Tribal History/Shared History Curriculum

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Tribal History/Shared History

The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians has developed curriculum for Oregon K-12 public schools to provide “historically accurate, culturally embedded, place-based, contemporary, and developmentally appropriate” lessons about Siletz tribal people, history, culture, homelands, and government.

About

Oregon Legislature enacted Senate Bill 13 (known as Tribal History/Shared History) in 2017, which directs Oregon Department of Education (ODE), in partnership with Oregon’s nine federally recognized tribes, to create Native American K-12 curriculum for Oregon public schools. The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians received funds from ODE to develop place-based lessons about Siletz history, culture, and governance spread over multiple content areas. You can read more about SB 13 on the ODE website.

Curriculum by Grade Level

Follow the links below to access lesson plans and materials by grade level. Somes lessons are still under development and slated to be released in time for the 2023-2024 school year.

Contact

For any questions, please email culture@ctsi.nsn.us.

K-1st Grade

2nd Grade

3rd Grade

4th Grade

5th Grade

6th Grade

7th Grade

8th Grade

9th Grade

10th Grade

11th Grade

Parent/Guardian & Tribal Member Resources

About SB 13 Flyer

ODE Website

Additional CTSI Curriculum

Lesson Plans

Lesson plans cover a range of subjects and content areas including English language arts, social studies, math, and science. Lessons include information about tribal history, traditional homelands, culture, and art as well as modern tribal government, ecological stewardship, and cultural revitalization.

K-1st Grade

Lesson Plan Files

Click the plus (+) button to expand lesson descriptions and to view and download individual lesson files.

Social Studies; English Language Arts

Siletz Lifeways: Understanding the Seasons

In this lesson, students will explore how Siletz people in general, and Dee-ni people originally from southern Oregon and northern California in particular, organize their lives around the seasons of the year (spring, summer, fall, and winter).

In the first activity, students will learn what seasons are and how they impact people’s lives. Next, students will learn about how ancestral Dee-ni people and their descendants today organize their lives by the seasons as well as learn words for the seasons in Dee-ni Wee-ya’ (the People’s Words). Finally, students will create a seasonal art visual using the monoprinting method.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

English Language Arts

Living Languages: Introduction to Animals

This lesson provides young students with an introduction to Dee-ni Wee-ya’—one of the heritage languages of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. The lesson begins with a short activity that encourages students to think about and discuss the importance of language as it relates to aspects of culture and identity. Next, students learn the names for common animals in Pacific Coast Dené (Athabaskan) or Dee-ni’ Wee-ya’ (the People’s Words), using illustrated slides with audio recordings created by members of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. Students then practice the names of animals through an interactive game.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

English Language Arts; Social Sciences

Siletz Lifeways: Let's Go to a Pow-Wow

In this lesson, students will learn about the history and traditions of Pow Wows at Siletz. Using audio and video recordings students will learn to recognize the different styles of dance at Pow Wows and about the importance and meanings of Pow Wows
to many Siletz people today. Students will also learn proper etiquette when visiting a Pow Wow and work on a poster project to help visitors to Pow Wows learn to be respectful guests.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

2nd Grade

Lesson Plan Files

Science; English Language Arts

Siletz Today: Cultural Burning

This lesson will introduce students to the role of cultural burning in traditional Indigenous land management practices and to actions the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and many other Tribes across North America, are taking to revive and expand this important practice on Tribal, state, and federal lands.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Lesson Slides (PowerPoint)

Download ZIP File

Social Studies

Siletz Lifeways: Baskets

This lesson provides students with the opportunity to learn about the basketry traditions of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. The activities will introduce students to basic basketmaking vocabulary, the concept of seasonal harvesting, and the role basketry plays in cultural preservation. In addition, students will have the opportunity to weave their own basket.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Social Studies; English Language Arts

Siletz Lifeways: The Dance House

This lesson teaches students about traditions and celebrations of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. Students will learn about the importance of the Dance House to Siletz people, attempts by the federal government to extinguish Siletz beliefs, and how Siletz people today maintain their traditions. Students will have the opportunity to build their own paper replica of a traditional Dance House and learn about design elements of traditional structures of the Pacific Coast.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Social Studies

Siletz Lifeways: Precious Canoes

This lesson provides students with the opportunity to learn about the importance of canoes to the ancestors and contemporary Tribal members of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. Through discussion and related activities students will learn about the types and purposes of traditional canoes and their importance to Siletz people. Students will be exposed to the concept of “tradition” and will think critically about the importance of traditions in their own lives.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

