Primary
One News
November
16, 2009
“Let us walk in
the white snow
In a
soundless space;
With footsteps quiet and slow,
At a tranquil pace,
Under veils of white lace…..
We shall walk in velvet shoes:
Wherever we go
Silence will fall like dews
On white silence below.
We
shall walk in the snow.”
From Velvet
Shoes by
Elinor Wylie
We
have so enjoyed our visit with the Maidu tribe of Northern California. We’ve appreciated the beautiful weather and
geographical features that surrounded us, and respected the abundant resources
that were available. The day before we left we were able to partake in the Bear
Dance celebration; singing, dancing and feasting into the late hours of the
night. The next morning, we are careful to pack away our bear rattles and seed
beaters with our belongings and have one last meal with this caring and
peaceful tribe before departing; continuing our exploration to the west. They
send us on our way with blessings and beautifully woven grass baskets filled
with roots, berries, dried meats, and fish to consume during our trip towards
the plains of North America. As we cut another knot off our time rope we are
somewhat saddened that we will not have the opportunity to spend time exploring
with the Nimi’ipuu community (renamed the Nez Perce by the French), who live
northwards in the plateau region of the canyons along the Snake, Clearwater,
and Salmon Rivers of eastern Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Understanding our journey that lies ahead of
us will require many miles of travel, we decide that we need to find a
Nimi’ipuu community in Idaho along our path that might be willing to trade some
of our shells and skins we have collected along the way for horses. We have
heard that many of the Nimi’ipuu and Native American tribes on the plains have
been introduced to this animal from the Spaniards that moved north from the areas
that are now known as Mexico and southern Texas. We all agree that perhaps we
can inquire on our own during the upcoming break if we would like to gather further
information on the Nimi’ipuu. As we set around our campfire the first night
after trading, making sure the horses were tied down and removed the adornments
covering our cherished Appaloosas that we had received from the Nez Perce, we
realized that the population of the plains Native Americans were in the
hundreds and there were over 20 different tribes that stretched from present
day Texas to as far north as present day Wisconsin and Canada. Since we were
traveling along the northern area of what is now Wyoming towards the east and
the Dakotas we decided to explore and stay with the Sioux Nation. We are
excited to learn how the geographical features and natural resources of the
plains helped the Sioux and other Plains Native American tribes build a community . In looking into the Sioux tribes we have
discovered that the Sioux Nation encompasses fourteen bands, which make up
three main tribes: the Lakota, Nakota, and the Dakota. We soon discover that
the geographical features and natural resources on the plains varies and that
the Sioux are nomadic, moving constantly, to follow the bison across the
plains. Tired and running out of supplies, we venture on trying to finally meet
up with a Sioux tribe taking in the geographical features and recourses that
they use during the constant movement of their community. Finally, after
traveling many days and the dusk of the evening starting to cover us, we see in
the distant a large group of peaked like structures on the horizon. Slim trails
of smoke rose from each and as we ventured closer we were amazed at the
beautiful symbols that decorated each shelter. Our presence was welcomed and we
settled down for the night, excited for the rising sun and our new venture into
inquiring about the Sioux
Kids Conner: by
Nathan H. My favorite tribe in studying
our inquiry is the Plains Native Americans.
They do not have to hunt much to get their clothing since bison are so
big. My favorite subject at school is math and I like art too. I like
Mackintosh and how it looks, the only thing I do not like are all the bees at
lunch sometimes. I really like our field
trips that we go on they are fun! I like my classroom and all the maps in the
classroom and how we put our work up for every one to see. I like my friends
and teachers at school. My goal is to learn more about electricity and how
people catch it. I also want to know why the bison use to be so large and are
smaller now! I also want to learn how
the parts of the body work.
Math Inquiry: We have
been dividing fry bread, and cookies finding fair shares and left overs. The
students have been working in pairs and individually with a variety of numbers
that they were asked to share between different amounts or number of people. We
explored grouping in ten with left overs and even discussed the division of
left overs into fractions. We have been
exploring doubles through counting by twos and adding the sum to itself. As we visit the Sioux we look forward to
exploring measurement in bison, tepees, and our own environment using standard
and non standard units.
Language Arts: We have been reading a variety of books in each
reading group and have begun individual work in phonics and grammar in a series
entitled, Explode the Code. These lessons will give each student the
opportunity to start to work independently in phonics, word recognition,
technical handwriting, and comprehension. We will also be introducing word and
letter centers for the children to work on as the reading groups circulate
through literature readings and discussions. The five word spelling groups will
begin word games after spelling on Thursdays and the 10 word spelling groups
will begin to place their spelling words into sentences or create a variety of
spelling words mazes and puzzles.
Announcements
and Upcoming Dates:
Denver Puppet Theater – November
20th, car seat required
Grandparents Day – November 23th
from 8:30-10:00.
Half Day- Tuesday November 24th
pick up at 11:10
No School – November 25th – 27th
Leon Littlebird – November
30th, in house field-trip
