Native Americans Names
Social Studies
Grade 3
Objective:
To introduce students to the Native American groups of Michigans's past.  Students will discover that many city and County names in the state have Native American origins.

Standards and Benchmarks:
Michigan Social Studies: Historical Perspective
All students will use primary sources to reconstruct past events in their
local community.
Content Standard: 3:1

Michigan Technology: Using Information Technologies
Retrieve and communicate information using a technological system (voice,
data, video, graphics, etc.)
Content Standard: 2:3


Materials: Michigan maps (1 per student)
           Michigan map transparency
           Computers bookmarked to The Three Fires
           and Stuff about Michigan

This lesson will take two class periods.

Procedure:
(Day 1)
Engage:
Can you guess where the name Michigan comes from and what it might mean?  Michigan comes from a Native American word "Michigama" which means great or big lake. Do you think that this was a good word to name our state after? Why? Many other place names in Michigan come from Native American words. Why do you think there are so many Michigan place names that come from Native American words?

Students will read the article " The Three Fires " from The Mitten magazine, which is located on the internet.  Discuss the articles and how Native Americans played a big part in the history of Michigan.

Anticipatory Set:
Give the students a blank map of Michigan and a list of names that they will label on their maps (this will help them with the spelling as they locate and label their maps.)  Put the map transparency on the overhead (this map will have several cities already labeled) and ask the students to locate some of the names that they read about in the Mitten article "The Three Fires."   Together with the students locate the cities they remember from the article as well as from prior lessons. Students will label these cities or counties on their maps. Make sure the following places have been located and labeled:

North Manitou Island         South Manitou Island
Cheboygan                    Kalamazoo
Saginaw                      Munising
Petoskey                     Escanaba
Detroit                      Dearborn
Mackinac Island              The Straits of Mackinac
Marquette                    Lansing
Sleeping Bear Dunes          Port Huron

The students can color the map after it is labeled.  Make sure they know that colors on a map help us distinguish between different land forms such as water from land etc.

(Day 2)
Tell the students that they are going to explore some of the names of cities and counties in Michigan and where they came from.  Students should use the list of cities and counties and those that seem to have Native American names. They will be the cities that they will do research on.

Independent Practice:
Ask students to research the origins of five different city and county names.  Students will go to the computer lab and using the bookmarked site Stuff About Michigan - County Names, they will locate city/county names that have Native American origins.  They will record their research by filling out the graphic organizer.

Assessment: Students will be assessed on their graphic organizers with a rubric created for this assignment.

Closing:
Students will share the results of their research with the class. Ask the class:

Literature Extension:
The Creation of The Sleeping Bear Dunes

Resources:
Mitten Magazine – on-line version
http://www.michiganhistorymagazine.com/kids/issues.html

Michigan Historical Center Web site
www.sos.state.mi.us/history/michinfo
 
 

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