We spent a little time focusing on the Shoshone tribe since it was the tribe of Sacagawea. A great book that we read was this one.
This is a great book if you are studying the Shoshones. They harvested pine nuts and this book goes into detail as to how they did that. It has a recipe and several activities related to games that the Shoshones played that we really enjoyed! The author is Kristin Thoennes Keller.
We also learned about the beaver. After the corps passed through the Gates of the Rocky Mountains and reached the Three Forks of the Missouri River they began spotting a great number of beavers and otter, but they saw very few signs of Indians at that point. This was the point of the expedition where they were eager and even a bit desperate to find Sacagaweas tribe, the Shoshones. They needed to trade with them to get horses in order to make it over the mountains. They knew that if they didn't find the tribe and were not able to obtain some of their horses that the expedition would have to come to an end. Anyways- I am getting off track here so back to the beavers. We learned that one beaver can cut down 200 aspen and cottonwood trees every year. They drag them to the water, where they float the logs to their homes. They bury the trees under stones on the river bottom, and, when they are hungry for a snack, dive down, retrieve some wood, and bring it home to eat. The kids knew that beavers used trees to build their dams and lodges but they were fascinated to learn that the beavers can be up to 25 feet long and rise 8 feet above the water. Deep inside, the beavers live on platforms built above the water level where they can stay dry and cozy. The kids thought it pretty cool, that like our homes, the lodges have different rooms for eating, sleeping, and storing food. Their entrances are below the water level, making it impossible for predators such as bears and wolves to enter. Lewis and Clark also saw beavers living in dens along the river's bank. We learned that the Beaver is the largest rodent in the US weighing up to 60 pounds. A beavers outer coat is water proof just like a duck. Beaver fur was in great demand at the time of the expedition. Fur trappers spent months in the wilderness making their fortunes catching them. The beavers tail serves many purposes and the one that the kids liked the most was that they slap the water with their tail when danger draws near, thus warning the other beavers down the river to take cover.
In the expedition their was a man named Drouillard that understood perfectly the language of signs, which seemed to be universally understood by all the nations of tribes that the expedition came across on their journey. The kids had fun learning a few of those signs. Emmy wanted to demonstrate them for you.
The sign for friend.
The sign for horse.
Tee pee
Sign for bear
Sign for buffalo
The next two signs put together are for Mountain
And these next two put together are the sign for sun.
And the following three signs put together (in this order) are for the moon.
Another activity that the kids enjoyed was on trail signs. Native Americans used different signs to mark trails. They piled up stones to point the way and made slashes on trees- high up the trunks so they wouldn't be covered by snow. Many times on the expedition Lewis and Clark used trail signs themselves when they had to seperate the expedition to explore certain areas. Their was one point that Clark left a mark on a tree for Lewis only to return and discover that the tree he had left the mark on was gone. A beaver had chopped it down. LOL!
The kids took turns over the course of a week making maps of part of our neighborhood and land and then plotting out a path for each other to follow. We had fun using the culd-e-sac across from our home for this and using the empty lot next door to us and of course our own plot around our home. They would go out on the path and place trail signs as clues pointing the way and then rest of us would have to go out on the trail and see if we could find our way to the end. A few items that the kids used for their trails signs were sticks, stones, leaves, acorns, pinecones, and markings in dirt with a stick. It was really fun to let their creative juices flow and watch what they came up with each time. When Indians left a broken arrow across a trail it meant don't go any farther so we used an X for that symbol on our trails.
We really enjoyed our study on Lewis and Clark. Here are a couple of chapter books that we enjoyed reading together during our unit. We loved both of these!
GREAT book told from the perspective of Lewis dog Seaman. The kids loved this one!
Sacagaweas story. A really great book that focuses on Sacagaweas life.
