Native American Education Resources
For information only: Community resources are not sponsored or endorsed by the Puyallup School District.
New! FACE: Family & Childhood Education Program supports early childhood literacy through home based, preschool, & adult education. FACE is for families with American Indian/Alaska Native children ages prenatal to 5 years old. Parents do not need to be Native American. Click here for info.
Education Resources
- School and Community Resources
- Academic Tutoring
- Curriculum & Educational Resources
- Directories & Educational Reports
- Language
- Videos
- Museums and Cultural Centers
- Books
School and Community Resources
Supporting Native American Students & Families, click here (needs updated version) for list of school and community resources.
- Associated Ministries Resource Guide to Community Services for Tacoma-Pierce County, click here.
- Tahoma Indian Center program of Catholic Community Center, click here.
- 988 Crisis Line for Native and Indigenous People
Academic Tutoring
- Puyallup Tribe Youth Center (Little Wild Wolves Youth & Community Center) located at 5803 N. Levee Road, Tacoma, 98424 is right across the Puyallup River along Levee Rd. going toward Fife. The Youth Center offers tutoring through Sylvan Learning Center. The tutoring is free to Puyallup Tribal Youth and is offered at a discounted price to community members. Please call the Puyallup Tribe Youth Center at (253) 680-5679 to sign-up or if you would like more information.
- Our Savior Lutheran Church - 4519 112th St. E., Tacoma, WA 98446. Local math and science teachers are offering FREE math and science tutoring for students and adults at all levels. Every Wednesday during the school year from 5:30-7:00 PM. For flyer, click here.
- HAP (Homework Assistance Program) is a program sponsored by Holy Disciples Catholic Church and dedicated to helping students at grade levels K-12 succeed in school. All are welcome at Holy Disciples. You need not be a member of Holy Disciples nor share the Catholic faith to participate in any way in HAP. We do expect all who participate in the program to respect Holy Disciples as a faith based community and not undermine the goals and mission of the community. For more information, click here.
- Pierce County Library System Online Homework Help: Free Online Homework Help. Online tutors are available every day* from 1 - 10 p.m., for one-on-one homework help. The service is available in English or Spanish, for students of all ages. Online Homework Help requires a Pierce County Library card.
Curriculum & Educational Resources
- An American Indian Perspective on Columbus: an Indian Education curriculum unit. Click here for PDF.
- Breaking the Sacred Circle: An exploration of the mental, spiritual, cultural and physical aspects of the Sacred Circle. Click here for PDF.
- Cedar - Tree of Life: Click here for PowerPoint Presentation on the uses of cedar by the Coast Salish Indians (picture
only, no text).
- Content & Activities for Teaching about Indians of Washington State (Grades K-6): Topics include food, shelter, and clothing. Also includes guidelines for evaluating and selecting American Indian materials. Click here for PDF for Grades 7-12 and here for Grades K-6.
- Culture & History of the Skokomish Tribe
- Enduring Legacies Native Cases - Evergreen State College (Secondary Grades): Culturally relevant curriculum and
teaching resources presented as case studies on key multidisciplinary issues in Indian Country. Click here for website
- From Boarding Schools to Self Determination: American Indian and Alaskan Native educational systems during the
intrusion process. Click here.
- History of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe and its Reservation. Click here for website and click here for video We
are Muckleshoot.
- History of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians includes historical overview, Treaty of Medicine Creek, fishing, Land
Settlement of 1988 and other information. Click here for website.
- History of the Samish Indian Nation
- Indians of WA State: A curriculum resource guide for grades K-12, click here for PDF.
- Indian Reading Series: Stories and Legends of the Northwest. Click here for website.
- Intersecting Ojibwe Art Curriculum: University of Minnesota culture based art integration curriculum, click here.
- Lessons of Our Land - Indian Land Tenure Foundation (Grades K-12): Click here for website.
- Map of WA Tribes by WashingtonTribes.org. Click here for interactive map.
- The National Museum of the American Indian: Is part of the Smithsonian Institution and is dedicated to the life, languages, literature, history, and arts of the American Indian. Click here for website.
- Native American Story Connections for Science & Sustainability Lessons (Grades 1-5): This webpage contains a lesson plan, audio files of Native American stories including Tribe/location, and a video of Native storyteller Roger Fernandes. Click here.
