How to Celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Class

Indigenous Peoples’ Day gives students a chance to learn about Native American history, culture, and perspectives. Because the holiday falls on the same date as Columbus Day, you can wrap both into a lesson about how communities choose to remember history. 

These social studies and ELA activities can help you figure out how to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day in your classroom using primary sources, current events, literature, poetry, and classroom discussions.

[Social studies activities for Indigenous Peoples’ Day](id-ss)

Social studies activities can help students understand why some states and cities recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day, how the holiday connects to Columbus Day, and what Indigenous history and culture look like across time. 

Why do some states recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Columbus Day?

Some cities and states recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day to shift the focus from Columbus’ arrival to the histories, cultures, and experiences of Indigenous communities. You can explore this move with students using an evidence-based inquiry activity.

Students can discuss the symbolic meaning of the date, analyze images that honor Native American heritage, and read primary sources that explain why communities have changed which holiday they recognize. 

What key moments in Indigenous history can students study?

Students can study Indigenous history by examining how schools, communities, and public institutions amplify Indigenous voices and perspectives. 

Teaching this topic works well as a short inquiry. In a lesson from educator Staria Alexander, students start with an article about the push to add Indigenous American curriculum in schools, then choose additional texts to compare claims and supporting details, and to ask questions. 

How can students evaluate Columbus Day and Columbus’ legacy?

Students can evaluate Columbus Day and explore Columbus’ legacy by comparing primary and secondary sources, weighing competing claims, and asking how people should remember historical figures when public perception of them changes.

C3 inquiry sequence

Evaluate Columbus Day and Columbus’ legacy

Use this inquiry to help students evaluate primary and secondary sources, revisit initial claims as they encounter new evidence, and decide how Columbus should be remembered.

Compelling question

How should we remember Columbus?

Gather sources

Students compare historical accounts, current perspectives, and public debates.

Use evidence

Students revise their thinking and support claims with evidence from multiple sources.

Take action

Students connect the inquiry to their state’s approach to Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Inquiry resources

Three-part Columbus legacy inquiry

Each unit gives students a different way to investigate how Columbus has been described, studied, and remembered.

Three-part Columbus legacy inquiry unit table

Unit	Inquiry focus	Sample content
Debating Columbus	Students weigh competing descriptions of Columbus and begin building evidence for the compelling question.	Primary Sources: The Pope Grants Spain Lands Discovered by Columbus, 1493 The Explorers: Christopher Columbus New York mayor considers Christopher Columbus statue removal Activists ask to take down statue and rename Columbus Day
Columbus’ Life	Students answer “Who was Christopher Columbus?” and organize what they learn in a graphic organizer.	Primary Sources: Bartolomé de Las Casas on Columbus’ legacy Primary Sources: Columbus’ Letter Announcing his Discovery, 1493 Map: The four voyages of Christopher Columbus
Columbus’ Legacy	Students compare how Columbus has been remembered with how that image has been revisited.	Primary Sources: Columbus’ Letter Announcing his Discovery, 1493 Who are the Indigenous people that Columbus met? PRO/CON: Should we celebrate Christopher Columbus? Primary Sources: Cities recognize Indigenous Peoples Day

Scroll left to right to see the full table.

Summative task

Build the argument

Students respond to “How should we remember Columbus?” with a claim, counterclaim, and evidence from the inquiry.

Connect it to today

Students research their state’s approach to Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day and write to a lawmaker about their position.

How can students explore Indigenous cultures of North America?

Students can explore the Indigenous cultures of North America by studying how different Native American groups lived across geographic regions. Ask students to read across two or more texts and look for the ways that different factors shaped communities, like:

• Geography.
• Natural resources.
• Technology.
• Traditions.

[ELA activities for Indigenous Peoples’ Day](id-ela)

Use Newsela ELA lessons to connect Indigenous Peoples’ Day to literature, poetry, current events, and student writing.

How can you help students recognize the U.S. as Indigenous land?

This ELA lesson from PA high school English teacher Karlee Hoffman helps students examine how interactions between Indigenous people and newly arrived explorers or settlers changed over time. Then, they can connect that history to land acknowledgment, civic decisions, and opinion writing.

Students can move from reading primary sources to explainers on Indigenous land acknowledgment, and close by choosing one of two opinion texts. Then, they can respond to an ELA writing prompt to share what they learned.

How can students compare Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day using current events?

Students can compare Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day by working through a paired-text analysis. They’ll read one current-events article and one primary source, then use text evidence to explain why some communities support replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

This task asks students to identify how different source types contribute to the same debate. The current-events article helps students see how curriculum and public memory are changing, while the primary source gives them the language communities have used to explain the holiday shift.

