American Indian Unit Part 2 - American Indian Homes

American Indian Unit Part 2 - American Indian Homes& FREEBIES!

Welcome to our American Indian Unit Part 2. We hope you enjoyed part 1 of our unit, or if you missed it, check it out, you will DIG it:

American Indians Part 1 Stories, Songs & Poems

In part 2, we covered various American Indian homes.

We began with our FAV Native Homes book by Bobbie Kahman.

 As you can see, the bright, colorful detailed photos have NO prob attracting the eye of the young. Featuring brief yet to the point descriptions, this here book is most def an asset to any American Indian library. You can get a copy from Amazon:

or choose from a somewhat large selection on eBay:

Native Homes by Bobbie Kalman


The intro page features a map with various types of homes in their locations along with a brief description of types created from the natural environment in the area:

The first home is the Longhouse located in the Northeastern US. The description covers the clans along with the building of a longhouse:

I stopped there and got our 2005 Northeastern Indians book from scholastic. This book is packed FULL of info with accompanying projects. We did every project in this book so you may want to add this to your American Indian Unit resources. Due to their rarity, they are currently a bit pricey, you will be glad you did. After reproducing, you can always re-sell it:

Get one from Amazon:

or from eBay: 

Easy Make & Learn Projects: Northeast Indians



I enlarged & reproduced pages 26 & 27 which contain the longhouse paper toy and gave each of my babes the 2 pages to color.

Then, we glued the pages onto a piece of construction paper for sturdiness. To ensure full coverage I use school glue from a one gallon container. If you do not have glue in this size, I highly recommend it as not is it only cost effective, it is convenient to have on hand. Here are some different types of school glue in 1 gallon containers you can choose from to suit your needs. Here are some from Amazon:

on eBay, you have a much larger choice: 

School Glue 1 Gallon 

Lay an old newspaper over your work area. Pour the glue into  a medium plastic bowl. Add some water and stir, I use a whisk to quicken the process. Your glue must not be too thick as you need to paint your glue onto your tube, if it is too thin, it will not adhere well. We keep the excess inside an old cookie dough bucket with a handle for easy transpo:

 

 

 

 

 As you can see, at least a 3" paint brush is necessary for quick smooth coverage. If you are in need of one, here is one from Amazon:

here is a set of 3 - 3" brushes from eBay in one lot. This will not only save you $$$, but you will have extra brushes on hand when needed:

3" Paint Brush - Set of 3



When discussing the different clans and their symbols, I gave each child the following sheet & told them to choose a clan symbol for their longhouse, color it & cut it out to place over the entrance door of their own longhouse. While this page went with another project, we merged it with our longhouse paper toy instead:

A few minutes after gluing, fold on the lines as this will prevent the fold from splitting as opposed to folding when completely dry. When they were dry, we glued the tabs and let them dry. Then we carefully studied and discussed the interiors, moving the various objects around from spot to spot in play:

 

Next, we added the smoke to the outside of our longhouses and placed the outside over the inside. They turned out SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!!!

 The next American Indian homes we looked at were Wigwams, 

Thatched:

We made Wetu's which were a type of thatched house used by the Powhatan Tribe by gluing sticks on a printed page:

We looked at Tipi's. 

Altho' we did not make any Tipi's, Pyute put his lodge up (normally we have it up during the summer for camping in & take it down in September) for them to play in:

You can learn more about my hubby Pyute by clicking the following link:

Pyute American Indian Actor 

We got this particular lodge from my brother who lived in a Tipi for over 12 years in the '70's. You can check out his website Outlaw Trails here:

Outlaw Trails - Jay Calkins

Here is a Tipi song they sang while playing:



A Teepee is My Home 

Sing to: The Farmer in the Dell
 
A teepee is my home.
Of deer skins it is made.
A place on top where smoke can go,
It stands in forest shade.
The river runs nearby
and there is my canoe.
I paddle up and down the stream,
beneath a sky of blue. 
 
They also had fun with this poem:


Four Little Indians
 
Four little Indians in a teepee,
Sleeping quietly as can be. Shhhhhhh!
Along came the chief and what do you think?
Up jump the Indians quick as a wink! 



We also looked at Earthlodges:

Underground Lodges &  Hogans:

Pueblos:

Plankhouses:

and Arctic Homes:

If you are looking for American Indian homes on the web, here are some links featuring actual fotos and drawings of the various American Indian homes:

American Indian Home Photos at Native Languages

Great Dreams American Indian Home Photos

Well, that just about wraps up Part 2 of our American Indian Unit featuring various Indian homes. Now, time for your FREEBIE!!

Vintage American Indian Home Cut and Paste




 

In our Vintage American Indian Homes Activity Pack, you will find OODLES of fun available at our Teacher's Notebook Store. Our 34 page Activity Pack is filled with dot to dot, coloring, paper toys, paper dolls, for crafts, flannel board, pocket chart, bulletin boards, anchor charts & MORE! Get our RARE & UNIQUE compiled collection from the days of yesteryear only from A Kinders Garten Vintage Homeschool today!

 Vintage American Indian Homes 21 Page Activity Pack

For more American Indian Homes photos click on the following links:

American Indian Homes Photos at Native Languages 

Great Dreams Native Homes

Hope you were diggin' Part 2 of our American Indian Unit! Be sure to come back soon for Part 3 - American Indian Family & Village life! See you then!

C.S. Calkins

© 2014 C.S. Calkins All Rights Reserved

© 2020 C.S. Calkins All Rights Reserved

 

Meet us and others at our FAV linky parties:

Celebrate Blogging

Elementary Matters Looking at November

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