This math lesson introduces students to an important element of Native American culture: thepow wow. These are public events in which Native people celebrate and share their culture; honorfriends, family members, elders, and military veterans; participate in singing and dancing; and display traditional skills and crafts. There are more than a dozen pow wows held in Oregon each year, from early spring to early fall, in all regions of the state. Most pow wows are also open to non-Native people. In this lesson, pow wows serve as the basis for a task-rich exercise in which students choose which pow wow to attend and then calculate the related expenses. The lesson allows students to develop their skills in using math for contextual problem solving and to make informed decisions. 

Many federal policies have had a negative impact on tribal nations in Oregon. This is particularly true in the area of fishing rights. The treaties signed with many different tribes ensured access to traditional Native fishing grounds, but the U.S. government later attempted to limit or eliminate this access. The tribes have fought back in the courts, and there have been several high-profile cases over the past several decades. In this lesson, students will examine these treaty rights violations through the application of linear equations.

Philanthropy is a core value of Native American tribes in Oregon. Many tribes refer to this as the “spirit of potlatch,” which is a tradition that goes back hundreds and possibly thousands of years. In this spirit, many tribes have created charitable foundations or funds to support causes that benefit the local and surrounding communities. Collectively, tribal foundations are among the largest sources of philanthropy in Oregon.This lesson uses the mathematical practice of fractions to introduce students to Native philanthropy. Students are given a dataset and asked to perform fraction concepts and justify their choices as part of a philanthropic effort. Students will be addressing Critical Areas 1 and 2 while addressing mathematical practices.

In this lesson, students will learn essential information about taxes and how they impact enrolledmembers of federally recognized Native American Tribes. Many people believe that Native Americans do not pay taxes and therefore should not benefit from federal and state tax-supported programs. This lesson debunks that myth and helps students understand the complex interrelation between state, federal, and Tribal governments and tax systems. Students will also complete a math exercise using piecewise functions to analyze and calculate federal and Oregon state income taxes. The lesson can stand on its own or serve as a complement to or extension of other math lessons. 

The Monster Book remains a collection of over 150 activities intended to liven up the language classroom, engage students in learning, and give instructors straightforward, active options for practicing the four skills and tapping into other elements of language such as grammar, vocabulary, critical thinking, and culture. 

This tool was designed by the Oregon Open Learning team as a resource to find open-source images when curating OER. Below are two tables that are categorized by image type. If you have questions about this resource, please contact OregonOpenLearning@ode.state.or.us.

Oregon Department of Education's Program Analyst and Instructional Materials Coordinator Aujalee Moore shares the states processes and guidelines for school district purchases of accessible curriculum and supplemental materials for K-12.

This webinar presents information about Bookshare and how the service can be used to ensure timely access to accessible instructional materials.

The Project Design Rubric uses the Essential Project Design Elements as criteria to evaluate projects. The rubric aligns with PBLWorks' Gold Standard PBL model. Definitions and practical examples are used to clarify the meaning of each dimension.The rubric helps educators understand the difference between a simple "project" and rigorous Gold Standard PBL. Teachers who are new to PBL can see how to move from beginner to expert.You and your colleagues can use the rubric to guide the design of projects, give formative feedback, and reflect and revise.

This lesson introduces the Native American tradition of seasonal rounds and also discusses the important connection between land, food, nutrition, and energy for Native American people in Oregon. Many tribes migrated seasonally, based on the food sources that were available in a given place at a given time. Tribes and smaller bands of Native people would often travel several hundred miles in a few weeks to get to the next food-gathering source in time.In this lesson, students will reflect on their own lives and the foods they eat throughout the year while also learning about the food traditions of Native American people in Oregon. This lesson will also help students understand the close connection that Native Americans in Oregon have with the land.

Students will learn about the concept of food sovereignty and will explore features of the traditional food systems of Native Americans in Oregon and compare them to current food cultivation and consumption practices. Optionally, they can then research and prepare case studies of tribal and intertribal food sovereignty projects in Oregon and analyze the lessons those studies can provide for reducing the impact of human activities on natural systems.

