3rd Grade: The Eastern Woodland People

In the first few days of school the third graders begin their immersion in a study that will take them on a yearlong journey, the study of the Eastern Woodland People. The study begins over 500 years ago, with the local Algonkians in the lower Hudson Valley. As the year progresses, we move up the timeline, as we travel up the Hudson, heading north and then west of Albany. We enter the home of the Haudenosaunee, the People of the Longhouse.

The children are drawn into the study through discussions that evolve from historical fiction, stories read to them about the people that lived in the area before the European explorers arrived. By the spring we are reading about the Seneca and their interaction with the white settlers around 1760. Our study is supplemented throughout the year by trips to, a recreated Lenape village, a hike through Inwood Park, a winter visit to Greenbrook Nature Sanctuary, a visit to the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, canoeing and a stream study at Constitution Marsh in the spring, and a stroll along the Hudson in Nyack. The stories we read and the experiences provided by the trips lay the groundwork for an understanding of culture, practices, and beliefs, and how geography, climate, human and natural resources influence the adaptation and survival of people. Various hands-on projects in the classroom, such as painting murals, the making of a wigwam (FieldNotes February 2006 issue, page 4), and the construction of a model of Inwood Park provide the children with creative opportunities to work both individually and cooperatively. Their experiences are expanded in Social Studies workshop where they sew tunics, baby dolls, de-hair a deerskin to name just a few projects. In woodshop they make cradle boards, canoes and pump drills. Art specialists provide a variety of related experiences such as the making of clay pots. By applying skills from writer’s workshop the children create stories in the third person and other independent writings, as well as recording events and trips. We are fortunate to have developed a relationship with a public school on the Mohawk reservation in Hogansburg, with whom we corresponded.

Like the Algonkian and Haudenosaunee people that we learn about, we follow the seasons closely. Some of our activities are determined by the available resources of the season. In the fall we string apples and corn to dry through the winter. In the spring, when the sap runs in the maple trees, we know it is time to hang out our sap buckets. When the red oak leaves are the size of a squirrel’s ear, the frosts are over and it is safe to plant the corn. And so we plant our seeds for a three sister’s garden (corn, beans, and squash).

Trips to the Museum of Natural History and the zoo serve as a springboard for our woodland mammal research. The children build on their research skills of the previous years and develop new and more sophisticated skills for research.