‘One-on-one’ lessons in Native American culture

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Throughout much of the fall, elementary students in the North Hills School District have been immersing themselves in another culture – one that was here long before their ancestors arrived.

The district’s parent groups funded an intensive unit on Native Americans. The unit culminated for West View Elementary students Nov. 14 with a day of workshops conducted by two women from the Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center in Indiana Township.

“To actually get one-on-one with the kids is actually refreshing,” said Chanel Wissner.

Wissner and Danielle Wanner talked to groups of kids about Native American history and culture, and reviewed class and individual projects.

Students in kindergarten and first grade made turtle shell rattles; second grade, dream catchers; third grade and fourth grades, mini-Kachinas, which grant blessings and benefits; and fifth and sixth grades made large totem poles with animals representing the values held by each class.

“The whole project was designed to give an appreciation of Native American culture, to realize the variety in Native American culture, to make this more real for children,” said Martin Richter, gifted education teacher at West View. “We learned how all the artifacts we made fit into the culture.”

The totem poles, for example, were from the culture of the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest, while the kachinas summoned the mountain spirits of the tribes in the Southwest to fulfill their desires.

“Some children asked for world peace. Others did fun things, asking for long hair,” Richter said.

Gifted program students went further. Some published newspapers. Some made Hopi-style pottery. Others wrote poetry modeled on traditional and modern Native American poems. Students in the program constructed their own small totem pole “to reflect their personal talents and strengths,” Mr. Richter said.

And one group constructed structures out of natural material.

Emma Brown imitated structures built by the Caddo Indian tribe in Oklahoma and Alabama. She took four sticks and lashed them together with a square knot, then stuck grass onto the outside.

“I think it was fun,” she said.

Cayden Sheppard said the Cheyenne tribe’s structure was “made to be taken apart and rebuilt easily.”

His replica consisted of a pole in the middle, plus paper on the outside. The Cheyenne used a 15-foot pole and buffalo hide. “To keep warm, they would use a fire in the middle,” he said.

Over in another part of the room, Wanner, wearing shoes that she said were made of moose hide, showed a group of first- through third-graders some Native American artifacts, including a shield made from animal hide, dried corn on the cob, a pelt, antlers and an animal skull.

“I think that personal connection for little ones is really what stays with them,” Richter said.

--

Online: http://bit.ly/1rluCwW

–––

Information from: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, http://www.post-gazette.com