Over the summer, the kids & I went to the Tualatin Heritage Center for the first time. It is a small museum with only a few exhibits.

We had a great visit. The woman inside was very helpful and informative. She answered my children’s unending questions.

THE BUILDING

The building for the Heritage Center was once a Methodist Church. It was built in 1926 and moved to this location in 2005 after threats of being torn down.

TUALATIN MASTADON

The main draw to the Heritage Center is the info on the Tualatin Mastadon. The story goes that around 1871 the jawbone of a large animal was found in a swamp in the Tualatin area, not far from the Heritage Center. The Smithsonian identified the bone as coming from a ‘prehistoric creature.’

Decades later, part of a rib and molars were found near Nyberg Road in Tualatin.

In 1962, a college student went searching for more mastadon bones. He & his friends found about half of a skeleton.

Scientists believe the Tualatin Mastadon was about 27 years old when she got stuck in the swamp.

The skeleton has been on display in a couple places, but has not been of huge interest to the public. The city of Tualatin is working to change that.

Bottom Left: Left Tusk
Bottom Right: Huge teeth, molars.

ICE AGE & THE KALAPUYA PEOPLE

Along another wall are displays about other parts of the area’s history.

Bottom Left: Granite stone found in Tualatin. Granite is not found in this area and is thought to be brought in on icebergs during the Great Missoula Floods.
Bottom Right: The Kalapuya were the Native American people of the Willamette Valley. Many of the arrowheads on display were found in farmer’s fields. Also on display is a ‘grinding bowl and pestle used by the Atfalati band of the Kalapuya.’

SWEEK POND TRAIL

Right outside the Heritage Center is a trail. We explored it a little.
Highlights along this area were a cherry tree (with cherries) and a snake. My kids love spying creepy, crawly things.

ICE AGE BOULDERS

There are large boulders around that are not from rock found in our area. Scientists believe they were brought here on icebergs during the Missoula Floods.
A few boulders have been brought to the Heritage Center to bring awareness of the effects of the Ice Age in the Willamette Valley.

Top: 10 ton granite boulder found near Gaston.
Bottom Left: 2.5 ton quartzite boulder found near Gaston.
Bottom Right: Granite found in Tualatin.

MORE MASTADONS AROUND TOWN

Many of the Mastadon bones are displayed at the Tualatin Public Library. Notice the Mastadon etched in glass behind the bones – such a nice looking display.

Outside the new Cabela’s store in Tualatin is a 9′ tall bronze mastadon sculpture.

I have lived in this area my entire life & never heard about the Tualatin Mastadon until recently.

The post 31 Days in Oregon: Tualatin Heritage Center appeared first on .

Throughout the year we have been working on our Native American History Pockets. This was something all 3 of my kids could work on as a group & I loved teaching them all together.

We used construction paper & yarn to create the books. Super simple & inexpensive.

We learned about 8 different tribes throughout the US & Canada.

This post contains affiliate links.

The cover of Farm Kid2’s book.
It is a 12″ x 18″ piece of construction paper cut to 12″ x 12″.

We began each pocket with the kids coloring the pieces specific to the tribe we were studying, while I read the information booklet.

This book has 9 pockets, each made from 12″ x 18″ construction paper. I folded up the bottom 6″ inches of the construction paper & stapled the sides to create the pockets.

The first pocket includes a picture dictionary, a map showing the shelters from each tribe & a comparison chart.

Throughout the year I read stories about Native Americans, typically legends. The books weren’t always on the specific tribe we were studying, but they were from a nearby area. I thought this would help the kids get a visual of the types of clothes they wore & the environment they lived in. Two of the books we enjoyed were The Story of Blue Elk and The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush. Have I mentioned how much I love Tomie dePaola? Well, I do. I think his books are fabulous.

Each pocket had an activity or two specific to the tribe, such as this mask from the Tlingit.

It was especially fun to see real life examples of masks and other items used by the Native Americans when we visited the Portland Art Museum and the Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center.

