Culture CaraVan

By: Francesca

My classroom teacher giddily told me about the upcoming Culture CaraVan in-house field trip during the first few weeks of school. Based on how excited she was, I figured it was going to be pretty awesome, and my assumption was right. Culture CaraVan is a portable field trip that comes to you in, not-so-surprisingly, a van, but this is not just a bucket of arrow heads and a headdress. Brown University sent actual New England Native American artifacts, including: an actual deer leg, to show how the sinew was used as twine, the fur of entire rabbits, coyotes, and foxes, tools, ears of corn, bowls, jewelry, and definitely so much more, all presented by an historian from Brown University. The students, which included all 52 fourth graders at the International Charter School, were able to make wampum necklaces, grind corn into corn meal, participate in a drum circle while wearing actual native american garments and learn a typical "social dance." The students were also given a 2 hour presentation on New England Native Americans where they were asked questions and consistently interacting with the historian.

The whole experience was impressive; it was incredible for me to be a part of something that these students would probably remember forever, when so many things from our childhoods are easily forgotten.