Moraga's History

Over 200 years ago, the Saklan Indians thrived within the area now known as Lamorinda. With tribal borders as far north as Highway 24, south to the Alameda County line, east through Burton Valley and west to Canyon, the Saclans belonged to the East Bay Miwok tribes (a branch of the larger Miwoks).

• More information on the Saklan Tribe

• Moraga Historical Society

• Lafayette Historical Society

Grade Level Lessons

Grade Specific Native American Heritage Month Lessons (create in Brentwood Unified School District)

TK - Fry Bread - Native American Tribe Featured > Seminole

K - This is How I Know - Native American Tribe Featured > Anishinaabe and Ojibwe

1st - Look, Grandma! Ni, Elisi! Native American Tribe Featured > Cherokee 

2nd - Jingle Dancer Native American Tribe Featured > Muscogee

3rd - Shaped by Her Hands Native American Tribe Featured > Tewa Pueblo People (Maria Martinez)

4th - Sharice's Big Voice: A Native Kid Becomes a Congresswoman Native American Tribe Featured > Ho-Chunk Nation (Sharice Davids)

5th - Hiawatha and the Peacemaker Native American Tribe Featured > Mohawk (Hiawatha)

6th-8th - Winter Counts and Oral Traditions  Native American Tribe Featured > Native  American  Oral and Pictorial Traditions 

Thanksgiving

Decolonizing Thanksgiving: Countering the prevailing, traditional story of the first Thanksgiving, with its black-hatted, silver-buckled Pilgrims, blanket-covered, feathered Native Americans, these books offer a balanced perspective of the Native Americans that lived and still live in the region where the pilgrims first settled in 1621.

• 1621: A New Look at Thanksgiving by Catherine O'Neill Grace          The book teaches about the Wampanoag people, their language, and their diplomacy, and also the settlers’ food, clothing and shelter. National Geographic photographs show contemporary Wampanoag men and women dressed in traditional clothes re-enacting the multi-day feast with actors from Plimoth Plantation dressed as the colonists would have been. The reenactment uses 17th century artifacts and draws on historical documents for a more authentic examination of Thanksgiving.

Books

• List of children's books

For further Native American book recommendations (all levels): 

OYATE is a Native American organization that reviews children’s literature and advocates for Native Americans/American Indians to be portrayed with historical accuracy, cultural appropriateness and without anti-Indian bias and stereotypes. It's a good site to explore for books--from board books to high school level.

• http://oyate.org/index.php/about-us. 

These are Thanksgiving books that Oyate recommends: 

• https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2007/11/good-books-about-thanksgiving.html

This is a list of Thanksgiving books they suggest avoiding:

• https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2014/11/oyates-list-of-thanksgiving-books-to.html

Additional Resources

PBS LearningMedia: Native American Heritage Collection

There are lessons, great videos covering a wide variety of subjects , Indigenous women gallery walk (google slideshow), media resources (Dawes Act of 1887), and interactive activities. A lot of interesting resources!

• https://ca.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/nativeamericanheritage

National Museum of the American Indian. The museum website has an "EDUCATION' tab with a plethora of resources, and a specific one on Thanksgiving.

• https://ca.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/nativeamericanheritage/

• https://americanindian.si.edu/online-resources/thanksgiving

Other Resources

• Native American Heritage Month Teacher Resources site

• Native American Heritage Month - DODEA