Bringing Native american Cultures to life in your classroom · • OK to do “intertribal” dances like the Friendship dance and the Round Dance. ... • Gourd or can ... Bringing

BRINGING NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURES TO LIFE IN YOUR CLASSROOM 2016 EARLY CHILDHOOD CULTURE JULY 28, 2016

WELCOME! BOZHO, NIKONS!

WHY SHOULD WE TEACH ABOUT NATIVE CULTURES?

• Because young children LOVE to imagine themselves as living in another time and place

• Because it’s a major part of American history that has been ignored for way too long

• Because it’s an integral source of racism that needs to be identified and fixed if this country is ever going to change for the better.

• Because children still encounter stereotypes that need to be countered and eradicated. But more on that later.

• Mandates because of presence of Native reservations in area

• Because _____

WHY DO YOU TEACH?

• HOW have you taught?

• WHEN have you taught?

• What has worked?

• What hasn’t worked?

MARIA SAYS,

“We must ourselves feel—and inspire in the children—admiration for all pioneers, known and unknown, possessors of the flame which has lighted the path of humanity.”

To Educate the Human Potential, p.77

MARIA SAYS:

“History must be alive and dynamic, awakening enthusiasm, destruction of intellectual egoism and selfish slots…the history of human achievement is real, a living witness to the greatness of man, and the children can easily be brought to thrill to the knowledge that there are millions of people like themselves, striving mentally and physically to solve the problems of life, and that all contribute to a solution, though one may find it.”

To Educate the Human Potential, p. 80-81

EXCUSES, EXCUSES…

• No set curriculum, very few Montessori materials!

• Many teachers weren’t taught as students, themselves, and don’t necessarily have the background knowledge.

• Lack of time.

• Unsure where to plug it in.

• Mind is willing but flesh is weak

• Not even sure if they should be called Native Americans or American Indians!

• Not covered in standardized tests

We do need to be careful.

It is complicated.


It is complicated.

What’s accurate?

What’s culturally sensitive?

What’s appropriate for my age group?


TWO BASIC KINDS OF STEREOTYPES

THE BLOODTHIRSTY SAVAGE THE HERO LIVING IN HARMONY WITH NATURE

STEREOTYPES IN DISNEY FILMS





AND THEN THERE’S MASCOTS.







STEREOTYPICAL THINKING STARTS EARLY!

• A Michigan study of children entering Kindergarten found that

• 75 percent of children entering Kindergarten described Native people as wearing feathers or animal skins, hunting with bows and arrows and living in tipis—TODAY!

• 20 percent of these children described Native people as “mean and hostile” and “likely to kill and shoot people.”

STEREOTYPICAL THINKING STARTS EARLY!

• Other studies have shown that by the age of 10, children have ell-established racial prejudices that are highly resistant to change.

EARLY CHILDHOOD SOME MATERIAL IDEAS

GENERAL GUIDELINES

• Create an interdisciplinary unit. Include art, literature, music, foods, games, field trips, resource speakers, models and artifacts, dance and games.

GENERAL GUIDELINES

• Children need to know that Native people are still here today.

• Start with the big picture, then choose two different cultural groups to study (one from your area!)

CHOOSE APPROPRIATE BOOKS

• Choose Native authors whenever possible

• Lose those “I is for Indian” alphabet books

• Avoid anything with animals dressed up as “Indians”

• Do your research on books to avoid!

A GREAT EARLY CHILDHOOD RESOURCE

AN EARLY CHILDHOOD FRAMEWORK

• 3s– practical life activities, Native stories for read-aloud

• 4s—some basic art activities, Cultural Areas puzzle map and labels, some Vocabulary enrichment cards, Three Sisters Garden Growing, practical life and stories

AN EARLY CHILDHOOD FRAMEWORK

• 5s—all of above plus Cultural Areas Touchboxes and some Fundamental Needs Cards (maybe just clothing or houses) for two cultural areas, plus

• A more intensive look at a tribe in your area.

BEAD PATTERNING—3

Use big wooden beads and, for authenticity, some sinew or leather string.

