French in Illinois

Learning Goals:
State Goal 15 - 15.A.2a, 15.B.2b, 15.C.2a
State Goal 16 - 16.A.2a, 16.A.2b, 16.A.2c, 16.B.2a (US,) 16.D.2a (US), 16.E.2a (US), 16.E.2c (US)
State Goal 17 - 17.A.2b, 17.A.2b, 17.C.2b
State Goal 18 - 18.A.2, 18.B.2a, 18.B.2b, 18.C.2

French Exploration

A. Explorers {16.A.2a, 16.A.2b, 16.A.2c.}

1. Marquette and Joliet
2. LaSalle
3. Voyageurs

B. Reasons for exploration {15.A.2a,15 .B. 2b, 15.C.2a. ,16.B.2a (US), 16.D.2a (US) 17.A.2b}

1. Establishing fur trade
2. Tracing the Mississippi for use as a trade route.
3. Mapping.
4. Spreading Christianity.

C. Differences between French and English {16.A.2c, 16B.2a (US)}

1. French respected Indians and depended on them to hunt fur animals and also to prepare the pelts. English considered Indians inferior.
2. French considered Indians equals, often intermarried, lived near them, learned their languages.
3. French were not interested in taking the Indians land; English wanted to settle, farm, and make claims on land.

French Settlement

A. Location of settlements near rivers {16.E.2a (US), 16.E.2c (US), 17.A.2b,17. C.2b}

B. Population {17.C.2b}

1. Minimal population because few were needed to maintain trade, and there was no great interest in colonization
2. Roman Catholic
3. More men than women, all social classes

C. Daily life {18.A.2, 18.B.2a, 18.B.2b, 18.C.2}

1. Layout of villages to maximize use of rivers, strip fields for farming
2. Construction of houses, furniture
3. Defense- mainly against English
4. Role of village priest, education
5. Clothing, food
6. Entertainment, music
7. Transportation

D. Government {16B.2a(US)}

1. Government by the King of France and his representatives
2. Local government
   1. Notaries, village assemblies, syndics, mayors, military captains,judges

Information and artifacts which would be helpful:
drawings of explorers;
travel diaries;
representations of maps;
pictures of beavers and other fur-bearing animals and the clothing made out of them;
descriptions of trapping and hunting;
explanations of the religious beliefs of Indians such as manitous;
depictions of religious or sacred objects;
drawings and descriptions of canoes and the equipment carried by voyageurs;
lists and descriptions of items traded with Indians;
evidence of relative value of fur pelts, and items traded for them;
examples of clothing of Indians, voyageurs, habitants--especially women and children;
evidence of the ways English traded and dealt with Indians to compare with French interactions;
maps or layouts of settlements;
names of French settlers;
drawings of houses and descriptions of how they were constructed;
lists of items brought to the settlements from Europe;
descriptions of enemy raids--either Indian or English;
sound bytes of French and Indian language and music;
evidence of art work and craft;
types of records kept by notaries, judges, mayors, and priests.

Prehistoric Indians of Illinois

Learning Goals:
State Goal 16 - 16.A.2a 16.A.2b 16.A.2c 16.D.2 16.E.2a
State Goal 17 - 17.D.2b

Information about prehistoric Indians is gathered by archaeologists who examine artifacts left behind by people. If several groups of people have used the same site, it is assumed that the artifacts at the lowest (deepest) level belonged to the earliest inhabitants. Time is counted back from B.C. and forward from A.D.

1. Paleo-Indians (10,000-6,000 B.C)

   A. Weapons

   1. Chipped points to make spears and darts, but did not have arrows to be used with bows
      
B. Tools

1. Large stone tools to use as hammer or axe
2. Small stones shaped to a point to use as drills
3. Scrapers made by flaking for scraping meat from hides


C. Weather

1. Cold, glaciers still present
   
D. Occupations
1. May have hunted big game such as bisons, or small game such as rabbits
2. Gathered plants in spruce, pine, fir forests at edge of glacier
E. Family life

1. Moved about in nomadic family groups

2. Archaic Indians (8,000-1,000 B.C.)

   A. Weapons

   1. Points with side notches, spears, atlatl darts
   B. Tools
   1. Grinding stones and slabs for grinding nuts and seeds
      
   2. Flaked scrapers and choppers
      
   3. Pointed awls to use as knives, hammers and tools to make holes in bone, wood, shells or skins
      
   4. Stone drills
      
   5. Tools, such as flakers and abraders, used to make other tools
      
   6. Bolas-- round stones tied together, whirled around and thrown at the legs of small game to entangle the animals
      
   7. Axes with grooves for attaching to handles
      
   C. Weather
   1. Somewhat warmer --glaciers melted. At first damp and cool, then warm and dry, then cooler, then much as it is now
      
