Week 4 of 32 • Page 4

Name _________________________ WEEK 4 The Earliest

Americans Part 1

studiesweekly.com

Throughout the year, you will get to hear from fi ve friends. They are just as excited about Social Studies as you are! Natalia and Steven will be your go-to friends. They are able to travel through time by using primary sources! How cool is that? They will help you understand what people were going through during certain time periods. Alana, Jackson and Claire will pop up sometimes to help you further understand the topics you’re learning about. They’re learning just like you, so you might also hear from their teacher, Ms. Johnson. With these friends by your side, you’re ready to take Studies Weekly to another level!

Natalia, Steven and Claire have done a lot of research to prepare for this week’s lesson all about the earliest Americans. Now they want to share what they learned with you!

Steven: There’s so much to tell! Let’s use this map to identify the areas where each group lived or settled.

Claire: The Cherokee were a part of what we call the Southeastern tribes. So Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Louisiana and Florida. Let’s use blue to color that part of the map. What about the Plains Indians?

Natalia: They were here. Kind of in the middle of America. East of the Rocky Mountains and west of the Mississippi River. These tribes lived as far south as Texas and as far north as Canada. We’ll color this area green. The Cheyenne, Arapaho and Comanche are a few of the more well-known Plains Indian tribes. The Comanche are sometimes known as the Horsemen of the Great Plains.

Steven: Since the Plains Indians had a nomadic lifestyle, their shelters had to be lightweight and easy to set up and take down. I remember you said the Southeastern tribes had more stable shelters built of cane and mud.

Claire: The differences in where they lived and what resources they depended on shaped how they lived, what they wore and how they ate.

Steven: The Northeast Indians are next. Those were made up of the Algonquin, Iroquois and Chippewa, to name a few. They lived in a large woodland area between the Great Lakes and the northern Atlantic border in New York. Let’s color this area orange.

Natalia: Some Northwestern American Indian tribes were the Chinook, Yakama, Klickitat, Walla Walla and

Cowlitz. The northwest region that they called home included land west of the Rocky mountains to Washington state, Oregon and northern California. It also stretched along the coast northward into Canada. Let’s use purple for this area!

Claire: American Indians of the Southwest include the Hopi, Navajo, Pueblo and Apache. They lived in parts of the Great Basin and Southwest regions now known as the states of California, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. They could even be found down in Mexico. I’ll color this region yellow.

Natalia: The Southwest region has a hot and arid climate. That means it was dry and warm. All of the tribes living here developed ways of staying cool. They made their homes from clay and straw and they wore few clothes and thin layers.

Steven: That’s very different compared to how the tribes living in the Arctic and Subarctic would have had to dress.

Claire: That’s right, Steven. The tribes who lived in those regions would have had to dress for freezing cold temperatures!

Steven: A few of the tribes who settled in the Arctic region were the Inuit, Yuit and Aleut. This region included parts of northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland. Let’s use red for this area.

Natalia: Each group of native peoples had different clothing, shelter and customs. The geography of where they lived had a lot to do with how they lived.

Be an Archaeologist!Study the picture provided. It represents layers of dirt that have been laid down over a period of thousands of

years. The objects in each layer are called artifacts. An archaeologist’s job is to dig through each layer of dirt and tell the story of the people who lived then by the artifacts they left behind.

1. Who left the objects pictured in the top layer?

_____________________________________

2. Who do you think left the wagon wheel pictured in the next layer?

_____________________________________

3. Which came fi rst: the top layer or the next layer down?

_____________________________________

What is the approximate age of the following artifacts? Where do you look on the picture to fi nd out? Write the age in the blank by the artifact.

4. ___________________________

5. ___________________________

6. ___________________________

7. ___________________________

For many Inuit communities in the Arctic Region of Nunavut, Canada, holding on to their traditional ways of life while living in an increasingly modern world is a common dilemma. Subsistence hunting of arctic animals like whales, narwhals, caribou, polar bears and seals has been affected by climate change. Warming ocean temperatures and melting sea-ice has changed the migration patterns of these animals. Many individuals in these communities who rely on these animals for their meat, fur and pelts now have a hard time making ends meet.

