Sequoyah, Creator of the Cherokee Syllabary, Lesson Plans
There are so many wonderful directions you can go with a study on Sequoyah. Study his life, Cherokee and Native American history, and all things alphabet! Here are a few ideas to get you started!
You can grab your free downloads to go along with the Sequoyah letter here!
Don't have the letter yet? You can grab the snail mail letter here and the instant digital download version here!
For All Ages
Use this English to Cherokee Word Translator to help you pronounce
the Cherokee words in our Sequoyah Letter!
Download your free printable activites to go with your Sequoyah letter here!
For more ideas, check out our Sequoyah board on Pinterest.
Movie/Video
PBS Clip about Sequoyah
Watch as Vince Gill presides over Sequoyah’s Induction to the Oklahoma Hall of Fame
Music
Cherokee Flute Music
Cherokee Morning Song by Mark Akixa
Cherokee Days 2019 – Native American Flute by Tommy Wildcat at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
Poetry
- Ode to Sequoyah by Alex Posey
- New York Times Article about Joy Harjo, United States Poet Laureate
- Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Visit
- Visit Sequoyah’s Cabin in Sallisaw, OK
- Cherokee Heritage Center, Tahlequah, OK
- Oklahoma Hall of Fame: Sequoyah was inducted in 2017. His portrait hangs on the 3rd floor in the Board Room.
- Oklahoma State Capitol: Portrait of Sequoyah painted by Charles Banks Wilson, 1963, located on the 4th Floor
- US Capitol: The State of Oklahoma donated a statue of Sequoyah to the National Statuary Hall Collection at the U.S. Capitol in 1917. It is the first statue honoring a Native American to be added to the collection.
- Any Native American museums or living history centers in your area!
Resources
- English to Cherokee Word Translator: Type in an English word then search for it in Cherokee. Many words have the Cherokee phonetic spelling as well as the Cherokee writing and some words have sound files so you can hear the word spoken too!
Preschool
Books
The Very First Americans (All Aboard Books) by Carla Ashrose
Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maill
Told in lively and powerful verse by debut author Kevin Noble Maillard, Fry Bread is an evocative depiction of a modern Native American family, vibrantly illustrated by Pura Belpre Award winner and Caldecott Honoree Juana Martinez-Neal.
Activities
- Create a sensory activity with popcorn kernels, cornmeal, and the Safari Ltd Powhatan Indians TOOB
- Practice painting Native American Symbols using our free Sequoyah printables bundle as a guide.
Elementary
Books
Sequoyah: Inventor of the Cherokee Written Language (Famous Native Americans) by Diane Shaughnessy
Featuring 88 characters, Sequoyah's syllabary was the first written Native American language. With it, the Cherokees wrote a constitution and published the first Native American newspaper in the U.S.
Sequoyah: The Cherokee Man Who Gave His People Writing by James Rumford
Written in both English and Cherokee this biography covers the story of Sequoyah with the tale of an ordinary man with an extraordinary idea—to create a writing system for the Cherokee Indians and turn his people into a nation of readers and writers.
Many Nations: An Alphabet of Native America by Joseph Bruchac
From Anishanabe artists making birch bark bowls to Zuni elders saying prayers for the day that is done, the diversity of Native American cultures is simplypresented in this unique and beautiful alphabet book.
D Is for Drum: A Native American Alphabet (Alphabet Books) by Michael Shoulders
Did you know that natives of the Northwest used dried sharkskin to sand totem poles? Or that horses were called medicine dogs, because dogs had been used to aid in hunting before horses were introduced by Europeans? In "D is for Drum: A Native America Alphabet," readers will get an A-Z introduction to the many customs and cultures of the first people of this beautiful land. Bison, teepees, Kachinas and dugout canoes will all help to paint a fascinating picture of the more than 500 indigenous tribes inhabiting the Americas.
Evan Moor History Pockets: Native Americans, Grades 1-3
History Pockets-Native Americans, Grades 1 3, contains nine memorable discovery pockets. The introduction pocket gives an overview of the tribes in North America that are featured. The other pockets focus on food, clothing, shelter, and family life of eight Native American tribes.
Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
Elizabeth George Speare’s Newbery Honor-winning survival story is filled with wonderful detail about living in the wilderness and the relationships that formed between settlers and natives in the 1700s.
Activities
- Create a diorama of a Native American village.
- Read the Sign of the Beaver then design your own sign and carve it into a tree.
- Learn to write a few basic Cherokee words.
- Create buckskin art with a brown paper sack decorated with Native American symbols using using our free Sequoyah printables bundle as a guide.
Middle School/High School
Books
Sequoyah: Inventor of Written Cherokee by Roberta BaselAn excellent, comprehensive biography on Sequoyah.
In the most comprehensive atlas of Native American history and culture available, the story of the North American Indian is told through maps, photos, art, and archival cartography. Organized by region, this encyclopedic reference details Indian tribes in these areas: beliefs, sustenance, shelter, alliances and animosities, key historical events, and more. See the linguistic groupings and understand the constantly shifting, overlapping boundaries of the tribes. Follow the movement, growth, decline, and continuity of Indian nations and their lifestyles.
Activities
- Make a Native American Flute
- Make a leather bracelet decorated with Native American Symbols
- Make your own Moccasins with this Realleather Kit
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