Units and Lessons by Grade Span
Navigating the NASMC Website: A User Guide
The Native American Studies Model Curriculum (NASMC) website was designed to support educators in finding and using lessons easily and effectively. To help you get started, here are a few important things to know about how the content is organized and how to access full instructional materials:
Lesson Structure
Exploring Units and Lessons
Download the Full Lesson
Content Use Notice
Lessons are organized into three categories:
Units (5 or more lessons) — marked with an asterisk (*)
Mini Units (2–5 lessons)
Single Lessons
Each entry features:
A thumbnail image to spark interest
The lesson title
The recommended grade level, aligned with California content standards
Tip: We strongly encourage educators to explore lessons beyond their specific grade level — many lessons are flexible and can be adapted for use across multiple grades.
Clicking into a Unit, Mini Unit, or Lesson will take you to a landing page that offers a preview experience, like “shopping” for content. Here, you can explore key components such as:
Unit/Lesson Overview
Teacher background information
Linked lessons (for Units)
Downloadable handouts and instructional slide
These previews are designed to help you understand the focus of the lesson or unit — but they are not intended to be taught directly from the website.
To teach the lesson, always use the “Download Lesson” box on the right side of the page and click "Lesson". The full PDF includes all the content from the preview page as well as essential teaching materials not visible on the preview page, such as:
Detailed lesson directions and slide facilitation scripts
Answer keys (if applicable)
Materials lists
Supports for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Multilingual Learners
Full citations and links to additional resources
The traditional cultural knowledge presented in NASMC lessons, including Native language, stories, art, media, and other cultural expressions, remains the intellectual and cultural property of the respective Tribal Nations, Native knowledge keepers, artists, producers, and authors, as noted in each lesson. All media, art, images, and web-based resources included in the curriculum are used with permission under licensing agreements and media releases or were provided by the writers of curriculum. Copyright for these resources remains with the original rights holders.
Use of this content beyond implementation of the NASMC lessons requires direct permission from the copyright holder.
We ask all users to respect the origin, purpose, and cultural context of these materials in alignment with the values of relationship, responsibility, and reciprocity.