Receding polar ice also means more scientists, conservationists, companies and migrants are arriving. They come to the area to study the people and animals living there, and some arrive to take advantage of the trade and economic opportunities that a warming climate has created for this once isolated and treacherous region of the world.

Inuits have lived in the Arctic Region since time immemorial (past or beyond record or memory). The harsh, cold, icy landscape of the Arctic has kept these communities isolated from the infl uence of the outside world for a long, long time. This means that their culture, beliefs and traditions have had

thousands of years, undisturbed, to develop. For these Inuit, changing how they live day-to-day is much more diffi cult than you might think. Many believe that they shouldn’t have to change.

Inuit Culture:Caught Between Two Worlds

1. 0-30 Years Ago

2. 100-150 Years Ago

3. 750-1,000 Years Ago

4. 10,000- 12,000 Years Ago

This week we have learned about several different tribes. If you were given the opportunity to spend a week with one of the tribes, which tribe would you choose? Why would you have chosen that particular tribe? Please be sure to explain your answer with a valid reason to support it.

1. What was unique about thetribes settling in the Southeastern region?

2. How did location determine what food was available to American Indian tribes?

3. Jim Thorpe was a very unique individual. What was one special thing about him?

4. Why have the tribes in the Arctic developed by themselves over such a long period of time?

5. What does an archaeologist do?

Activity

Let’s WriteThink & Review

Georgia

Early Settlements in the Americas

Have you ever thought about how people fi rst arrived to the Americas? Long before the Pilgrims and explorers came to the American continents, there were people already inhabiting nearly every region of this land.

ArcticThe Arctic and Subarctic Regions today are

known for their extreme climates. Because the land this far north remains frozen most of the year, the native people who lived in these regions became subsistence hunters and gatherers. This means they did not farm or buy food that they needed to survive, they hunted or foraged for it nearly every day.

In the Arctic, food was never available in a way that allowed for the formation of

large community groups. This meant that Arctic Indian groups ended up living in smaller

nomadic bands. They would travel by following the migration patterns of

caribou and other game animals, for food. They also used caribou pelts for their clothes to keep warm in the cold climate of the Arctic.

The Inuit, Yuit and Aleut

are a few of the American Indian groups who called the Arctic and Subarctic Regions home. Many of these groups still inhabit these regions today.

Northeast and SoutheastThe Northeastern Region around the Great

Lakes stretches into New England through the state of Maine. Archaeological evidence found around this area suggests that before European settlers arrived, there were semi-permanent, or seasonal, settlements of nomadic hunting groups.

After European settlers and fur-traders started to arrive, these areas became more permanent locations of settlement for both American Indians and European settlers as these two cultures began to work together for economic gain. American Indians in this area were able to farm and helped early Europeans survive by teaching them how to grow corn and other crops.

The land found west of the Atlantic Ocean, East of Louisiana and south of Tennessee is considered the Southeastern Region. A little more than 10,000 years ago, some of the fi rst humans, now commonly referred to as Paleo-Indians,

began to inhabit the Southeastern Region.Mound Builders also built a successful

civilization in the Southeastern Region. They are also known as the Mississippi Indians because they built thousands of mounds in the Mississippi delta area. But the Mound Builders didn’t just build mounds. They built a successful culture lasting 700 years. They planted corn, beans, squash, sunfl ower seeds and tobacco. They also gathered berries and nuts for food. They farmed, hunted and fi shed. They also killed bear for their fat. Rabbits, snakes and mice were part of their diet, too. No other group had ever combined these foods into their diet before. This healthy diet made them less likely to get sick, and the population grew. They had to build more cities. Many of the cities were large urban areas where lots of people lived. Special buildings were built on four mounds around a center plaza. People went to the plaza for special events and ceremonies.

PlainsThe Plains area is between the Mississippi

River and the Rocky Mountains. The ancestors of the Hidatsa, Cheyenne, Arapaho and Comanche all inhabited this area long before the descendants of the fi rst European settlers began living here.

