Arapaho Truths: Wyoming's Native Americans

Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Subject Area

English Language Arts

Grade(s)

4, 5

Overview

The Northern Arapaho of the Wind River Indian Reservation are storytellers. In an effort to pass their culture to the next generation, the elders tell the children four traditional stories. Using clay animation, shadow puppets, painting, drawing, and performance, the children make the stories come to life.

LESSON OBJECTIVES:

Students will investigate how traditional teaching and the passing on of knowledge and wisdom are done through storytelling.

English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 4

ELA21.4.19

Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different cultures.

UP:ELA21.4.19

Vocabulary

  • Compare
  • Contrast
  • Treatment
  • Theme
  • Stories
  • Myths
  • Traditional literature
  • Cultures

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Compare means tell how things are alike or similar, and contrast means tell how things are different.
  • Theme is the main, recurring idea in a text, and there are common themes in literary text.
  • A myth is a type of traditional literature, that often explains the early history of a people or some natural or social phenomenon, that typically involves supernatural beings or events.
  • Culture is the customs or institutions of a particular nation, people, or another social group.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Identify the theme in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different cultures.
  • Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes in literature from different cultures.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Literature often includes universal (common) themes than can help the reader better understand other perspectives and cultures.
English Language Arts (2021) Grade(s): 5

ELA21.5.23

Determine and analyze themes of various culturally-diverse literary texts, supporting analysis with textual evidence.

UP:ELA21.5.23

Vocabulary

  • Determine
  • Analyze
  • Themes
  • Culturally-diverse literary text
  • Textual evidence

Knowledge

Students know:
  • Theme is the main, recurring idea in a text.
  • An author develops a theme by including specific details in the text to help the reader identify and understand the theme.
  • There are common, or universal, themes that frequently appear in literary text.

Skills

Students are able to:
  • Identify the themes of various culturally-diverse literary texts.
  • Analyze the themes of various culturally-diverse literary texts using text evidence.

Understanding

Students understand that:
  • Literature often includes universal (common) themes, and the author suggests the theme of the text by including particular details about characters or events.
  • They can demonstrate they understood the theme of a story by using text evidence to support their identification.

CR Resource Type

Audio/Video

Resource Provider

PBS

License Type

CUSTOM
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