In this article, the author describes some of the teaching methods she uses to teach how different American Indian groups lived in different regions of the North American continent. Her lessons include a number of projects: (1) Practicing symbolic writing; (2) Creating a personal timeline; (3) Studying winter counts and creating a personalized winter count "buffalo hide"; (4) Constructing a model tipi; (5) Decorating pottery with traditional or other design elements; (6) Emulating the work of an archaeologist; and (7) Constructing charts that record aspects of culture such as food, clothing, shelter, hunting, agriculture, and recreation activities. She describes how these lessons bring a new level of learning to students. Her students learn about the lives of three American Indian tribes and how they adapted to their environment during earlier times, how symbols represent words, how art can give meaning and coherence to everyone's lives, and how people learn about the past. (Contains 4 notes.)