Early Americans -- Their Culture and Law
Memphis City School Teachers
Memphis, Tennessee
89040
ABSTRACT: The student will use information about early Indian culture to prioritize needs of the tribe. This would include laws as well as basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. The students will draw a map of an Indian village. The time period for this lesson is the 1500s.

UNIT: Why Law?

GOAL: To show how law has developed and changed to maintain an organized society.

CONCEPT: All people need laws.

OBJECTIVES: The students will be able to:

1. Draw conclusions about early Indian cultures by planning and mapping out an early Indian village from a simulated story.

2. Explain this early culture and the need for laws by researching and answering questions relating to early cultures.

 VOCABULARY:

CULTURE - the ideas and the way people of a certain time lived

CHIEF - the leader or person in the highest position of a group of people

CRAFTSMAN - a person skilled in a trade

SECONDARY - of lesser importance

PRIEST - a special person who performs religious ceremonies in a temple of God

BLUFF - a high, steep bank or cliff
 

SKILLS: The students can:

1. Draw a conclusion.
2. Research to answer questions.
3. Plan and map out an early village. STUDENT ACTIVITIES: 1. Have the students read the following story, pretend they are the early Indians, and do research to answer questions.

An early tribe of Indians arrived at a new hunting ground located by a great river. The climate was moderate, and there was an abundance of trees and vegetation. From the bluffs along the river, the Indians could see many wild animals.

Help these early Indians set up a village and laws under which to live. The following are some questions to help you get started.

a. What are the three basic needs of man?
b. Where would the people build their homes - by the bluffs or the inland?
c. What kind of homes would they build?
d. What kind of foods would they have?
e. What types of problems will they have? (other people, animals, disease, famine)
f. Why would they need laws?
g. Under what type of laws would these people live?
h. What skills would the Indians need so they could continue to exist?
i. What kinds of weapons and tools would these people need?
j. What kinds of clothes will they wear and where will they get the materials to make them?

2. Have the students map out their village. On the following pages, pictures are drawn for them to copy and use.

 EVALUATION: 1. Give teacher-made test.
2. Check the students’ ability to map out the Indian village. RESOURCE MATERIAL: See pictures following this page that can be used to help students map out an Indian village.