Honoring Indigenous Peoples

Lesson 9
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ELA

Unit 6

3rd Grade

Lesson 9 of 18

Objective


Explain what messages Chester received about speaking Navajo and why the messages changed.

Readings and Materials


  • Book: Chester Nez and the Unbreakable Code, A Navajo Code Talker's Story by Joseph Bruchac  pp. 1 – 11 — Stop at "June 1952: Month of Big Planting"

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Target Task


Writing Prompt

What messages did Chester receive about speaking Navajo from 1929 to 1942? Why did the messages change? 

Sample Response

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Key Questions


  • What happened when Betoli went to boarding school? How does the illustration on page 2 help readers understand what happened?

  • How does Chester feel when he is back at home? What do the matrons say when he returns to school? 

  • Compare and contrast the illustrations on pages 4 and 5. What emotion does each illustration convey? Why? 

  • Chester says he wanted to "prove his worth." What does he mean by this?

  • How does Chester respond when the principal shares that the United States was at war? 

  • Why did the US military recruit Navajo soldiers? 

Vocabulary


encode

v.

(p. 10)

to put a message into the form of a code so that it can kept secret

decode

v.

(p. 10)

to find or understand the true or hidden meaning of something

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Common Core Standards


  • RI.3.3 — Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.
  • RI.3.7 — Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).

Supporting Standards

L.3.4
L.3.4.b
RF.3.3
RF.3.4
RI.3.1
RI.3.4
RI.3.10
SL.3.1
W.3.10
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Lesson 8

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Lesson 10

Lesson Map

A7CB09C2-D12F-4F55-80DB-37298FF0A765

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