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School News » Gifted and Talented Program
Gifted and Talented Program NATIVE AMERICAN INDIANS AND COMMUNICATION When Europeans arrived in North America in the 16th century, there lived hundreds of different tribes that spoke hundreds of different languages or dialects. The children were asked, “How could very different tribes speaking different languages understand each other? We learned that the Native Americans used 3 basic ways: smoke or drum signals sign language, and drawings. The smoke or drum signal was used for very simplistic messages between individuals or tribes and was most commonly some type of warning. Sign language was a very rich means of communication. They made symbols that usually had a clear connection with the thing it stood for-the form of an object, the movement of an action, the placement of this or that. The picture writing used by the Native Americans was the written form of sign language. Each sign represented a word (object, living being, idea). Some tribes used pictures to keep records of events in a person's life or a tribe's history, or to tell a story. The children then had an opportunity to write their own story using the Native American picture words on “buffalo hide” with charcoal. I hope they share their stories with you. DIGGING DEEPER BOOKS How Would You Survive As an American Indian (How Would You Survive? Series) by Scott Steedman, David Salariya, and Mark Bergin Indian Signs and Signals by George Fronval and Daniel Dubois More Than Moccasins: A Kid’s Activity Guide to Traditional North American Indian Life (A Kid’s Guide) by Laurie Carlson Native American Sign Language by Madeline Olsen Native American Art & Culture by Brendan January The New York Public Library Amazing Native American History: A Book of Answers for Kids by The New York Public Library and Liz Sonneborn North American Indian (DK Eyewitness Books) by David S. Murdoch Native American Myths, Legends, Stories Arrow to the Sun ?by Gerald McDermott ?Viking Press, New York. Boat Ride With Lillian Two Blossom ?by Patricia Polacco Corn is Maize: The Gift of the Indians ?by Aliki ? Dancing Teepees: Poems of American Indian Youth ?Selected by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve Dragonfly’s Tale ?by Kristina Rodanas ? Dream Wolf ?by Paul Goble ? I’m in Charge of Celebrations ?by Byrd Baylor Ladder to the Sky: ?How the Gift of Healing Came to the Ojibway Nation ?retold by Barbara J. Esbensen The Legend of the Bluebonnet ?retold by Tomie dePaola The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush ?retold by Tomie dePaola Lightning Inside You and Other Native American Riddles ?edited by John Bierhorst Mama, Do You Love Me? ?by Barbara M. Joosse The Moon, the Sun, and the Coyote ?by Judith Cole Native Dwellings ?by Bonnie Shemie ?Tundra Books, Montreal, The Night of the Stars ?by Douglas Gutierrez and Maria F. Oliver ?Rainbow Crow: A Lenape Tale ?by Nancy Van Laan The Star Maiden ?retold by Barbara J. Esbensen The Story of Jumping Mouse ?by John Steptoe Totem Pole ?by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith When Clay Sings ?by Byrd Baylor WEBSITES Learn about Native Americans http://www.ahsd25.k12.il.us/curriculum%20info/nativeamericans/ NativeTech: Native American Technology and Art Native American Information for Kids (be sure to scroll down the page) http://www.native-languages.org/kids.htm Native American Website for Children http://www.nhusd.k12.ca.us/ALVE/NativeAmerhome.html/nativeamhome.html NOVEMBER 2009 We will begin the GT program this November with an introduction to the tribes of North America by focusing on Native American art. These works of art are fascinating in themselves, but they are also part of a larger story. They tell us about the lives and cultures of these people. We will start with American artist George Catlin. From 1830 to 1836, he traveled throughout the American West to paint Indians, recording not only their faces and dress but also their ceremonies, aspects of their daily lives, and their physical surroundings. In fact, if it were not for George Catlin, a great deal of information about Native Americans would be missing. His collection including his artwork and writing is now housed at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D. C. Thank you for sharing your wonderful children with me. Faith Wint DIGGING DEEPER Resources that will reinforce and/or extend the Native Americans curriculum in the Meadow Brook G&T program BOOKS The George Catlin Book of American Indians by Royal B. Hassrick Painting the Wild Frontier: The Art and Adventures of George Catlin by Susanna Reich WEBSITES Information about George Catlin’s artworks from the Smithsonian American Art Museum Information http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/online/catlinclassroom/cl.html Online Native American myths and legends http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/loreindx.html PLACES TO VISIT American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York Institute for American Indian Studies, Washington, Connecticut The Mashantucket Pequot Museum, Mashantucket, Connecticut National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution, New York, New York Peabody Museum of Archaelogy and Ethnology, Cambridge, Massachusetts Plimoth Plantation, Plymouth, Massachusetts
Meadow Brook School East Longmeadow Public Schools 607 Parker Street East Longmeadow, MA 01028 (413) 525-5470 |
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