Connie Graves photo courtesy of the Oregon Historical Society
Overview
Lesson 1: Introduction to the Grand Ronde Nations Traditional Burden Basket
Lesson 2: Design and Create a Burden Basket with a Strap
Lesson 3: Research and Make a Poster of the Three Types of Basket Materials
Lesson 4: Make a Set of Plant Identification Playing Cards
Lesson 5: Explore Key Questions
Extending the lesson/References
Standards
THE ARTS
AR.08.CP.01—Select and combine essential elements and organizational principles to achieve a desired effect when creating, presenting, and/or performing works of art for a variety of purposes.
AR.08.CP.03—Create, present, and/or perform a work of art by controlling essential elements and organizational principles and describe how well the work expresses an intended idea, mood, or feeling.
ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS
EL.08.RE.04—Demonstrate listening comprehension of more complex text through class and/or small group interpretive discussions across the subject areas.
CD Segments to Play
Background
Allow students enough time to study photos from the website on burden baskets and in books.
Suggested Strategies
The teacher could play some traditional flute music for the students during their studio time. This is a nice way to open the student workshop time and a quiet way to close before clean-up and talking circle.
A great homework extension to this lesson would be to ask the students to design a game and write the instructions that involved using their burden baskets. Put all of the students’ homework in a basket and pull one out to play as a class.
Activities
1. Draw
Have the students draw a picture of what their burden basket will look like. Students should work in small groups to help one another problem-solve and to share art supplies.
2. Art project
Pass out stiff, brown rectangular paper and have scissors, rulers, staplers, and other needed supplies.
Younger and older students should see a teacher sample of a paper cone-shaped basket. For younger students it might be helpful to have a few parent helpers in the classroom.
A step-by-step demonstration on how to roll a piece of paper into a cone without a hole in the bottom will benefit all students.
Some folding/cutting paper at the top may be necessary before using a stapler and/or glue.
Older students may enjoy the creative challenge of making different sizes of baskets out of different weights of colored paper.
After the basket is stapled and/or glued into the cone-shape, the top of the basket will need to be trimmed and/or folded down to make a round top.
The older students may want to reinforce the top with some of the different supplies such as strips of leather, hole punch and lace yarn across the top. Student creativity is the key here!
The words “inspiration” and “experimentation” should be written on the poster board by the teacher at this time, to be revisited at the end of the lesson.
Working with a partner, the two students will have to use a measuring tape to decide how long their strap will have to be before they make it out of folded paper, yarn, and/or leather. Remind the students that the basket is worn on their back and the strap comes around and fits over the forehead. Note that for some designs, the tumpline or strap fits around the shoulders and front of chest. Have the students study photographs of tumplines and baskets being worn. See references.
Tumplines were fashioned out of a woven band of local fibers, usually with long braids on either end. The wider portion was centered on the forehead and/or around the chest.
Older students can work in teams to problem solve the best way to make them. Younger students need direct instruction and helpers. Old thin belts or scraps of material or leather can be cut and hole-punched for students to braid yarn at both ends to construct a simple tumpline. The belt or cloth should be about 12”-16” long and at least 2” wide. Remember, children come in different chest sizes. It needs to fit across the chest and/or forehead, comfortably.
Staple and/or hole punch the two sides of the basket to secure the strap.
3. Talking Circle
Have students sit with their baskets. Ask if any student would like to stand and share how they would wear his/her burden basket.
Could they pick up something small from the classroom and put it in their basket?
Ask them what inspiration and experimentation meant to them.
What does the word “designer” mean?
Write the answers on the KWL board.
