Long before the introduction of the written word, native americans were sharing stories and marking their history in various ways. In Mexico, stone carvings and decorated clay pieces told tales through a sequence of images. In Hawaii, hula dancers strung moves together to create a story. And in the North, native tribes carved long logs into totem poles.
To find out more about totem poles we picked up Totem Pole by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith. We learned that they almost always featured the animals whose spirits the native americans prayed to. They could be displayed like a family crest and were generally read from the bottom up.
We decided to construct a couple with toys from our playroom.
First with trex blocks
And then with ice cream scoops…
AZ drew a quick totem pole. Hers tells a story from top to bottom.
Can you “read” it?
And CZ made one out of words:
Tribes
Outdoors
Territory
Everlasting
Marked
People
Outstanding
Love
Environment
To get a picture of a real totem pole we didn’t have to go far. Check out the tall one in our school’s courtyard…
We also learned a bit about native american folktale, and read two nice tales, as retold by Tomie dePaola.
The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush
And The Legend of the Bluebonnet.
We discovered that these early stories focused on nature and survival, but their message is still very relevant today. We also learned that native american children were given their names by others based on their personality and deeds.
The scouts took a moment to name each other and came up with:
She-Who-Loves-To-Play
Little Sweet Tooth
King-of-Trains
Globe Scouts 