What tools do archaeologists and anthropologist use to learned about what life was like in the past. After watching West of The West's documentary Once Upon a Time that details how scientists use artifacts to establish a history of the Chumash on the Channel Islands, fourth graders research one of the native plants utilized by the Chumash and draft an informative paragraph of facts about the plant and how it was used. These paragraphs are then included in a class book.

Concepts

the chumash, native american culture, native american history, native american tribes, native americans, north american native americans, anthropology, archaeology, informative writing

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Begin the lesson by showing West of the West's Tales from California's Channel Islands short video that provides the context for the series of documentaries

Classroom Considerations

• The activity presumes class members are familiar with how to use the Internet for research and with how to craft an informative paragraph

Pros

• The packet includes the plan, a list of Channel Island plants, a graphic organizer for the research project, and a model paragraph

Cons

• Beware the misspellings and typos in the resource
• No rubric is included

Common Core

RI.4.2 W.4.2.a