3rd Grade

Lesson Plan Files

English Language Arts; Social Sciences

Siletz Lifeways: Oral Traditions

In this lesson, students will learn about the importance of stories and storytelling to the
peoples of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. Students will listen to a traditional story about eeling and work together to reflect on the lessons of the story. They will also connect the practices described in the story to present restoration work to protect and enhance eel runs.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

English Language Arts; Social Sciences

Contributions to Culture, Society, and Government: Honoring Siletz Women

This lesson uses biographies of some notable Siletz women to help students explore these accomplishments, build an understanding of the importance of women in Tribal
culture and history, and consider the ways that women are often overlooked in history.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

English Language Arts; Social Sciences

Siletz History: Beeswax Shipwreck (Coming Soon)

Coming Soon!

Download ZIP File

4th Grade

Lesson Plan Files

Social Studies; English Language Arts

Introduction: Indigenous Oregon

This lesson will give students a foundational awareness of the indigenous, sovereign people groups who live in what is now known as Oregon—their history, their culture, and the issues that continue to impact them today. When undertaking the study of indigenous people, it is important to begin with their long history on the land. Indigenous people have lived in Oregon for thousands of years, in established communities, with established social structures, languages, and cultures. They were—and are—deeply and inextricably connected to the land.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Social Studies; English Language Arts

Siletz Lifeways: Mapping Our Lands

This lesson provides students with the opportunity to explore the unique physical features of the ancestral homelands of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz. Students will create and discuss their own maps that describe both physical features of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Ancestral Territory, as well as the many languages spoken across these vast aboriginal homelands. This lesson will provide opportunities for students to engage in critical thinking and discussion about how the land is deeply connected to the ways of living of Western Oregon Tribes.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Social Studies

Siletz Governance: Tribal Governments in Oregon

This lesson introduces students to the different federally recognized Tribes in Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in particular. In this lesson, students will:

Work with various types of maps to understand how landscapes shape societies
Understand that a confederated Tribe is composed of two or more Tribes and bands.
Name and place the federally recognized Tribes in Oregon on a contemporary map
View a video and slide deck to assist in their learning

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Social Studies

Siletz Today: News and Connection (Capstone)

This lesson is designed as a capstone lesson to the other lessons in the fourth-grade unit. Lesson activities focus on engaging students as critical readers to understand the ways that Siletz Tribal members today remain connected to each other and their traditional homelands across western Oregon.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

5th Grade

Lesson Plan Files

Social Studies; English Language Arts

Siletz Lifeways: Not a Costume

Regalia is an important part of Indigenous culture and identity. This lesson provides students with the opportunity to learn about the regalia of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. Students will learn about different types of regalia and their cultural importance and value. Students will then use this understanding to consider the impact of faux-regalia or costumes, sometimes used by non-Natives to dress as Indians, and to design a public relations campaign to persuade their community to respect Native culture and regalia.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Social Studies; English Language Arts; Math

Siletz Lifeways: Basket Math

This lesson provides students with an opportunity to learn about the use and design of basket caps among the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. This is an integrated lesson that is designed to connect social science, English language arts, and math standards.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Science

Siletz Today: Salmon Homes

In this lesson, students will examine the role of Pacific salmon in the ecology of the Pacific Northwest.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

English Language Arts

Living Languages: Language Change and Survival

This lesson will provide students a chance to gain exposure to Dee-ni’ vocabulary and be able to describe the difference between a noun-based language, such as English, and a verb-based language, such as Dee-ni’ Wee-ya’ (the people’s words), a Dene (Athabaskan) language spoken by people from the southern Oregon/northern California coast. Students will gain a deeper understanding of indigenous language survival by examining how Dee-ni’ people removed to the Siletz Reservation use loan words, expand meanings of existing words, and create new words to be able to talk about new concepts and technologies and keep their language alive. Students will learn about how and why languages change and will link these changes to the cultural identity and history of different speech communities.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

6th Grade

Lesson Plan Files

Social Studies

Siletz History: The Legacy of Treaty-Making in Western Oregon

In this lesson, students will develop an understanding about the history and significance of treaties between the United States and the Tribes and bands that make up the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Social Studies; English Language Arts; Math

