Indian "Buffalo Skin" Writing
Lori Keller - Maysville - 5th grade American History
July 2005

Lesson Overview: Students love using real Indian symbols to write 
stories about their 'Indian life' on paper bag 'buffalo skins.'

Objectives: After completing this lesson the student will be able 
to:

identify common Indian writing symbols.
GLE: Social Studies 2: Knowledge of continuity & change in the 
history of Missouri & the U.S.
A1 Native American Cultures & E5 Westward Expansion & settlement of 
the U.S.

write a 2 paragraph story about their Indian life.
GLE: Writing 2: Compose well developed text using standard English 
conventions (B/C/D/E/F)

Materials:
* poster board buffalo skin template
* brown paper bags
* scissors
* markers or colored pencils

Class Time: one 50 minute class period


Teacher Input: To get my students imagining they are an Indian 
(before I introduce the symbols) I have them answer questions such 
as:

1. How many family members do you have (list males and females)? 
(male & female symbol for each one listed)
2. Does your family live alone or with many other families? (1 
tepee or 3 tepees)
3. Do you live near a mountain, river, or lake? (triangle, squiggle 
line, or irregular circle)
4. Do you hunt or farm? (spear or corn plant)
5. Are you a ceremonial drummer or dancer? (drum or dancer figure)
6. Is your tribe at peace or war? (broken arrow or complete arrow)
7. Which animal is most sacred to you? (bear print, eagle head, or 
turtle)

(You can add/change questions depending on which symbols you are 
using)

After the students have all of their answers written, show them the 
symbols. Their answers determine which symbol they would draw. For 
example question #1 they would draw the female and male symbols for 
the number of each in their family. Question #2 they would draw 1 
tepee for living alone and 3 tepees for living in a group.

Symbol discussion: we would discuss the reason and origin of 
symbols.
"Why do you think Indians used symbols for writing?”
“Why didn't they just write everything out in words?"
"How do you think they came up with their symbols?"
"How did the tribe learn what the symbols stood for?"
"Who was in charge of making up the symbols and drawing the winter 
counts?"

I would show them some photographs of actual 'winter counts' on 
buffalo skins.

Activity: "Buffalo Skin" Writing
Use a buffalo skin shaped template to trace shape onto brown paper 
bag.
Have students cut shape out, wad paper up into a ball, (to give it a 
'distressed' look) then flatten and smooth it out.
Using markers or colored pencils they should draw their symbols that 
answer the questions above in order on their 'skin.'
By reading their symbols they should be able to tell the story of 
their life.

On the back of their 'skin' they should write a 2 paragraph story 
about their Indian life. They will probably need to add extra 
information that wasn't answered in the questions. They could make 
up symbols for the extra information and add it to the other side. 
The written story should follow the symbolic story.

Questions for review: Looking over the ‘buffalo skin’ writing:
"What information did you need to add to complete your story?"
"What types of symbols did you come up with to correspond with your 
added information?"
"Why did you choose that symbol?"


Assessment: The 2 paragraph story on the back of the buffalo skin 
would be graded using a scoring guide.
Paragraph Scoring Guide: (20 points) Rubistar rubric #1153246
Sentence structure (1-4)
Focus on topic (1-4)
Capitalization & punctuation (1-4)
Grammar & punctuation (1-4)
Penmanship (1-4)

Quiz over some of the symbols we used for the story writing. I 
would show a symbol and have them write the meaning of it.
(this would probably be during the next class period.)

Extension:
The students could use the internet to research other symbols that 
were used by specific tribes that are being studied. We could use 
those symbols to decorate other projects such as tepees during our 
Indian unit.

We could make a huge “buffalo skin” for the entire class with each 
child represented by their own original symbol.

This lesson would be a small part of an entire Indian Unit, in which 
my students would learn about the cultural traditions of many 
different tribes of the Northwest, Southwest, and Plains Indians. 
Lessons would include information on everyday tribal life, shelters, 
foods, crafts, hunting techniques, communication, interaction with 
other tribes, etc.

References:
Indian Symbol websites:
www.americanindianjewelry.com/symbols.html
www.allesfuerdieseele.de/images/IndianSymbols.jpg
www.indiansummer.com/symbol.htm
www.kivatrading.com/symbol1.htm


“A People without history are like the wind on the buffalo grass…”
Lakota