This Indigenous Peoples' Day or Native American Heritage Month activity for elementary and middle school students is perfect for helping your students learn interesting facts about the geography and history of indigenous people in North America. This activity can be assigned as individual or group work and is a perfect extension activity, early finisher project, or supplement to a unit on geography, map skills, or Native American history.
Students will use various research sources to perform a "scavenger hunt" of interesting facts about North American indigenous people and geography. As they find the answers, they will create a slide presentation (digital) or mini-book (printable) documenting their answers. The questions are moderately challenging and require different levels of investigation to find the correct answers. This activity is suitable for grades 3 to 8; tips on differentiation can be found in the teaching instructions.
What's Included:
- Teaching instructions with notes on research and differentiation for different grade levels;
- A student worksheet featuring 15 scavenger hunt questions and space to record research notes;
- A PowerPoint slide template that can be converted to Google Slides, if necessary, plus a printable version of the template for a handout option, if desired;
- A complete answer key for all 15 questions with additional notes.
Sample Scavenger Hunt Questions:
- Where in the Indigenous world can you find mounds built 1000 years ago by a tribe near the Mississippi River?
- Where in the Indigenous world can you find a palace built 800 years ago along a cliff and lined by trees?
- Where in the Indigenous world can you find where four states touch?