   D. Occupations
   1. Hunted deer and other game using spears and dart points
      
   2. Gathered nuts, edible plants, roots
      
   3. Were so successful at getting food from the environment that they had time for leisure activities
      
   E. Family life
   1. Followed seasons in family groups of 20-60
      
   2. Wintered in rock shelters , perhaps near nut groves, with supply of food from harvest stored in pits for use during the winter
      
   3. May have had religious ceremonies
      
   4. Burials were in pits or on the surface of the ground with a shallow covering of rocks and soil; items buried with bodies indicated wealth or importance of the person
      
   5. Had ornaments made from bone, shell, stones, copper
      

3. Early Woodland Indians (2500 B. C.-300 A.D.)

   A. Weapons

   1. Similar to Archaic period
      
   B. Tools
   1. Pottery was a new invention--bowls made of coiled clay with punched and incised designs
   C. Weather
   
   1. Much as now
      
   D. Occupations
   
   1. Transition form gathering plants and animals for food to growing food (farming)
   E. Family life
   1. May have built houses
      
   
   

4. Middle Woodland (or Hopewell) Indians (500 B.C.-500 A.D.)
   
   A. Weapons
   
   1. Broad, stemmed, well-made projectile points
      
   B. Tools
   
   1. Shell and flint hoes for tilling corn and flint scrapers with hafts
      
   C. Weather
   
   1. Much as now
      
   D. Occupations
   
   1. Farming--corn being planted, tended and harvested
      
   2. River clams were harvested, and turkeys, water birds and deer were hunted
   3. Traded widely enough to acquire marine shells and sharks' teeth from Gulf of Mexico, alligator teeth from the South, mica from Carolinas or Georgia, copper from Northern Michigan, obsidian from Wyoming
      
   E. Family life
   
   1. Small villages established near streams and rivers
      
      1. Water used for drinking, transportation, fishing, clam harvesting
         
   2. Houses oval, 40 feet long, had posts tied together with flexible twigs, covered with mud, bark, skins, reed mats
      
   3. Fireplaces for heating and cooking
      
   4. Storage pits inside houses
      
   5. Houses too large for single family
      
   6. Some decorative pottery with simple designs as well as thicker more utilitarian pottery
      
   7. Pottery figurines showed how people dressed
      
      1. women wearing wrap-around skirts with colored designs
         
      2. men wearing breech clouts
         
      3. Both men and women wearing moccasins, beads, earspools of copper, stone, pottery
         
   8. Burial customs
      
      1. Some dead buried in log tombs under conical mounds
         
      2. Dead buried 3-4 to a tomb, on backs
         
      3. Objects buried with the dead (pipes carved in animal shapes, pottery, ornaments and beads, copper and stone tools) indicate belief in afterlife
         
      4. Some dead buried in simple,isolated graves, indicating some people were of lower social status than others
         

5. Late Woodland Indians ( 200A.D.-1300 A.D.)
   
   A. Weapons
   
   1. Bow and arrow used
      
   B. Tools
   
   1. Craftsmanship is much reduced from Hopewell era, but it improved over time
   C. Occupations
   
   1. Hunting is the economic base early in the era
      
   2. Later, hunting still most important, but farming increases enough to show surpluses of grain stored for later use
      
   D. Weather
   
   1. Much as now
      
   E. Family life
   
   1. Small villages and campsites situated along streams
      
   2. People had enough leisure time to gamble and play games such as chunky (played with stone or pottery disc-shaped stones)
      
   3. Pottery is undecorated, crudely made
      
   4. Some group burials in stone tombs under low mounds
      

6. Mississippian Indians (900 A.D- 1500 A.D.)
   
   A. Weapons
   
   1. Hunting of game still important
      
   B. Tools
   
   1. Tools for creating elaborate ceramics and fine stonework
      
   2. Major construction of platform mounds of huge size, temples, platforms, village walls
      
   3. Astronomical observation stations called "woodhenges"
      
   4. Hoes of flint or deer bones used to cultivate corn, squash and beans
      
   C. Weather
   
   1. Much as now
      
   D. Occupations
   
   1. Cultivated plants increasingly important
      
   2. Economic system supported large populations
      
   3. Specialists in fine crafts such as ceramics and stonework
      
   4. Had contact with more advanced cultures within the Americas
      
   E. Family life
   
   1. Large, populous towns on several-acre sites in rich bottom-lands near streams (largest at Cahokia-- 5.8. square miles)
      
   2. Towns fortified with palisades
      
   3. Small, square or circular houses
      
   4. Temples, plazas within towns
      
   5. Burials elaborate
      
      1. Varying levels of elaborateness according to social stratus
         
      2. Very important people buried with offerings of beads, stones, shells, arrowheads--even bodies of servants to accompany the master to the next world