In The Seminole tribe pocket, there is a recipe to make hominy. We didn’t make it.

But, in the Navajo booklet it mentions that they ate fry bread with most meals. I did attempt making fry bread. It was delicious, but not very flat.

We tried the fry bread two ways – one with cinnamon & sugar, the other with lunch served taco style.

We worked on these pockets throughout the year. When possible we did a pocket to go along with other units of study. For example, we completed The Inuit pocket during the winter when we were reading Jan Brett’s Three Snow Bears. You can find a mural to print of The Three Snow Bears on Jan Brett’s website.

I enjoyed the freedom of homeschooling & changed things up to fit our needs a couple times.

#1: The tribe the publishers chose for the NE part of the US was The Iroquis. But, I wanted to tie this unit in with Thanksgiving, so I switched the tribe we studied to the Wampanoag. I found my own information about the Wampanoag to share with the kids, but they were still able to do The Iroquis activites.

#2: This History Pocket book was geared towards grades 1-3, so some of it was a bit easy for my 11 year old. Because of this, I came up with a few activities I thought he would enjoy. The book has a wampum craft for this pocket, but I chose to have the kids make a wampum belt instead.

Since the kids were learning about the shelters of each tribe, I wanted them to craft at least one shelter. I chose a teepee when we were studying The Sioux.

I am a fan of History Pockets, & this one did not disappoint. The tribe booklets were thorough enough that the kids learned a few key things about each tribe without being overwhelmed. I especially liked that it included the first pocket, which was a quick way to see where the various tribes lived & we could easily compare their lifestyles.

The post Native American History Pockets appeared first on .

To go along with our Native American studies we visited the Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center. This was our first time exploring this museum.

I was surprised at the variety of exhibits. We were there for the Indian artifacts, but also learned about the natural history, transportation, & community of the Columbia Gorge.

FIRST PEOPLES – THE CASCADE CHINOOK

We began our tour in the section of the museum that housed the items we came to see, The Native American exhibit.

Left: Standing tall & proud in the middle of the exhibit is a replica of  Tsagaglalal: She Who Watches. She is probably the most recognizable petroglyph in our area.

Top Right: Carved totems or sticks & Shaman’s spangle or shield.

Bottom Right: Canoe anchor & net sinker

Top Left: Knife – Stone blade attached by pitch to antler handle.
Not long before we visited the museum, Farm Kid1 asked me how the Indians made knives. I had to tell him I didn’t know, but probably out of bones or stones. I was happy to see this example & an explanation of what it was made from.

Top Right: Gaming stone – rolled or kicked by teams in the “kick” game.
Holy cow, that must have hurt when you kicked it.

Bottom: Root gathering or storage bags.

Left: Ceremonial dress made from buckskin with bead & shell embellishments

Emory Strong Library
Emory Strong spent more than 40 years researching the early people of the Columbia River Basin. After his death, his family donated his collection to the museum. Walking in the library is only available by appointment, but we could see all the memorabilia & artifacts through the glass.

TURNING POINT & THE CORPS OF DISCOVERY

With Lewis & Clark exploring the area in the early 1800’s, change was certainly coming. Between 1850 and 1853 land speculators & settlers filed claims under the Donation Land Act along the north bank of the Columbia River.

Top Left: Council Fire on the Columbia by David Manuel
A bronze sculpture with Native Americans & members of the Corp of Discovery. There was a small sign encouraging us to find a few items in the sculpture like a quill pen, fishing net, & blue trade beads. I love things like that. I guarantee my kids would have took a quick glance at the sculpture and moved on. Instead, they examined the sculpture searching for the items.

Bottom Left: Model of the Clahclehlah village
Lewis & Clark visited this site in 1805 & 1806. It was excavated from 1977 -1979 during the construction of a powerhouse at Bonneville Dam. Many artifacts were found.

