Traveling Resource Trunks

Indian Homes in Kansas

Grade 1

Ideas for using this trunk with different ages and youth groups.

The Indian Homes in Kansas traveling resource trunk explores housing styles of Indians from Kansas. The teaching materials contained in this trunk include reproductions of Indian artifacts, photographs and drawings, models of three historical housing styles, books, and lesson plans. The lessons in the trunk were designed to emphasize that houses built long ago were different from contemporary houses, that long ago Indians used natural resources to build their homes, and that long ago Indians adapted their houses to the available natural resources.

Trunk Specifications
Weight: 49 lbs.
Dimensions: 28" long x 20.5" wide x 15" high
Insure for $500 when shipping.

Kansas Curricular Standards Connections

Trunk Manual

Introductory Information and List of Trunk Contents

Lesson 1: Indians in Kansas Today

Explore the daily life of a contemporary Indian child living in Kansas through Cassie's Scrapbook, a nonfiction book. Expository text is used to explore aspects of her daily life such as home, hobbies, education, and the preservation of her Indian heritage.

Lesson 2: Building With Natural Resources

Sort objects related to Indian home construction into three natural resource groups.

Lesson 3: Building a Grass House

Use photographs, objects and a "sewing" activity to introduce students to the grass house as one type of housing used long ago by Indians living on the Kansas prairie. Sentence strips with picture clue cards reinforce ten facts about the grass house.

Lesson 4: Building an Earth Lodge

Use photographs, objects and a math estimation activity to introduce students to the earth lodge as one type of housing used long ago by Indians living on the Kansas prairie. Sentence strips with picture clue cards reinforce ten facts about the earth lodge.

Lesson 5: Building a Tipi

Use photographs, objects, and a small tipi to introduce students to the tipi as one type of housing used long ago by Indians living on the Kansas Plains. Sentence strips with picture clue cards reinforce ten facts about the tipi.



Lesson 6: Adapting to the Environment: The Kansa

Explore one way people adapt their homes to fit the environment they live in. Pictures and a map allow students to follow the Kansa as they moved to Kansas and adapted their homes to a new environment. A picture book illustrates many of the different environments on earth and the types of homes people build in them. Students build a home from resources provided and then adapt it as their resources change.

Lesson 7: Comparing the Grass House, Earth Lodge and Tipi

Compare the similarities and differences of the tipi, grass house, and earth lodge using a Kansas map, sentence strips, and graphic organizers.

Lesson 8: Read Kansas!: Indian Homes in Kansas

This lesson is part of the Read Kansas! curriculum series. Explore the connection between Indians in Kansas and the environment. Through readings, students learn about the traditional homes of the Wichita, Pawnee, Cheyenne, and Kansa.

The Kansas Historical Society developed the Indian Homes in Kansas traveling trunk with major funding provided by the Westar Energy Foundation and the Kansas State Department of Education.

Looking for other programs or activities?

The Kansas Historical Society has a variety of programs available for your use including other traveling resource trunks; traveling exhibits; guided tours of state historic sites, the state Capitol, and the Kansas Museum of History; and online resources. For more information on these contact the Education and Outreach Division at 6425 SW Sixth Avenue, Topeka, KS 66615-1099; 785-272-8681, ext. 414, Fax 785-272-8682; or education@kshs.org.

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