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Canku
Ota
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(Many
Paths)
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An
Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America
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December
1, 2008 - Volume 6 Number 3
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Favorite
Sites
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collected
by Paul and Vicki
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AMERICAN
INDIAN REPERTORY THEATRE - Creating American Indian Theatre
for the 21st Century
The American Indian Repertory Theatre is a non-profit American
Indian theatre production company with the purpose of providing
an American Indian theatre experience for Native and non-Native
audiences. The company is dedicated to telling the stories
that have come to us from our ancestors and to telling the
stories of a vibrant contemporary American Indian culture.
The company was founded by former members of the Haskell Indian
Nations University Thunderbird Theatre to provide a professional
American Indian theatre which will make quality American Indian
theatre productions available nationally and internationally.
http://aireptheatre.org/default.aspx
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Gingerbread
is a baked treat that dates back to the Middle Ages. It is
thought to have first appeared in the U.S. in the nineteenth
century, when the Swiss monks of St. Meinrad Archabbey in
Indiana baked gingerbread on holidays, and gave it to the
sick. Over the years, baking gingerbread cookies and building
gingerbread houses developed into a popular American Christmas
tradition.
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Celebrating
Christmas: Gingerbread House 101
"From
very simple designs for busy moms and dads to challenging
art projects for those artists among us, we've got it all.
... Let the decorating begin!!!" Celebrating Christmas
offers a potpourri of gingerbread house advice, from how to
plan a gingerbread party to recipes for gingerbread tree ornaments.
Highlights are six gingerbread house blueprints (including
a log cabin, chapel, country store and Victorian) although
you will need to enlarge the patterns before using them
http://www.celebrating-christmas.com/recipes/gingerbread-house.shtml
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Flickr:
The Gingerbread House Showcase Pool
I'm
trying really hard not to say "a picture is worth a thousand
words," but if you are fishing for gingerbread inspiration,
what better way to find it than at this collection of more
than 600 gingerbread house photos? To find specific kinds
of houses, you can search within the pool with the search
function in the upper right-hand corner. You can find more
gingerbread pix by following tags such as "gingerbread"
or "gingerbreadhouse."
http://www.flickr.com/groups/500111@N25/pool/
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Highlights
Kids: Design Your Own Gingerbread House
To
add a little computer fun to today's topic, this pick is an
online game. Decorate your virtual gingerbread house with
the usual Candy and Icing, or go crazy with silly Food and
Stuff such as a whole fish, a tennis ball, or alphabet blocks
to spell out your name. Move items onto the house by clicking
once to pick up, then again to release onto your house. Controls
include Rotate, Resize, Flip, Start Over, and Print (so you
can hang your finished creation on the refrigerator door.)
http://highlightskidsplus.com/Magazine/Dec05/h1magazineFlashObjects/h11205DecemberArtist.asp
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JustGingerbread.com:
How to Build a Gingerbread House
JustGingerbread.com is my pick of the week because of the simple
printable patterns (in two sizes), abundance of building tips,
and the illustrated step-by-step house assembly instructions.
"For quick and easy gingerbread house patterns, print out
the pattern pieces on paper or cardstock. For extra durability,
cut out the pieces and trace them onto cardboard. Cereal boxes
work great for this! Just cut open the cereal box, flatten,
and then trace the pieces. Laminating the pieces will help them
to last longer so you can use them year after year!"
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/stuff/contentmgr/files/7512947c75dd4ce76f3a611041c1fe40/miscdocs/gingerbread.pdf
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Geography,
the study of the Earth's land and inhabitants, is divided
into two main branches. Physical geography includes landforms,
natural resources, weather and the environment. Human geography
covers populations, political systems and religion. When choosing
today's sites, I tried to cover both areas, although most
sites focus on either one or the other.
