " STOP the tape when the narrator is saying, " . . . and topped by a thatched roof." The scene showing on the screen will be of a Cherokee village with an Indian tanning an animal hide. (This clip will take approximately one and a half to two minutes to watch.)

Check for comprehension. (Answers may be stated differently but should include: The four natural resources used to build homes were twigs, grass and clay, animal skins, and thatch roofs. The definition for a hamlet is a small village.The definition for palisade is a fence, surrounding the village for protection, made from tree trunks.)

Culminating Activity

Step 1: Divide your class into groups of four students. Ask each group to decide if they would like to make a poster of a Cherokee summer house, winter house, or council house.

Step 2: Distribute the examples of the White Clay, Cherokee Indian Council House; Cherokee Winter House; Inside the Winter House; Cherokee Summer House; Furnishings; Native American Add-ons; and Native American Add-ons 2 according to the group's decision.

Distribute scissors, glue, poster board, and colored pencils/markers to each group. Instruct each group to create a poster using the elements from the Activity Sheets to form a portion of a Cherokee hamlet. Allow students time to finish this activity in a cooperative learning group.

Step 3: As an assessment of the project, ask each student to write a one-page narrative essay, giving details of the house created in the poster their group completed. Students should be encouraged to include the vocabulary words and additional information gathered from the video clip and the Web site in their essays. The teacher may use the Teacher Observation Chart to record anecdotal notes during the cooperative learning portion of the lesson.

Cross-Curricular Extensions

Language Arts: Read The Cherokees Past and Present: An Authentic Guide to the Cherokee People by J. Ed. Sharpe.

Research Native Americans in the Carolinas at the Web site .

Write an essay pretending to be a Cherokee child from the past and from today. Compare and contrast the differences in their daily living.

Science: Identify and categorize the various plants of the foothills of North and South Carolina.

Examine and categorize rocks and minerals used by the Cherokee Indians according to density, durability, weight, color, and structure.

Web sites to locate some of the above information include but are not limited to:

Mathematics: Graph the area in miles for each state (Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee) inhabited by the Cherokee Nation before the Trail of Tears.

Graph the area in miles of the Cherokee Nation today. Compare and contrast the two graphs.

Web sites to locate the above information include but are not limited to:

Physical Education: Play Cherokee games created in the past. Compare them with games played today. The games came be found in the book, Native Americans: Cooperative Learning Activities.

Create your own rain dance or ceremonial dance using ideas found in Native Americans: Cooperative Learning Activities.

Home Economics: Prepare authentic Cherokee dishes using wild plant foods and garden crops from the past using ideas from Native Americans: Cooperative Learning Activities.

Community Connections

Take a field trip to the Cherokee Nation Reservation in North Carolina or a reservation where you live. Visit the museum of the Cherokee Indians.

Invite Native Americans into the classroom. Listen to the stories and legends of the past.

Create and write a Native American legend of your own. Share it with students at nearby elementary schools and day care facilities.

Student Materials

Native American Brainstorming Activity Sheet
Cherokee Council House
Cherokee Winter House
Inside the Winter House
Cherokee Summer House
Furnishings
Native American Add-ons
Native American Add-ons 2

Activity Sheets:

Activity Sheet 1: Native American Brainstorming Sheet