Running Deer and Dancing Moon visited our classroom today to teach us about the Native Americans of the Southwest. We have been talking about the pilgrims traveling to America and meeting the Native Americans that already lived there. This was a great connection to what we have been learning about the first Thanksgiving. We had the opportunity to visit four learning centers during their visit as well as hear a old Native American Cautionary Tale. We learned about a variety of hunting tools they used to survive and how they made them out of items found in nature in around where they lived. We also learned about the importance of corn. We shelled corn and ground it into cornmeal using a mano and matate. In the jewelry center we discovered the different types of items they used to create their jewelry, then tried our hand at making our own piece of jewelry to take home using duck feathers. Lastly, we shucked our own corn and ate right off the cob for a snack.
