Native American Heritage Month Lesson Plans for November

Each November, the United States recognizes and celebrates Native American Heritage Month. Since 1990, our nation has used this month to explore and remember the history, achievements, and cultures of Indigenous peoples and communities.

If you want to add Native American Heritage Month activities to your classroom, we’re sharing resources for ELA, social studies, and science that you can use to supplement your core curriculum or create brand-new lessons tailored to your students’ background knowledge and needs.

• Teach about Native American history and Indigenous culture in social studies
• Read stories and poetry from an Indigenous perspective
• See how Native American scientists paved the way for great discoveries

[Teach about Native American history and Indigenous culture in social studies](id-ss)

Indigenous people have influenced and shaped every aspect of our shared American culture, like art, food, and language. With Newsela Social Studies and our Celebrating Native American Heritage Month text sets, you can introduce students to Indigenous peoples and their stories. 

Compare and contrast Native American cultures by region

Native American tribes in different parts of North America lead different lifestyles depending on the climate or available resources. Teach students about the nuances of groups in the following regions:

• East Coast
• Central
• West Coast
• Alaskan and Hawaiian

Meet influential and interesting Native Americans throughout history

Indigenous people have influenced some of the most pivotal moments in American history. Explore some of their most notable contributions with your students:

• Discover how the Mohawk Nation contributed to the construction of some of New York City’s most iconic buildings.
• Learn how Native languages contributed to the U.S. victory in World War II in the Pacific.
• Learn more about Chef Sean Sherman, a Sioux community member trying to rediscover and share Indigenous cuisine.

Learn more about Native American leaders and trailblazers across the country

Indigenous people have contributed to our collective culture through politics, education, and athletics. Help students explore their successes in these areas and more.

• Have students read about Lynn Malerba, the first Native American Treasurer of the United States.
• Show a video about Jim Thorpe, a Native American Olympic hero and the only athlete to play pro baseball, football, and basketball, rather than committing to just one sport.
• Learn about Chuck Sams III, the first Indigenous director of the National Park Service, and how his culture influences his role.

Teach students about celebrating Indigenous culture and preserving traditions

Each Indigenous culture is unique in its ideas, beliefs, and customs. Highlight these differences (and their similarities, too!) with the following activities:

• Explore how students in California’s public high schools can learn the Yurok language as part of their studies.
• See how Native American women ensure museums accurately depict their culture in historical exhibits. 
• Use primary sources to see how several cities across the United States changed from celebrating Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day to honor Native Americans and their heritage.

Reflect on Native American experiences in the early United States

The arrival of Europeans had a profound impact on Native American populations, who likely didn’t know what to think about or expect when these new people began to settle their land. Explore subtopics of this issue in greater detail, like:

• Migration and settlement of Native American lands
• Diversity of Native American societies
• Native government systems
• Native American trade and treaties with Europeans

See the impact that westward expansion had on Native Americans

Teach students about the impact that westward expansion had on Native American groups with resources like:

• A historical explainer about The Trail of Tears.
• An opinion article examining how the Supreme Court’s ruling in Murphy v. Carpenter could have resulted in the largest restoration of tribal jurisdiction over Native land in U.S. history.
• An article that examines the process of building the Transcontinental Railroad and its impact on Native American tribes and the country’s buffalo populations.

Explore primary sources from Native American and Indigenous voices

Primary sources can help students encounter diverse first-person perspectives on various topics and issues. You can use these and other primary sources to share Indigenous perspectives and voices in your classroom:

• An excerpt from Captain John Smith’s history of his exchange with Powhatan, the chief leader of Native American tribes in the Chesapeake region of the United States.
• The full text of the Iroquois Constitution, also known as the Great Law of Peace.
• The full text of Oneida writer Laura Cornelius Kellogg’s 1913 speech to the Society of American Indians (SAI) about the importance of Indigenous education.

Learn more about Native American participation in the Seven Years' War

The Seven Years’ War, also known as the French and Indian War, ended 12 years before the American Revolution began. Indigenous people played a significant role in the battles of this war and the strategies behind them. Teach students about how their influence impacted the outcome of the war.

• View a map of the war's battles, forts, and victories.
• Read the full text of a speech by Chief Minavavana from 1761, where he warned the British against taking Indigenous land.
• Read an article about the relationship between France and Native Americans in North America and how French, Spanish, and English settlers took different approaches to settling Indigenous lands.

Discover the roles Indigenous peoples played in the American Revolution

Unlike during the Seven Years’ War, many Native Americans attempted to stay neutral at the start of the conflict between Britain and the colonists. By the end, many sided with the British because they perceived colonial independence as a threat to their way of life.

