Native American Heritage | Social Studies Unit for Little Learners

The Native American Heritage Unit integrates literacy, art, and social studies to help students understand how people live, work, and interact with their environments. Activities align with C3 Social Studies Framework, Common Core ELA, NGSS, and Texas TEKS standards for early learning.

C3 Framework for Social Studies (K–2)

• D2.Geo.2.K–2: Use maps and other representations to identify physical and human features of familiar places (regional crafts and booklets).

• D2.Geo.3.K–2: Identify how people adapt to and modify their environment to meet needs (homes, clothing, and food by region).

• D2.Geo.4.K–2: Explain how weather, climate, and physical features affect how people live (desert, plains, forests, and coastal regions).

• D2.His.2.K–2: Compare life in the past to life today (community traditions and daily life).

• D2.His.3.K–2: Generate questions about individuals and groups from the past (Native peoples and their communities).

• D2.Civ.2.K–2: Explain how people work together to meet common needs (community cooperation and family roles).

Common Core ELA – Kindergarten

• RI.K.1: With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text (reading about regional life).

• RI.K.2: Identify the main topic and retell key details (mini-booklets and shared reading).

• SL.K.1: Participate in collaborative conversations about classroom topics and texts (community and culture discussions).

• L.K.5.A: Sort common objects into categories to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent (sorting by region or resource).

• W.K.2: Use drawing, dictation, and writing to compose informative texts (writing about what students learned from each region).

NGSS – Next Generation Science Standards (Kindergarten–2nd Grade)

• K-ESS3-1: Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of people and their environments (how Native peoples used local resources).

• K-ESS3-2: Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about the environment to help people make decisions (farming, hunting, building).

• 2-LS4-1: Make observations of plants and animals to compare diversity in different habitats (connections between regions and resources).

TEKS – Kindergarten Social Studies

• §113.11(b)(2): Identify the purpose of maps and globes (locating regional areas).

• §113.11(b)(3)(A): Identify similarities and differences among people such as food, clothing, and shelter.

• §113.11(b)(4)(A): Describe how families and communities meet basic human needs.

• §113.11(b)(5)(A): Identify examples of past events or customs that influence the present (Native traditions and crafts).

• §113.11(b)(6)(A): Identify authority figures and community leaders (roles in Indigenous communities).

TEKS – Kindergarten ELA

• §110.2(b)(2)(A): Demonstrate one-to-one correspondence between spoken and printed words (shared reading and vocabulary).

• §110.2(b)(6)(B): Retell or act out important events in stories (storytime and mini-booklets).

• §110.2(b)(7)(A): Describe personal connections to texts (community and family comparisons).

Art and Fine Motor Standards

• Creative Expression: Use a variety of media and tools to express ideas about culture and environment (regional crafts, totem designs, pottery patterns).

• Fine Motor Skills: Develop coordination through tracing, coloring, and cutting activities.