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Geography
4 Kids
Andrew Rader Studios serves up another winner with Geography
4 Kids. The site introduces physical geography and basic earth
science including Earth's structure, atmosphere, hydrosphere,
and biosphere. In addition to the topic tours that start on
the homepage, the site includes interactive quizzes, a gallery
of panorama photos, links to live cams and monitors, and a
collection of wallpapers for your computer desktop.
http://www.geography4kids.com/
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Google
Earth
"Google Earth lets you fly anywhere on Earth to view satellite
imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings and even explore galaxies
in the Sky." After viewing the short tutorial video, and
downloading the free software, I recommend starting with a worldwide
Sightseeing tour. Highlights include the Eiffel Tower, Beijing's
Forbidden City and Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. Look
in the left-hand Places menu for the Sightseeing folder. Select
it with a check mark, and then click play.
http://earth.google.com/ |
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Lizardpoint:
Test your Geography Knowledge
Web designer Lyndsey McCollam has built a fun collection of
thirty-six map quizzes covering continents, countries, states,
and capital cities. For each question, you get three tries to
correctly identify the answer on a map with a mouse click. Some
of the maps, such as the one on the USA state quiz, can be toggled
between a mutli-colored map (where each state is a different
color) to a single-color map, making the quiz a tad bit harder.
Can you identify Iraq on a map? Take the Middle East quiz and
find out.
http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/ |
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National
Geographic: Play Geography Games
"Test your geography smarts right here online. Each day
we'll post ten questions from the National Geographic Bee. Some
of them are real stumpers, but it's okay if you miss a few –
you can play as often as you like. Come back everyday for a
brand new quiz and another chance to beat the Bee!" GeoBee
is just one great choice here at National Geographic's Geography
Games site. You can play at either an apprentice or expert level,
and compete to make the day's high scores board. GeoSpy is another
terrific click, a map game where you click to identify continents,
countries or states.
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Games/GeographyGames/ |
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Owl
& Mouse: Maps That Teach
With interactive map puzzles, mouseover maps, printable maps,
make-your-own maps, and free downloadable map software, Owl
& Mouse uses maps to teach geography. Some of the more unusual
features are Mega Maps (print maps up to seven feet across)
and the printable Make Your Own USA activity. For this exercise,
you'll print the background map on normal paper, and the colorful
lakes and mountain ranges on tracing (or transparent) paper.
With scissors and glue, students cut out geographic features
and put them on their map.
http://www.yourchildlearns.com/geography.htm |
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The
preschool years are simultaneously enchanting and exhausting.
So much energy bundled into those tiny little bodies! These
activity sites are sure to help when you are looking for something
fun to share your kids that is both easy to whip up and engaging
for all involved.
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First-School
Preschool Activities and Crafts
These crafts, lesson plans, themes and activities are adaptable
for ages two to six, and can be used at home, in the classroom,
or at day care. First stop is the basic materials list, which
includes construction paper, tempura paints, tape, crayons,
and the ever important cover-up such as an old t-shirt. The
activities themselves are divided into printable activities
and themes (such as alphabet, colors, numbers and so on.)
http://www.first-school.ws/
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Preschool
Express
Noteworthy stops at Jean Warren's Preschool Express include
the toddler and preschool activity calendars with a different
mini-activity nearly every day of the month. "Draw the
first letter of your child's name on paper. Have child glue
over it with leaves." "Find cities of distant relatives
on a map." "Sing your phone number to the tune of
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Other highlights are the
Music & Rhyme, Skill, Discovery and Inspiration Stations.
http://www.preschoolexpress.com/ |
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Story
Nory: Free Audio Stories for Kids
Story time is one of my favorite toddler activities, so I was
thrilled to discover these wonderful audio stories, all narrated
by Natasha Gostwick. Story Nory is an archive of stories old
and new, with a brand new recording released every week. These
can be listened to on the computer, easily transferred to an
iPod, or copied to a CD for listening in the car. The stories
are classified as Original, Fairytales, Classics, Educational
and Junior (which are the simplest stories specifically for
toddlers and ESL students.)
