American Heritage Online Honor American Indian Heritage Month in November

This multimedia Web site, originally broadcast as a PBS program and designed for upper elementary to high school kids, features animated presentations of four Native American stories. In the “For Educators” section, you’ll find related lesson plans. Click on “We Are Here” to access an animated place-names map—ideal for inspiring younger kids to research the names of their own local towns, rivers, and lakes. Created by: PBS, ITVS, and Philomath Films. Don’t Miss: Corbin Harney’s “Bear Story” in the “Storytelling Gallery” in the section “Many Voices.”

From the Andes to the Arctic
www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/cultural_heritage_02.aspx

Expose your kids to the music and dance of different Indian cultures through this cool Web site geared for elementary to high school students. Fascinating audio clips include a haunting Comanche flute, a Blackfoot Chicken Dance, and even a Catholic mass sung in Quechua. Don’t miss the three-minute video on Inuit throat singing, similar to contemporary rap. Created by: The Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.

Images of Native Americans
bancroft.berkeley.edu/Exhibits/nativeamericans/index2.html

How Native Americans have been represented is the subject of this interesting online exhibition. Teachers and kids will find the images themselves compelling, but they are also useful tools for discussing cultural stereotyping. While the text is high school level, the portraits can easily be adapted for an elementary or middle school slide-show presentation by double-clicking on any image. Created by: The Bancroft Library, Univ. of California, Berkeley.

Native American Cultures
teacher.scholastic.com/activities/explorer/native_americans/index.asp

Designed for kids in grades four to eight, this cool, interactive site explores three Indian cultures in Utah, New Mexico, and Washington. Each exploration is set up as a mission, one to the Skagit River, one to study rock paintings, and one to explore ancient pueblos. Kids can learn about the respective cultures and review “field reports” about what was discovered. Created by: Scholastic, Inc., New York. Don’t Miss: Simply click on the interactive U.S. map to locate Native American groups in each state—very cool!

Online Exhibitions—National Museum of the American Indian
www.nmai.si.edu/subpage.cfm?subpage=exhibitions&second=online

If you’re looking for brief, animated presentations on Native American art to spice up a class or library session, you’ve come to the right place. Here you’ll find 26 “exhibits,” ranging from displays of historic baskets and totem poles to exhibits by contemporary Native American artists. Created by: National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, DC. Don’t Miss: The “Indian Humor” exhibit is funny, but also thought- provoking (best suited for high schoolers).