2ND LEVEL BEAD PATTERNING-- 4-5

Make a Native-themed pattern on a raised soap holder and provide a photo in your setup (I color-coded the tips with a marker to help.) I got the colored wooden beads at a Michael’s crafts.

ADVANCED BEAD PATTERNING-- 5 +

This pattern is a segment from a Bandolier Bag (also pictured.) I’ve used a rectangular raised soap holder and plastic beads that can be ironed together to give to the child after they’ve completed this intensive work!

MEDICINE WHEEL SEQUENCING

Glue down a Native-themed shape with foam pieces on card stock and provide identical pieces for the child to re-create the pattern.

APPLIQUE SEQUENCING– 3-5

Glue foam pieces on card stock to create a pattern used in Native applique work. Provide identical pieces for the child to re-create the pattern. For added difficulty, combine elements from 2 patterns so the child must sort them first.

CORN TWEEZING

Use field corn and ask the child to tweeze off the kernels. They can then try their hand at grinding corn kernels (but use a heavier marble mortar and pestle—the wood one in the photo is too light.)

LACING ACTIVITIES Punch holes in a piece of rawhide that has been cut into the shape of a bear, horse, coyote or other Native-themed animal. The child laces with a piece of leather string. Or trace the shape of an animal in a piece of buckskin, punch holes, and have the child use a piece of sinew thread to lace.

A LANGUAGE WORK

Here is a collection of Woodland animals that introduce the child to some basic Potawatomi words. The labels have the common English name and the Potawatomi name underneath. The phonetic spelling is on the back of the card.

OLFACTORY WORK

Smelling bottles containing such strong-scented botanicals as sassafras root, red cedar, sage and sweetgrass

SOME IDEAS FOR YOUR INTERDISCIPLINARY UNIT

• Geography- cultural areas maps; Touchboxes; Fundamental Needs of Traditional Native people; maps of local tribal villages, camps and trails

CRADLEBOARD An authentic Potawatomi cradleboard is the centerpiece for a Kindergarten presentation on “Growing up as a Potawatomi.” Children enjoy seeing their teachers wear it and also get a kick out of trying it on for themselves!

CULTURAL AREAS PUZZLE MAP

This “Hello Wood” product introduces young students to the names and locations of the major traditional Native American cultural groups in what is now the United States.

FUNDAMENTAL NEEDS Create materials that show how traditional Native cultural groups met their needs for food, clothing, houses, transportation, etc. and have students determine their similarities and differences as well as compare to life today.

TOUCHBOXES Create boxes for each Native cultural area filled with items for the child to explore and match to name labels and information cards. Pack enough items to neatly fit on a rug and rotate them so the child will re-visit the work often.

TOUCHBOXES Handling various objects from a cultural group gives young children a true “feel” for their life. Matching the labels to the object provides them with valuable decoding experience!

TOUCHBOXES When students investigate Touchboxes from different groups, they can more readily understand that differences in natural resources determined the way people met their needs—and see the similarities, as well!

STUDY YOUR CULTURAL GROUP

Create cards that give children insights into the way Native people traditionally lived in your area.

AND THEN STUDY ANOTHER CULTURAL GROUP

Use the same format of cards and allow the children to compare and contrast the cultural groups through the cards.

MAPS OF YOUR AREA Maybe your Upper elementary or Middle School students could research and create maps that show Native villages and trails of your area and create excitement for backyard history!


• Botany- parts of the cattail; local tribe plant foods, local tribe medicinal plants; Three Sisters Garden growing (experiment with fish fertilizer); unit on corn; cooking local tribal plant recipes

THE CATTAIL AND ITS USES The Cattail plant was very useful to people of the Woodland culture. Make 3-part cards that showed how its parts were used for food, weaving mats, seasoning and for lighting the trail at night.

NATIVE PLANT FOODS

Create a work to show the diversity of plant tubers, leaves, seeds and fruit used by Native people in your area.

CREATE A “THREE SISTERS” GARDEN

Start some corn, bean and squash seeds to transplant into a school or home garden and re-create some staple food crops traditionally used by historic Native people. Plant extra so you can experiment with light, moisture and fertilizers.

