Fourth-grade students at Barnum Woods Elementary School were immersed in Native American culture and traditions as they participated in a two-day program called “Journeys into Native American Territory.”
Educators Uaian Bruno and Maddi Cheers run the popular traveling museum that highlights the tributes, cultures and customs of the Eastern Woodland and coastline native people. The goal of the program is to help dispel stereotypes about these first Americans and to discuss who they are today and what their hopes are for the future.
The students began their journey by watching a short documentary about traditional culture, survival, customs and first encounters with the Europeans. Cheers explained that Native Americans judge others by what they give away to others, and that there are actually 13 thanksgiving celebrations a year. Working together is also an important prescription for survival, she told the students. “It took a whole community of people for the Native Americans to survive,” she remarked.
The students were then broken up into groups to attend workshops that focused on Native American games, stories and artifacts. Cheers described the history of lacrosse and demonstrated how the natives created games that later trained them for life.
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