Grades 4 – 6 Environmental Studies: Honoring Warm Springs

All the Cultural material on this website is the property of the individual Artist and/or the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and may not be used for any purposes. The Cultural and Intellectual property of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs includes the traditional practices, knowledge and ways of life unique to the people of the Confederated Tribes and includes, but not limited to: photos, songs, legends, stories, language, art, oral tradition and ceremony

Overview
Lesson 1: Introduction to Relationships between Humans and the Environment
Lesson 2: Forest Succession (Primary)
Lesson 3: Native Americans and Berries
Lesson 4: Native Americans and Science
Lesson 5: Dangers to Wild Berries; Responsibility of People

BASED UPON WISDOM OF THE ELDERS RADIO: SERIES 3, PROGRAM 6

Lesson plan written by Elaine LaBonte

Historical Introduction:
Read the transcript…
Arlie Neskahi discusses the history of this Columbia River tribe and how tribes from the region and beyond all converged on the villages of the Wishram and the Wasco to trade, socialize and do ceremony.

Elder Wisdom:
Read the transcript…
Brian Bull shares the story of Adeline Miller who was “born up in the mountains during huckleberry time.” Now a tribal elder, she reminds her children and grandchildren of their origins through song, dance, and laughter.

Speaking Native:
Read the transcript…
Don Addison tell us that three native languages survive on this reservation today: Northern Paiute (also called Numu), Sahaptin (or Eecheeshkeen), and Wasco, known as Kiksht.

Sacred Landscape:
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Judy Bluehorse Skelton talks about berries, including huckleberries, blackberries and raspberries, which burst with nutrition, and what the tribe is doing to ensure there will be plenty to pick in the future.

Tribal Rhythms:
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Nico Wind introduces us to the music of the Warm Springs tribe presented by traditional singer, Carlos Calica, who is the keeper of the Art Mitchell drum. This drum belonged to his grandfather and is a drum Carlos sang on as a child.

Health and Healing:
Read the transcript…
Rose High Bear introduces us to Faye Waheneka who warns us to stay away from unhealthy food, including fry bread. Raised by her grandparents, she believes in using healthy traditional foods, such as edible roots, berries, deer meat, grouse, and salmon to manage her diabetes.

Artists Circle:
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Bruce Crespin highlights the rediscovery of Wasco basketweaving by tribal artist, Pat Courtney Gold who is internationally recognized for the art of full-turn twining. She shares her travels across the country to visit museums with Wasco baskets in their collections and how she reconnected with a basket purchased by Lewis and Clark in 1805.

Turtle Island Storytellers:
Read the transcript…
Darlene Foster shares first contact stories she learned from her mother, who learned them from her grandmother. “They always told stories about how my ancestors knew before the pioneers came that they would come in. They would flow in like a river.”

INTRODUCTION

Historically, as well as pre-historically, Native Americans have defined their culture largely dependent upon the natural resources that occurred within their geographic region and environmental features found within their ancestral homelands. During the five lessons that follow, students will be provided with a worldview very different from their own. They will learn about the role of berries in the ecosystem, as well as to the Native Americans who hold berries, and huckleberries in particular, in a position so revered that Huckleberry Feasts are a prominent part of native cultures and berries are a commonly found icon within their cosmologies. Students will be introduced to successional patterns of forest lands and the role that fire has on secondary plant species. Students will look at food webs and how plants are fit into the food web. Students will compare native scientific practices with contemporary scientific methodology. Finally, students will consider the threats that wild berries face and the role and responsibility of individuals and society, as a whole, to preserving plant species for future generations.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

PREPARING TO TEACH THIS LESSON

If at all possible, invite a tribal member from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to come and speak to the class during Lesson 3 below, to discuss the role of berries and humans from their cultural perspective.

Contact the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs

Other resources for possible guests include:

Turtle Island Storytellers

Elizabeth Woody at Ecotrust

The Huckleberry Education Project

Northwest Spirit Quest email

Begin Lessons

SUBJECT AREAS

To be defined following completion of all lesson activities.

SKILLS

To be defined following completion of all lesson activities.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After completing the lessons in this Berry Series, students will be able to:

Identify the Tribes and/or ancestral homelands of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and to describe the cultural role that berries have to these Tribes

Discuss the stages of forest succession and will be able to show how berries fit into a food web

Conduct an experiment by examining differences in flower morphology and fruit development; through following scientific methodology, students can compare and contrast their methodology with Traditional Ecological Knowledge

Identify threats to wild berries and what can be done to help preserve wild berries

Consider the responsibility of individuals and society towards preserving wild berries