Shoebox Dioramas Provided by the South Dakota Art Museum Brookings, South Dakota
South Dakota Artists Curriculum Unit Title of Lesson Plan: Shoebox Dioramas Grade Level: 3 5
South Dakota Content Standards Reading: 3.R.4.1 3.R.5.2 3.R.5.3 4.R.5.2 5.R.5.3 Students can respond to ideas and attitudes expressed in multicultural and historical texts by making connections. Students can choose reference materials to locate information. Students can collect information from two reference materials. Students can research a topic by gathering information from at least two sources. Students can choose references to meet the needs of an assigned task.
South Dakota Content Standards U.S. History: 3.US.2.1 Students are able to describe characteristics of a community. 3.US.2.2 Students are able to identify a community s culture and history.
Assessment Strategies Class discussions Group discussions as they are working on their projects Finished shoebox dioramas of Native American culture Group presentations of Native American community dioramas
Learning Objectives The student will identify Native American tribes of South Dakota. The student will understand what a community is and how Native American tribes in South Dakota lived differently from one another. Students will describe characteristics of a community. The student will identify Native American culture and history in South Dakota.
Time Required Day One: 30-45 minutes Day Two-Day Four: Students will need time throughout the week to work on their projects. I would recommend 30-45 minutes per day for 3 days. Day Five: 30-45 minutes
Materials/Technology Needed Shoeboxes Scissors, crayons, grass, sticks, canvas, twigs, markers, etc. Access to the Internet for research Art in the Schools Curriculum Unit from the South Dakota Art Museum
Background Information It is important for students to understand Native American culture and history. In this lesson the students will understand that not all Native American tribes lived the same way. By examining art from the South Dakota Art Museum, students will identify characteristics of Native American culture and history and then design a diorama of their own portraying a community of a Native American tribe in South Dakota.
Lesson Description Using the information from the Art in the Schools Curriculum Unit from the South Dakota Art Museum, discuss with the class characteristics of several Native American tribes in South Dakota. (The background information in the Art in the Schools Curriculum Unit will help lead you in this discussion.) The unit has copies of paintings of the Mandan, the Arikara, and the Oceti Sakowin (Lakota) tribes. Show the paintings to the students and make lists on the board of how the communities of the tribes portrayed in the paintings are similar and how they are different.
Lesson Description continued Discuss with the class characteristics of a community and how not all communities are the same. Have the students identify characteristics of a community. Have the class define the culture of Native American tribes in South Dakota. Briefly discuss the histories of these tribes. Again, the background knowledge in the Art in the Schools Curriculum will help. Divide the class into groups of 3-4 students per group. Explain to the class that they are going to portray the culture and history of a Native American tribe in a box. They are to cut out the front of a shoe box and design a Native American community scene inside the box. (You may wish to assign a tribe to each group or let them pick their own.)
Lesson Description continued The community scene inside the shoebox needs to be a three dimensional scene depicting life as it would have been for that particular Native American tribe when they lived on the South Dakota plains during the time that Lewis and Clark traveled the state. The students may use paper, sticks, twigs, grasses, etc. to portray their tribe. Once the groups are finished with their project, have each group give an oral presentation of their Native American culture to the class using their shoebox dioramas as a visual aid.
Enrichment Have each student write an essay describing the culture and history of a Native American tribe.
Bibliography/Resources South Dakota Art Museum