Was the word we chose as the name of our triad. We know there are a lot
of differences between us but we ALL share the same sky.
This was an interesting project to do as a part of our Social Studies Curriculum. We certainly learned a lot about ourselves and found out that it's important to share with each other and of ourselves to others.
While researching our family trees we learned a lot about our past and we spent some quality time talking with our parents about our relatives.
When we were preparing our wampum boxes we spent some time talking about wampum belts and discovered information on a Mi'kmaq belt. This lead into the realization that there have been a lot of changed since the arrival of the Europeans. We drew pictures depicting these changes and sent them in the boxes. Some things have stayed the same such as a few of our games, recipes and ceremonies. We also sent along a set of pictures showing these parts of our lives.
The picture above is of a cracked wooden bowl. Although the ancient Mi'kmaq game of Waltes uses a wooden bowl it isn't a cracked one. We also sent, as part of a video, an introduction to this game to our partners.
The world-wide web certainly is a great tool to have on hand. We enjoyed, if somewhat limited, chatting with other students in Canada. We discovered that most kids are alike. We like sports, watch the same movies and have different size families. There are also a lot of different languages spoken in other schools.
We used the large wall map supplied, as part of the program, as the central focus of our information center. We produced a wall sized map of our own. We plotted our houses and of the different important building in our community. We learned about the cardinal points using both of the maps. These came in handy when geography questions came up during discussions.
The Eagle Feather, an important article to the Mi'kmaq people, plays a special role in ceremonies. We sent a decorated feather as a symbol of accomplishment to each of out triad members. This feather is given with great reverence and care. We have made new connections and through a few rough spots completed our projects. Quite an accomplishment!
To all those who gave of their time or advice, especially staff members who made or gathered items for our boxes.
June 15, 2001