Lesson 4

Ashley Dockins

Rick Harper

Title: How did the Anasazi celebrate their religion?

Broad Goals: Cognitive: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the Anasazi beliefs by gaining knowledge of the ceremonial kivas, Ansasazi beliefs in Kutchina dolls, and beliefs in Earth.
Affective: Students will appreciate and respect the National Park Mesa Verde and the beliefs of the Anasazi.

Standards:

National: 3.h: Social Studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of people, places, and environments so that the learner can examine the interaction of human beings and their physical environment, the use of land, building of cities, and ecosystem changes in selected locales and regions.

State: 16.D.2. (W) Describe the various roles of men, women, and children in the family, at work, and in the community in various time periods and places (e.g., ancient Rome, Medieval Europe, ancient China, Sub Saharan Africa).

Lesson Objective: The students will gain a better understanding of the Anasazi people through the completion of a worksheet about Anasazi beliefs and playing a game in which they draw upon their knowledge to successfully work their way across a game board to the finish.

Materials: game board, game cards, Anasazi beliefs worksheet, dice

Resources:

Arnold, C. (1992). The Ancient Cliff Dwellers of Mesa Verde. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin

Anasazi Symbolism. Retrieved on October 12, 2009 from http://media.graniteschools.org/Curriculum/anasazi/ana_sym.htm

Anasazi. Retrieved on October 14, 2009 from http://www.cliffdwellingsmuseum.com/A2_14.htm

Anasazi: Kivas. Retrieved on October 12, 2009 from http://videos.howstuffworks.com/hsw/5551-anasazi-kivas-video.htm

The Anasazi. Retrieved on October 12, 2009 from http://www.sangres.com/features/anasazi.htm

Kachina. Retrieved on October 14, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kachina

Focusing Activity: Focus the students’ attention by asking if they remember anything they had done in the class meeting. The students will respond with comments on the different house types of the Anasazi and how they each made a different house type. Comment on specifics about the different house types; such as they were made out of natural materials found in the region. Also use this time to announce how well they did building their different house types. Moreover, add that today the students will be learning about a different structure that the Anasazi made in their cliff communities.

Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to gain an understanding of the Anasazi’s beliefs and assess the knowledge gained by the students about Mesa Verde and the native people of the land.

Instruction: Distribute questions to the students that they will be invited to fill out during the discussion. It would be appropriate to read the questions together before the discussion takes place. Make special mention to items during discussion that answer the questions on the worksheet and may even allow time to fill out an answer before continuing with discussion. Begin by asking the students if they could think of place in their town where people go to have ceremonies. (ceremonies may be embellished at this time if students need a greater understanding of the word: examples-weddings, funerals, religious services, etc.) The students should respond with the answer of churches at which point the teacher should ask students if they believe that the Anasazi had churches. Students answers may vary if they had churches or not but the teacher should continue and explain that the Anasazi had structures called kivas which would be similar to churches today. Explain that kivas can be found in nearly all of the communities in the four corner region. It would be appropriate at this time to ask students where the four corners are and what states make up the four corners.(students should have knowledge from a previous lesson/may have to get maps out and discuss again briefly) Note that different kivas were used for different ceremonies. Now explain the structure of a kiva using a picture of a kiva. Discuss that kivas translated means ceremonial room. At the time note that the rooms are small and either underground or half underground. The kivas also usually have a hole in the center of the room which is called the sipapu. The sipapu should be explained as where the Anasazi believed spirits come out of or where spirits go. It should also be mentioned that kivas have fire pits and that kivas that were underground had a hole at the top of them to get in and out as well for the escape of smoke and allowance of air into the kiva. Ladders were used to get in and out of underground kivas. The only people allowed in kivas were the people that were involved in the ceremony who were often only men. Another aspect of Anasazi belief systems includes Kachina Dolls. Kachina dolls which were dolls give to children. These dolls could represent anything from an ancestor, fire, earth, water, and locations. There are more than 400 dolls that represent something.(sun, thunderstorm, wind, corn, insects) It is said that if the dolls were well taken care of and respected they could use their powers to for bringing human good such as rainfall, healing, and protection. The Kachina dolls had human like relationships such as having sisters, brothers, uncles, grandmothers, and sometimes marry and have children. Show a picture of a Kachina doll at this time it may be appropriate to encourage discussion about how the doll is dressed and what the doll looks like. The Anasazi believed it was humans’ job to honor the Earth and if humans do not protect the Earth and respect other living things then Earth will bring the world to an end. Announce that all of their questions on the worksheet should be answered and that they will be moving on to a review game that will allow them to use all of the knowledge they gained about Mesa Verde and the Anasazi.

Response Activity: The students will use their knowledge just learned about Anasazi’s beliefs and knowledge from previous lessons to play a game. Begin by asking students to take everything off of their desks. Furthermore, discuss facts that are included in the game and help spark the students memories about facts learned. Place the game board on cleared desks and place the fact cards in a pile face down on the designated spot on the board. After getting the game ready the teacher should explain the rules to the students: Each student should have a game piece that they place on start. The students should roll dice to see the order in which they will play. The highest number rolled will go first and then the lower number will follow in sequential order. The students should roll the dice to see how many spaces they will be allowed to move, however they must first answer a fact card. If the student answer correctly they may advance if they do not answer correctly then they stay where they are then the next student will have their turn. The teacher or another student besides the one whose turn it is should read the fact card to student’s who turn it is and announce the answer after the student has answered.

Conclusion: After the game has finished the teacher should comment how the students knew so much about Mesa Verde and the Anasazi. The teacher may repeat questions on fact cards that were not answered correctly for clarification and understanding of the correct answer to the fact card. The teacher then should announce that next class they will be moving out of Mesa Verde and begin to study about the Grand Canyon. Start a discussion and ask if the students know anything about the Grand Canyon already. If time allows it would be appropriate for the teacher to read a book on the Grand Canyon at this time.

Name: __Answer Key________

1. What structure did the Anasazi have in their communities that are similar to Churches?

Kivas

2. What does kiva mean?

Ceremonial Room

3. What shape was the kiva?

Round/ Circular

4. What is the hole in the center of a kiva? What does the Anasazi believe comes out of the hole?

Sipapu/Spirits

5. Who were the only people allowed in kivas?

The people taking part in the ceremony (often only men)

6. Name three examples of what a Kachina doll could represent?

ancestors, fire, earth, water, sun, thunderstorm, wind, corn, insects, and locations

7. The Anasazi believed that if Earth was not respected and taken care of what would happen?

Earth would end