STAGE 1 – DESIRED RESULTS

Unit Title: ___California American Indians/ The Tongva Indians.____ ____________________________________________

Established Goals: Students describe the American Indian Nations in their local region long ago and in the recent
past. ( 3.2 )

Understandings: Students will understand that… Essential Questions:

• The many resources of the rivers, oceans, and forests
influenced the Indian’s way of life.
Nature is sacred.
• How does, where we live influence how we live?
How does the environment effect beliefs and customs?
When the Indian Nations changed the land, they did it
with great care. How were they able to do that?

Students will know: Students will be able to:

• Indian’s respected their land.
Review map of American Indian groups in
California. Locate rivers, mountains, and islands.

The Indians had a close connection with the land Read literature on Indians; “The Sign of the
because the land provided them with everything Beaver”.
required for survival.
Read legends of the Tongva Indians; “ How
Over much of the area, the natural resources were California was Made”.
so abundant that even densely populated villages
did not need to have agriculture.
Recall details about the Tongva’s food, shelter,
hunting, and gathering.
Most tribes survived off of hunting and
gathering. Illustrate a scene of a typical village, of the Tongva
Indians.

Source: Understanding by Design, Unit Design Planning Template (Wiggins/McTighe 2005) 1

Nicole Galvan
STAGE 2 – ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE
Performance Tasks: Other Evidence:
Journal Reflection; The journal entry will be a Observations
description of the following events. The student, a Work Samples
Native American Indian boy/girl, will meet an Weekly Quizzes
American child. This child does not know how to Unit Test
survive on the Tongva’s native land. The Tongva
Indian boy/girl will teach the child how to hunt for
fish and small animals with the tools, they have
made. Then they will gather fruits, acorns, and
plants as the Tongva child instructs. All through
their excursions, the Indian child shares details of
the importance of each object that they gathered.
The final act of survival will be that the child will
prepare a simple meal. The meal will consist only
of the foods that they have hunted and gathered.

Key Criteria: Journal Rubric

10 Points 5 Points 0 Points

Facts Accurate Facts Developed Incomplete
Throughout
Voice In First Person In First Person Incomplete
Organization Paragraph No indentation Incomplete
Writing Mechanics Capitalization, Only 2 out of 4 Incomplete
Punctuation, mechanics
Spelling, Word
Usage

Source: Understanding by Design, Unit Design Planning Template (Wiggins/McTighe 2005) 2

 STAGE 3 – LEARNING PLAN
Summary of Learning Activities:
1¶ Tongva Village. Students will make illustrations of how the Tongva Indians lived.
2¶ Acorns. Students will prepare a simple meal plan with the main ingredients being the
natural resources of the Tongva Indians.
3¶ Picture Walk. Students will walk around the classroom viewing pictures of shelters,
food, clothing, and tools of the Tongva Indians. A short question/ answer session will
follow. The teacher will ask each student at least one question of the presented
pictures.
4¶ KWL Chart. Before reading the book; “ The Sign of the Beaver”, students will complete
the first two sections of the chart( “What I already know about..”, and “ What I would like
to find out about…”). After reading the book, the students will complete the,” What I
learned..” section. A Pair Share will follow.
5¶ Mind Maps. Students will choose a Mind Map( Bubble Map, Double Bubble Map, Tree
Map, Brace Map, Flow Map, or Multi-Flow Map). They will be done in small groups or
individually.
6¶ Directed Reading-Thinking Activity. In a group, students will think about the content of
the book; “ The Sign of the Beaver”. The steps;1) students predict what they will read
and set purpose for reading. 2) students read the material. 3) Students discover if their
predictions and hypotheses are confirmed.
7¶ Graphic Organizers. Students will create Graphic Organizers on the natural resources
of that the Tongva Indians use in their daily lives. The charts should include the
following titles; fish, small animals, fruits, plants, herbs, or nuts.
8¶ Posters. Students will create a poster, in small groups. The three poster types are
Image and Quote and Advertisement. For Image and Quote; they must choose an
image or quote from the lesson content that are representative or important. A title must
be included. The advertisement poster; they must choose an item from the lesson and
make a newspaper or magazine ad for it.
9¶ Free Write. Students are asked to respond to a question, in writing, for five minutes. The
main point is on getting thoughts and ideas on paper. Grammar, spelling, and style are
not important.
10¶ Reflections. Students will reflect, in writing, on what we learned, what was confusing,
and connections of this to other lessons/other content areas/ or real world.
11¶ Garden. Students will have hands-on practice planting(local) fruits, vegetables, herbs,
and plants in a class garden. The students will care for the garden by watering, pruning,
picking, etc. The class will enjoy all the produce of the garden.

Source: Understanding by Design, Unit Design Planning Template (Wiggins/McTighe 2005) 3

Source: Understanding by Design, Unit Design Planning Template (Wiggins/McTighe 2005) 4