Content Focus: In this project, students will discover the “Seasonal Round” that Native peoples traditionally followed to harvest different food resources during the four seasons. They will make connections between how their life does or doesn’t follow a “Seasonal Round” today by making a map of the cultural foods or celebratory foods that they eat throughout the year. For example, do they eat certain foods such as Strawberries in June, apples in early autumn, or Turkey for Thanksgiving? Next, they will research the Seasonal Round of one particular Wisconsin First Nation. They will make a diagram explaining their tribe’s seasonal round. Students will discover that Wisconsin First Nations had a division of labor with different duties for men and women. Finally, students will make a restaurant menu of First Nation recipes either traditional or modern. Students will study effective and ineffective menus to learn how to create an appealing menu that directs the customer to purchase certain items. In the menu, students will make connections between the seasonal round they researched and at least one recipe ingredient. Students will also learn that Native peoples today are modern people. They create modern fusion dishes that blend traditional ingredients to make recipes that are common in our students’ lives.

Language Focus: This project integrates literacy skills by requiring students to research the seasonal round of A Wisconsin First Nation. They must use their writing skills to create a diagram to display the information. Finally, students practice speaking and listening skills as they present the menu to the class and use the menu as a visual aid in their presentation.

Vocabulary Focus:

• Seasonal Round – the pattern of movement from one resource-gathering area to another in a cycle that was followed each year.
• Division of Labor – the separation of work tasks with each task performed by a different person or group of people.
• Manoomin – Wild Rice. Wild Rice was so important to the Native peoples of Wisconsin that the Menominee named themselves after it, calling themselves “The People of the Wild Rice.”
• Students will also delve into Wisconsin First Nation research and uncover vocabulary they may be written in a Native language.

 

Standards:

• SS.BH1.4 Describe how a person’s understanding, perceptions, and behaviors are affected by relationships and environments.
• SS.HIS 3.4 Connect past events, people, and ideas to the present, use different perspectives to draw conclusions and suggest current implications.
• Art 3-5 -Make – Utilize more complex media to express an idea and expand knowledge of tools and techniques, with attention to craftsmanship.
• W.4.7 Conduct short inquiry projects that build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic.
• W.4.8 Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital
  sources; take notes and categorize information.
• SL.4.4 Communicate clearly and in an engaging manner, considering the audience, purpose, and situation.
• SL.4.5 Integrate audio and visual content in presentations to enhance the development of main ideas or themes.

 

Arts Integration: There are two major components of Arts Integration in this activity. The first is to study the components of an effective menu. Students will look at effective menus that use a consistent color scheme and organization method, are clear, understood easily, and minimize prices. They will enjoy studying menu fails and what makes a bad menu. The second arts integration focus is developing students’ sketching abilities. If the teacher is comfortable, they can give direct instruction on how to sketch and draw items effectively. If the teacher is not confident in their artistic abilities like me, they can guide students to use the assistant of Youtube tutorials to help them find a resource to improve their sketching. Finding a resource to help them with their artistic work is a great skill for upper elementary students to learn as they will make more content-specific posters in later grades.

Lesson Objectives: This project/unit has students answer 3 focus questions. It begins with students addressing the central social studies question: How did First Nation people of Wisconsin harvest resources throughout the four seasons? Students will work in teams or two or individually to research the seasonal round of a particular Wisconsin tribe. Then, they will create a “seasonal round” either drawn by hand or created digitally that shows what people of their tribe harvested during the four seasons. They will also discover that all tribes possessed a gendered division of labor where men and women performed different duties. The next focus question students must answer is how can I design an appealing menu? Students will analyze effective and ineffective restaurant menus to serve as exemplars as they design their own. They will also make a list of effective menus and menu fails based off the examples. The third focus question students will answer is how do modern Native chefs combine traditional and modern foods? A key takeaway from this project is that modern First Nation peoples live like us too. They combine traditional foods with contemporary ones to make new creations. Students will research First Nation recipe books to help them find an appetizer, soup, entree, and dessert that contains at least one food source from their First Nation’s traditional round. The 4th objective of this project is to improve students drawing and sketching skills. As an elementary teacher, I’ve noticed a great disparity in the drawing ability of students. I wanted students to make improvements in their ability to draw and sketch. As I am not a great artist, I had students search Youtube drawing tutorial videos to help them sketch the items on their menu. Finally, students will present their menus to the class. They will employ their speaking skills to present their menus in an engaging way, subtly selling menu items like a real waiter or waitress would.

Activities:

• Students research the seasonal round of their First Nation.
• Students make or draw a seasonal round diagram for their First Nation.
• Students research recipes for their First Nation. In my project they found one
• Students study effective and ineffective restaurant menus.
• Students practice sketching menu items and plants or animals that Native peoples used in the recipe.
• Students sketch a markup of their menu.
• Students make a colored, final draft menu.
• Students present their menu to their classmates as if they were a waiter or waitress trying to subtly sell things to customers.
• Students offer feedback to each other on their final project.

 

Engagement/Introduction: Have students share or draw out foods that they look forward to throughout the year. This could be particular foods at a holiday, like turkey at Thanksgiving or Christmas cookies, or seasonal foods such as Strawberries in late June or Watermellon in late summer.

Assessment Procedure:

• Formative – Confer with students as they research and plan their First Nation’s seasonal round.
• Formative – Assess Students’ First Nation Seasonal Round Diagram.
• Formative – Assess students’ menu plan and markup.
• Summative – Assess students’ finished menu.
• Summative – Assess students’ ability to communicate their menu, choices, and knowledge of their First Nation in a presentation.

 

Materials: Chromebooks for Research, Research Notebook, Colored Pencils, Pencil, Scissors, Handouts, Plain Paper (9/11 by 11 and 11 by 17).

Supporting Documents: Lesson Plan, Presentation, Handouts, Student Work

Contact: Stephen Hilger