Dancing Moon and Running Deer came to visit us today to teach us all about the Southwest Native Americans. We had the opportunity to pop the dry corn kernals off the cob and grind them on a matate. A matate is the large stone on which the grain is placed. A mano is a smaller stone used to grind corn or other grains. It is rolled over the matate to break down the grains into a powder. The powder is then used to cook many different things with. We talked about all the different uses the native americans had for corn then we husked our own piece of cooked corn and enjoyed it as a snack.
Running Deer showed us all of the different types of tools and weapons that were used to hunt and provide food for the native american families. We also got to see and feel a real deer fur and antlers along with a fox fur and skunk fur! We explored and dressed up in native american jewelry and clothing and had a chance to make our very own piece of jewelry. We learned that native americans would have used many different things to make their jewelry including shells, feathers, animal claws other things they would find in the area where they lived.
We learned that native americans did not have books like we do, they had “storytellers,” or people in their tribe that told stories to the young children. These stories always had a lesson that the children could learn. Dancing moon told us the story about “How Chipmunk Got His Stripes.” It was an exciting story that taught us that we should not tease others or to brag about ourselves. We will be reading other Native American Folk tales later in the week, including How Jackrabbit Got His Long Ears and Kissing Coyotes. The preK children got to listen to a story on tape about another native american legend…The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush.