Living Languages: Language Revitalization

In this lesson, students will examine efforts of the Siletz Tribal Language Project to revitalize Dee-ni Wee-ya’ (the People’s Words), a Dené (Athabaskan) language originally from the Southwest Oregon and Northern California coast. Students will develop an understanding of the circumstances that led to the decline of the Dee-ni speech community, and the Siletz Tribe’s efforts to preserve and revitalize the language today. Students will learn the importance of languages for Tribal people—both individually and collectively.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Science; Social Studies; English Language Arts

Siletz Today: Otter Worlds

In this lesson, students will examine the role sea otters once played in Oregon coastal ecology and traditional Tribal culture. Students will explore the role of sea otters in ocean food chains, food webs, and trophic levels (position occupied in the food chain) to gain an understanding of the importance of sea otters and the impact of their local extinction on Tribal peoples.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Science; Math; English Language Arts; Social Studies

Siletz Today: Caring for Our Lands

In this lesson, students will explore the values of environmental stewardship in the collective experience and contemporary work of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (CTSI). Students will first reflect on the importance of earth systems (geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere) for human life and consider how different cultures understand the relationship between people and the environment.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Social Studies; English Language Arts

Siletz Today: Housing the People

In this lesson, students will explore the role of housing in the collective experience and contemporary work of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (CTSI). After briefly retracing the history of the Tribe and housing used by Siletz people, students will review the web page of the Siletz Tribal Housing Department (STHD) to learn about the services it offers and examine a case study of an affordable housing project co-funded by the STHD in Portland, Oregon. In the course of the work, students will reflect on and discuss the meaning of “home,” contemporary housing challenges that include houselessness and gentrification, and the role the Siletz Tribe plays in safeguarding and promoting the health and welfare of its current and future members and surrounding community.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

7th Grade

Lesson Plan Files

Social Studies; English Language Arts

Siletz Today: Amanda's Trail

In this lesson, students will explore the story of Amanda DeCuys, a Coos woman forced from her home near Coos Bay to the Coast (Siletz) Reservation in the 1860s, as an example of the many Tribal families that faced the same treatment. Students will engage primary sources to gain an understanding of Amanda’s story before considering modern day attempts to memorialize her struggle on a trail near the original Removal route.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

8th Grade

Lesson Plan Files

Social Studies

Siletz History: Table Rocks Treaty, 1851-1853

This lesson will give students a basic understanding of the historical context leading up to and including the signing of the Table Rock Treaty of 1853 between the U. S. government and the Tribes of the Rogue River Valley in Southern Oregon. Content in this lesson is based on the book The People Are Dancing Again: The History of the Siletz Tribe of Western Oregon.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Social Studies

Siletz History: The Rogue River War, 1855-1856

This lesson builds on the “Siletz History: Table Rock Treaty” lesson and provides a broad overview of the events leading up to the Rogue River Wars through the end of the fighting in 1856. This lesson includes three activities. First, students learn about the causes of the Rogue River Wars and the impact the fighting had on Indigenous communities, by means of an instructor presentation. Next, students have the opportunity to co-construct a timeline of important events. Third, students examine firsthand accounts and contemporary newspaper articles about the Battle of Hungry Hill—an important Native victory during the war.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Social Studies

Siletz History: Trails of Tears

This lesson builds on the three previous lessons in this module: Table Rock Treaty of 1853, Rogue River War, and The Siletz Coast Reservation. It is based on chapter 8 of The People Are Dancing Again: The History of the Siletz Tribe of Western Oregon.

Together, these lessons explore the events that led to the Rogue River War and ultimately to the forced removal of more than 4,000 Native Americans from their ancestral homelands in Oregon to the Siletz Coast Reservation in 1856. This final lesson in the module asks students not only to learn about the Trails of Tears that the Tribes took to the reservation, but also to consider how the Native perspective has been left out of the historical record and why.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Social Studies

Siletz History: The Coast (Siletz) Reservation

In this lesson, students will have an opportunity to examine in depth the events leading to the creation of the Coast (Siletz) Reservation in 1855. They will use maps to consider the impact of the reservation on Native people from across western Oregon and place events on the timeline they have been building throughout previous Grade 8 Siletz History lessons (“Table Rock Treaty,” “Rogue River Wars,” and “Trails of Tears,”) as a capstone to the lesson unit.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

9th Grade

Lesson Plan Files

Health

Health: Tribal Health (Part 1)

In this lesson, students will examine the history of these unique health barriers
to build an appreciation for challenges facing Tribal health practitioners and community members as they work together to ensure a healthy community.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Health

Health: Tribal Health (Part 2)

