Funky Fairy Tales, Oregon Geology and Native Peoples
/What a jam-packed week it has been! The Sea Lions performed their perspective-taking Funky Fairy Tale skits to a rapt audience of ELC students. Our Sea Lions showed great skill and poise and were thrilled with the feeling of accomplishment they shared!
We started our Oregon history and geography unit by digging into the history of our Native American tribes. We listened to oral stories told by the Kalapuya, Coos, Mollala and Taklema tribes and talked about the importance of oral storytelling to hand down customs, values, skills and geography since time immemorial. We spent time creating our own oral stories and are excited to share them next week.
After reading First People’s accounts of major geologic events, we referred to Native Americans as our First Geologists, understanding that their stories were a way to bind them to the land and make sense of the world around them. In order to understand the geologic events that current-day scientists believe led to the formation of Oregon’s major mountain ranges, Mr. Mark gave a captivating presentation on the geologic processes that form mountains.
On Friday we began an artist study of graphic artist and map-maker Elizabeth Person. We used her watercolor and ink map of the Oregon Cascades as inspiration for our first map, talking about the volcanoes that line the Cascade Range, noticing differences in shape, elevation and more. We will add watercolor next week.
