"How Wood Tick Became Flat" is a tale from the Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation. This tale helps students become familiar with cultural storytelling and its importance in Native cultures. Students will have a brief introduction to the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation and thier location in Utah. This lesson include an experience eliciting discussion and literacy activities. Students will create a diamante poem using a Native American tale. 

"The Greedy Porcupine" is a Northwestern Band of Shoshone tribe tale. According to Shoshone culture, this tale teaches a valuable lesson that everyone should be proud of who he or she is, not envious of others. Everyone should also be grateful for what they have and avoid complaining. Everyone is given special gifts and talents, which should be used appropriately. If talents are misused, they could be taken away.After reading the story students willb identify characters and the lesson or moral of the story. The students will create a  character map to aid in comprehension of the story and provide the basis for the discussion in character education, tying in with the moral of the story.

Sing a Northwestern Shoshone song.
Write a narrative story about an experience in nature.
Create music compositions patterned after the song.
This lesson is written in partnership with and approved by the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation Cultural Specialist, Patty Timbimboo-Madsen and Paula Watkins, library consultant to the tribal nation. Before teaching this lesson, please explain to your students that there are many Indigenous tribes in Seal for the Northwestern Shoshonethe United States and that this lesson specifically focuses on a song of the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation and does not represent other Native American groups. It is the hope of the Northwestern Shoshone that other native tribes will respect their choice to share this aspect of their culture.

"Coyote and the Rock" is a Northwestern Band of Shoshone Nation tale. Many Native American tribes have "Coyote Stories." Coyote stories are traditionally only told in the winter season. Coyote stories are meant to entertain or instruct, or both. After reading the story students will create a "living picture" called a Tableau. A tableau is a representation of a dramatic scene by a person or group, posing silently without moving. In art, tableaus can be seen in the theater when a stage picute shows silent, still, costumed actor in poses creating a scene. Tableaus allows teachers to engage students with multiple learning styles. It can serve as an assessment tool when students "show what they know" as a frozen picture.  Tableau can support literacy when used to comprehend text and analyze literary elements such as character, plot, them, conflict and resolution. Tableaus also supports cooperative learning environments.