Right: Items typically traded by the people of Clahclehlah in the early 1800’s, such as wapato roots, salmon tails, hazelnuts, tobacco, wool blankets & dentalium shells.

EARLY CHANGES

This area focused on the pioneers moving to the area & the military forts needed to protect them from Native Americans.

1907 dry goods store front
The real Doumitt Store closed in 1957.

The store windows displayed items available at the store. I love the items from this time period.

TRANSPORTATION

A small area is dedicated to sternwheelers & the SP & S (Spokane, Portland & Seattle) Railroad. I’ll admit we didn’t spend a lot of time in this area, although I do find the changes in transportation interesting. The sternwheelers were basically put out of business once the railroad came through. I’m curious to see what, if anything, makes automobiles obsolete.

Bailey Gatzert pilot wheel
The Bailey Gatzert was a sternwheeler built in 1890. She ran up and down the Columbia River & also around Puget Sound until the 1920’s.

HARVESTING RESOURCES

A large, open area showcases the timber & fishing industries.

Top Left: Logging equipment

Top Right: 1930 Caterpillar Tractor

Bottom: 1921 Mack Log truck. Max speed is 17.2 mph

Top Left: Typical airplane to deliver air male, a 1917 Curtiss JN-4 or “Jenny” bi-plane.

Bottom Left: The Corliss Engine, a giant saw mill steam engine weighing 32 tons. This thing was huge. It was made in 1895 & provided energy to a sawmill until 1949.

Right: McCord Fishwheel Replica
I asked Farm Kid2 what he thought this huge contraption was used for. He said he thought it had something to do with catching fish. I thought he was crazy, but it turns out that he was right. The wheels were placed in the Columbia River scooping up fish & dumping them into boxes. They were very effective. By 1935 they were banned in both Oregon & Washington.

HARSH DEMANDS – BONNEVILLE DAM

It is a small section of the museum, but I found the effects of Bonneville Dam & our need for its hydro-electric power very interesting.

COMMUNITY GALLERY

Inside & around the “house” are items about the people in the community.

Left: An old scrapbook. I’m so tempted to make one of these oldies, but goodies, for my kids. It’s a much better way than an old box to hold their memorabilia.

Right: Canteen cup with WWII battle locations inscribed

JAPANESE COLLECTION

An added bonus at the museum was their Japanese collection. We had just finished studying Japan, so it was great timing to view items from that culture.

Since Japan is right across the Pacific Ocean many Japanese immigrants came to the Pacific NW in the early 1900’s. They helped build roads, railroads, & tunnels, they planted orchards & operated ranches.
Top: Kazeon-bosatsu (Goddess of Mercy)
c. 1600
The gold ball in her hand represents happiness, joy & good health

Top: Wedding kimono

Bottom Left: “Beautiful Woman Just from Bath” by Kitagawa Utamaro
wood block print. copy of 1797 original
When we went to the Portland Art Museum I was hoping to see a wood block print, which we didn’t. So, I was glad to see one here.

ROSARY COLLECTION

I am not Catholic, but this was amazing. The Don Brown Rosary Collection displays about 4000 rosaries.

OUTDOOR EXHIBITS

Court of the Cedars
Carved in 1980 by Dudley Carter at 90 years old.
Right: Primitive Woman

Top: Early logging & road building equipment
If you are someone who really likes machinery, this museum had lots of machines to admire.

Bottom: 1959 SP & S diesel locomotive
Supposedly there is a geocache hidden on that train engine, but we didn’t find it. Dang it!

I am definitely glad we went to this museum. We learned so much about the Native people & the many changes over the years in an area not far from our home.

The post Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center appeared first on .

Throughout the year we learned a little bit about a few different Native American tribes. When we were studying the Sioux of the Great Plains the boys made teepees out of paper bags.

This project was completed in one sitting & made a great visual when learning about the Sioux. We learned that the teepees were positioned so the door flaps opened to the east, the direction of the rising sun. We learned that the designs painted or embroidered on the outside represented something significant about the family living in the teepee. They had fires & cooked in their teepees. This, of course, created smoke. The hole & flaps at the top of the teepee were there to let the smoke escape.

