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Goals

Content Standards
  • The student will identify the importance of the buffalo to the Native Americans.
  • The student will name the different parts of the buffalo and Native American uses for that part of the buffalo.
  • The student will learn about the role of the bison in the lives of the Plains Indians during the past two centuries and the hunting techniques of the Plains Indians.

Resources:

Website: http://doe.sd.gov/octa/ddn4learning/themeunites/buffaloroundup
Plains Indian Bison Hunting Techniques Note sheet - Download: PDF | WORD
Importance of Buffalo to Native Americans Note Sheet - Download: PDF | WORD
Parfleche Sheet - Download: PDF | WORD
Winter Count Sheet - Download: PDF | WORD
Buffalo Trunk from http://www.sdhistory.org/mus_kits.htm
Picture of Buffalo – book, off the web, etc.
Brown Paper Bags
Colored Markers/Pencils

Activity 1

Students will read and discuss Plains Indian Buffalo Hunting Techniques.
Download: PDF | WORD

  • Ask them:

* Where/how do we get the items we need for survival, i.e.food, clothes, shelter or home?
* How did the Plains Indians meet their needs through the bison?
* How did the Plains Indians hunt the bison?
* How did the use of the horse affect hunting techniques?

  • Discuss hunting techniques of the Native American.

Activity 2

Give each student a photocopy of American Buffalo, The General Store for the Indians of the Great Plains. Download: PDF | WORD

Using this copy as a reference, the students will discuss the importance of the bison and will:
* explore the variety of uses of bison by the Plains Indians
* compare and contrast these uses with items that they use in their everyday lives
* explore the importance of the bison to the Plains Indians

Use the Buffalo Trunk from the South Dakota Historical Society to help answer these questions.

Activity 3

Provide each student with the Parfleche Activity Sheets.
Download: PDF | WORD

Ask them:
* What do they use to carry their things when they go on a trip? Answers could be suitcases, bags, backpacks, etc.
* Using the background information provided, tell them about the Indian suitcase, the parfleche
* Show them a parfleche image. Explain that they will be making their own paper
parfleche.

1. Ask students to follow the directions provided.
2. Ask students how parfleches might be carried by the Plains Indians. (Possible answers might be the horse or dog travois.)

Activity 4

Create a Winter Count using Winter Count Activity Sheet.
Download: PDF | WORD

Activity 5

Divide the students into groups of 6. Have them develop a historical role-play in which the buffalo hunt is portrayed as well as uses of the buffalo to the Native Americans.

Assessment:

Historical Role-Play on hunting buffalo incorporating uses of buffalo into it.
Sample rubric located at http://rubistar.4teachers.org/view_rubric.php3?id=83403 or create your own at http://rubistar.4teachers.org/