THE PEOPLE OF THE VALLEY
LIFE IN THE VALLEY

Grade Level:
4^th-8^th

Standards Integration:
Minnesota:
Grades 4-5: Social Studies-Geography and Citizenship
4c. Participating in an activity that contributes to the improvement of the student’s community.
Grades 6-8: Write and Speak-Writing
1d. Precise wording and objective style.

North Dakota:
Grades 4-5: Language Arts-Students engage in speaking and listening process.
6.4.3 Respond to spoken words and body language.
Grades 6-8: Language Arts-Students engage in speaking and listening process
6.8.1 Speak with a purpose.

Materials:
None

Objectives:

	The students with use role-playing as a form of communication with which to develop an awareness of the struggles encountered by the first European settlers in the Red River Valley.
	Students will practice volunteerism to understand the challenges met by new people in their communities.

Background:
Early settlers to the Red River Valley faced many challenges. Many came to the Valley to escape or leave behind hardships in their homeland. However, when they came to the Red River Valley, they encountered a different set of challenges. They encountered a different set of enemies: people, disease, and natural disaster.

Pre-Visit Activity:
Create a set of cards to describe challenges that faced early European settlers in the Red River Valley. Include such things as: 

	Smallpox or another disease kills half the people in the settlement.
	Soldiers of rival fur-trading companies attack settlement and destroy half the homes.
	Grasshoppers eat the crops and destroy a large part of the winter food supply.
	Mild winter creates a surplus of perishable supplies in early summer.
	Trade secures enough beaver pelts to buy extra pemmican, but storage area is small.
	Large numbers of cattle choke on insects.
	Letter from home community in Europe means family member must return.
	Verbal and written communication with Native peoples is impossible.
	Perfect growing conditions result in an abundant harvest.
	River floods and ruins substantial crop.
	Grandpa buys a fiddle, learns to play, and children learn to dance.
	Snowstorm strands families for two weeks or more.

Select students at random to act as settlers, then have each student draw a card and read it. Ask the students to use these scenarios to imagine what life was like for early settlers. Talk about the struggles faced by newcomers. Create a “Life in the Red River Valley Settlement” game board to simulate a re-enactment of these struggles. Bring game boards on your visit to HHIC.

Post-Visit Activity:
Examine struggles faced by present-day immigrants to the Red River Valley. Discuss how these challenges are different from those encountered by the first European settlers. Invite a newcomer in your community to visit your classroom and discuss the challenges they have encountered. Ask the students to think about, and then write down, how they can help newcomers meet the challenges of immigration. Finally, suggest to the students that they act on their own suggestions.