Traveling Trunk Lesson Plan 1: American Bison & The Southern Plains Tribes

Essential Question

How has conflict resulted from the migration and settlement of people as they expanded across the continent, and how were they resolved?

Objective

Identify objects made from bison and their uses.
Explain how the bison (or lack thereof) impacted the tribes.
Understand the significance of the bison to the Southern Plains tribes and white settlers.

Traveling Trunk Items

bladder, parfleche, horn spoon, hoof, bone awl, bladder bag, moccasins, horn sheath, jawbone, hide rope, bone buzzsaw, and hide piece

Hook

1. Open PowerPoint. Begin by showing a picture of a compilation of Southern Plains tribes.
   • Ask: What is your favorite food?
2. Explain: American bison was the favorite food of many Southern Plains tribes. No other animal (including horses) was as important to the tribes as the bison. They used almost every part of the bison, very little went to waste.
3. Hand out bison identification sheet.
4. Allow students to work alone or in groups to identify which parts of the bison they think are used for the items in the trunk.
5. Bring the students back together and collect the worksheet (This worksheet will be revisited at the end of the lesson).

Explore

(Feel free to play the Buffalo Dance CD for ambiance)

1. Place items from the trunk listed above around the room in 4-6 stations. Divide students as appropriate.

2. Give each student an exploration sheet and have them complete it at each station. Allow set amount of time at each station before rotating.
3. Encourage students to engage with the trunk items, answering questions as needed.
4. After all students have been able to explore all the items, review their answers on the exploration worksheet.
5. Open PowerPoint presentation and use it to review and discuss the items the students saw as well as additional items not found in the trunk.
6. Redistribute bison worksheet allow students to discuss answers and make changes as needed. They should now be able to label and identify the various uses of a bison found on the worksheet (This could be collected as an exit slip if you choose).

Homework/Extension

1. Select one item and use columns 3 & 4 from exploration worksheet (How was the item used?, Why is this item important?) to further explore. Why did you select this item as something you want to investigate further? Why is this item important to the Southern Plains tribes? Do people today still use similar items?

Associated Files

1. Lesson One PowerPoint (PPTX, 2340 KB)
2. Bison Identification Worksheet (PDF, 74 KB)
3. Bison Exploration Worksheet (PDF, 84 KB)