http://www.storynory.com/ |
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Stories
for Kids
Story time is one of my favorite toddler activities, so I was
thrilled to discover these wonderful audio stories, all narrated
by Natasha Gostwick. Story Nory is an archive of stories old
and new, with a brand new recording released every week. These
can be listened to on the computer, easily transferred to an
iPod, or copied to a CD for listening in the car. The stories
are classified as Original, Fairytales, Classics, Educational
and Junior (which are the simplest stories specifically for
toddlers and ESL students.)
http://www.totlol.com/ |
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Ziggity
Zoom
Ziggity Zoom is a super fun play environment for kids age two
to eight, created by Kristin Pierce Fitch and her mom, illustrator
Sharon Pierce McCollough. In addition to the online activities
(games, stories and coloring pages), there are plenty of offline
activities such as crafts, printables, and fun kid recipes like
Mermaid Bananarama. For a quick overview of the site, I suggest
stopping by the Parent's Guide, because although kids might
like the colorful icons that do not have labels, I found them
confusing.
http://www.ziggityzoom.com/ |
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Sojourner
Truth (born Isabella Baumfree) was one of the best-known abolitionists
of the nineteenth century. Born a slave in New York in approximately
1797, she was freed in 1828. She took the name Sojourner Truth
in 1843 when she began lecturing on the abolition of slavery
and for women's rights.
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Digital
Library: The Narrative of Sojourner Truth
Although Sojourner Truth never learned to read or write, she
dictated this autobiography to Olive Gilbert, a white abolitionist.
Published in 1850, it tells the story of a Dutch-speaking
slave child who transformed herself into a traveling speaker,
abolitionist and women's right advocate. "The following
is the unpretending narrative of the life of a remarkable
and meritorious woman – a life which has been checkered
by strange vicissitudes, severe hardships, and singular adventures."
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/truth/1850/1850.html
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Sojourner
Truth Institute: Sojourner's Biography
The Sojourner Truth Institute of Battle Creek, MI, has a terrific
collection of resources for students of all grade levels. Best
clicks include Legacy of Faith (an illustrated narrative biography
for middle school and older), a four-part timeline of her life,
In Her Times (a timeline of American history during Sojourner
Truth's lifetime), and the puzzles in Test Your Knowledge. For
teachers, there is a third-grade lesson plan (look for the link
on the main biography page.)
http://www.sojournertruth.org/History/Biography/ |
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Sojourner
Truth Memorial: History of Sojourner Truth
In 1843, Sojourner Truth moved to Massachusetts where she lived
in and near Florence for eight years, and where she now has
a memorial statue. Visit for a short biography and the history
of her memorial. "Born a slave in upstate New York in approximately
1797, she labored for a succession of five masters until the
Fourth of July, 1827, when slavery was finally abolished in
New York State. Then Isabella - as she had been named at birth
- became legally free."
http://www.sojournertruthmemorial.org/history.html |
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Sojourner
Truth in Ulster County
Sojourner Truth was born in Ulster County, upstate New York
at the end of the eighteenth century. On the campus of the State
University of New York at New Paltz, a three-story library is
dedicated to her. "It may seem ironic that a library is
named for a woman who could not read or write. It is just as
ironic that this great communicator is one of the most famous
persons to come from Ulster County. She often said 'I can't
read books, but I can read the people.'" This one-page
illustrated biography was penned by librarian Corrine Nyquist.
http://www.newpaltz.edu/sojourner_truth/ |
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Women
in History: Sojourner Truth Biography
This biographical vignette is published by Women in History,
a non-profit project that brings history to life with live performances
of historical monologues and online biographies. "Sometime
around 1815, she [Isabella Baumfree] fell in love with a fellow
slave named Robert, who was owned by a man named Catlin or Catton.
Robert's owner forbade the relationship because he did not want
his slave having children with a slave he did not own (and therefore
would not own the new 'property')."
http://www.lkwdpl.org/wihohio/trut-soj.htm |
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STAR
Students And Teachers Against Racism
announces their new website that offers insight into the Native
American perspective to teachers and educators.
http://www.racismagainstindians.org/
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