Rick Harper

Ashley Dockins

What types of houses did the Anasazi have and how were the buildings made?

Cognitive Goal:  The student will be able to know what the buildings of the Anasazi looked like and how the building style evolved over time.

Affective Goal:  The student will appreciate that engineers hundreds of years ago could make buildings similar to buildings that are in use today.

Standards: 

            Illinois: 17.D.2b  Identify different settlement patterns in Illinois and the United States and relate them to physical features and resources.

            National:  3.G  Social studies programs should include experiences that provide for the study of people, places, and environments, so that the learner can describe how people create places that reflect ideas, personality, culture, and wants and needs as they design homes, playgrounds, classrooms, and the like.

Lesson Objective:  The student will create a model of a building the Anasazi made at Mesa Verde according to directions.  This experience will help students to understand how building styles are modified over time. 

Materials:  Box, sticks, leaves, twigs, rocks, cardboard, glue, worksheets, popsicle sticks, tape, play dough

Resources:

Retrieved October 4, 2009, from http://www.mesa.verde.national-park.com/info.htm

Retrieved October 4, 2009, from http://www.nps.gov/archive/meve/cliff_dwellings/cliff_dwellings_home.htm

Retrieved October 4, 2009, from http://www.desertusa.com/ver/du_ver_desc.html

Retrieved October 4, 2009, from http://www.pisceandelusions.org/reference/nativeamerican/southwest.html

Retrieved October 4, 2009, from http://dana.ucc.nau.edu/~dlm87/discover/discover/the_anasazi.htm

Focusing Activity:  Good morning.  Can you remember what types of animals that the Anasazi had as pets?  Many people have one for dinner on Thanksgiving, and some people have the other animal as a pet now.  That’s right, a turkey and a dog.  What were some of the things that the Anasazi made using the plants and animals in the area?  They made rope from the yucca plant and sandals; they also made blankets from turkey feathers and animal skins.  What did the Anasazi make with clay?  They made pots.  Today we are going to learn how houses were made.  We are also going to make models of the houses used by the Anasazi.

Instructional Input:  Today we are going to learn about the buildings the Anasazi built.  The earliest type of house that the Anasazi made was the pit house around the year 500A.D.  The pit house was very different from the other houses at Mesa Verde.  The pit house was built on the top of the cliffs.  These first houses were made by digging into the ground.  The pit house was normally one large room that had four main support posts.  The walls were made of wood poles covered with mud and brush.  The walls had no windows or doors.  The roof was also made the same way as the walls, but the roof had a hole in it for the people to get in and out of the pit house.  The Anasazi used a ladder to get into and out of the pit house.  The hole in the roof is also used for ventilation because they had a fire pit inside of the pit house.  At this point the teacher will pass out instructions of how to make a pit house out of everyday materials.

Around 750 A.D. the Anasazi decided to start building their homes in the canyon.  Many historians believe the Anasazi started to build in the canyon for extra shelter from the weather and from potential enemies.  Not only did the Anasazi build the houses in the canyon, but they started to build the houses above ground.  These first above ground houses were made much the same way as the pit houses.  The walls were made of poles and adobe bricks.  The Anasazi would make adobe bricks by mixing mud and straw and letting this mixture bake in the sun.  The roofs of these first above ground houses were made of huge logs.  These houses also had windows to get in and out of.  At this point the teacher will hand out the instructions for how to create the first houses above ground.

After another 250 years, 1000A.D. the Anasazi became very good at making very large houses.  The houses were no longer made of sticks and adobe.  The houses were now made of sandstone.  This is the rock that is all around the cliffs of Mesa Verde.  The Anasazi shaped the sandstone by grinding it with harder stones from the riverbeds.  What might be one of the rivers that the Anasazi could get the hard stones from?  The student may answer the Colorado River.  The Anasazi would stack the sandstone up and in between the layers would be a mortar made of soil, water, and ash.  The Anasazi would make houses that were up to four stories high.  There could be two to four rooms on each floor.  The floors and roof were made of large logs just like the roofs of the first above ground houses.  These houses had a system of windows and ladders for the Anasazi to go from one floor to the next.  The Anasazi were so good at building that they created whole communities.  Pass out pictures of the five biggest pueblos, villages.  Pass out instructions of how to make this style of building using everyday materials.

Response Activity:  The student will be given a worksheet with directions and the materials to complete the assignment.  The students will start making their houses after each has been explained.  The students will have the opportunity to make an Anasazi style home.  Each student will select one house to create at random; the options will be face down so that all three styles are made.

Conclusion:  Ask students how the pit houses were made.  On top of the cliff, partly underground, and made of simple materials.  Ask how the Anasazi got from one level of a house to another.  The Anasazi used ladders and windows.  What were the last materials the Anasazi used to build houses?  Sandstone, mortar, and logs.