Foods of the Eastern Woodlands

LESSON THREE

The best advice I received when I began teaching about the native people of the Eastern Woodlands, was to start by covering their basic needs.  Approaching the material this way, made it considerably more manageable. 

So after learning about traditional Eastern Woodland shelters and the resources used to build them, I moved on to discussing what foods were available.   Food is one of my favorite things to talk about, so this was fun from the start.  But the lesson ended even better than it began, with a taste of popcorn dipped in maple syrup!  

To begin, we learned about 'gathering' - what people would have gathered from the environment to eat and that this was often one of the responsibilities children would have. caption

Then we brainstormed names of animals that live in this environment that might have been hunted.  My favorite part of this lesson is when we talk about the American Indian belief that all things in nature have a spirit.  People would thank the animal for giving its life for their needs.

I use these illustrations to show how early American Indians used the materials in their environment to create tools for hunting.  While gruesome, the kids appreciated that the turkey snare and the "death fall" allowed people to hunt for food with minimal harm to themselves.  
These illustration come from a book called: The New England Indians (C. Keith Wilbur)

The Three Sisters were a major staple of the Native Americans.   Planting fields in this manner helped yield successful harvests. 

Many foods that the Native American people grew were foreign to the Europeans who arrived in the 16th and 17th centuries. 

After talking about the foods people of the woodlands gathered, hunted and grew, the students completed a graphic organizer in the form of a plate - Page 6 in the All Woodland Worksheets packet -  They were tasked with illustrating and labeling foods eaten in each of the three categories.  The plates looked delicious and were a fun way to reinforce the information as well as assess each child's understanding.

We learned that the early Native Americans often ate in the morning and shared a large meal around mid-day.  If they were hungry in between larger meals, there were always pots stewing, dried meat to chew on, or popcorn to pop!

So as my students filled up their plates, I set up my popcorn machine and made a batch of air pop popcorn for the class to share. We were delighted to learn that the early Native American people would cook kernels over the fire, and that it was considered a snack that brought people together.  We put it in dixie cups and sprinkled maple syrup over it for a sweet flavor - similar to the way tribes in the northeast enjoyed it!