• Review how the goals, methods, and geographic interests of the European countries that attempted to settle North America shaped Native American history.
• Watch an interactive video about the Native Africans and Native Americans who fought in the American Revolution.
• Read about how the American Revolution is also considered the Native Americans’ War of Independence, as they fought to defend their freedom, land, and beliefs from the colonists.

Explore the experiences of Indigenous veterans

Beyond the French and Indian War and the American Revolution, Indigenous people have fought in all the other U.S.-involved wars since. Students can learn more about the contributions of Indigenous veterans and the country and conditions they came back to after the wars.

• Read about the Native American veterans memorial in Washington, D.C. that honors Indigenous servicemembers from all U.S. wars.
• Discover how inadequate housing conditions for Navajo veterans are affecting their quality of life after returning home from war.
• Learn how Congresswoman Deb Haaland, the daughter of an Indigenous Army veteran, became one of the first two Native American women elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

[Read stories and poetry from an Indigenous perspective](id-ela)

Explore Native American Heritage Month through fiction and poetry in your ELA classes:

Experience Indigenous poetry

Introduce students to rhyme and verse with a collection of poems by Native American writers, including:

• “Autumn” by Alexander Posey
• “A Song of a Navajo Weaver” by Bertrand N.O. Walker
• “Grace” by Joy Harjo
• “Changing Is Not Vanishing” by Carlos Montezuma
• “America, I Sing Back” by Allison Adelle Hedge Coke

Or, explore the connection between Native American poetry and cultural history with a lesson on Denise Lajimodiere, an Ojibwe woman and North Dakota’s first Indigenous state poet laureate.

Discover Native American creation myths

Many cultures and religions have creation stories that explain how we came to exist on Earth and account for the world around us. Develop a lesson around these stories from different Native American cultures:

• Read “The Great Turtle,” an Iroquois origin story.
• Read “How Grandmother Spider Brought Fire,” a Choctaw origin story.
• Extend the lesson by having students create a storyboard that depicts the main events in one of the creation stories.

Build background knowledge with Native American novels

Discover true stories and fictional tales based on the real-life experiences of Indigenous authors in these and other novel studies: 

• “Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code: A Navajo Code Talker’s Story” by Joseph Bruchac
• “The Trail of Tears” by Joseph Bruchac
• “The Birchbark House” by Louise Erdrich
• “Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” by Sherman Alexie
• “There There” by Tommy Orange

Meet Native American storytellers

Indigenous people have made significant contributions to the arts. Their creative works help people in other Indigenous communities see their lived experiences reflected in art, and those outside of their communities gain a deeper understanding. Introduce your students to some of them during this Heritage Month:

• Explore projects from Indigenous filmmakers who are telling their stories on the big screen.
• Meet Indigenous comic book store owner Lee Francis IV and discover what makes the books he sells so special.
• Discover the importance of oral storytelling in the Ojibwe spiritual tradition and how it keeps the tribe’s worldviews, teachings, and religious experiences alive.

Try an Indigenous paired text activity

Paired text activities help students build background knowledge and vocabulary more quickly by reading multiple texts on similar topics. Try one of our paired text sets for Native American Heritage Month:

• “How the Bear Clan Learned to Heal” and food as medicine
• “A Time of Troubles” and the fight at Standing Rock
• “How Grandmother Spider Brought Fire” and origin stories

[See how Native American scientists paved the way for great discoveries](id-sci)

Help students see the impact Native Americans have had on the scientific community with articles, videos, and other content for your science classes: 

Discover Indigenous representations in science

From outer space to climate change to conservation, Indigenous people have made immense contributions to exploring and protecting our world. Introduce students to some of their most significant achievements.

• Explore the Lakota Sioux’s spiritual connection to the sun and stars and how the orientation of the cosmos influences their cultural ceremonies.
• Learn about the career of Nicole Aunapu Mann, the first Indigenous woman in space.
• Discover why bison hold cultural significance for the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes, and learn about their efforts to preserve and restore herds of these animals in their respective areas.

See how some Indigenous groups are working to save wildlife

Scientists in Washington state are working with Indigenous tribes to help save the Olympic Peninsula cougar from extinction. Students can learn more about this collaboration by completing the following activity:

• First, have students read an article about the collaboration between Indigenous groups and scientists to create wildlife overpasses for the cougars.
• Next, have students read about the types of wildlife crossings that exist and their benefits for animals and humans.
• Finally, ask students to complete a reflection and response worksheet to answer the question, “What does it take to work together with other people?” Try customizing the worksheet with Luna, your AI-powered assistant!

Level up your lessons with Newsela’s subject products

Newsela’s subject products offer even more great content, interactive activities, and assessment tools that you can use throughout the year, even after Native American Heritage Month is over. 

If you’re not a Newsela customer, sign up for Newsela Lite for free. Then, you can start your 45-day trial of our premium content to access everything you need to teach about nearly any Heritage Month, historical event, or holiday in your classroom.