After completing the various artifacts, the students are ready to proceed to the village dioramas, starting in the Arctic. I believe that the dioramas would be more effective as a teaching aid if they were created and presented on a single half sheet of ½’ plywood that could be sectioned off ahead of time into four quadrants. Most lumber yards will cut a sheet of plywood in half to end up with 48’ x 48’. Then nail or screw from the underside four pieces of 1’ pine and nail or screw these as a perimeter edge. Then attach three more pieces of 1’ x 2’ pine, two of them cut at 24’ and one at 48’ to create a simple four square grid (see illustration F ). Each corner of this base will represent one of the tribes and their dwellings.
Lesson 5: Inuits in the Arctic
Referring to the North American map and to Handout 2, the class will need to review the arctic environment to get a feel for the conditions the Inuits lived under and how they adapted. This lesson will replicate a winter igloo settlement of central and eastern Canada.
Inuit Diorama
Materials
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- 1 1/2’ Styrofoam balls, (craft store item) each student will need half a ball, precut with a serrated kitchen knife by the teacher.
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- plaster-impregnated gauze, (craft store item)
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- white latex paint
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- white glue
Tools @UL:- large mixing can or bucket with water
- newspaper to work over
- scissors
- wide paint brushes
Step 1 Time: 20 minutes
It may be easier to prepare the plywood base with a smaller group of students, with a different group for each corner; this is left to the discretion of the teacher.
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The students can cut with scissors 15-20 squares of gauze approximately 6’ x 6’. Dip these into the can of water for a few seconds and then shape them into snow drifts on a corner of the plywood base. Layer the entire diorama corner with strips of 6’ x 20’ moistened gauze to create a uniform snow covered landscape. After the gauze has dried, it can be painted with the white paint.
Step 2 Time: 15 minutes
Each student can glue down a Styrofoam hemisphere to create an igloo look onto the arctic environment. With some visuals from any book on the Inuits, the students can get an idea of what an encampment of igloos looked like. The Reader’s Digest book, Through Indian Eyes, has an excellent photo of an encampment on page 267. The arctic diorama is essentially finished after this step; of course if the teacher desires any of these dioramas can be populated with small figures, animals or other accessories.
Lesson 6: The Sioux in the Plains
With the North American map and handout 3, review with the class the Sioux Indians and how they lived in tepees. This lesson will replicate the Plains and a tepee settlement. There are some photos to show the class in Peter Nabokov’s book, Native American Architecture, pages 151-167.
Sioux Diorama
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- 5’ x 3’ oaktag pieces per student
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- four toothpicks per student
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- white glue
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- thin markers
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- 2 pounds of dry peat moss or clean dirt
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- green and yellow sand
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- Field Grass produced by Woodland Scenics, a railroad modeling manufactory
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- pencils
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- scissors
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- paint brushes
Step 1 Time: 30 minutes
Photocopy the pattern for a tepee from illustration G. While it is still flat students should color patterns and designs onto the oaktag with the markers to replicate Sioux tepees. Once finished, have the students roll the oaktag into a cone shape and glue the straight edges together. Glue the toothpicks from the inside so they protrude through the hole at the top.
Step 2 Time: 60 minutes
Mix enough of the glue with the peat moss to cover the bottom of the Sioux diorama. Add in touches of colored sand to reproduce the Plains. While the glue is still wet, the students can place their tepees in the peat moss or dirt. Once it is dry, have some students cut the field grass and with a small dab of glue they can stick the blades into the peat moss.
Lesson 7: The Iroquois in the Eastern Woodlands
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As with the first two dioramas, review with the class the Iroquois and the Eastern Woodlands using the North American map and Handout 6. Both the Reader’s Digest book, Through Indian Eyes, and Peter Nabokov’s book, Native American Architecture, have chapters on longhouses.
IROQUOIS DIORAMA
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- 1 ½’ x 3’ cardboard per student
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- 4 pieces of 4’ brown pipe cleaners
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- 5’ x 5’ brown burlap
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- 5’ x 5’ birch bark
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- thick glue (tacky or sobo glue)
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- peat moss
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- white glue
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- Assorted Trees, produced by Woodland Scenics
Tools
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- sharp pencils
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- scissors
Step 1 Time: 10 minutes
Start the longhouse assembly by carefully pressing 8 holes through the cardboard with the pencil, 4 along each of the long edges. Refer to illustration H for a better understanding. Then bend the pipe cleaners into a U shape and poke these through the 4 pairs of holes and give another short bend underneath the cardboard to keep the pipe cleaners standing. This step provides the basic structure of the longhouse, much as saplings did for the frames of the original longhouses.
Step 2 Time: 15 minutes
This process involves layering a shell over the pipe cleaners. Cut 2 half round pieces of burlap with door openings to be placed over the ends of the structure. The thick tacky glue works well for providing a quick adhesion. Cut the remaining burlap into a 3’ x 4’ rectangle to be glued over the entire structure. The birch bark can then be carefully cut, shaped and glued over the burlap for a more authentic look.
Step 3 Time: 60 minutes
Mix the peat moss and white glue together to recreate a forested landscape surface. Create a small creek bed somewhere in the diorama. The students can place their longhouses end to end into the ground surface to replicate an Iroquois village. After they are secured down, have some students work on gluing the model trees in place. Provide a wide assortment of trees to duplicate the eastern woodlands.
Lesson 8: The Hopi in the Southwest
Review for the Hopi and their location in the Southwest on the North American map. This lesson will duplicate a Hopi village at the top of a mesa. In the last chapter of Native American Architecture there are some factual photographs of the various Pueblo tribes and their villages.
HOPI DIORAMA
Materials
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- 6’ x 5’ pieces of oaktag per student
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- thin black markers
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- sand
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- white glue
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Tools
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- scissors
Step 1 Time: 45 minutes
Have the pattern ready from illustration I photocopied onto the oaktag sheets for the students before they arrive. The class can cut the solid lines and then fold over the dotted lines. With some patience and concentration, they are to fold this pattern into a box shape and glue the small fold-over flaps in each corner of the box (see Illustration J). Once completed, they can draw a door and some windows around the sides with the black markers.