Lesson Ideas

Inquiry Tasks

• Ask students to create a Venn diagram comparing the way of life between the English and American Indians. Students should consider what resources were available to each group in the region. Encourage students to research the Three Sisters method of planting, using a lesson from Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom. Ask students to identify nutrients in the plants and explain how they provided a more balanced diet for the Pilgrims. Discuss what might have occurred if Squanto had not been willing to share the agricultural practices of his people.

• A Story of Survival: The Wampanoag and the English, a collection of instructional ideas and student reference materials from the Oklahoma City Public Schools Native American Services Center, engages students in understanding the value of Indian agricultural practices to the survival of early colonists in North America.

Primary Sources 

Secondary Sources 

• Three Sisters Gardening provides photographs of the Three Sisters planted together with a description of how to create a garden of your own. 

• Surviving the First Winter, account of William Bradford, (excerpts for teacher reference) 

• Growing Foods offers student-friendly information published by the Plimoth Plantation regarding the contributions of the Wampanoag to the Plymouth Plantation. 

• Meet the Three Sisters, information for student and teacher reference from PBS. 

• Three Sisters Traditional Intercropping, article from ThoughtCo for teacher reference.  

• Three Sisters Garden, provides advice regarding how to grow a Three Sisters garden, including a history of this method.  

• The Three Sisters, from Eat-Think-Grow, compares agricultural methods of English settlers versus American Indians for teacher reference.