Research the canebrakes/river cane to discover growing habits, locations, and uses.  Write a report about how overpopulation, farming and lumbering has affected cane. Present your report to the class.

Draw, label, and color a map of Mississippi.  Be sure to include the rivers and areas in which canebrakes appear.

Locate all Choctaw Tribal lands. Label each reservation community.

Research the Choctaw tribe and any other tribe you choose.  Make a chart, table, or use a Venn diagram to compare the tribes.  Write a compare/contrast paper using your information as a prewrite.

Create a basket design on manila or graph paper. Color it using colors similar to an authentic Choctaw basket.  Cut it out and mount it on black paper for display.

Create a “comic strip” of pictures and directions for weaving a Choctaw basket. Use as a prewrite for a “how-to” paper.

Read the short story “The Indian Basket” by Mickey Roberts.  Write a synopsis of the story and develop some reader response questions.  Share with a friend.

Write an acrostic poem using the words “Choctaw Basket.”

Illustrate around the margins of the paper and mount on black paper for display.

Brainstorm the different uses for a Choctaw basket.

Compare the ways the baskets were used long ago and today.  Use a table or a Venn diagram.

Use a paper pattern, colored paper, pipe cleaners, or a basket weaving kit to make a basket.