Native Americans Part 4

As we neared the end of our unit last year, I could tell that Laken was losing interest.  We both were.  We wrapped it up to our satisfaction, and I ended up with a summer job that left me no time for blogging.  This school year, it has gone unsaid but become very evident that Laken is taking a year off from school; and I am willing to give her the time she needs to learn and grow through unstructured play, not themed play.  She shows little interest compared to how much she enjoyed the Native American unit and other themes we have visited in the past.  She simply wants to play with her dolls, and I respect that.  It has only been recently that I have fully accepted this and given up on even offering "learning opportunities," even though I know she is learning all the time.  In the meantime, I realize it is never too late to finish what you started; and, since it appears this is a resource others find valuable, I am finally going to tie up its loose ends! (2013)

*Well, I wrote that intro for this blog post over a year ago!  Since it's been so long since we've done this unit, this will mostly be a picture post.


The Maidu

Pocket Activities 

Seed beater and bear acrostic "rattle" shaker.











Additional Activities

Build an earth lodge.  Very similar to our hogan, except cut the top of the milk jug off as well and use dirt instead of mud!  We just glued some sticks together to make a ladder.











The Nez Perce

The grand finale!  Yes, Native Americans were on the agenda for our pre-school year; but it worked out for us better than I could have expected.  My daughter received an American Girl bitty baby when she was two.  She then started receiving American Girl catalogs every month.  She would sit for hours longing for a "big girl" doll.  When she was 4 1/2, she declared she was old enough and wanted nothing more for Christmas.  I was leery of making the leap at first, because there is no turning back; but as I started to look into it, and saw that the earliest historical doll was a Native American from the Nez Perce tribe, my excitement began to grow.  SO, my daughter and I made an agreement that we would venture into the world of American Girl as long as we could do it from an educational perspective!  This is where our unit fizzled out, though.  She did not even complete the pocket activities for the Nez Perce.  She is learning about them through her adventures with Kaya.