This post contains affiliate links.

I used the tipi project from this Indians of the Great Plains stencil book as a guide for our teepees.

It seems so simple, which really it was. But, it still took a little trial & error to get the template just right for the boys to trace. It’s basically a half circle with wings at the top to create smoke flaps.

The boys cut open a paper grocery bag & traced around my template onto the bag. Then they used oil pastels to decorate their teepee. Both boys chose to use one stencil from the book, as well as add a few other design elements

The boys used tape to fasten the paper bag into a cone shape. We found we needed to add tape to both the inside & outside of the teepee to keep it together. Then they taped 6 skewers on the inside to act as the long poles holding up the teepee.

Left: They folded out the smoke flaps.
Right: And, they folded out the door flaps.
They also added toothpicks to act as pins holding the teepee together.

Farm Kid1 chose to add long poles (aka skewers) to the back of his teepee through the smoke flaps. Farm Kid2 chose not to add these poles.

Farm Kid1’s teepee

Farm Kid2’s teepee. The symbols on his smoke flap represent 3 days & 3 nights.

This was definitely a fun project. I had fun seeing what designs the boys came up with. They turned out so well I currently have them displayed on our mantel.

The post Paper Bag Teepee appeared first on .

To go along with our Native American studies the kids made these awesome symbols out of oil pastel. The Plains Indians used both naturalistic & geometric designs in their art. We made both.

This post contains affiliate links.

I picked this book up at a home school group book swap. It’s a Good Year Book titled Indians of the Great Plains & comes with stencils. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the book. It describes much about the life of Plains Indians, as well as tell a few legends. Each stencil has information about why that design was important. There are also a number of great projects in the back of the book. We made the teepee & parfleche bag.

When I saw an Indian symbols craft at Art Projects for Kids I knew it would be a perfect way to use the stencils.

Using a paper bag as their canvas, they traced a stencil with pencil.

Then, they went over their pencil lines with black oil pastel.

Next, they colored inside the black line.

And finally, they made a border around the outside of the black line with white oil pastel.

Native American men typically painted naturalistic images on their belongings, such as shields & teepees.

Women used porcupine quills or beads to create geometric designs.

Left: Naturalistic Designs: Elk, Buffalo & Horse
Right: Geometric Designs: Turtle, Spider & Dragonfly

I loved this project. The kids did a great job!

The post Native American Symbol Craft appeared first on .

To go along with our unit on Native Americans, I took the kids to the Portland Art Museum to see their Native American collection. We saw a variety of art. Some work was modern & used as decoration, some work was once used in celebrations, & some work was used in everyday life. I was surprised & impressed with all the different styles.

We went to the Art Museum on a day there was a public tour of the Native American art. The woman in the photo below was our docent & was great at asking the kids questions. The tour was about an hour. The first 30-45 minutes the kids were really engaged, then I think the talking got to be too much & they started getting antsy. I’m happy knowing they did learn at least a little bit because occasionally they will mention something the woman told us.

After Boarding School: In Mourning
Kaila Farrell-Smith. 2011. Oil paint & pastel on canvas.
This painting tells a story I never knew. My kids were saddened by it, as well. I never knew that well into the 20th century Native American children were taken from their homes to go to school. They were taught the ways of the Euro-Americans. They were forced to cut their hair & not speak their native language.

Anthropomorphic Figure
unknown Columbia River artist. Before 1750. Basalt.

Honoring the Family
Family items made by Native Americans in the Columbia Plateau

 Elk Tooth Dress
unknown Crow artist. ca 1890. Wool cloth, elk teeth, bone, and glass beads.

Girl’s Dress
unknown Cheyenne artist. ca 1890. Leather, glass beads, and paint.

Dress
unknown Blackfeet artist. ca 1890. Leather, glass beads, and wool cloth.

