{
"week": 19,
"day": "Wednesday",
"topic": "Tools and Clever Inventions",
"subtitle": "Hands-On: Build and Try Native Tools",
"icon": "🛶",
"pages": [
{
"title": "🛶 Tools and Clever Inventions",
"sections": [
{
"type": "reading",
"title": "Reading Time",
"icon": "📖",
"paragraphs": [
"Native nations were brilliant inventors! With stone, wood, bone, and plants, they made everything they needed.",
"They carved <strong>canoes</strong> to travel rivers — some from birch bark, light enough to carry! They wove <strong>baskets</strong> so tightly they could hold water. They invented <strong>snowshoes</strong> to walk on top of deep snow, and warm <strong>moccasins</strong> for their feet.",
"Plains hunters made bows, arrows, and a carrying frame called a <strong>travois</strong> that horses or dogs could pull. Many of these inventions were so smart that people STILL use them today — canoes, snowshoes, and moccasins are in stores right now!"
]
},
{
"type": "questions",
"title": "Reading Questions",
"icon": "✏️",
"questions": [
{"text": "What materials did nations use to make tools?", "lines": "single"},
{"text": "What were snowshoes for?", "lines": "single"},
{"text": "What is a travois?", "lines": "single"},
{"text": "Which inventions do people still use today?", "lines": "double"}
]
}
]
},
{
"sections": [
{
"type": "activity",
"title": "Hands-On: Weave a Paper Basket Mat",
"icon": "🔍",
"content": [
"<strong>You need:</strong> two sheets of different-colored paper, scissors, a grown-up helper.",
"<strong>Step 1:</strong> Fold one sheet in half. Cut slits from the fold toward the edge, stopping about an inch from the end. Unfold — this is your loom.<br><strong>Step 2:</strong> Cut the second sheet into strips.<br><strong>Step 3:</strong> Weave each strip over-under-over-under through the slits. Start the next strip under-over-under-over.<br><strong>Step 4:</strong> Push the strips snug together. You've woven like a basket maker!",
"<strong>Bonus:</strong> Try walking with big flat objects (like cardboard) strapped under your shoes on a soft surface — that's the snowshoe idea: spreading your weight so you don't sink!"
]
},
{
"type": "questions",
"title": "After the Activity",
"icon": "✏️",
"questions": [
{"text": "Was weaving easy or tricky? What was the pattern?", "lines": "double"},
{"text": "Why do snowshoes keep you from sinking in snow?", "lines": "double"}
]
}
]
},
{
"sections": [
{
"type": "sort_table",
"title": "Match the Tool to Its Job",
"icon": "📊",
"instruction": "Draw a line or write the letter to match each tool to its job.",
"header": ["Tool", "Job (write A, B, C, or D)"],
"rows": [
["Canoe", "A. Walking on deep snow"],
["Snowshoes", "B. Traveling on rivers"],
["Basket", "C. Carrying loads behind a horse"],
["Travois", "D. Holding food and even water"]
]
},
{
"type": "draw_grid",
"title": "Draw the Inventions",
"icon": "🎨",
"instruction": "Draw a birch bark canoe and a pair of snowshoes.",
"boxes": 2
},
{
"type": "review_table",
"title": "Review",
"icon": "📊",
"header": ["I did it!", "Circle one"],
"rows": [
["I wove a paper mat", "YES / NOT YET"],
["I can name four Native inventions", "YES / NOT YET"],
["I know which are still used today", "YES / NOT YET"]
]
}
]
}
]
}