Arable land is what we call land that is good for growing. Many states in the Plains area are now part of what we call the “bread basket,” because the land is arable. While there were groups of American Indians in this region who

way that allowed for the formation of large community groups. This meant that Arctic Indian groups ended up living in smaller

nomadic bands. They would travel by following the migration patterns of

moved around following the migration pattern of bison and other game animals, some groups also developed permanent settlements on the arable land.

Northwest and SouthwestThe Northwest area has a characteristically mild climate with lots of

precipitation and access to plentiful natural resources. This allowed for complex early cultural developments in the area. Fishing was an important food source for most of the native tribes in this region. Salmon fi shing and whaling were their main sources of protein and nutrition. As such, these groups became very good at making canoes and boats from the abundant trees that grow in this region.

The established, native cultures in this area were nearly wiped out in the early 1700s. Much of the native population did not have any immunity to the diseases that the European explorers and settlers brought with them.

Many different American Indian cultures lived throughout the west in nomadic bands through what are now known as the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and parts of the Southwestern states: Arizona and New Mexico. The Southwest is arid (dry) and warm.

You might think that a dry, desert climate wouldn’t be a great place to settle, so you may be surprised to learn that American Indians in the Southwest built some of the largest and most impressive cities of the early American Indian groups. The Spanish explorers called these living quarters “pueblos.” Tribes in this area built irrigation canals to grow corn, beans and squash.

While many nomadic Indian cultures that lived on the North American continent have descendants that still live today, permanent villages were the key to a successful culture. Staying put was the way to make your culture grow. More people meant more survival power. Using the nearby natural resources for food, shelter and clothing in smart and safe ways helped the earliest Americans survive.

moved around following the migration pattern of bison and other game animals, some groups also developed permanent settlements on the

Northwest and SouthwestThe Northwest area has a characteristically mild climate with lots of

precipitation and access to plentiful natural resources. This allowed for

very good at making canoes and boats from the abundant trees that grow in this region.

The established, native cultures in this area were nearly wiped out in the early 1700s. Much of the native population did not have any immunity to the diseases that the European explorers and settlers brought with them.

Many different American Indian cultures lived throughout the west in nomadic bands through what are now known as the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and parts of the Southwestern states: Arizona and New Mexico. The Southwest is arid

You might think that a dry, desert climate wouldn’t be a great place to settle, so you may be surprised to learn that American Indians in the Southwest built some of the largest and most impressive cities of the early American Indian groups. The Spanish explorers called these living quarters “pueblos.” Tribes in this area built irrigation canals to grow

While many nomadic Indian cultures that lived on the North While many nomadic Indian cultures that lived on the North American continent have descendants that still live today, permanent villages were the key to a successful culture. Staying put was the way to make your culture grow. More people meant more survival power. Using the nearby natural resources for food, shelter and clothing in smart and safe ways helped the earliest Americans survive.

Week 4 of 32 • Page 3

Have you thought about what’s in your neighborhood? What if you want to build a fort and your parents won’t buy you any supplies? You might have to scrounge! If you only have pine trees with long needles, you will have to fi gure out how to use them for the fort’s roof by packing bunches of them together. You might cut the branches into pieces to use for walls, and you might also use the pinecones as bird feeders.

Think about houses. Today, we can build homes out of

wood, stucco, metal, brick, cement and

even recycled tires. Before people

could go to the nearest home improvement store for supplies,

they had to use whatever was nearby. American Indians in the Northeastern woodlands used the wood from all the large trees. Tribes in the Southwest, where there were fewer trees, built homes using mud and sticks. In the Southeast, they used palm fronds. On the prairies of the Plains, they used animal skins. This might also give you a big hint about why American Indians set up villages near rivers, lakes and oceans. In those areas, they had water, food, washing supplies and cleaning supplies. It was almost like living next to the store! (Be sure to build your fort by a creek if you can.)

American Indians used whatever animals were on the land in their area. You can bet there were more wild animals long ago than there are today. Deer were pretty much everywhere. Did you know that some tribes in the Southwest also ate other big animals like alligators and even manatees? Tribes in the Northwest and the Arctic ate caribou, elk and moose. Fish and other small animals were common, too. Take care of your environment. We all depend on it more than you think!