In this lesson, students will explore the health and wellness services the Confederated
Tribes of Siletz Indians (CTSI) offers to its citizens and other community members, with a specific focus on the Siletz Community Health Clinic (SCHC). Students will discuss the clinic’s structure and offerings, its approach to restoring and protecting health and wellness, and its role in contributing to CTSI Tribal sovereignty and self-determination.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

10th Grade

Lesson Plan Files

Social Studies; English Language Arts

Siletz History: Creating the Coast (Siletz) Reservation

In this lesson, students will compare two mechanisms of U.S. federal Indian policy, treaties and executive orders, and examine how they play a key and controversial role in the history of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. Students will read primary- and secondary-source documents using close-reading strategies and will write pre- and post-reading reflections focused on the November 9, 1855, executive order of President Franklin Pierce creating the Siletz Coast Reservation and how it—along with the failure of the U.S. Congress to ratify the 1855 Coast Treaty—contributed to the U.S. government neglecting to ensure a permanent land base for the Siletz Tribes.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Social Studies; English Language Arts

Siletz History: Reservation Reductions

In this lesson, students will examine how the U.S. federal government illegally reduced the reservation land guaranteed to the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians by treaty. Specifically, students will engage with primary texts and maps to understand how presidential and Congressional actions in 1865 and 1875, respectively, reduced the size of the Coast (Siletz) Reservation to a fraction of its original size and further upended the lives of Native people confined to the reservation.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Social Studies

Siletz History: The Termination Era

This lesson will give students an understanding of the U. S. government’s termination policy toward Native American tribes during the mid-twentieth century and the resulting legal act terminating the Siletz Tribe’s federal recognition in 1954. Though the tribe was restored to federal recognition in 1977, termination had a devastating impact on the Siletz tribal community and community members. The content in this lesson is based on information contained in The People Are Dancing Again: The History of the Siletz Tribe of Western Oregon.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Social Studies

Siletz History: The Restoration Movement, 1956-1977

This lesson looks at the history of the Siletz Tribe over the subsequent two decades after the Termination Era. During this time, Tribal members fought a grassroots legal and political battle to regain the Tribe’s federally recognized status and the rights and services guaranteed in the original treaties that had been negotiated with the U.S. government. This included the right to self-governance as an independent sovereign nation.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Social Studies; English Language Arts

Siletz Governance: Sovereignty and Tribal Government Today

As specified in its constitution, the mission of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (CTSI) is to protect tribal identity; affirm and exercise tribal sovereignty; sustain tribal history, culture, and the general welfare of the tribal membership; promote the tribe’s self-sufficiency; and direct the tribe’s government-to-government relationships with other local, state, and federal entities. In this lesson, students will learn about the structure and functions of the Siletz Tribal government and review the Tribe’s website to learn more about the programs and services the Tribal government provides for its members and the broader community.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

11th Grade

Lesson Plan Files

Social Studies; English Language Arts

Siletz History: From Homelands to Homesteads-Understanding the Legacy of Allotment

In this lesson, students will examine how the U.S. government’s policy of allotment compounded earlier losses of reservation land guaranteed to the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians by treaty. Students will engage with primary and secondary documents as well as maps to understand the impact of allotment on the Tribes of Siletz as well as individual Siletz people and families and will gain an understanding of how the legacy of allotment continues to impact the Tribe’s political, cultural, and economic realities to this day.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

The People Are Dancing Again– Chapter 10 and Chapter 11 (PDFs)
Allotment Documents (PDF)
DePoe Charlie (PDF)
Document Organizer (PDF)
Siletz Allotment Map (PDF)
Lesson Slides (PowerPoint)

Download ZIP File

Social Studies

Siletz History: Whose Lens

In this lesson, students will examine the photography of Thomas Jackson, one of the earliest Native photographers in the nation, to consider the tensions between identity and representation faced by Siletz people at the turn of the 20th century.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Social Studies; English Language Arts

Siletz Today: Keeping Culture-Artifacts, Repatriation, and Indigenous Sovereignty

The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to the global movement to repatriate Indigenous artifacts and sacred objects obtained—often illegitimately—by museums and private collectors over past centuries. This lesson will also cover the role that repatriation plays in supporting the survival of living traditions and cultural preservation for Tribes today.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File

Science; English Language Arts

Siletz Today: Food Sovereignty

In this lesson, students will learn about the cultural significance of the lamprey to Siletz people as well as Tribal efforts to preserve, protect, and replenish the lamprey population.

Lesson Files

Lesson Plan (PDF)

Additional Materials

Download ZIP File