Cradle
unknown Kiowa artist. ca 1890. Wood, metal, leather, cotton cloth, glass beads, gourd, and hair.

A dried gourd on the cradle was baby’s rattle.

Woman’s Boots
unknown Kiowa artist. ca 1890. Leather, rawhide, paint, glass beads, metal tacks.

Moccasins
unknown Plains artist. ca 1890/1900. Leather, rawhide, cotton cloth binding, porcupine quills, glass beads, metal cones, and dyed horsehair.

Celebrating the Horse
Work of the Plateau Indians

Singing Maidens
Allan Houser. 1979. Tennessee marble.

Duck Pipe
Glenn LaFontaine. ca 1975. Clay and acrylic paint.

Basket
unknown Cahuilla artist. ca 1920. Sumac and juncus.

Because of the cold weather in Alaska, these Native Americans had fewer colors & materials available for their work. To be honest, these items were not my favorite, but I did appreciate them.

Mask
unknown Yup’ik artist. ca 1900. Wood, feathers, paint, and sinew

 Killer Whale Mask
unknown Kwakwaka’wakw artist. ca 1900. Wood, paint, cloth, and string.

Wolf Forehead Mask
Tlingit. ca 1880. Wood, hair, copper, opercula shells, cloth, paint.

Raven to Sun Transformation Mask
Kwakwaka’wakw Tribe.

Dzunuk’wa Feast Dish
unknown Kwakwaka’wakw artist. ca 1900. Cedar and paint

When we first saw this, we were in awe. It’s huge. We didn’t know what it was. We thought maybe some kind of canoe or maybe a casket. Turns out it is to serve food. The Native Americans would use it to serve meals at large celebrations.

In this area of the museum we learned about the Pacific NW Native American art style, including the ovoid. It is definitely a shape & style I recognized, I just didn’t know it had a name or was so significant. An ovoid is a rounded rectangular shape. It is used to create things such as eyes, bodies, wings, fins, & can even be used just to fill up space. The ovoid shape is used many times in this feasting dish.

The Sculptor and the King
George de Forest Brush. 1888. Oil on wood panel.

Cheyenne Encampment
Ralph Blakelock. ca 1873. Oil on canvas.

Figurative Mola
unknown San Blas artist. ca 1940. Cotton.

Magpie, Guy, Wolf & Flat Screen
Joe Feddersen. 2012. Fused glass.

I am always surprised when modern or contemporary art grabs my attention & I like it, a lot. That’s not usually the type of art I tend to like. But this I really enjoyed. And, so did my kids. The artist is of Native American heritage & is a member of the The Confederated Tribes of The Colville Reservation. He combines his heritage with modern items, such as a tv, in his artwork. He is a basket maker & these fused glass pieces are a new way to create that weaving pattern. Now the kids & I want to take a fused glass class.

I am so thankful for all the great museums & places to visit within driving distance from our home.

The post Native American Art at the Portland Art Museum appeared first on .

Another Native American craft the kids made were wampum belts. There are fabulous instructions at There’s a Dragon in my Art Room. We didn’t stray too far, if at all, from her directions.

This post contains affiliate links.

I asked the boys to make 3 30 x 5 rectangles on graph paper. Then, fill each rectangle in with a design possibility for their wampum belt. Each square represented one bead.

Authentic wampum belts were made with shells, but we used pony beads instead.

Left:  I cut a 3″ x 11.5″ loom out of stiff cardboard. This photo is the back of the loom once we wrapped it with string. Both ends are taped to the loom.
Top Right: This plastic kids needle barely fit through the beads, but it did fit.
Bottom Right: We used a stiffer twine for threading the beads. I’m not sure I would recommend it, but it worked.

They turned out great!

I loved this activity because it was something out of the ordinary for us. We don’t often use beads in our artwork. Plus, it was a fun hands-on Native American learning experience.

The post Wampum Belt Weaving appeared first on .