Questions to be posed for investigation:
How healthy were the diets of the prehistoric Indians?
What were the life spans of the people, and what were the main causes of death?
Did they have any forms of writing or signs?
Were they territorial, and if so, did they mark their territory?
What were the roles of men, women and children within the family and within the community?
What weapons were used for defense from other people, and which were used for defense from animals?
How do archaeologists know what the people ate?
If there were no rock shelters, how did the early people keep from freezing in winter?
How did the prehistoric Indians find and communicate with the faraway people that they traded with?
Why did the Hopewell culture decline?
What caused the demise of the Mississippians?
What farming, wood gathering or other practices had a negative impact on the environment?
Did a climatic event, such as El Nino-influenced weather, cause a drastic problem for the Mississippians?
How did some people get to have higher social status than others?
Was it only men?
Was there any education?
How did the people do tasks such as rock flaking, hide scraping, house building--are there any directions for how it was done?
How do archaeologists know how they did it?
Did the people use plants for medicine?
What were all the ways that such things as clams, deer bones and antlers, and other natural materials were used?

These things would be helpful for learning the concepts:
Notes from archaeologists about their findings
Theories about the decline of the Hopewells and the Mississippians
Artists' ideas of what the various types of communities-- from nomadic groups to proper cities--looked like
Diagrams of how to do the various tasks the people performed in daily life
Comparisons of the way burial sites looked at the various stages of development of the culture
Photographs of ongoing research about the people and information about how it is done

Government in Illinois

Learning Goals:
State Goal 14: 14.B.2., 14.C.2

(Understand political systems, with an emphasis on the United States)

l. State government

A. Executive branch

1. Headed by the governor
   
   1. Elected by voters
      
   2. Serves term of 4 years
      
   3. Assisted by the lieutenant governor
      
   4. Has the power to veto legislation
      
2. Carries out the laws of the state
   
3. Departments do such things as protect natural resources; manage roads, air travel, and canals; collect taxes; issue licenses; support farms and businesses; and insure the protection of children without parents
   

Rent collector creates a computer file to keep track of rents paid or owed for community members, issues receipts for rent, collects rent and deposits it in the bank in the community account

Banker creates accounts for every community member, records deposits and withdrawals, manages community account

Sanitation worker straightens up room; keeps computer, sink, and loft areas neat; checks desks and issues tickets for messy desks; makes sure that the chalkboard and erasers are clean; empties recycling

Public relations writes invitations, letters, and thank you notes for the class; writes daily assignments on the board; writes out assignments for students who are absent and takes to office; writes news releases

Community improvement committee meets to discuss and solve problems within the class and makes suggestions for solutions, mediates disputes, sets up suggestion box and acts on suggestions when possible, figures out ways to make the classroom better

Cultural arts committee makes the classroom environment pleasing, invites guests (students or grown-ups) to share their talents with the class on a regular basis, sets up lunch chats every 2 weeks, chooses background music to play during 2 work periods a week

Librarian sets up classroom library with changing collection. Designs check-out system, writes overdue reminders, returns books to school library, keeps track of book reports

News reporters decide on stories and features to cover for the week, write questions, interview students and others, write up reports, film weekly news show

Possible tie-ins- for museums:
Photos of the General Assembly, Governors, judges, Supreme Court Proclamations, examples of laws
Diaries of lawyers, governors
Maps of Judicial Circuits-- past and present
Minutes of city meetings for different eras
Items used by government officials--such as stamps, seals
Voting information, examples of ballots, voting booths, ballot boxes
Interesting court cases, preserved evidence
Judges' robes
Tie-ins with Lincoln as a lawyer

Please look at our class website on Lincoln in the 8th Judicial Circuit at http://www.cmi.k12.il.us/Urbana/projects/LinkOn

• Agriculture of Illinois as a force in the development of the state and as a part of the present economy--The historical shift from subsistence farming to farming markets--The importance of natural features (especially Lake Michigan, the Mississippi River and drainage patterns) in determining settlement of the state and the development of cities due to ease of transporting agricultural products
• Natural features of the state----Glaciation--History of prairies and their demise--elevation--river system


• Natural resources--importance of coal, fertile soil
• Industrialization of the state--Importance of Chicago as center for world trade (location, transportation, availability of iron from Great Lakes region for steel production, means to reach Atlantic through Great Lakes)--Other important industries in downstate Illinois and how they are tied to local natural resources---Effect of railroads on growth of cities
• Cultural development of the state--Areas of special ethnic interest--Important contributions by inventors, performers, authors, artists-- Significant architecture, landmarks
• Map skills--maps with varying purposes (topographical, political), symbols--Historical maps of same area in different time periods
• Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, George Rogers Clark, Ulysses S. Grant