Cherokee People and Culture Study

Second and third graders just began a new unit on Cherokees. Last week, students learned about belief systems, homes, language, food, flag, clans, and roles. They also heard about the Green Corn Dance, a type of New Year celebration.

Students began the study by watching a video on Cherokees and looking through Cherokee books.  As a class, we talked about using text features, such as the table of contents, glossary, and index to do research.

Students used post-its to mark important information about each of the topics studied.

Students read and chose words to complete sentences (in their booklets) about each topic.

They learned the symbolism of the Cherokee Nation flag and began coloring it.

Finally, students were introduced to a great, intelligent, brave Cherokee man, Sequoyah, who created a syllabary of the Cherokee language, allowing literacy and printing to flourish!

Students are beginning to experiment with it. So far, we have been able to write Milano’s name using the Cherokee syllabary!

This week, students are taking their learning and making a poster!  They were given a checklist with the steps they will need to follow in order to complete the poster.

They need to follow the directions and make sure they have done each step.  Students chose whether to work individually or with a partner, considering how they could be most successful.

On Monday, each person or pair chose the 4 topics they would show on their poster.  On Tuesday, they laid out their poster, wrote the title, and started their work on the first topic.  Each topic needs labels, illustrations, color, and proofreading.

Today students added a second topic. They are doing phenomenal work!  You’d be delighted to see how focused they are!!

By the time you come for Parent Student Evening on January 19, their work should be completed.  You will be able to see the fruits of their labor!  Hopefully, you will discover and learn new information about the Cherokee Nation through your children’s projects.