California's Regions and Native Americans

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Home : 2003 : July : 20

California's Regions and Native Americans
By Dianne

Early in the year I like to spend a few weeks exploring California's regions/biomes (temperate rainforests, mountains, deserts, chaparral and coasts). The students are divided into one of the biomes and are asked how they
would live (food/water, shelter and clothing) using only the resources within that biome without modern tools/technology. At the end of a week, each group shares their information. This leads into a discussion about California's Native Americans and how each tribe's lifestyle is determined by the resources in the environment. We then look at a tribe from each region and compare the similarities

and differences of the tribes. I also spend time teaching a more indepth study of the Chumash tribe since there is ample information about them and the tribal area is within our vicinity.