California Native Peoples

Help students learn about California's first peoples while building essential reading comprehension skills! This low-prep resource includes 8 short informational passages covering California's many Native nations—where they lived, the acorns and foods they gathered, their homes and famous baskets, trade between nations, their beliefs and legends, and how they cared for the land. 

Each passage includes comprehension questions, and the inference and synthesis passages add a deeper response that encourages students to use evidence and explain their thinking.

Includes:

• 8 California history reading passages
• Reading comprehension questions
• Deeper reasoning questions (on the inference and synthesis passages)
• California Native Peoples review (recall + concept questions)
• A "Living with the Land" graphic organizer built on the standard's own framework—how the nations depended on, adapted to, and modified their environment
• Answer key plus a teacher answer guide with discussion prompts
• Teacher guide with vocabulary, misconceptions, discussion prompts, and standards connections

Named nations include the Chumash, Pomo, Yurok, Miwok, Ohlone, Yokuts, and Mojave.

Perfect for: whole-group instruction, small groups, independent practice, reading centers, California History, and review.

Standards aligned: California HSS 4.2.1 (California's Native nations, their economic activities, legends and beliefs, and how they depended on, adapted to, and modified the environment).