Parfleche were bags used by Native Americans living in the Plains to carry dried meat &/or personal belongings, such as clothes. The kids each made a parfleche bag out of a grocery sack.

This post contains affiliate links.

We used the parfleche project in this Indians of the Great Plains stencil book as a guide to making the bags.

Our parfleche bags were made from paper grocery bags, but the Native Americans made theirs from rawhide. The basic shape is a rectangle with rounded corners.

Most often the parfleche bags made by Native Americans were decorated with geometric designs, but I told my kids to decorate their bags however they wanted.

Top: After the kids decorated their bags with oil pastel we began folding them. The first fold was meeting the top & bottom edges in the middle.
Bottom Left: Then the left & right edges were folded to meet in the middle.
Bottom Right: And finally, they used a hole punch & string to tie their bags together.

Farm Girl decorated a bag & I tied it.

I had plans to have the kids carry something useful in their bags, but we haven’t gotten to that yet. Maybe we can figure out a use for them over the summer.

I can’t help but think about the bags we use in our house. We have so many bags it’s ridiculous. The Native Americans put so much effort & pride into their handmade bags. And, I’m fed up that the area we use for bags is completely overflowing with store bought hum drum bags & I’ve been thinking about getting rid of a bunch of them. Times have certainly changed.

The post Native American Parfleche Bag Craft appeared first on .

As part of our Westward Movement Unit, we worked on Evan-Moor’s Moving West History Pockets. I was impressed with the variety explored in this book.

This post contains affiliate links.

I created the books using paper grocery bags & yarn. The front cover is about 12″ x 12″. The inside pockets were cut to about 12″ x 16″. The 16″ side is folded up from the bottom 4″ and stapled to create the pocket. After each pocket was made, I hole punched them & tied them together with yarn we dyed.

There were a number of maps from the Scholastic book, Interactive 3-D Maps: American History, that we added to our pockets.

Moving West Intro Pocket
Each pocket came with great historical information, a writing project & a craft.

Exploring the Wilderness Pocket
We spent quite a bit of time on this pocket – mostly because it included Lewis & Clark. We went on two field trips to learn more about these famous fellows and the Corps of Discovery. We went to the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center in Washington and to Fort Clatsop in Oregon.

The boys each made a map from Scholastic’s 3-D map book.

We learned about the Westward Journey Nickel series from the US mint. We made rubbings of the front & back of each nickel… although, they didn’t turn out quite as well as I hoped.

We also rubbed a golden Sacajawea dollar. Years ago I worked in downtown Portland & would take the MAX to work, which is our light rail system. If you were due change after paying for your ticket, dollars were issued to you in the Sacajawea coin. I always thought that was cool.

I bought the Lewis and Clark Expedition Coloring Book at a trinket shop at the beach. The kids each colored a few pages and added them to their pocket.

Our favorite books to go along with this unit were Seaman’s Journal, the expedition told through the dog’s eyes, and American Slave, American Hero, the story of William Clark’s slave York.

The Gold Rush Pocket
On our road trip, we stopped at Columbia State Historic Park and explored a “real” mining town. It is in California, right off Highway 49. It was a great field trip to go with this pocket.

Oregon Trail Pocket
The Oregon Trail pocket got a little extra attention. It is kind of a big deal around here, since we are near the end. We even visited the End of the Oregon Trail historical site.

Native American Struggles Pocket
We learned about how the Native Americans used the land and how white man basically took it all away from them.

We added a Trail of Tears map from the Scholastic book.

And, 5 More Pockets
We worked on 5 other pockets, as well, including Homesteading the Great Plains (which I loved mainly due to Laura Ingalls Wilder) & Building the Railroads.

I enjoyed this unit a lot. The activities from the History Pockets book were great, and made even better with our additions. We made a Covered Wagon Craft that I have always wanted to do. I could have expanded on this subject all year. But, we had other things to learn…

The post Moving West History Pockets appeared first on .