Week 6 of 32 • Page 4
Week 6 of 32 • Page 1
Across
1. Stone Age Asians who journeyed southeast across
Alaska and Canada
3. ancient carvings
5. icy land bridge between Russia and Alaska
6. another word for “corn”
8. shoes made from soft, tanned skin
9. early Mexican wild grass that developed into corn
Down
1. ancient paintings on cliffs, hides or rocks
2. __________ Sisters; corn, beans and squash
4. mixture of dried meat and berries
7. species that are completely wiped out
This is Noa-lukie. He is carving several names of places that he wants you to see. He has even given you his alphabet. Write
each letter in the blank provided. (Petroglyphs are carvings in stone, and pictographs are paintings in stone.)
The Gift of Corn
PAGE 2
the sun—a gift that you must worship above all
others.”
Corn Spirit told the boy that he must
wrestle with him and take from him his
green robe. The boy must throw the
spirit to the ground, and only then would
he receive the gift. If the spirit lost, the boy
must place the spirit in the rich soil of the
spot where he fell. At the end of the third full
moon, his gift would be ready to harvest.
The boy was weak from hunger, but he swiftly
took hold of Corn Spirit’s arms and held tight. They
George W. Bush is not the only son of a
president to become a president. John Quincy
Adams, our sixth president, was the son of John
Adams, our second president.
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First Quarter
Across the Icy Bridge
Rock Art
CONTINUED FROM
Vol. 9 Issue 1
wrestled with each other for three long days. At the end of
the third day, the boy felt great strength fill his body. With
one big tug, the boy was able to pull the robe from Corn
Spirit. The boy followed the directions that the
spirit had requested and buried him in the ground.
After the third full moon, the boy returned
to the spot where he had buried Corn
Spirit. Waiting for him was a huge corn
stalk with ears of corn. The spirit’s gift
was indeed great—food from a plant that
the American Indians could grow to feed their
tribes for many generations to come.
Week 6
THIS WEEK
Early Indian
Tribes
• Corn
• Bald Eagle
• Conservation
M
ore than 100 centuries ago, a small band of homeless,
fur-clad hunters rested on the shores of a continent we
now call Asia. The hunters were starving and very anxious to
provide food for their children. They had wandered very far
from their home.
The wild game they followed did not pause to rest,
however. They continued eastward over a narrow strip of icy
land to a far-off, unknown destination. The hunters, getting
more desperate, kept up the chase. The animals continued
southeast in their constant search of grazing land and to
outdistance their enemies’ spears. The hunters continued to
follow them.
After many weeks, both the hunters and the hunted came
to a halt. All were startled by the grassy valleys they stumbled
into. The hunters decided that these lovely lands would be a
great place to settle with their families.
Not realizing it, these Stone Age Asians had begun a whole
new civilization and culture. They even had a name—Paleo
Indians. They were among the first to travel to the Western
Hemisphere by an icy land bridge later named Beringia
(named for Vitus Bering, a Danish explorer in the 1700s.)
Thousands of years would pass before the great-great-greatgrandchildren of the earliest Americans would travel south
across a country later called Canada, a giant lake called
Michigan and the land past that lake. But travel they did,
and eventually they became the Mound Builders, Miami,
Potawatomi and all the other American Indians of Indiana.
Indigenous People and the United Nations
Everyone has goals, dreams and hopes.
You probably have them yourself. You might
have a goal to get a good grade on your
next test, to make the basketball team or to
do your chores before you are asked. But
did you know that even very large groups
of people could have goals? Indigenous
people have many goals that they would
like to accomplish, and they asked another
important group—the United Nations—to
help them reach these goals. And the United
Nations responded.
On Dec. 23, 1994, the General Assembly
of the United Nations decided to celebrate
the International Day of the World’s
Indigenous People on Aug. 9 of every year
during the International Decade of the
World’s Indigenous People (1995-2004). This
is in memory of the first meeting between
a group who supported the indigenous
people of the world and the United Nations,
which happened in 1982. It worked so well
they actually decided to have a Second
International Decade of the World’s
Indigenous People, which started on Jan. 1,
2005. The goal of this is to ask for strength
from everyone to solve the problems faced
by indigenous people such as human rights,
education and health.