- OSPI-ONE (Office of Native Education) ONE website here
- One With the Watershed: A salmon homecoming story-based curriculum for primary environmental education. Click here for PDF.
- The People of Cascadia: Pacific NW Native American History by Heidi Bohan. Click here for website.
- Puyallup Tribal News includes current news and events of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians. Click here for website.
- Red Dawn - Spokan Indian Legends: A collection of 14 legends and includes Salish language audio on some stories. Click here for zip file.
- Salmon Homecoming (2001): An Activity Book for Kids (Elementary). Click here.
- Since Time Immemorial (STI) - Tribal Sovereignty in WA State: This website has resources, materials, lessons, and entire units to support the teaching of tribal sovereignty, tribal history, and current tribal issues within the context of OSPI recommended units for WA and US history in the elementary and middle school levels and US history and Contemporary World Issues in the high school level. Each unit is aligned with National Common Core State Standards, state standards and builds toward the successful completion of a Content-Based Assessment, or CBA. Click here to access STI.
- Teaching about Columbus in 1992 & Beyond: A resource packet for teachers. Click here for PDF.
- Teaching about Thanksgiving (Grades K-6): Includes study and discussion questions and ideas for enrichment. Click here for PDF.
• Thanksgiving...A Resource Guide: An Indian education curriculum unit. Click here for PDF.
• The Treaty Trail: U.S. - Indian Treaty Councils in the NW: WA Historical Society curriculum lessons that involve
active role-play of Tribal members and the U.S. Government during the Walla Walla treaty negotiations.
Click here for website.
• Tribes of WA State Interactive Map by WSU College of Education Native Teaching & Learning, click here.
• The Unwritten Chapters: An American Indian comments on American history. Click here for PDF
Directories & Educational Reports
Language
Videos
- We are Puyallup: A brief history of the Puyallup Tribe
- As Long as the Rivers Run (1971) by Carol Burns/Salmon Defense: This documentary examines Indian fishing rights in reference to the Nisqually Indians of Frank's Landing. Click here for video, 60 minutes.
- Back to the River by Salmon Defense: This documentary is a continuation of As Long as the Rivers Runs, and examines Tribal treaty fishing rights struggles. Click here for video, 38 minutes.
- Shadow of the Salmon (2007) by Salmon Defense: A story about a young Lakota man that visits Coastal Salish relatives in the Pacific NW and learns about salmon and their environment. Click here for video, 44 minutes. For Shadow of the Salmon: Respect the Salmon, Respect Yourself resource guide (8th grade) click here
• Through Salmon Eyes: From the ancient story and wisdom of Elders, this video leads viewers on the journey of the
salmon people in a river through a watershed. Click here for video (approx. 12.50 minutes).
- Treaty Indian Fisheries and Salmon Recovery: Dispels myths about Tribal fishing practices and tells how the loss of habitat and degradation is leading to the decline in salmon populations. Click here for video, 10 minutes.
- We are Muckleshoot provides a brief history of the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe. Click here for video, 20 minutes.
Museums and Cultural Centers
- Burke Museum of Natural History & Culture
- Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum
- Colville Tribal Museum
- Daybreak Star Cultural Center
- Duwamish Longhouse & Culture Center
- Hibulb Cultural Center & Natural History Preserve (Tulalip Tribes)
- Karshner Culture & Arts Center - needs to be linked to new Karshner website
- Makah Cultural & Research Center
- National Museum of American History
- Quinault Cultural Center
- Squaxin Island Tribe Museum Library & Research Center
- Steilacoom Tribal Museum & Cultural Center
- Suquamish Museum
- Wanapum Heritage Center
- White River Valley Museum
- Yakama Nation Museum
Books
- 1621 A New Look at Thanksgiving, by Catherine O’Neill Grace & Margaret B. Bruchac with Plimoth Plantation; published by Scholastic Inc.
- Thanksgiving: A Native Perspective, by Doris Seale, Beverly Slapin, and Carolyn Silverman, eds., Berkeley: Oyate, 1998, teacher resource
- Clambake: A Wampanoag Tradition, by Russell M. Peters, Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1992, grades 4-6
- Giving Thanks: A Native American Good Morning Message, by Jake Swamp, New York: Lee & Low, 1995, all grades
- Ininatig’s Gift of Sugar: Traditional Native Sugarmaking, by Laura Waterman Wittstock, Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 1993, grades 4-6