Overview of the Lesson:

Wars were fought. Treaties were broken. Native American people were moved off of their land so that settlers could make their homes there. The “removal” went on for years. Native people were required to leave their familiar surroundings for places with different geography, different climates and different food. Why would the food be different? Perhaps soil and growing conditions affect what can be grown at a location. This lesson allows the students to use their writing skills to explain how soils collected from different locations around the United States could affect the growing of various crops.

 

Video Synopsis:

The Removal
What happened to the Shawnee, the Seneca, the Mingo, the Delaware and the Wyandotte? Where are the great nations of Ohio today? The Removal explains the two main causes of Ohio’s Native American population decrease: cultural compression and European settlers moving into Ohio.

 

Goal:

Students will collect soil samples from around the United States and plant corn, beans and squash and then compare the growth.

 

Objectives:

Language Arts Content Standards

Grade 4 Benchmark: Writing Processes

Indicator: Prewriting

2. State and develop a clear main idea for writing.

3. Develop a purpose and audience for writing.

Indicator: Drafting, Revising and Editing

6. Vary simple, compound and complex sentence structures.

7. Create paragraphs with topic sentences and supporting sentences that are marked by indentation and are linked by transitional words and phrases.

8. Vary language and style as appropriate to audience and purpose.

9. Use available technology to compose text.

10. Reread and assess writing for clarity, using a variety of methods.

14. Proofread writing and edit to improve conventions.

 

Grade 4 Benchmark: Writing Applications

3. Write formal and informal letters that follow letter format, include important information and demonstrate a sense of closure.

4. Write information reports that include facts and examples and present important details in a logical order.

 

Grade 5 Benchmark: Life Science

4. Summarize that organisms can survive only in ecosystems in which their needs can be met. The world has different ecosystems and distinct ecosystems support the lives of different types of organisms.

 

Science Content Standards

Grade 4 Benchmark: Scientific Inquiry

3. Develop, design and conduct safe, simple investigations or experiments to answer questions.

4. Explain the importance of keeping conditions the same in an experiment.

5. Describe how comparisons may not be fair when some conditions are not kept the same between experiments.

6. Formulate instructions and communicate data in a manner that allows others to understand and repeat an investigation or experiment.

 

Procedures:

Part 1

1. After Cultural Compression Activity 1 is completed, discuss why the Native Americans might not be able to eat the same types of food that they had eaten in the past.

2. Brainstorm possible factors that might make a change in the eating habits of the Native Americans necessary (temperature, growing season, soil types, etc.).

3. Ask the students if they have relatives that live far away from Ohio. If they do, they could write to their relatives asking them to send a bag of soil from their area. If they do not have relatives who live outside of their area, they could write to an agency in a state far away. Letters should be appropriate to either a relative or an agency, depending upon the person to whom the letter is written.
   
   

Part 2

1. After one month, take any soil you have collected and plant corn, beans and squash (the three sisters) in all of the types of soil.

2. Review the scientific method so that students are testing only one variable at a time.

3. Divide the class into three groups. One group will test the effect of water, one the effect of light and the third the effect of temperature.

4. Students can go on the Web and find information about the place from which the soil comes. They should find the average amount of rainfall, average temperature and the number of days of sunshine.

5. Based on what they discover, students will make the determination as to the effect of the amount of water, the amount of sunshine and the temperature.

6. Each person in the group will get two cups -- one filled with local soil and one filled with one of the types of soil collected. Cups will be labeled as to the type of soil and all cups should be labeled consecutively.
   
   The temperature group will put all plants into either a very warm or a cool temperature. Water and light should remain constant for all plants.
   
   The water group will keep the temperature and the light constant, but will vary the amount of water.
   
   The light group will keep the amount of water and the temperature constant for all plants but will vary the amount of light.

7. Allow plants to grow for one month. Keep records of the amount of growth of each plant. At the end of that time, have students write a few paragraphs comparing the growth of the plants. From that comparison, ask them to generalize if type of soil could be a factor in why some foods could not be grown in different areas.
   
   (If no one sends you soil, you could bring in different types of soil. For example, sandy soil, soil with acid added, etc.)

Materials:

Part 1

• Computers
• Writing materials

Part 2

• Soil
• Paper cups
• Rulers
• Computers
• Writing material

Evaluation:

Rubric for Letter

CATEGORY	20	15	10	5
Content Accuracy	The letter contains at least 5 accurate facts about the topic.	The letter contains 3-4 accurate facts about the topic.	The letter contains 1-2 accurate facts about the topic.	The letter contains no accurate facts about the topic.
Grammar & spelling (conventions)	Writer makes no errors in grammar or spelling.	Writer makes 1-2 errors in grammar and/or spelling.	Writer makes 3-4 errors in grammar and/or spelling	Writer makes more than 4 errors in grammar and/or spelling.
Ideas	Ideas were expressed in a clear and organized fashion. It was easy to figure out what the letter was about.	Ideas were expressed in a pretty clear manner, but the organziation could have been better.	Ideas were somewhat organized, but were not very clear. It took more than one reading to figure out what the letter was about.	The letter seemed to be a collection of unrelated sentences. It was very difficult to figure out what the letter was about.
Format	Complies with all the requirements for a friendly letter.	Complies with almost all the requirements for a friendly letter.	Complies with several of the requirements for a friendly letter.	Complies with less than 75% of the requirements for a friendly letter.

 

Rubric for Report

CATEGORY	20	15	10	5
Quality of Information	Information clearly relates to the main topic. It includes several supporting details and/or examples.	Information clearly relates to the main topic. It provides 1-2 supporting details and/or examples.	Information clearly relates to the main topic. No details and/or examples are given.	Information has little or nothing to do with the main topic.
Amount of Information	All topics are addressed and all questions answered with at least 2 sentences about each.	All topics are addressed and most questions answered with at least 2 sentences about each.	All topics are addressed, and most questions answered with 1 sentence about each.	One or more topics were not addressed.
Paragraph Construction	All paragraphs included introductory sentence, explanations or details, and concluding sentence.	Most paragraphs included introductory sentence, explanations or details, and concluding sentence.	Paragraphs included related information but were typically not constructed well.	Paragraphing structure was not clear and sentences were not typically related within the paragraphs.
Mechanics	No grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors.	Almost no grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors.	A few grammatical spelling or punctuation errors.	Many grammatical, spelling or punctuation errors.

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