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 Name: Grade level: Fourth Grade
Subject areas: Social Studies, Language Arts
COMPARING THE CHEROKEE AND THE MAYA
Both Part of the Native American Story
Developed by:
Linda McDonald
Fourth Grade Teacher
Avery’s Creek Elementary
Arden, NC
UNIT ESSENTIAL QUESTION:
Name: Was the experience of North Carolina’s Cherokee similar to Native American
experiences in other parts of our continent?
DAY 1: Read to learn about Mayan Civilization
Learning Objectives
Materials
NOTE: This unit assumes that students are already familiar with
Cherokee history and culture through the fourth grade social studies
curriculum. Therefore, this unit is best taught in the second half of
the school year.
Learning Objectives
•
CCSS RI 4.4: Students will determine meaning of
words in grade level text.
•
CCSS RI 4.3: Students will explain events/ideas based
on information in a text.
•
CCSS RI 4.5: Students will describe the overall
structure of a text.
Materials
Meet the Maya
(leveled readers part of
the SF Reading Street
series for fourth grade)
Opening Activity
Introduce the essential question to students. Have them discuss and/or write in their
journals their thoughts.
Main Activities
Pre-Read:
1. Students pre-view vocabulary by noticing which words are familiar to them. Discuss
Mesoamerica using the map on page 4. Also discuss astronomy (astro- prefix meaning
“stars” or “space”) and list other words that use this prefix.
Read:
2. Students read the text. Support below grade level readers.
Post Read:
3. Students make a list of headings in this book. How is the text organized (i.e., is the
Mayan story presented in chronological order or by topic?)
DAY 2 and 3: Compare and Contrast the Maya Experience with the Cherokee
Name: •
CCSS RI 4.3: Students will explain events/ideas based
on information in a text.
•
CCSS W 4.8: students will recall information from
experiences, gather information from sources, take
notes and categorize information.
•
CCSS W 4.9 : Students will draw evidence from a text
to support analysis, reflection and research
Meet the Maya
(leveled readers part of
the SF Reading Street
series for fourth grade)
Social studies textbook or
other curriculum material
used to learn the history
of the Cherokee
Organizer supplied with
this unit
Opening Activity
To open, have students turn and talk about one special thing they learned yesterday about
the Maya.
Main Activities
Students will go back to the original texts and organize information about the Maya and
Cherokee peoples. This work will take two class periods to complete.
Supplemental Materials:
If internet access is readily available, here are appropriate websites that can add to student
knowledge for this phase of the unit, possibly as a lesson extension:
http://mayas.mrdonn.org/
http://nativeamericans.mrdonn.org/southeast/cherokee.html
http://www.mayankids.com/mkintro.htm
http://wsharing.com/WScherokeeTimeline.htm
Assessment
As students work on this phase, monitoring will provide formative assessment in addition
to the opportunity to re-teach reading concepts as needed.
Students will use their background knowledge about Cherokee history and their
newly acquired knowledge of the Maya to compare and contrast their stories using
a supplied organizer.
Name: DAY 4 and 5: Compare/Contrast Essay or Foldable Project
Students will use the information that they have organized to produce a project
that synthesizes their understanding about both cultures.
Learning Objectives
•
CCSS RI 4.3: Students will explain events/ideas based
on information in a text.
•
CCSS W 4.8: students will recall information from
experiences, gather information from sources, take
notes and categorize information.
•
CCSS W 4.9 : Students will draw evidence from a text
to support analysis, reflection and research
Materials
Meet the Maya
(leveled readers part of
the SF Reading Street
series for fourth grade)
Social studies textbook or
other curriculum material
used to learn the history
of the Cherokee
Organizer supplied with
this unit
Compare/contrast frame
Opening Activity
N/A
Main Activities
To synthesize what they have learned, students will write a compare and contrast essay.
Depending on the level of student, this can take the form of independent essay writing
using their organizer for supporting arguments. If students need more support to write
the appropriate structure for compare and contrast, the attached writing frame can be
used. As a final option, students could prepare a venn diagram foldable booklet using the
directions found at this website:
http://sblc.registereastconn.org/foldables/VennDiagramThreeTabBook.pdf
Assessment
The product will provide summative assessment for the stated learning objectives.
Name: Compare and Contrast Organizer
Cherokee
Writing
Beliefs
Shelter
Food
Wheree
Where
Maya
What do you know about
their culture today?
Result of contact
(what happened?)
First European
contact (who/when)
Name: Cherokee
Compare and Contrast Organizer
Maya
Name: WRITING FRAME FOR COMPARE /CONTRAST ESSAY
and
have many
similarities and differences. For example, they are both
.
They are also similar because
.
They both
.
However, they are different because
.
, on the other hand,
.
Another difference is that
, while
.
Even though they have differences,
makes them similar.