A few years ago, the Commission of Human
Rights also helped establish a Permanent
Forum on Indigenous Issues. Forums are public
meetings where important issues are discussed.
Some of the issues the indigenous people talk
about are their culture, environment and the
rights they should have.
Some specific goals that are being
addressed are to help reduce the number of
people who suffer from hunger, ensure that
all boys and girls get a complete education,
promote equality between men and women
and reduce the number of people living on
less than a dollar a day. Think about that;
what if your entire family made less than a
dollar a day? How could you survive?
These goals are not just for other
countries. They can work just as well for
the indigenous people of Indiana. There are
many who suffer from hunger and who do
not make enough money. It is also important
for those in Indiana to get a complete
education.
As you can see, it is important for
indigenous people from all over the world,
including Indiana, to be involved in the
important decision that the United Nations
made many years ago. The goals are very
important for those people as well as for
any other person who lives in the world,
America or Indiana. Everyone should strive
to reach these goals. You can do your part by
making sure you and your friends get a good
education.
Week 6 of 32 • Page 3
Week 6 of 32 • Page 2
Indiana Tribes Before
European Settlement
Famous Person Book
Materials
• 12-inch by 18-inch piece of construction paper
• 6-inch by 6-inch piece of construction paper
• Scissors
• Glue
• Crayons and markers
For the next three weeks, we’ll be learning about the native inhabitants of Indiana. Some customs were common among all
American Indian tribes. This week, let’s take an overall look at some of our earliest Hoosiers.
Let’s Make Moccasins!
There were two basic kinds of moccasins worn by all
American Indians: hard soled and soft soled. It was quite
common for children your age to make moccasins for their
elders. Almost all of them were made from soft, tanned skins,
and many were decorated with beads and porcupine quills.
A Gift from the Great Spirit
The buffalo was the most important animal in the world for all
American Indians. This big, lumbering, snorting beast provided
just about everything the people needed to stay alive.
According to legend, the buffalo came from gigantic caves
somewhere on the wind-swept prairies. Each spring, they say,
the Great Spirit sent big herds of buffalo from those hidden
caves to the open prairie as a gift to the American Indian
people. The buffalo hunt was spectacular. It was a very special
event in the lives of all the tribespeople, including the women
and children. No part of the slain animal ever went to waste.
The meat, of course, was the most important. It was dried and
jerked for jerky or made into pemmican—a mixture of dried
meat and berries.
The hide was used for winter robes, bedding and moccasins.
The buffalo hair was twisted into ropes and bridles. Its stomach
became a water jug, and its tail a fly swatter! The horns were
used for cups and spoons. Buffalo bones were shaped into
knives, spears and tools. The hooves produced glue, and the fat
was made into soap. In snowy country, the backbone with ribs
attached made a toboggan for children in winter. Nothing went to
waste!
American Indians were very grateful to the Great Spirit for
Instructions
1. Fold the piece of 12 by 18–inch
paper into eight equal sections as
shown in the picture.
providing this wonderful animal to keep them alive and provide
so many useful things to make their lives easier. They treated this
animal with great respect and gratitude.
The buffalo became nearly extinct (completely wiped out) in
a very sad way. When the white man came along, buffalo were
slaughtered by the millions. Their horns and hides were sold to
rich people in the east, and their carcasses were left to rot on the
plains. It was a painful chapter in the history of the American
Indians.
2. (You don’t have to label your
sections as they are labeled here.
We’ve done that to help you know
which pieces to cut and fold.) Cut
out sections E and H. Save these
pieces for later.
3. Fold sections A and D into the
center to make a vest or jacket.
Glue pieces E and H on the back for
arms, as shown in the picture.
