Native American

Life & Culture

 

Our Native American Life & Culture unit is a great experiental learning opportunity for students in 3rd & 4th grade.  A series of unique, fascinating, and fun activities add depth and complexity to California Content Standards already under investigation in your classroom.

Nature Hike

Join our naturalist leader on a hike deep into Kenter Canyon, exploring what life would have been like as a Chumash or Tongva three hundred years ago.  We discuss ethnobiology, the use of plants and animals by Native Americans.  Learn what wood is best for a plank canoe, where to find the sweetest berries, and how to hide yourself on a hunt for deer.

Exploring Native Art & Writing

Students learn to think like archeologists with a discussion of several examples of Native American art and writing.  Using clues from the content of the artifacts and the way they were produced, students investigate possible meanings and purposes for Sioux pictographs, Anasazi petroglyphs, and Chumash cave paintings.  After the discussion, students create a petroglyph of their own to take home with them.

Chumash Sports & Games

What did the Chumash and Tongva do for fun, and why?  Students play several traditional Chumash games on our shady ballfield for a taste of young native life.  Afterward, they draw connections between these fun activities and the skills needed to survive in Native American times.  Students also get a turn at our ever-popular archery range, guided by trained instructors, improving their aim just as Tongva children did centuries ago.

 

Field trips are available Monday through Friday during the school year.  Tumbleweed Outdoor Education is conveniently located minutes from Sunset Boulevard in the hills above Brentwood.  To schedule a field trip, check availability, or for further information, please call Andy Kimmelman, Outdoor Education Coordinator, at (310) 472-7474 or via email at andy@tumbleweedcamp.com.

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