American Crossroads: Teaching History on the Great Plains

Created by:

John Demuth, Fergus Falls Middle School Alternative Learning Center Teacher

Objectives:

1. Students will be able to list vegetables that were grown by Native Americans and were introduced into European cuisine.
2. Students will create a report the will list vegetables native to North America, list vegetable origins, list other names the vegetable was know by, and tell how the vegetable would be prepared.
3. Students will prepare an order for the school garden that contains only vegetables native to the Americas prior to European arrival.

 

Minnesota Standards:

I. U.S. HISTORY

B. Pre-history through 1607

The student will demonstrate knowledge of European exploration of the North American continent and the resulting interaction with American Indian nations.

2. Students will know and explain that interactions between American Indian tribes and European explorers had positive and negative impacts.

2. Trading relationships,

 

 

Time Frame: 4 - 7 periods

Grade Levels: 4^th – 8^th Grade

 

Materials:

Internet:

• Victory Seeds – Seed Origins http://www.victoryseeds.com/information/origin.html
• Backyard Gardener – Vegetable Origins http://www.backyardgardener.com/veg/origin.html
• KIDIPEDE – North American Food Before 1500AD http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/northamerica/before1500/food/index.htm
• Plant Answers – Our Vegetable Travelers http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/publications/vegetabletravelers/index.html

 

Books:

• The Good Land: Native American and Early Colonial Food, by Patricia B. Mitchell
• Documenting the American South - A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, by Thomas Hariot, (pgs. 13 – 16) http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/hariot/hariot.html
• Google Books- A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, by Thomas Hariot, http://books.google.com/books?id=JvgWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT4&dq=Thomas+Hariot&output=text

 

Other:

• Various Vegetable Seed Catalogues
• Study Guide: James Hariot
• Seed Order

    

Activities:

 

1.    Students will read The Second Part of Such Commodities from A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, by James Hariot together with teacher and complete James Hariot Study Guide.

 

2.    Students will use internet websites to determine which vegetables were native to North America and complete a seed order for the school garden using various seed catalogues. 

           

 

Assessment:

After completion of above activities the students will select vegetables native to the Americas prior to European arrival and report to the class using one of the following methods.

 

1.    Written Report including common vegetable name, Native American name, origin, planting considerations, uses and preparation of vegetable, and travel to Europe.

2.     Oral Report including common vegetable name, Native American name, origin, planting considerations, uses and preparation of vegetable, and travel to Europe.

3.    Poster with native North American Foods including common name and Native American name and origin.

4.    Map of the Americas with the origins of the vegetable labeled including common and Native American names.

  

Thomas Hariot described each of the following vegetables in A Briefe And True Reporte of the New Found Land of Virginia.  Use the grid below to fill in the descriptions.

 

Common Name	Native American Name	Other Names		Hariot's Description
Corn
Beans
Peas
Squash
Sunflowers

 

 

Pretend you are Thomas Hariot reporting to the people of England on the vegetables found in Virginia.  Choose one of the vegetables from above and write a description that would make people curious about this unfamiliar food.

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 Native American Vegetable Order Sheet

Vegetable	Variety	Catalogue	Item Number	Quantity	Cost

 

Use seed catalogues and internet sites to determine which Native American vegetables to order for our school garden.  Be sure to fill in the order completely.