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Print Resources
At the National Museum of the American Indian, we are committed to presenting quality educational programs and we look forward to sharing these programs with you. Please feel free to download PDFs of our teaching materials, below. To order hard copies of these resources, use this order form.
The Haudenosaunee Guide for Educators
The Haudenosaunee Guide for Educators is designed to provide educators with a deeper and more integrated understanding of Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) life, past and present. This guide can serve to enrich the New York State mandated curriculum.
The Haudenosaunee Guide for Educators (pdf)
Teachers—please help us improve our educational materials. Take an online survey about this teaching guide. Thank you!
Fritz Scholder—Study Guide
Fritz Scholder: Indian/Not Indian is a study guide for educators of students in grades 5-8. With an emphasis on visual arts and language arts learning, the guide takes students through an exploration of the life and abstract expressionist works of American Indian artist Fritz Scholder.
Fritz Scholder—A Guide for Young People 7 and Up
Fritz Scholder—A Guide for Young People 7 and Up is designed to help families explore the works of Fritz Scholder. The exhibition Fritz Scholder: Indian/Not Indian, is now closed. Please visit the exhibition website.
Looking at Fritz Scholder
Looking at Fritz Scholder is a guide designed for families to use together as they explore the works of Fritz Scholder. The exhibition Fritz Scholder: Indian/Not Indian, is now closed. Please visit the exhibition website.
American Indian Perspectives on Thanksgiving
This teaching poster, designed for educators and students grades 4–8, examines the deeper meaning of the Thanksgiving holiday for American Indians through the themes of environment, community, encounters, and innovations. Appropriate for use at any time during the year, the poster includes information that is essential to understanding and teaching about American Indians along with compelling images and ideas for classroom activities. Click here for full-size images, teacher resources, web links, and more!
American Indian Perspectives on Thanksgiving (pdf)
Teachers—please help us improve our educational materials. Take an online survey about this teaching poster. Thank you!
A Life in Beads: The Stories a Plains Dress Can Tell
A Life in Beads: The Stories a Plains Dress Can Tell is a teaching poster for grades 4–6. Students will explore the traditional art of dressmaking and dress decoration among women of Native American tribes from the Great Plains region. Through the stories and art of contemporary women who continue these traditions, students will learn about materials used in the past and today, as well as the cultural values and meanings behind dress decoration. The poster includes maps and a variety of historical and contemporary images.
School Program Guide—NMAI in Washington, D.C.
The School Program Guide is a complete listing of all school tours and the necessary information and registration form for booking a tour at the museum with students.
A Pre-Visit Guide for Teachers
The Pre-Visit Guide for Teachers has classroom lessons, developed for grades K–3, 4–6, and 7–10 according to the National Standards for Social Studies, and is designed to prepare students for their tours.
Teacher Self-Guide: Stories
The Teacher Self-Guide: Stories is designed for use by teachers and adult chaperons during school group visits to the museum. This self-guide provides layered questions that help focus students' looking and learning in the museum. Use this self-guide to learn more about the role of stories in American Indian cultures. (Grades 4–6)
Teacher Self-Guide: Community
The Teacher Self-Guide: Community is designed for use by teachers and adult chaperons during school group visits to the museum. This self-guide provides layered questions that help focus students' looking and learning in the museum. Use this self-guide to learn more about the role of community in American Indian cultures. (Grades 6–8)
Family Guide
The Family Guide identifies seven stops in the museum of particular interest to families. The guide includes ideas for looking, thinking, and discussing while in the museum, as well as a few activities to do at home. It is a valuable resource for families during their visits to the NMAI.
Guide for Teachers—NMAI in New York (George Gustav Heye Center)
To make your visit a rich and meaningful experience, we have developed this Guide for Teachers to introduce you to NMAI's George Gustav Heye Center in New York. Our museum offers you and your students an occasion to discover Native cultures—past and present—through a variety of learning opportunities. The Guide for Teachers outlines the educational programs available to you at the GGHC, details museum guidelines regarding your visit, and suggests classroom activities for your students.
Guide for Teachers—Native Peoples of the Chesapeake
We Have a Story to Tell: Native Peoples of the Chesapeake Region is intended for use with students in grades 9-12. It provides information and primary resource materials related to key periods and events in the history of the Algonquian communities of this region. It also guides students through an in-depth examination of contemporary issues that are important to these communities’ survival.
Teacher Self-Guide: Beauty Surround Us—NMAI in New York (George Gustav Heye Center)
This self-guide is designed for use by teachers and adult chaperones during school group and family visits to the Beauty Surrounds Us exhibition at NMAI's George Gustav Heye Center in New York.
Teacher Self-Guide: Beauty Surrounds Us (pdf-english) Teacher Self-Guide: Beauty Surrounds Us (pdf-español)
The Ways of Living, Ways of Giving Teaching Poster
The Ways of Living, Ways of Giving teaching poster, designed for grades 6–8, features the Kwakwaka'wakw people of British Columbia, Canada. Through lessons and activities students will learn about some of the cultural traditions of this North Pacific Coast people, their values, and the potlatch—historically, one of the most important practices that remains strong today.
Lone Dog's Winter Count—Teaching Poster
This teaching poster, developed for 4th–8th grades, is 2' x 3' with a lesson plan and reproducible student activity sheets on the back. Students learn about the oral culture and history-keeping of the Nakota people, who made the Lone Dog winter count.
Native People and the Land: The A:shiwi (Zuni) People—NMAI/Scholastic Teaching Poster
A collaborative project of NMAI’s Public Programs Department in partnership with Scholastic Inc., this teaching poster looks at reciprocal relationships with the land and how the A:shiwi people, also known as the Zuni, adapt to the semi-arid climate of New Mexico through a centuries-old farming technique known as a “waffle garden.” Developed for grades 6–8.
A Native Place: NMAI/Scholastic Teaching Guide
A collaborative project of NMAI’s Public Programs Department in partnership with Scholastic Inc., this Teaching Guide is one component of a new education program called “A Native Place,” which celebrates NMAI’s new museum on the National Mall as well as the many cultures and achievements of American Indian peoples. The Teaching Guide includes lessons, reproducibles, and extension activities that meet national standards in a number of disciplines.
Smithsonian in Your Classroom: Native Dolls
Developed in collaboration with the Smithsonian Center for Education and Museum Studies, this lesson plan presents the first-hand perspectives of five Native doll makers from around the United States. Students examine full-color images of dolls from the museum's collection in order to learn more about the diverse cultures, communities, and environments the dolls represent. www.smithsonianeducation.org
To Honor and Comfort: Native Quilting Traditions
Developed by NMAI's Education department, this curriculum/study guide was created to accompany the museum's exhibition, To Honor and Comfort: Native Quilting Traditions, developed by NMAI in collaboration with Michigan State University (MSUM). The study guide may be used to enhance a class visit to the museum or for independent study in the classroom.
To Honor and Comfort: Study Guide (pdf)
Out of print—available online as PDF only.
Harvest Ceremony: Beyond the Thanksgiving Myth
Developed by NMAI's Education department, Harvest Ceremony: Beyond the Thanksgiving Myth, assists teachers in preparing lessons about the first Thanksgiving. The study guide includes information on which Native peoples met the first European immigrants in 1621, the harvest celebration, the Wampanoag today, the importance of corn, and instructions on how to make Johnny cakes.
Harvest Ceremony: Study Guide (pdf)
Out of print—available online as PDF only.