Oak Island Hike

On Thursday, September 29th, third graders and some very helpful adult chaperones embarked on our first out and about of the school year. We loaded the bus and headed to Oak Island to do some important research. Students and adults split up into small groups and partook in a scavenger hunt for different wildlife, signs of wildlife, as well as native plants and trees. Students and adults worked hard to complete this search (while also completing the 2.5 mile loop). Our research helped us build our forest scene which will be the background for our Chinookan village model in our classroom. It was a lot of fun and we are very thankful for the gorgeous weather and for all of the helpful adults who took time out of their busy schedules to join us.

Native American of PNW Unit

 

 At the end of September, third graders received a trunk full of mysterious artifacts and a letter from Virginia Parks, who works for the Department of Fish and Wildlife. She told us that these artifacts were found in this area (near Sauvie Island) and asked us to do some preliminary research to determine who might have used these artifacts.We studied these objects and wrote her back to say we predicted that they were made and used by Native Americans.

A few days later, Ms. Parks wrote back to say that we were indeed artifacts from a Native American tribe, but did we know there are over 500 Native American tribes in the United States? She asked us to do further research to determine which tribe might have used these artifacts since we knew they were found near Sauvie Island. We used our mapping skills to determine that were most likely from the Chinook tribe.

She wrote us back to say yes, indeed we were correct again (!!!), these artifacts are from the Chinook tribe. She asked us if we would be willing to create a Chinook village in our classroom to spread awareness about their tribe and culture to our school community. We researched how the Chinook lived long ago and set out to build the outsides of our Chinookan longhouses, which we will complete next week. What perfect timing since we are headed to see a plankhouse replica at the Ridgefield Wildlife Refuge next Tuesday! She asked that our representations be culturally respectful and historically accurate so we are going to wait until after our field trip to complete the insides of our models.