The oral traditions of Native American tribes in Oregon tell the story of continuous existence ofIndigenous people on this land. From the coast to the inland valleys, the Columbia Plateau to theGreat Basin, tribal people have maintained continuous and balanced relationships with Oregon’snatural environment since time immemorial.This connection between Indigenous people and place has always informed their approach to whatis now called land management. Indigenous people had a thorough understanding of seasonal ecosystems and ecoregions, and this knowledge of soil, water, plants, and animals helped themsurvive. Contemporary Native people in Oregon continue to draw on traditional Indigenous knowledge, also known as traditional ecological knowledge, to guide how they manage the land.In this lesson, students will explore the components and processes of traditional ecological knowledge through the lens of contemporary tribal projects being conducted across the state. Students will consider how tribes are stewards of their lands and natural resources and how they leverage their resources by collaborating with nonprofit and government agencies.

This lesson examines tribal stewardship of natural resources and the concept of a federal trust relationship between tribes and the U.S. government. More than a century of federal policy denied tribes the rights to control and manage the lands that were set aside for them as part of treaty negotiations. These lands are legally owned by tribes and Native American individuals but are held in trust by the U.S. government. In recent decades, tribes have fought and won many legal battles to establish the right to manage the natural resources on tribal land, as well as the right to hunt, fish, and use those resources in accordance with their traditions. Today, tribal agencies frequently collaborate with both state and federal government agencies, such as the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Forest Service, to manage and protect the land.

In this lesson students will learn how Native American tribes living in what is now Oregon incorporated geologic knowledge into their lifeways and cultures. It will describe tribes’ use of stone tools, designation of prominent landforms as significant and meaningful places, and oral traditions they maintained regarding geologic events to help them understand and organize the world they lived in. This lesson assumes students have some familiarity with or prior instruction in earth science concepts such as Oregon landforms, the rock cycle, plate tectonics, and earthquakes and tsunamis.

The annual cycle of seasonal rounds for Native Americans in Oregon reflects the relationship theyshare with the land—a relationship that includes intimate knowledge of local ecosystems. Since time immemorial, Tribes in Oregon have carefully considered seasonal ecosystems and ecoregions, and this knowledge of soil, water, plants, and animals helped them survive. Native Americans in Oregon today continue to draw on traditional Indigenous knowledge to guide how they manage the parts of their ancestral homelands that remain in their care.In this lesson, students will use a systems-thinking approach to explore the components andprocesses of ecosystems as they consider how the seasonal rounds of Native American Tribes in Oregon reflect local ecosystems. Students will analyze a hypothetical and a local ecosystem by identifying abiotic and biotic components and their relationships and then consider how Native people in Oregon considered the local abiotic and biotic components of their seasonal ecosystemsin seasonal rounds. Students will also consider the impact of forced relocation to reservations. Prior to white settlement, most Tribes in Oregon moved seasonally throughout a vast region in a pattern based on the availability of foods. Students will consider habitats, natural resources, stability and change, and living and nonliving components of habitats.

The U.S. Supreme Court is an institution with the power to change and shape the lives of all Americans. This lesson asks students to review what they already know about the Supreme Court and to build on that knowledge by examining the court’s relationship with tribal governments and Native American people. For most students this will be new information, and this lesson provides an opportunity for students to learn about theunique relationship between the Supreme Court and tribal nations. Students will read summaries of Supreme Court decisions and reflect on what they’ve learned with peers. If resources allow, students can practice their research skills and find information about Supreme Court cases beyond those provided.

This lesson introduces students to the governance structures of the nine federally recognized tribes in Oregon. Tribes have a unique relationship to the federal and state governments and to each other. Each tribe is a sovereign nation, with its own constitution and the power to make, carry out, and interpret its own laws, while also being subject to some laws established by the U.S. government. Treaties between the federal government and some individual tribes (or groups of tribes) also designate certain goods and services that must be provided.Students will work in groups to conduct research, discuss their findings, and prepare and deliver a presentation that demonstrates their knowledge. This lesson asks students to compare and contrast the governance structure of one assigned tribe (per group) to those of the U.S. government, the Oregon state government, and other tribal governments. Students are expected to have prior knowledge of the U.S. and Oregon Constitutions and the institutions, functions, and processes of those governments (see the “Civics and Government” section of the Oregon State Board of Education standards for high school social studies).

From 1774 to 1871, the U.S. government negotiated hundreds of treaties with individual NativeAmerican tribes. These negotiations were conducted on a government-to-government basis,with the understanding that tribes were sovereign nations with an inherent right to self-governance and self-determination. This lesson will provide students with an understanding of the history and impact of treaty-making between Native American tribes in Oregon and the U.S. government. Thereare six activities.