Shelter, Food and Clothing The Atlatl

Atlatl is an Aztec word that means “spear thrower.” Before the bow and arrow were invented, early American Indians used the atlatl to hunt animals for food. The atlatl was a special tool. It let the American Indians throw their spears farther and with more power than they could by using their arms alone.

Historians believe people have been using the atlatl for more than 40,000 years. The American Indians even used the atlatl as a weapon. They used it against the Spanish when they came to the New World in the late 1400s. The atlatl could be used to throw a spear so hard that it could pierce the metal armor worn by the Spanish soldiers.

Today, many people have rediscovered the atlatl. There are competitions to see who can use the atlatl to throw a spear the farthest. The competitions also see who can come closest to hitting the center of a target.

Jim was a member of the Sac and Fox tribe. His American Indian name, Wa-Tho-Huk, meant “Bright Path.” He did well in football, track, baseball, basketball, lacrosse and dancing. He was also good at public speaking. He won gold medals in the 1912 Olympics in both the pentathlon (fi ve track and fi eld events) and decathlon (10 track and fi eld events). Later, he organized an American Indian football team. He was president of the American Professional Football Association (today’s National Football League). He appeared in movies and spoke about American Indian affairs. Jim Thorpe has often been called the “greatest athlete in the world.” A town in Pennsylvania is named after him, but he was born near Prague, Oklahoma.

Jim Thorpe (1887-1953)

the migration patterns of caribou and other game

animals, for food. They also used caribou pelts for their clothes to keep warm in the cold climate of the Arctic.

The Inuit, Yuit and Aleut

considered the Southeastern Region. A little more than 10,000 years ago, some of the fi rst humans, now commonly referred to as Paleo-Indians,

The Plains area is between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. The ancestors of the Hidatsa, Cheyenne, Arapaho and Comanche all inhabited this area long before the descendants of the fi rst European settlers began living here.

Arable land is what we call land that is good for growing. Many states in the Plains area are now part of what we call the “bread basket,” because the land is arable. While there were groups of American Indians in this region who

the migration patterns of caribou and other game

animals, for food. They also used caribou pelts for their clothes to keep warm in the cold climate of the Arctic.

The Inuit, Yuit and Aleut

This Week’s Question Biography

are competitions to see who can use the atlatl to throw are competitions to see who can use the atlatl to throw a spear the farthest. The competitions also see who can a spear the farthest. The competitions also see who can come closest to hitting the center of a target.come closest to hitting the center of a target.

Trades & Technology

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Week 4 of 32 • Page 4

Name _________________________ WEEK 4 The Earliest

Americans Part 1

studiesweekly.com

Throughout the year, you will get to hear from fi ve friends. They are just as excited about Social Studies as you are! Natalia and Steven will be your go-to friends. They are able to travel through time by using primary sources! How cool is that? They will help you understand what people were going through during certain time periods. Alana, Jackson and Claire will pop up sometimes to help you further understand the topics you’re learning about. They’re learning just like you, so you might also hear from their teacher, Ms. Johnson. With these friends by your side, you’re ready to take Studies Weekly to another level!

Natalia, Steven and Claire have done a lot of research to prepare for this week’s lesson all about the earliest Americans. Now they want to share what they learned with you!

Steven: There’s so much to tell! Let’s use this map to identify the areas where each group lived or settled.

Claire: The Cherokee were a part of what we call the Southeastern tribes. So Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia, Louisiana and Florida. Let’s use blue to color that part of the map. What about the Plains Indians?

Natalia: They were here. Kind of in the middle of America. East of the Rocky Mountains and west of the Mississippi River. These tribes lived as far south as Texas and as far north as Canada. We’ll color this area green. The Cheyenne, Arapaho and Comanche are a few of the more well-known Plains Indian tribes. The Comanche are sometimes known as the Horsemen of the Great Plains.

Steven: Since the Plains Indians had a nomadic lifestyle, their shelters had to be lightweight and easy to set up and take down. I remember you said the Southeastern tribes had more stable shelters built of cane and mud.

