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Native American Studies

Click to Access Videos
Native American Studies | Multimedia
Click to access educational videos, audio, and interactive games for classroom and home use.
Newsletters for Parents, Teachers, and Caregivers

Welcome to SDPB’s Native American Studies section. SDPB provides educational content like the Tatanka: A Way of Life Lesson Plan, activity ideas, and documentaries like Lost Bird of Wounded Knee. Thank you for visiting SDPB, and have a great day!

Photo of Red Horse winter count from the Buechel Memorial Lakota Museum in Saint Francis South Dakota.
Winter Count Lesson Plans
A winter count is a pictographic record of historical/memorable events for a tiospaye (community). Significant events are recorded for future generations.
The American Buffalo A Film By Ken Burns logo.
PBS LearningMedia
PBS LearningMedia offers FREE educational resources for PreK–12 educators and students. Search by grade, subject, resource type, and more. (Image - Ken Burns Collection on PBS LM)
Graphic - Instructional Resources for Oecti Sakowin Essential Understandings.
Instructional Resources
On this page, you will find Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings instructional resources. Topics include lands and the environment, culture, language, kinship, oral tradition, sovereignty, and treaties.
Archival photo of two Native American boys lying in two twin hospital beds holding hands, from American Experience Native American Children Taken from Their Families.

Example Resources from PBS LearningMedia
(Search Today)

A red and black graphic that says Guide to Tribal Nations.
Informative Guide
Download your free 37-page guide to all things Native American in South Dakota!
A photo of a buffalo bladder used as a water carrier. The image has the following text - What is the buffalo part called, and what is one of the traditional uses of the buffalo part?
Classroom Activity
Tatanka: A Way of Life - Traditional Use of Buffalo Parts activity.
A photo of a sweat lodge model.
Build a Model
Explore the unique history and culture of South Dakota's Native Americans.
Image of Medicine Knoll. Grassland with rocks in the form of a snake.
Snake Visions: Metaphysical Place Knowledge and Medicine Knoll
Medicine Knoll, in Central South Dakota, exhibits an ancient and peculiar knowledge of place in the form of an enormous snake.
Three large stones on grass with a creek in the background.
Three Stones: An Arikara Legend
Three seemingly ordinary stones sit on a hill above some cabins at the Oahe Sunset Lodge on Lake Pocasse, just west of Pollock, South Dakota.
Grass with rocks in the shape of a turtle.
Landmarks: The Snake Butte Turtle Effigy
There are runic legends written in stone on hilltops across SD: giant snakes, turtles, mythical beasts, and sacred symbols. The meanings are a mystery to most of us.
1948 photo of a reunion of the last survivors of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Eight Native American elders, with headdresses, are sitting on the grass.
Photographer Bill Groethe and the Last Survivors of the Little Big Horn
In 1948, Bill Groethe attended a reunion of the last survivors of the Battle of the Little Big Horn, also known as the Battle of the Greasy Grass.
Photo of traditional foods including an orange squash, two sumac flowers, choke cherries, pumpkin seeds, leaves, and other seeds.
Traditional Foods | Food Sovereignty and Healthy Cooking
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For more information about SDPB's educational resources, contact SDPB

at [email protected] or (605)222-3422 (K-12 Ed. Staff)

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WoLakota Project logo. A green circle is centered in a black rectangle. Four hand prints, fingers pointed out, are on the green circle: one black on the left, one white on the bottom, one yellow on the right, and one red on top.
Educational Resources