Sadlier-Oxford : Grammar For Writing

Grammar for Writing:
Level Gold — Chapter 12

The First Americans

Monks Mound, Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, Collinsville, Illinois

During the last Ice Age, people crossed the Bering Land Bridge, called Beringia, from Asia to North America. Traveling on foot, these people spread across the continent and became the first Americans. They were hunter-gatherer clans known as Paleo-Indians.

Your Assignment

Research the first Americans, the Paleoamericans, including the Mound Builders, the Clovis Culture, the Copper Culture, the Woodland People, and the Hopewell Culture. Learn how these people lived.

Your local library is giving a series of short lectures for middle school or junior high school students. These lectures are cross-cultural lessons on early people. Working in a small group (no more than four students), prepare a 5-to-7 minute lesson on some aspect of the Paleoamericans. Each person in the group will present part of the lesson.

STEP 1: Initial Search
Begin your research with visits to the following websites:

National Park Service Prehistory

Past Cultures of Mississippi River

STEP 2: Focus Your Search

Focus your research on one or more aspect(s) of the Paleoamericans. Use cluster diagrams to organize the details you have discovered about this topic. (See Grammar for Writing, Level Gold, pages 10–11.)

Search the Internet for more information. Search at this website:

refdesk

Explore other resources, such as books, an encyclopedia, newspaper articles and features from National Geographic and other journals.

STEP 3: Define Your Audience

Make your information interesting to middle-school students, ages 12–14. Your audience might think that Native Americans living in North America at the time of Columbus were the first Americans; it is up to you to teach them about this earlier culture. Write with a lively, informative style. Use intriguing facts and descriptions to make these early people come alive for your listeners.

STEP 4: Make an Outline

Make an outline based on the material you have collected. (See Grammar for Writing, Level Gold, page 13.) Include (1) where these people came from and what happened to them; (2) how they lived, what they ate, and other information about their habits, customs, and culture; and (3) how we know what we know about them.

When speaking of the Paleoamerican culture, try to use interesting, accurate modifiers that compare your topic to cultures with which the audience is already familiar. Review the rules on using comparatives. (See Grammar for Writing, Level Gold, pages 249 and 251.)

Dangling modifiers show that you haven't proofread carefully. If you want to write like a pro, double-check each sentence. Does the sentence make sense? Does it say what you want it to say? Be sure your writing is clear and precise. (Review dangling modifiers in Grammar for Writing, Level Gold, page 257.)

STEP 5: Organize Your Ideas and Write a Rough Draft

Use your outline to help you organize your ideas. Decide which person in your group will handle each segment of the outline. Then write a rough draft of the material.

Woolly Mammoth

STEP 6: Revise, Edit and Proofread Your Writing

Reread your lesson. Be sure each paragraph has a topic sentence and that all the sentences in the paragraph support that topic. Check to make sure you have included descriptive details and key facts. Be sure your mini-lesson provides the audience with a fascinating look at these early people.

Edit your writing for grammatical errors; then proofread your work carefully for spelling, punctuation, and capitalization errors.

STEP 7: Publish Your Work

Present your lesson to the class. Be sure to have visual support for your material.