AUTHOR CONNECTIONS:
 Learn
all about author Louise Erdrich at : Author:Biography,
bibliography/interviews links
http://voices.cla.umn.edu/authors/LouiseErdrich.html
CURRICULAR CONNECTIONS:
With its deft characterization, superb storytelling, and compelling
plot, this richly detailed novel can lure third through seventh grade listeners. All suggested activities could be easily modified by classroom teachers
to accommodate best their own students.
 Building
a Model of Omakayas’s Home: As students listen to this riveting novel,
they will recreate the various Ojibwa settlements that Omakayas and her family
call home in 1847. Designate a large table in the classroom for students
to erect the settlements; divide table space into four equal sections for the
four seasons of the year. Include the scores of details that Erdrich offers
in her story, changing the settlement as the narrative dictates. For example,
the first settlement will have the birchbark house which is the family’s
summer dwelling; for fall, students will build the ricing camp, etc. Modeling
clay, colored tempera paints, small wooden sticks, stones and pebbles, colored
construction paper, scraps of fabric, etc., are some of the building materials
students will need. When finished with the novel, invite parents and caregivers
in to admire.
Celebrating
Family Stories: Nokomis and Deydey are gifted storytellers, and their tales
add a rich texture to this historical fictional novel. Have students ask
sundry family members to share a particularly memorable family story that is worth
retelling. Each student should carefully record the story; then practice
retelling it so that it may be shared with classmates with little or no written
prompting. Costumes or three-dimensional objects may accompany each oral
celebration. Invite extended family members to hear the newest raconteurs
recount these special family tales.
Creating
Jackdaws: A jackdaw—a collection of realia that might include three
dimensional objects, maps, copies of primary source documents, timelines, or any
item that is mentioned in a book—helps the genre of historical fiction to
come alive for students. Divide class into four small groups; assign each of the
groups one of the seasons: summer, fall, winter, and spring, that Erdrich utilizes
in structuring her story about a year in the life of Omakayas. Each group
will then be responsible for assembling various items to put into its jackdaw.
Groups may want to listen a second time to its required season from the
story to ascertain what they want to put into their own jackdaw.
Once completed, all four jackdaws should be exhibited in the classroom for all
to savor.
Compile
an Illustrated Glossary and Pronunciation Guide: Erdrich offers over sixty
entries in the Glossary and Pronunciation Guide of Ojibwa Terms that appears as
back matter in her book. All students will create and compile their own
illustrated glossaries and guides, with ten entries in each of them. Collaborate
with the art teacher to discuss media best suited for colorful illustrations.
Be creative with the making of the books that will house the entries. Students
could create paper that resembles birchbark for their covers, and use birch twigs
to bind the books. Have students exchange finished illustrated glossaries
with one another for browsing.
Partner Research Projects: Partner up all students; assign each pair a particular
Native American tribe from diverse parts of the country. Partners will be
responsible for researching their tribe, offering pertinent knowledge about the
tribe and what it was like during 1847. Partners will write a three-page
report and also create a poster that contains interesting visuals that extend
and clarify information shared in the written report. Have a map of the
U.S. on a classroom wall; label geographic places where each of the Native American
tribes lived in 1847. A starter list of tribes includes: Arikara,
Blackfeet, Cherokee, Chinook, Crow, Cheyenne, Flathead, Hidatsa, Iroquois, Nez
Perce, Oto, Omaha, Shoshoni, Sioux, Walla Walla, and Wampanoag.
Compile Lives of Extraordinary Native American Class Book: Our US history
is rich with famous Native Americans, both historical and contemporary. Have
students select and research a famous personage, and render a written account
of the person’s life and accomplishments; a picture of the person should
accompany the report. Compile into a class volume; during the course of
the school year, additional volumes could be created to add to the collection.
Seek the school librarian for research leads; seek the art teacher’s
assistance for making the volumes aesthetic. A starter list of famous Native
Americans includes: Black Eagle, Black Hawk, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Crazy
Horse, Ira Hayes, Louise Erdrich, Geronimo, R.C. Gorman, Wilma Mankiller, Russell
Means, William M. Mills, Osceola, Eli S. Parker, Pontiac, Pocahontas, Red Cloud,
Ben Reifel, Maria Tallchief, Jim Thorpe, Sitting Bull, Sequoyah, Sacajawea, Chief
Joseph, Squanto, Stand Watie, Clarence Tinker, Tecumseh, and Two Moons.
Research
the Smallpox Plague: Some historians maintain that the smallpox epidemics
of the nineteenth century furthered the expansionist goals of the United States.
Research this serious and damaging disease; report findings of the impact
smallpox—especially the epidemic that struck between 1836 and 1840—had
on the affected population, especially its impact on the Native American tribes
of the Midwest and West. Older grades may want to conduct further research
on other plagues that have ravaged mankind: the Black Death and AIDS.
INTERNET CONNECTIONS:
Origin
of the Kitchi-Gumee Anishinabeg (People of the Great Lakes):
http://www.sootribe.org/history.html
Make
a Native American cornhusk doll:
http://www.teachersfirst.com/summer/cornhusk.htm
Native
American dwellings - how to make:
http://rla.sd81.bc.ca/~fnap/fnapstudents/fnhomes/homes.html
Native
American recipes - wild rice, corn, venison and much, much more:
http://www.kstrom.net/isk/food/recipes.html
Read
all about the history and how to of harvesting wild rice -Mahnoomin-
http://www.kstrom.net/isk/food/wildrice.html
FOR FURTHER LISTENING AND READING:
 SKELETON
MAN by Joseph Bruchac (HarperCollins, 2001)
MORNING
GIRL by Michael Dorris (Hyperion Press, 1999)
THE
GOOD LUCK CAT by Joy Harjo; illustrated by Paul Lee (Harcourt, 2000)
GREEN
SNAKE CEREMONY by Sherrin Watkins; illustrated by Kim Doner (Council Oak Books,
1997)
 THE
LIGHT IN THE FOREST unabridged audiobook - ages 9 and up
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