Vocabulary:
Culture
The customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social groups.
Great Plains
A vast area of plains east of the Rocky Mountains in North America that extend from the valleys of the Mackenzie River in Canada to southern Texas.
Earth Lodge
A dwelling constructed of earth or sod, often supported on a wooden frame, and often placed partially below the surface of the ground.
Semi-nomadic
A member of a people living usually in portable or temporary dwellings and practicing seasonal migration but having a base camp at which some crops are cultivated.
Teacher Resources:
For more information, read “Ponca Tribe” (Howard) p. 30-39
Extension Activities:
1. Students can make a culture gram of the Ponca people throughout the movie. (Ideas such as food, shelter, family, language, religion, music, arts, celebrations and/or beliefs).
Attached (see above) are pictures of earth lodge, chalk bluffs, tipi, etc.
2. Students can interview someone in their class or someone from a different generation within their family about the meaning of “home.”
3. They can present a “compare and contrast” chart demonstrating the similarities and differences between two or more cultural groups in the given categories.
4. Students can turn their chart into a short essay.