1 Little, 2 Little, 3 Little Indians

A Native American Literature Approach

Compiled by:

Diego Andrés Ruiz SotoMaría de los Ángeles Páez Niño

Content

Preface

Poems:

The Arrow and the Song. By: Henry W. Longfellow

Lullaby. By: Leslie M. Silko. (Laguna Pueblo)

A New Dream. (Wuski A-Baw-Tan)By: Jennifer Pierce Eyen (Shawnee People)

Stories:

The Boy in the Moon (Vuntakutchin Story)By: Frances Jenkins Olcott.

Bibliography

Preface

This book of activities for children on their third year of English Learning is intended to offer little readers a survey of some adaptations and pieces of Native American Literature.

They will be able to discover a whole panoramic view of the most important elements of Native American Literature and more than anything, while they have fun and receive suitable feedback from illustrations and activities that will provide plenty of vocabulary and grammar structures in the target language, teachers will find an excellent tool to make an approach to literature through the development of the necessary skills for reading comprehension.

Poems

The Arrow and the SongBy: Henry W. Longfellow

I shot an arrow into the air;It Fell to earth, I knew not where;For, so swiftly it flew, the sightCould not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a Song into the air;It fell to earth, I knew not where;For who has sight so keen and strongThat it can follow the flight of Song.

Long, long afterwards, in an oakI found the arrow, still unbroke;And the song, from beginning to end,I found again in the heart of a friend.

Activity No.1

I. Choose the correct answer

1. The sight could not follow the arrow because:

a. It could not fly.b. It flew swiftly.c. It went to the sun.d. It flew very far.

2. The song was breathed into:

a. A flower’s scent.b. A Southern wind.c. The Aird. The Ocean’s breeze.

3. Long afterwards he found the arrow and the song in:

a. A Mountain.b. A lake.c. The Earth.

d. An Oak.

II. Read again the last stanza. Draw that moment when he find the arrow and the song. Share your drawing with your class.

Lullaby By: Leslie M. Silko (Laguna Pueblo)

The earth is your mother,she holds you.The sky is your father,he protects you.

Sleep,sleep.Rainbow is your sister,she loves you.The winds are your brothers,they sing to you.

Sleep,sleep.We are together alwaysWe are together alwaysThere never was timewhen this was not so..

Activity No. 2

I. Match each member of the family with its corresponding surpassing being.

Mother

Father

Sister

Brother

II. Look at the little boy sleeping. Think about the Lullaby his mother just sang. Imagine how his dreams would be and draw the scene.

A New Dream (Wuski A-Baw-Tan)By: Jennifer Pierce Eyen (Shawnee People)

A POEM DEDICATED TO OUR ELDER, HORSE MANWHO PASSED OVER TO THE LAND OF THEDEATH DREAM ONE STORMY NIGHT

I have seen the rain speakand the wind dance

I have seen the lightning knifecut the sky

I have seen the hillsat the first light of the daywhispering secretsto the Southwind People’s ear

I am happyI am no longer thirstyI dance a warrior danceI am not sick, I am free!

This night I dream a new dream!Now, I come to drink the stars!

Activity No. 3

I. Choose the correct answer:

1. When the rain speaks

a. You may hear the rain falling to the ground.b. You may hear the rain drops speaking.c. You may see words on the sky.

2. When the wind dance

a. Wind comes from the mountains.b. Wind blows.c. You cannot feel the wind.

3. When the lightning knife cut the sky, it happens because.

a. It is going to rain.b. It is not raining yet.c. It is a stormy night.

4. The poem is dedicated to horse-man who probably was a:

a. Leader.b. Beloved member of the tribe.c. Chief.

5. Horse man was very sick. But at the end he could rest and he:

a. danced a warrior dance.b. sang a victory song.c. danced with the stars.

II. Let’s do a mask! Follow these steps and a nice mask to play the final dance of chief Horse man.

1. Cut out! Look at the cartoon board your teacher just gave you. Cut out by the dotted line.

2. As a real artist… Paint your mask, and use spark materials and glue. But be careful with glue… you don’t want to ruin your art piece.

3. Wear your mask! Now that your mask is ready, let the fun begin. In groups tell the horse man’s New Dream and practice your intonation and pronunciation.

Stories

The Boy in the MoonBy: Frances Jenkins Olcott

Do you see the mark in the middle of the Moon that looks like a man? Well, that is really a little Indian boy. It happened this way:

Many years ago, there lived a Vuntakutchin boy. One Winter when he saw that his people had nothing to eat, he dreamed they killed a

lot of Caribou. He told his dream in the morning, and the braves set out to hunt. 

But before they went, the boy made his uncle promise that he would give him the meat of the leader Caribou. The uncle killed the leader, but when he came back from the hunt, he gave the boy the wrong meat, and kept the right meat for himself. 

Well, the boy felt so badly that he cried for two nights. And on the third night he disappeared. He wore Marten-skin pants, and in the morning his uncle saw the left leg of the pants, hanging to the tent pole in the hole where the smoke goes out. And when the uncle went outside the tent, he found that all the Caribou, which had been killed the day before, had come to life again, and run away. 

As for the boy, he had gone up to the Moon, and there he is now, with one leg bigger than the other, because the right leg has pants on it. From his hand hangs a little bag full of the wrong Caribou meat, and during the Autumn and Winter, when the sky is clear, you may see him standing in the Moon.

Activity No. 4

I. Let’s find the hidden words. Use different colors to highlight them.

V U N T A K U T C H I N L Q SW X C E Q I I A R N A W S I BQ T S R W D O U H Y I P W L RY G J A U G R P U R R U O N AS E W T M T W I N T E R I B VT S R L L I O U T A F T U T EE R S I L N C J M L D Q A L SN S B H X K S M E R Y D O E TT H Q K W T H E G N Z Y R X TF B L E A D E R C A R I B O U

C T S M Y N A G F U E P Y N FV B D R E Z O P D T X E P O MR M O O N U G E L U E A D G JT A B Z R U L N Y M W K J O LI L V F T Z D S P N N Z S F M

VUNTAKUTCHINHUNTWINTER

AUTUMNLEADER CARIBOU

TENTBRAVESMOON

II. Words Jumble! Take into account the words you just found in the word search. Once you discover the word hidden in the mixed letters.

NTHU: ___________

TTEN: ____________

LAEDRE: __________

MNOO: ____________

WNTIER: __________

AUTMUN: __________

VBREAS: ___________

III. Draw the sequence of the story taking into account the statements.

One Winter, Vuntakutchin people had nothing to eat.

A Little boy dreamt his people killed many caribu people.

Uncle promised to Little boy to give him good meat, after war.

Uncle broke promise. Little boy cried for two nights.

Caribou people who died during battle came to life again.

Little boy flied to the moon and shows himself during autumn and Winter.

Bibliography

Jenkins, Frances. The Red Indian Fairy Book. Houghton Mifflin Company. Boston and New York. 1917.

Longfellow, Henry. The Arrow and the Song. 16 september 1845. Online text copyright © 2003, Ian Lancashire for the Department of English, University of Toronto. Published by the Web Development Group, Information Technology Services, University of Toronto Libraries.

Osorio-Hoyos-Gómez, The United States in Poetry. A Brief Anthology. Universidad Pedagógica Nacional. Bogotá, 2007.