Paired-text activity

Compare Columbus Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day with current events

Use one current-events article and one primary source to help students explain why some communities are calling for Indigenous Peoples’ Day to be observed instead of Columbus Day.

Questions to keep in mind

• Why are some groups calling for the observance of Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Columbus Day?
• How can students use a primary source to gather text evidence that supports the position?

Teacher note: The articles in this lesson may include sensitive material. Preview the texts and guide discussion in a way that fits your students.

Current-events text

Push for Indigenous American curriculum in schools makes gains

Students use this article to consider how schools are expanding the way Indigenous history is taught.

Primary source

Primary Sources: Cities recognize Indigenous Peoples Day

Students highlight reasons cities give for recognizing Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of Columbus Day.

1

Set up the source comparison

Review primary and secondary sources, then introduce the debate about whether Columbus Day should be replaced with Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

2

Read for reasons and evidence

Students highlight the main reasons communities recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day and gather evidence they can use in a response.

3

Write with a counterclaim

Students complete an opinion response that states a position, uses evidence from the paired texts, and addresses a counterclaim.

Compare the source types

Students revisit both texts to ask who wrote each source, who it was written for, what each source can show, and why historians use both primary and secondary sources.

Craft an argument with evidence

Students use the claim starter “Schools should include curriculum about the history of Indigenous Americans because . . .” and support their argument with evidence.

What can Indigenous literature teach students about culture and history?

Indigenous literature can help students see how stories and poems carry cultural knowledge. In this lesson, students choose one text from the instructional set and analyze how themes, structure, symbolism, and details reveal more about a tribe or group’s culture.

The lesson starts with genre work so students can think about how different types of literature communicate meaning differently. As they read, students highlight details that show culture, experience, or values, then respond through a creative performance task.

ELA literature lesson

Explore Indigenous literature through genre, theme, and response

Use this lesson to help students analyze how Indigenous stories and poems can teach readers about culture, experience, values, and history.

Question to keep in mind

What does the literature of Indigenous people of the Americas tell us about their cultures and experiences?

1

Start with genre

Students define literary genres such as fable, memoir, poem, and myth, then discuss what stories and poems can show about the cultures that create them.

2

Choose one text

Students preview the article headers and select one piece of Indigenous literature from the instructional set to read and analyze.

3

Read for culture and experience

As students read, they highlight details that help them understand the culture, experience, or values connected to the text.

4

Respond with evidence

Students use illustrations, a creation-myth comparison, or a found poem to explain what the literature helped them understand.

Instructional set resources

Indigenous literature texts

Students choose one text from the instructional set to read and analyze.

Indigenous literature resource table

Resource	Reading Level	Spanish?
“How Grandmother Spider Brought Fire”: a Choctaw origin story Angela McAllister Myth/Legend	540L–70L	✓ Yes
“A Time of Troubles” Ruth Spencer Johnson Fiction	970L–1000L	✓ Yes
“A Song of a Navajo Weaver” Bertrand N.O. Walker Poem

Scroll left to right to see the full table.

How do paired texts help students connect Indigenous stories and history? 

Paired texts help students see how a story and an informational text can build on each other. In this activity, students read an Iroquois legend and a historical overview of the Iroquois people. The legend introduces students to cultural values through a story. The informational explainer provides them with more context on Haudenosaunee culture and traditions.

Which Indigenous novel studies can help students build background knowledge? 

Novel studies can help students build background knowledge by pairing a book-length text with short primary sources, informational articles, and cultural context. Explore these selections by grade band to share independent reading selections or tie the holiday into a book you’re already reading as a class.

Build background knowledge about Indigenous cultures with paired primary sources and texts in our Novel and Book Studies collection for popular titles like:

How can poetry help students recognize Indigenous voices?

Poetry can help students recognize Indigenous voices by providing a focused way to study the speaker, imagery, word choice, and point of view. Because poems are often short, students can slow down and look closely at how a writer represents place, memory, or culture.

In class, you can invite students to choose one poem from the collection, annotate lines that reveal what the speaker notices or values, and then compare how different poets use language to express perspective.

Newsela Learning Suite goes beyond Indigenous Peoples’ Day

These resources can help you create social studies and ELA activities that offer students more ways to explore Indigenous Peoples’ Day, Columbus Day, Native American history, and related topics.

The Newsela Learning Suite also includes content, interactive activities, and assessment tools you can use throughout the year, not just for one holiday or unit. If you’re not a Newsela customer yet, sign up for free and start your 45-day trial of premium content to find more resources on historical, current events, and student-interest topics.