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6th grade · Social Studies · Unit 3 of 8

Dakota & Anishinaabe Nations

Minnesota's 11 Tribal Nations today

What your child practices

The Dakota and Anishinaabe as living nations: Minnesota's 11 Tribal Nations, what sovereignty means, how treaty rights to hunt, fish and gather are exercised today, wild rice, and how languages are being taught again. Told in the present tense, with nothing sacred or ceremonial.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 6.1.6.1; 6.4.18.1; 6.1.2.1 · sovereignty and treaty rights today, how Dakota and Anishinaabe people tell their own history, and Tribal governments

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Minnesota has 11 Tribal Nations: 7 Anishinaabe and 4 Dakota.
  2. Tribal Nations run schools, clinics and natural resource programs.
  3. Dakota and Anishinaabe people live in cities, towns and on reservations. Many Anishinaabe ricers gather wild rice by canoe.

Example: Which lake is Grand Portage Band beside? Grand Portage is in the far northeast. It sits on the shore of the largest of the lakes there. Answer: Lake Superior

Dakota & Anishinaabe Nations in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 3 of 8 in 6th grade Social Studies, after Minnesota's Land & Water and before Fur Trade & Treaties.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Grand Portage Band is on the shore of…

    • Lake of the Woods
    • Lake Itasca
    • the Minnesota River
    • Lake Superior

  2. Question 2

    Tribal Nations in Minnesota have their own…

    • armies at war with Minnesota
    • no leaders
    • governments, laws and elected leaders
    • money with no value

  3. Question 3

    A sovereign nation has the right to…

    • govern itself
    • never vote
    • ignore all laws
    • only collect taxes for another state

  4. Question 4

    Treaty rights let many Anishinaabe people today hunt, fish and gather on…

    • any private backyard
    • land their nations ceded in treaties
    • the moon
    • land in other countries

  5. Question 5

    How many of Minnesota's Tribal Nations are Anishinaabe?

    • 4
    • 7
    • 11
    • 2

  6. Question 6

    When Tribal Nations and the State of Minnesota work together on roads or fish, they act…

    • government to government
    • as one company
    • as rivals at war
    • as a club

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