Sharing Her Love of Native American People and Culture

Caryl shows some of the Native American artifacts she has accumulated over the years.

November is Native American Heritage Month. Room 8 kindergarten teacher Caryl Morton has been interested in Native American culture for as long as she can remember.

In January, just before her class begins its “Red, White, and Blue” unit, where they’ll learn about the history and geography of the United States, she’ll devote two weeks to teaching her students about the peoples who populated the land long before the first European settlers arrived.

In the classroom, she’ll tell them Native American stories and legends. They’ll make crafts like clay bowls and beads. They’ll sing Native American songs and accompany them with drums and rattles. They’ll learn sign language and choose names for themselves based on something they love from the natural world.

Some lessons will take place outdoors, as time and weather allow, where they’ll imagine what life would be like if they were totally self-reliant—as the original inhabitants were before there were cars, airplanes, and big cities. They’ll think about what it was like to build their own houses, make fires, and gather their own food. (In the past, her students even made acorn bread.)

“My students have always resonated with these ideas and love to learn about the people who lived this way,” Caryl says.

“My goal has been to teach the children to love and respect the native people who lived before us. I want them to understand that they revered and cared for our Earth and hope that this will somehow influence their own relationship with the land they live on.”