DON’T FORGET ABOUT FOOD!

• The Three Sisters= succotash!

• The many faces of corn

• Something different—sunflower seeds, fiddlehead ferns, sassafras tea, cattail roots.

• Pemmican! Tanka Bars or Bites

• Make sure it’s appropriate to the cultural area you’re discussing!


• Zoology—VEC cards-parts of buffalo, deer, sturgeon (or other animals important to local tribes); uses of deer; uses of buffalo

ZOOLOGY VEC CARDS Make Vocabulary Enrichment Cards of some of the creatures important to Native people in your area. Include such food animals as the Deer and Buffalo, some culturally important creatures as the Bear, Coyote, Eagle, Raven and Sturgeon.

“USES OF” WORKS

Once students know the names of the parts of certain animals, create works that help them learn the uses of those parts by traditional Native people.

LOCAL NATIVE LANGUAGE MATERIALS There are a number of online dictionaries with sound files so your students can learn basic words and phrases in a local language. Or even better, ask a Native speaker to come in to give lessons!

AND INCLUDE THE ARTS

• Native Music– powwow drum songs, flute and contemporary music.

• Fine to make shakers to play along with music, but please don’t make or use drums!

AND INCLUDE THE ARTS

• Native Music– powwow drum songs, flute and contemporary music.

• Fine to make shakers to play along with music, but please don’t make or use drums!

• Native Dance—show videos of traditional powwow dances and “specials” like the hoop dance. But prefer you don’t ask the children to duplicate—they’re sacred!

• OK to do “intertribal” dances like the Friendship dance and the Round Dance.

ART ACTIVITIES TO AVOID (BECAUSE THEY HAVE RELIGIOUS OR SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE)

• Drums

• Pipes

• Totem poles

• Masks

• War shields

• Paper bag vests

• Feathered headdresses

APPROPRIATE ART ACTIVITIES TO TRY

• Make sure it’s appropriate to the cultural area you’re studying

• Make sure it’s age-appropriate

• Tie it in with literature or a historical event


• Clay pottery

• Gourd or can shakers

• Weaving

• Dream catchers

• Talking sticks

• Corn husk dolls

• beadwork


• Ledger Art

• Winter counts

• Replicating the art of a Native artist such as George Littlechild

BOOKS ABOUT CONTEMPORARY NATIVE CHILDREN

BOOKS ABOUT CONTEMPORARY NATIVE CHILDREN

TIMING IS EVERYTHING!

• Traditional timing—between Columbus Day and Thanksgiving.

COLUMBUS DAY

COLUMBUS DAY BOOKS

THANKSGIVING FROM THE NATIVE PERSPECTIVE

RECOMMENDED THANKSGIVING BOOKS

•

RECOMMENDED THANKSGIVING BOOKS

TIMING IS EVERYTHING!

• Traditional timing—between Columbus Day and Thanksgiving. Other segue options:

• With the study of North America

• With Fundamental Needs

• Backtime to a culminating activity—like planting a Three Sisters garden!

MAKING IT ALL HAPPEN

• Get your administration “on Board” with your plan



• Start working a year ahead of time so you’re not rushed




• Pick up those curriculum resources and figure out what your focus is





• Start gathering artifacts for Touchboxes:

Museum stores, Michael’s craft stores





• Start gathering artifacts for Touchboxes:

Museum stores, Michael’s craft stores

Online vendors for Native regalia and crafts

Powwow vendors


• Enlist the help of local Native communities for cultural presenters, field trips, or setting up pen pals or Elder interviews


• Enlist the help of local Native communities for cultural presenters, field trips, or setting up pen pals or Elder interviews

• And I’m here to help, too!

I’ll be moving soon—best way to contact me is through email:

[email protected]

or through my website,

www.MINASIllinois.org

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.minasillinois.org/

www.MINASIllinois.org



Bringing Native american Cultures to life in your classroom · • OK to do “intertribal” dances like the Friendship dance and the Round Dance. ... • Gourd or can ... Bringing

Documents