Native Amercian Picture Writing

We have been learning about the different Native American tribes this month, and how they compare with each other in regards to food, shelter, and clothing. It has been good for the students to understand that not all Native Americans lived in tipis or wore feathers, and to break down that stereotype. They are keeping track of the differences on a chart, and maintaining a pocket book of different activites related to each tribe.
This week we have been working with picture writing. This is the activity that all of the first graders did in my rotation for last week's fun Friday. However I took the activity a bit further in my classroom. Not only did the students write a story using the Native American pictures, they also had to retell it to me adding all of the little words that could not be represented by just pictures. We worked on story starters such as: "long ago, once upon a time, one summer, etc. Then they had to write the story using words, and also type it on the computer in Microsoft Word. Finally they rewrote the pictures on paper that they made to look like deer skin.