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Week 5

Tuesday

We rode a bus to the National Museum of Language. Because of the route it took us 1 hour to get there and 8 min. to ride back! At the museum, they gave us an overview of languages and told us how they were all related. Then Mr. Mc Cone took us into another part of the museum and told us about Native American languages. He said the Indians used pictographs, smoke signals and sign language to communicate with each other too. We learned there are many many different Native American languages but they did not have an alphabet until Sequoia, a Cherokee, invented a syllabary in the early 1800's. We learned some words we use today come from Native American words like moccasin, kayak and opossum. Many children wrote thank you notes back to the language museum using pictographs!

I remembered there was money. It was worth around $5and it was from another country. Mr Mc Cone had us draw our own pictograph, mine said "Turkey hunting was that away". Neel

I liked making up my own pictograph, mine was a map from my house to the 7/11 and it also said "you lost your mind". Jacob

Wednesday

Mr. Tillman, one of our Dads, came in to teach us about lacrosse and how it relates to the Indians. The Indians invented lacrosse. He showed many images of different tribes playing lacrosse and he told us it was a very rough game that sometimes prepared Indians for war. He taught us the word "Baggataway" from the Iroquois language.

We also made moccasins today. We learned that different areas of the country had different styles of moccasins. We then made a paper pattern for a moccasin by carefully measuring our own feet. Afterwards we had a chance to stitch up the backs and decorate our own pair from fabric that resembled leather.

Thursday

Going bowling at the Student Union was definitely the highlight of the day.

The children have also enjoyed reading Indian legends from different tribes around North America. For one writing assignment they were required to write their own legend. Today we acted out those legends. Some children showed great potential in the acting and directing department. Here are some of their stories:

How water came to the earth by Neel

One day a crab went inside he was really hot. He wanted water. He went to the water people and asked for water. They said no. He had no choice but to make a hole to make water come to the earth. One of the water people kicked him into the air and that is why the Gasher constellation is a crab.

Legend of the Deer With One Antler by Danielle

Once there lived a deer with one antler he was so embarrassed because he had one antler. There was a deer named Rose (because she was so sweet. One day Rosie found the boy deer. His name was Fluffy and before they met she had a child it was a girl. She was so into him they got married. One day the boy’s horn grew back the way that it was supposed to be and they lived happily ever after.

Why Raccoons Have Ringed Tails by Caitlin

This story explains why raccoons have ringed tails.
Raccoon lived his life in harmony except that fox was always bothering him about his archery skills. Every day the tribe of Rushing Water hunted for food and weaved but by night the people gathered stars from the sky. When stars were taken from the sky they rotted and turned black. The people smushed the stars with rocks and the stars were used as black paint. Fox used this black paint every day on Raccoon’s tail to make it look like a target. One night the Tribe got too much black paint! When Fox bought the paint, he used it all to paint Raccoon’s tail. When the archery match was over, raccoon walked home to wash the paint off. When he tried to wash it out the paint didn’t come off! From this day on raccoon’s offspring always had ringed tails.

Friday

Mr. Dennis from the Patuxent Wildlife Center came today to tell us more about Maryland Native Americans. He brought a mounted beaver and Mallard duck as well as a bow and arrow, some furs, plants and games. We liked playing the guessing game where you have an animal taped to your back and you have to ask everyone questions to figure out which one it is.

There is this game with rocks in a bowl and you hit the bowl really hard on the ground and if you have all blacks you get a point and if you have all whites you get a game.- Neel

He had a lot of fur and he made a bow and arrow of his own at home and he nicely gave our class some arrow heads and a carabineer and a word find.-Tess