Tipis and Wiki-Ups Oh My!

In the good state of Oklahoma...where the wind comes sweeping, wooshing, hammering down the Plains, 3rd grade is required to teach the Plains Indians. I absolutely, positively LOVE this unit and each year my teaching partner Kingsley (and our new baby teacher "K") make it better. This year out of nowhere a GENIUS idea came to me to build villages of Plains Indians. Did I mentions Genius? We had so much fun as a class doing this but even better the students were able to visually compare and contrast the villages and the living conditions of the Plains Indians. The students made the traditions tipis which many of us our familiar with but the students also learned of a housing style called "Wiki-Ups". Check out the villages below.

No, those are not french fries on top! ;) Those are our roofs for our wiki-ups.

Each Tipi had symbols that represented each student in the tribe.

We could see the dry, dusty land and the green, lush lands by the stream.

Mrs. Q. explaining each part of her Kiowa dressing

Teaching our K/3rd students how to dance

My sweet and wonderful co-worker is Kiowa and dressed in her original Kiowa clothes for dancing. She taught the students many Kiowa dances during 3rd grade/ K-Buddy time. She looked and sounded so beautiful. I was in such amazement.