Students use craft projects to learn local Native American history

Warwick - Most people prefer learning something through hands-on experience as well as by study or memorization. Students in Patricia Gordon’s fourth grade class at St. Stephen’s-St. Edward’s elementary school in Warwick have always enjoyed one favorite history project. In the fourth grade, all New York State students study local history and during one particular unit of the course they learn about the Algonquian tribes and the Iroquois nations, which were the main Native American groups in the State. To keep things interesting as well as informative, Gordon assigned each child a different area of study, such as clothing, tools, weapons, housing, people, and maps. Then, using materials that could have been available to the original inhabitants of this area or that are at least good substitutes, each student was required to create a model, reproduction or other representation of the researched topic. The results included authentic looking examples of Native American dress, types of shelters, stone tools, hunting bows and arrows, weapons, wampum and even an antiquated looking map of the tribal areas in the State of New York. And, finally, everyone was asked to write about his or her findings and then present the paper to the class. “This is a wonderful way for students to learn how the Native Americans in this area used resources from their environment to meet their basic needs,” said Gordon. “And the kids love doing it.”