What are some good activities for gifted students to do for an Iroquois Indian project?

You should ask Yarnlady and Redpowerlady. They are not Iroqious, but they are Native American and might have some good ideas.

Why does it matter if they are gifted or not?

ALso its fourth grade. Oooo it matters a lot if they are gifted because you have to differentiate education and make it rigorous. Im assuming drawk you are not a teacher but im glad you asked. See you cant give gifted students work that is not on their level because it will be too easy for them adn they will not longer. The same goes for any student on any level that is why students are continously assessed for that reason. Teachers have to know how to teach to the student. If you give a student who is a special education students gifted work you are going to frustrate the student and its not fair. So that is why it is important to know if they are gifted. Children tend to be bored easily if you give them work that is easy. Especially my students.

Also my students read and write on 6th grade levels so if someone comes up with a great idea for this project it might not be rigorous enough for them. They will complete it in 5 seconds and never remember it. I am trying to avoid that.

@missjena except in the original question you did not mention the grade level just that they are gifted. I had the same initial reaction as @Drawkward. Seems you want a challenging assignment appropriate for children at a 5th or 6th grade level.

Yeah that is why i wrote it in the following message. I want a challenging assignment but not too challenging. Something appropriate for gifted fourth graders. I have a few ideas but was curious what everyone else thought.

Right, I was going to note that you also should have a mentioned what grade level you were aiming for.
That sounds about right. I may not be a teacher, but I went to a “gifted school” for 1–8th.

@ Drawkward- It was a good question that you had asked. I forgot to write the grade level at first. Any suggestions on the original question?

I sent private messages to Redpowerlady and Yarnlady for you.

I honestly have no real clue. The menu idea sounds like a good idea, you could take it a step further and pretend that the menu is for an actual “Iroquois” restaurant, and you could add geographic location as “driving directions” to the area where the tribe(s) lived.

I would have found it fun to imagine myself as one of the Tribe. Perhaps they can do a creative writing project (or drama or visual etc) about how they would have lived then. What their day looked like, what they ate, who else was there and whatnot. They can give themselves Iroquois names, kids love defining themselves.

I’m a visual/tactile learner so I would have enjoyed making things. Costumes from crafts, leather works (researched of course, so as to be accurate) or perhaps a simple recipe you can facsimilate.

Try this. I found it by Googling “Iroquois Indians lesson plan.” Not PC, but got me to where I needed to be.

Here is another.

I’ve always found the mythology of any culture to be a good learning tool.

Here is an article with some good ideas, and excellent resources at the end. This is for younger children, but you can get some tips there.

When I was that age, I loved making little dioramas similar to what I saw in the museum. I have made them using paper cut outs, and also using miniature plastic figures.

I gather (from the tribe) that you might live in NY or thereabouts, but you didn’t say when you are planning to do these activities. If it can wait until winter, letting the kids try out a pair of snowshoes (size appropriate) will be something they will never forget.

Could make cornhusk dolls for some kind of school display (how did Iriquois children do things line of thought).

Using drinking straws and plastic wrap to make a long house OR use sticks and a natural covering on one side but leave the other open so it can be furnished.

Could do math class with beads as currency (have to learn a new currency and trade for different objects—e.g., pieces of candy, or cheap little toys).

Allow each kid to design a wampum belt with pictures telling the stories of their family.

There are traditional crafts you could make that are Native American. I’m not sure if you have money for supplies. But it would be nice for gifted students as you can discuss the different materials that go into making them and how they would have collected those materials and other uses for them. One of these crafts that is suitable for your age group is Corn Husk Dolls.

There are traditional foods you could also make or let them bring home a real recipe.

You could have them make medicine wheels. They could use some artistic freedom here and then bring one home. The different components of the medicine wheel represent different components of tribal life which they could apply to their art project or just by learning about why those components are included.

You could also do dioramas.

Fun fact: Angelina Jolie is Iroquois.

As a side note: please be careful to stay away from stereotyping in any way. This happens quite a bit in Native education.

This has some great information: http://bigorrin.org/iroquois_kids.htm

Edit to add: Also loving some of @Kayaks answers. Particularly creating a Longhouse.

How about inviting some members of the Iroquois to come and give an oral history lesson?

@YARNLADY fantastic idea

@RedPowerLady tky