4. Cut a head from
the 6 by 6–inch piece
of construction paper. Glue it to the top of
sections B and C. To make pants for your
famous person, cut a small triangle between
sections F and G as shown. (Or you can cut the
lower corners off these sections to create a skirt.)
The Three Sisters
Very important foods to all American Indians were the Three
Sisters— corn, beans and squash. During the American Indian
Shuffle Dance, a woman carrying a basket containing both bread
and the seeds of these vegetables lead the parade. The women
shuffle as they dance, rubbing Mother Earth with their feet to feel
a closeness to her. This was a dance of deep gratitude.
5. Draw your famous person’s face on the head. You can add
hair and clothing. Add hands and shoes cut from paper scraps.
6. Open the flaps of the jacket and, on
the inside, write something about your
famous person. If you’d like, you
can write a longer story or essay
about your famous person on folded
pieces of paper and then staple the
pages into your famous person book.
Extra Activity: You can make your book
about a family member or friend and give it to him
or her as a gift.
Conservation
H
ow would you like it if you were given something you really enjoyed, such
as an ice cream cone, and you let your friends have some, and they ate
all of it without leaving any for you? It sounds like your friends need to
learn how to conserve.
Conservation is the protection and preservation of something, especially
wildlife, soil, forests and water. These items have been very important
throughout the entire history of Indiana, America and the world.
The American Indian people who inhabited the Indiana area knew what
it meant to conserve. They knew that if they killed all of the animals or
chopped down all of the trees, there would be nothing left for their children
and their children’s children to use when it was their turn to live in the area.
Conservation is something that we still can, and should, do today. The
forests are starting to become increasingly rare, many animals have become
extinct, some are close to extinction, and water is something that is slowly
running out.
We should learn to think like the American Indians who lived here before
us and start to take care of the land and conserve the resources we have.
It takes many, many years for trees to grow, extinct animals will not come
back, and everyone needs water, but no one can make it come back if it is
gone.
Bald Eagle
The Gift of Corn
One spring, a long, long time ago, a
chief’s son came of age. The chief told
the boy that he must leave the village
to find the spirit that would guide him
through life. He could not eat or drink,
and the guiding spirit would come to him
in a dream.
The boy went into the forest. By
evening, he was very hungry, and his
mouth was dry from thirst. His thoughts
wandered, and he began to dream. He
felt the sun on his skin as though it were
midday. He opened his eyes and saw a
tall stranger standing beside him. It was
Corn Spirit. He was wearing a green robe.
The spirit spoke. “I bring you a gift from
CONTINUED ON
PAGE 4
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N
Where did corn
come from?
Way back in 1500 B.C., there was a
wild grass called teosinte among the
natives of Mexico. As this wild grass
was cultivated and cross-pollinated,
it developed into the sweet corn they
later called maize. Squash and beans
also found a place in ancient Indiana
as these foods were brought from
migrating tribes. Eventually, these
vegetables (corn, squash and beans)
were nicknamed The Three Sisters
because they became the basic foods
of the majority of the American
Indian nations.
early 50,000 bald eagles are found throughout the United States. Eighty
percent of them are in Alaska. The bald eagle is not a migratory bird, and
a pair stays faithful to each other for years. During colonial times, the word
“bald” meant “white,” not “hairless.” That’s why these white-headed birds were
called bald eagles. It’s estimated that there were more
than 1/2 million of them in existence at that time.
Eagles select high places to build their nests of
sticks. They generally lay two eggs. Their young
build nests in the same area as their parents.
They are real homebodies!
You can catch glimpses of this majestic bird
in Eagle Creek Park near Indianapolis. Eagles are
making a slow comeback after near extinction
because of pesticides. The birds are once again
nesting in areas that were wiped out during the
1960s, but they’re still smaller in number than they
were during colonial times.
Stories of eagles swooping down and carrying
off babies and livestock are just that—stories.
They can’t carry anything heavier than four
pounds. This bird became part of our national
emblem in 1782.