The Fire Stealers

In the classroom/library:

Goal: to use literature to access information about Hopi culture to use literature as a writing and an art prompt

Objectives:
Students will locate the Hopi reservation on the Arizona map.
Students will learn/review the meaning of a pourquoi tale.
Students will hear Fire Stealers, a Hopi folktale.
Students will compose a shared web of the characters/events from the story.
Students will create a similar web about a mountain lion.
Students will compose a shared writing poem about the mountain lion.
Students will create a web for an animal of their choice.
Students will compose a pourquoi poem based on the animal they've selected.
Students will develop a Hopi design and illustrate their work with a border.

Questions:
In what ways do folktales share culture? What is a pourquoi story?

Core Curriculum (TUSD)
Writing
Writing shows the following traits:
idea development, focus, details (Ideas)
author's voice, purpose, consideration of audience, tone and style (Voice)
precise language and phrasing (Word Choice)
Use the writing process, including generating topics, participating in prewriting activities, drafting, revising and editing to effectively complete a variety of writing tasks for various audiences.

Social Studies
Recognize the multicultural and multiethnic dimensions of our community.
Understand that culture encompasses all aspects of society and know how culture is transmitted.
Discover the beliefs, legends, myths, symbols, heroes and heroines of various cultures

Prior Learning: Students have read Clamshell Boy (Makah), Quillworker (Cheyenne), Turquoise Boy (Navajo), and Dancing Drum (Cherokee). They have made Aztec Sun god prints.

Day One:
1. Make connections to stories students have read. Use the map to show where the Navajo reservation is located. Show the location of the Hopi reservation within that of the Navajo. Play Hopi music.
2. What are some ways an illustrated story teaches us about culture? Cultural features of American Indian stories such as 4 repetitions (contrast to European with 3 repetitions), Hopi culture in the illustrations (kachinas and pottery designs), and beliefs about the connections between people and nature. Read the "Ceremony" section from The Hopis (Sneve/Himler). Look at the pottery designs.
3. Read: The Fire Stealers: A Hopi Story by Michael Lomatuway'ma, illustrated by Ken Gary. Ask students to listen and look for Hopi culture within the story.
4. Debrief. 4 repetitions? kachinas? designs? pourquoi?
5. Web the characters - character traits and physical features of the animals and the events in the story.
6. What if the mountain lion were in this story? Show picture of mountain lion. Why did I pick a mountain lion? Web physical description of mountain lion using "show not tell" language - circle pourquoi characteristic: blackened muzzle.
7. Write a group poem about how the mountain lion got its blackened muzzle.
8. Brainstorm desert animals. Each student will pick an animal and web its physical characteristics. Circle the pourquoi characteristic.

Day Two:
9. Students will compose a pourquoi poem.

Throughout the week:
10. Students will design a border using Hopi patterns for their poems.

Day Three:
11. Students will use markers or colored pencils to create border designs.
12. While students are working on their borders, one or both teachers will conference with students about their poems.
13. Four students' work will be published to the Southwest Children's Literature Web site.
14. Rubric for evaluating student poems attached.

Resources:
The Fire Stealers by Michael Lomatuway'ma
Mountain Lions by Maura Gouck
The Hopis by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve
The Legacy of a Master Potter: Nampeyo and Her Descendants by Mary Ellen and Laurence Blair
CD: Talking Spirits: Native American Music from the Hopi, Zuni and San Juan Pueblos (Tucson-Pima Public Library: Ethnic Talking)
TUSD Educational Materials Center:
E 4116 - Hopi Pottery
E 1054 - Hopi Clown Kachina
E 3890 (Drawer 48) Selected Indian Artifacts - Kachina print

Supplies:
Arizona Map
Butcher Paper for Web
Xerox paper for webs and picture frames
Lined paper for poem drafts
Markers and colored pencils

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