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We are so fortunate in North America to have considerable information about the wisdom of the First Peoples and how skillful they were in creating shelters and providing for themselves with only their hands and what the earth provides. For this reason, we focussed on the first peoples of this continent for this block. The students heard stories about the first peoples living in the Eastern Woodlands, the Great Plains, the South, Southwest and the Pacific Northwest and what kind of houses they built.
The third graders went to the library to learn more about the people who lived in those shelters. And finally they built models of the homes of the First Peoples. They learned about how important it is to have good boots (footings) to make something three dimensional. They considered the importance of a hat (roof) that shed water and the many ingenious ways to provide warmth without smoking themselves out! And the children imagined themselves in these houses and what it would be like to be a child in a first nation. They filled their model homes with beeswax implements and people and they wrote stories about a day in their lives.
The creativity, resourcefulness, tenacity and cooperation they displayed during this block has been a joy to witness.
– Ms Hurdle