Claire: The differences in where they lived and what resources they depended on shaped how they lived, what they wore and how they ate.

Steven: The Northeast Indians are next. Those were made up of the Algonquin, Iroquois and Chippewa, to name a few. They lived in a large woodland area between the Great Lakes and the northern Atlantic border in New York. Let’s color this area orange.

Natalia: Some Northwestern American Indian tribes were the Chinook, Yakama, Klickitat, Walla Walla and

Cowlitz. The northwest region that they called home included land west of the Rocky mountains to Washington state, Oregon and northern California. It also stretched along the coast northward into Canada. Let’s use purple for this area!

Claire: American Indians of the Southwest include the Hopi, Navajo, Pueblo and Apache. They lived in parts of the Great Basin and Southwest regions now known as the states of California, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. They could even be found down in Mexico. I’ll color this region yellow.

Natalia: The Southwest region has a hot and arid climate. That means it was dry and warm. All of the tribes living here developed ways of staying cool. They made their homes from clay and straw and they wore few clothes and thin layers.

Steven: That’s very different compared to how the tribes living in the Arctic and Subarctic would have had to dress.

Claire: That’s right, Steven. The tribes who lived in those regions would have had to dress for freezing cold temperatures!

Steven: A few of the tribes who settled in the Arctic region were the Inuit, Yuit and Aleut. This region included parts of northern Canada, Alaska and Greenland. Let’s use red for this area.

Natalia: Each group of native peoples had different clothing, shelter and customs. The geography of where they lived had a lot to do with how they lived.

Be an Archaeologist!Study the picture provided. It represents layers of dirt that have been laid down over a period of thousands of

years. The objects in each layer are called artifacts. An archaeologist’s job is to dig through each layer of dirt and tell the story of the people who lived then by the artifacts they left behind.

1. Who left the objects pictured in the top layer?

_____________________________________

2. Who do you think left the wagon wheel pictured in the next layer?

_____________________________________

3. Which came fi rst: the top layer or the next layer down?

_____________________________________

What is the approximate age of the following artifacts? Where do you look on the picture to fi nd out? Write the age in the blank by the artifact.

4. ___________________________

5. ___________________________

6. ___________________________

7. ___________________________

For many Inuit communities in the Arctic Region of Nunavut, Canada, holding on to their traditional ways of life while living in an increasingly modern world is a common dilemma. Subsistence hunting of arctic animals like whales, narwhals, caribou, polar bears and seals has been affected by climate change. Warming ocean temperatures and melting sea-ice has changed the migration patterns of these animals. Many individuals in these communities who rely on these animals for their meat, fur and pelts now have a hard time making ends meet.

Receding polar ice also means more scientists, conservationists, companies and migrants are arriving. They come to the area to study the people and animals living there, and some arrive to take advantage of the trade and economic opportunities that a warming climate has created for this once isolated and treacherous region of the world.

Inuits have lived in the Arctic Region since time immemorial (past or beyond record or memory). The harsh, cold, icy landscape of the Arctic has kept these communities isolated from the infl uence of the outside world for a long, long time. This means that their culture, beliefs and traditions have had

thousands of years, undisturbed, to develop. For these Inuit, changing how they live day-to-day is much more diffi cult than you might think. Many believe that they shouldn’t have to change.

Inuit Culture:Caught Between Two Worlds

1. 0-30 Years Ago

2. 100-150 Years Ago

3. 750-1,000 Years Ago

4. 10,000- 12,000 Years Ago

This week we have learned about several different tribes. If you were given the opportunity to spend a week with one of the tribes, which tribe would you choose? Why would you have chosen that particular tribe? Please be sure to explain your answer with a valid reason to support it.

1. What was unique about thetribes settling in the Southeastern region?

2. How did location determine what food was available to American Indian tribes?

3. Jim Thorpe was a very unique individual. What was one special thing about him?

4. Why have the tribes in the Arctic developed by themselves over such a long period of time?

5. What does an archaeologist do?

Activity

Let’s WriteThink & Review