Lesson Plan

Land Use

How do we use the land to survive?

Overall Rating

Add your review
Grade Level:
Sixth Grade-Eighth Grade
American Indian History and Culture, Education, Environment, Geography, History, Pioneer America, Social Studies, Westward Expansion
Group Size:
Up to 36
computer lab
National/State Standards:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.1 through 6-8.9


In "Land Use" students discuss how people live and survive in their environments. 

The Homesteaders, Immigrants, and American Indians unit is broken up into five lesson plans, taking 45-120 minutes to complete, targeting sixth through eighth grade students.  A class does not have to complete every lesson in the unit - each lesson comes with its own set of objectives and resources.  This is lesson 3 of the unit.


Guiding Question
How do people survive in their environments?

Critical Content
Students will demonstrate how American Indian groups adapted their lifestyles to the environmnt in which they lived.

Student Objectives
Students will be able to:

  • identify what aspects of life are affected by environment
  • how American Indians adapted their lifestyles to their environments








Put each of the following words on a small slip of paper.
Divide students into groups and give each group a set of words.

  • Fisherman
  • Ocean
  • Desert
  • Irrigation
  • Arctic
  • Forest
  • Log cabin
  • Canoe
  • River

Ask students to put the words into whatever groups they want. Then, as a class discuss what groups they created and why they chose those groups. These words all have one thing in common. They compare the environment in which people live and the ways in which they survive.

We know that American Indians lived in every climate region in the Americas and because of this, the tribes in different areas developed cultures that were distinct from American Indians from other regions.

What aspects of life would be affected by the environment?
For example: food, shelter, clothing, transportation, etc.

Using the website http://www.native-languages.org/home.htm#list, have each student select a tribe. They should research the tribe, its customs, culture, and the environment in which the tribe lived. Students will use this information to explain the link between geography and lifestyle, as well as to provide a comparison to life in the U.S. today. This can be achieved using any of the following options for projects: students could write a song, create a play/movie, build a diorama, create museum artifacts, or make a sketchbook or PowerPoint presentation demonstrating how American Indian groups adapted their lifestyles to the environment in which they lived.

Students should cover:
Why they did this?
In what ways does this allow them to best utilize and preserve their resources?

Students should present their projects to the class and discuss these issues.

Then, as a class, compare what you know about these tribes today.
Do we adapt to our environment or do we attempt to change our environment to fit our needs?
Which method is more sustainable?


Have students write a paragraph about what they can do in their own lives to adapt to their environment.

Additional Resources


Homesteaders, Immigrants and American Indians (entire unit)

Lesson 1: Agriculture and Inventions
Lesson 2: Territorial Ranges
Lesson 3: Land Use
Lesson 4: American Indian Reservations
Lesson 5: Homestead Shelters
Lesson 6: Dawes Act