Native American Cultural Regions

Thank you, Mrs. Cheek for being so clever with your tricks to remember our regions!!

Silly Ways to Remember a ton of information:

• Northwest Coast: The Cool Kwakiutl live on the Coast. They wear waterproof cedar bark capes, trap salmon with cedar bark fish traps, and live in wooden houses with cool cedar totem poles.

• California Intermountain Region: The Pretty Pomo, wear pretty shell necklaces, and make pretty baskets decorated with shells and beads. The Pretty Pomo live in a pretty cone shaped redwood house.

• Southwest: The Hot Hopi live in the Southwest and have to stay cool by wearing cotton dresses. The Hot Hopi are thirsty from being so hot and from climbing the ladders up to their adobe apartments. They are so thirsty that they store water to drink in clay pots.

• Plateau: (This is the gross one.:)) This region is shaped like a foot and it is green! This region is the Plateau (Pla- TOE) Yuk. The Yakima lived there and ate roots to survive. Roots are at your toes (Pla-TOE). The Yakima lived in underground winter houses--think roots are underground, too. You can remember that they put baskets on their heads because everything else is already at their feet.

• Great Plains: Think PLAIN and simple. The Sioux lived here. (Think: Sue is a simple name.) They used buffalo for everything! Buffalo and teepees are PLAIN and simple to remember when you are studying Native Americans.

• Eastern Woodlands: Think tongue twister! The Algonquian (Al-gon-kwee-an) in the Eastern Woodlands lived in wigwams wearing wild turkey-feather ceremonial capes. The turkey is a bird and you can link that to a turkey bird birch canoe. :)

• Southeast: The Southern Seminole used cypress canoes. To keep safe from the sharp saw grass they wore deerskin leggings. They lived in palm leaf chickees so they wouldn't sweat!