Visit your city's local museum and view pictures on what the area looked like when Native Americans inhabited the land. Gather materials and pictures both online and from magazines to create a Native American Diorama. Use a shoebox and decorate both the inside and outside. Include rivers or any geographical landmarks. Make tepees out of fabric, log homes from craft sticks or igloos from sugar cubes. Include paper figures of Native American men, women and children.
Enlist the entire fifth grade to host a Powwow Day. Invite local Native Americans to demonstrate powwow songs, dances and tribal language. Dress up in Native dress. Set up tables in the gym and assign fifth-grade groups to present different aspects of the culture. Make drums and flags pertinent to the Native American tribes close to you geographically. Provide a table for students to test their beading skills. Offer one or two different kinds of foods.
Assign each student the task of creating a multimedia presentation using available computer slide show software. Use the school library and Internet to research facts and gather pictures about Native Americans. Create five slides. Showcase the student's artistic talent on the introductory slide by drawing a picture of a local Native American. Include slides about types of dress, hunting and farming techniques and spiritual beliefs. Insert examples of buildings they lived in such as tepees or igloos and symbols of their culture.
Making Native American crafts can be as easy as gathering cardboard paper towel tubes, construction paper and paper plates. Design Native American masks by drawing symbolic patterns on paper plates. Cut out the designs and paint the masks. Attach sticks for students to hold so they can place the masks in front of their faces. Turn paper towel tubes into totem poles, if they are a facet of your local tribe's culture, by attaching material or paper cutouts to each tube. Use construction paper and paint to create pictures of Native American dancers and warriors.