Category Archives: Independent Practice

This is material either specifically designed for or appropriate to use for what is more commonly known as “homework.”

Crazy Horse

Posted on November 20, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Crazy Horse: (1843?-1877) Sioux Indian chief. Refusing to abide by an 1868 treaty granting the Sioux a large reservation in the Black Hills, Crazy Horse led his warriors in continued raids against enemy tribes as well as whites. In 1876 he joined with Cheyenne forces in a surprise attack against General George Crook in Southern Montana, forcing Crook’s withdrawal. He then united with Chief Sitting Bull near the Little Bighorn River, where he helped to annihilate General George Armstrong Custer’s troops. In 1877, his tribe weakened by cold and hunger, Crazy Horse surrendered to Crook; removed to a military outpost in Nebraska, he was killed in a scuffle with soldiers.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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The Weekly Text, 28 November 2025, National Native American Heritage Month Week IV: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on British Settlement in North America

Posted on November 20, 2025 | Leave a comment

For the final Text of National Native American Heritage Month 2025, here is a reading on British settlement in North America with its accompanying vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. While this text never explicitly mentions the indigenous peoples of North America or the devastation brought upon them by British colonists and their successors, I think that might be a useful point of entry for students.

One simple question: Who is missing here? Or, if you prefer, was anyone displaced or marginalized by the arrival in North American of European colonists? Or, you might follow this up with material on the Pequot War, which answers the two previous questions. Or, consistent with the current administration’s view of historical inquiry, you could say that the British arrived to a mostly empty continent (which, of course, is nonsense), and what few indigenous peoples inhabited this land were quick to abandon their complex and ancient culture to start driving Buicks.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Creek

Posted on November 20, 2025 | Leave a comment

“Creek: Muskogean-speaking North American Indian people that originally occupied much of the Georgia and Alabama flatlands. There were two major divisions: the Muskogee (or Upper Greeks), and the Hitchiti and Alabama (or Lower Creeks). They cultivated corn, beans, and squash. Each Creek town had a plaza or community square, often with a temple, around which were built the rectangular houses. Religious observances included the Busk (Green Corn) ceremony, an annual first-fruits and new-fire rite. In the 18th century, a Creek Confederacy–including the Natchez, Yuchi, Shawnee, and others–was organized to present a united front against both white and Indian enemies. It proved a failure, however, since at no time did all groups contribute warriors to a common battle. The Creek War against the U.S. (1813-1814) ended with the defeated Creeks ceding 23 million acres and being forcibly removed to Indian Territory (Oklahoma). Today, about 50,000 Creeks live in Oklahoma, many of them fully assimilated into white society.”

Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.

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Cultural Literacy: Shawnees

Posted on November 20, 2025 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on the Shawnees, a midwest tribe whose numbers included the now legendary Tecumseh. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of two–longish, perhaps in need of editing down to something simpler–sentences with two comprehension questions.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Cultural Literacy: Animism

Posted on November 20, 2025 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on animism. This is a half-page worksheet with a two-sentence reading and two comprehension questions. The first of these two sentences, duty obliges me to mention, is quite long and might be best rewritten, especially for emergent and struggling readers.

While this ethic–I hesitate to call it a religion because of its manifest respect for the material, natural world, something Christians, for example, tend to dismiss as paganism–is global in scope, I post it here during National Native American Heritage Month 2025 because the indigenous peoples on this continent, virtually to a one, were animists in some manner or another.

Incidentally, I particularly like the turn of phrase “so-called primitive people” in this document.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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The Weekly Text, 21 November 2025, National Native American Heritage Month Week III: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on St. Augustine, Florida

Posted on November 20, 2025 | Leave a comment

Until I read this reading on St. Augustine, Florida, I was unaware, as the text’s first sentence points out, that St. Augustine “…is the oldest continuously occupied settlement established by Europeans in the United States.” You probably already know, given the theme of this month’s posts, that indigenous peoples in Florida didn’t fare well after the arrival of the Spanish in that state. In fact, they suffered the same devastation as the Taino in the Caribbean.

If you’re interested in this, Raoul Peck, in his series Exterminate All the Brutes, documents all of this compellingly–to say the very least.

In any event, here is the vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet that attends the reading above. This reading ties in with the the material below: the British briefly gained control of Florida in 1763 after the French and Indian War.  Then, during the American Revolution, Spain sided with the Americans and consequently regained possession of Florida. The state became territory of the United States in 1821 under the terms of the Adams-Onis Treaty.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Cultural Literacy: Pocahontas

Posted on November 14, 2025 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Pocahontas. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of three sentences and three comprehension question. Just the basics on this important, but misunderstood, figure in American history.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Cultural Literacy: Sacajawea

Posted on November 14, 2025 | Leave a comment

OK, moving right along on this chilly November morning: Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Sacajawea. This is a half-page worksheet with a reading of one long sentence (which could be easily broken into two) and two comprehension questions.

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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The Weekly Text, 14 November 2025, National Native American Heritage Month Week II: A Reading and Comprehension Worksheet on The French and Indian War

Posted on November 14, 2025 | Leave a comment

This week’s Text, in observance of the second week of National Native American Heritage Month 2025, is this reading on the French and Indian War along with its attendant vocabulary-building and comprehension worksheet. You most likely already know this, but it’s worth mentioning that this conflict is also known as the Seven Years War.

And, as the Wikipedia article (which you’ll find in the hyperlink under the last three words in the preceding paragraph) points out, this was a Great Power conflict, global in scope. I expect that this conflict will remain a part of most secondary social studies curricula.

If you find typos in these documents, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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Cultural Literacy: Custer’s Last Stand

Posted on November 7, 2025 | Leave a comment

Here is a Cultural Literacy worksheet on Custer’s Last Stand. This is a full-page worksheet with a reading of four–longish–sentences and four comprehension questions.

I don’t know if you’ve ever read the novel Little Big Man by Thomas Berger, or seen the fine film adaptation starring Dustin Hoffman, but both were obsessions in my high school crowd a couple of centuries ago. I mention them on the chance you might be interested in seeing a dramatic recreation of George Armstrong Custer’s last moments on this earth. The film shows you–vividly. Dare I admit I have always found that scene satisfying?

If you find typos in this document, I would appreciate a notification. And, as always, if you find this material useful in your practice, I would be grateful to hear what you think of it. I seek your peer review.

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