Fifth Graders Explore Native American Culture

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Earlier this winter, St. Luke’s fifth graders traveled to the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation to explore the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center. The field trip kicked off their Native American culture unit in history class. 

At the museum, a guide led students on a tour of the exhibition highlights. During the tour, the students learned about the arrival of the first native people and how they survived the ice age in what would become Connecticut. The students then explored the many aspects of the Pequot culture and traditions. For most of the students, the highlight of the tour was the Pequot Village — a re-creation of an entire village filled with wax people, animals, wetus, and even ponds and streams — where they were able to imagine life as a Pequot and picture themselves living in pre-contact Connecticut. 

After the tour, students participated in one of the museum's workshops, making wampum bracelets, an age-old tradition of the Pequot tribe and many others on the New England coastline. Wampum beads are made from the purple and white portions of Quahog clam and whelk shells. The students were excited to make and take home the bracelets, which will serve as a reminder of their experiences on the trip. 

Overall, the trip was a success, and the fifth grade teachers look forward to returning to the museum next year with another group of students.