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Canku Ota
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(Many Paths)
An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America
 
 
 
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Favorite Sites
 
 
collected by Paul and Vicki
 

American Indian Health and Diet Project
The goals of the AIHDP are to bring to light the health problems faced by indigenous peoples, to understand how we came to our unhealthy situations and what we can do about them. You will find no fry bread recipes here! This site also focuses on connecting with the natural world, finding ways to do our part to be responsible consumers and to halt environmental degradation.
http://www.aihd.ku.edu/index.html

A River of Recipes - Native American Recipes Using Commodity Foods
A River of Recipes is a collection of Native American Recipes from tribes across North America. Some of the recipes provide new and different ways to prepare USDA commodities, in addition to traditional recipes. Traditional recipes include bison recipes, blue corn recipes, and traditional breads. Most of these recipes make use of USDA’s commodities that are provided to recipients who participate in the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations. These items will be designated in Italic print for your convenience.
http://www.fns.usda.gov/fdd/recipes/hhp/fdpir-cookbk_river1.pdf
Healthy Traditions: Recipes Of Our Ancestors
An essential part of any group’s culture is the foods they eat. The preparation of foods and how they are eaten say much about a people’s society and the environment in which they lived. This cookbook is a documentation of some of the foods traditionally prepared and eaten by some of the tribes of Native Americans. It is hoped that it will serve as another way of preserving traditional cultures of Native people.
http://ruralhealth.und.edu/projects/nrcnaa/pdf/cookbook.pdf
The Cooking Post
Welcome to The Cooking Post, a tribal enterprise of Santa Ana Pueblo, offering you a delicious selection of foods, coffee, tea, recipes and gifts. You'll savor our own Tamaya Blue blue corn, as well as a wonderful selection of Native cuisine from across the United States.
http://www.cookingpost.com/index.asp
5 Super-Healthy Native American Foods
Thanksgiving may be the only time many of us are aware of the influence of Native American foods on what we eat. Yet, if some dietitians and devoted cooks had a say, that would change.
http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/5-super-healthy-native-american-foods
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Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day folklore says if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow when he comes out of his burrow on February 2, there will be six more weeks of winter. If it is overcast, and the groundhog does not see his shadow, then spring must be near. How accurate is the furry rodent that is also known as woodchuck? Visit the following sites to find out.

Apples4theTeacher: Groundhog Day
"The celebration of Groundhog Day began with Pennsylvania's earliest settlers. It stemmed from a combination of religious beliefs and facts associated with hibernating animals. They brought with them the legend of Candlemas Day." Apples4theTeacher has a nice selection of printable activities, poems, stories, related books, and Groundhog Day crafts. For example, this poem from Robert Louis Stevenson dovetails nicely with the holiday. "I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me / And what can be the use of him is more than I can see."
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/ground-hog-day/

DLTK: Happy Groundhog's Day
Celebrate Groundhog's Day at DLTK with printable coloring pages, a fun tongue twister poster, puzzles, printable books, bulletin board ideas for teachers, and dozens of craft projects. "The first little groundhog digs a home in the fall, And curls up all winter rolled up like a ball." Print out the rhyme, and make five felt groundhogs (from a printable template) for a fun finger puppet activity.
http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/happy_groundhog.htm

Groundhogs at HogHaven
Visit HogHaven to meet some of the groundhogs that live there, watch videos, hear sounds, and peruse the frequently asked questions. What do groundhogs eat? "We are mostly vegetarians. We like fruits and vegetables of all kinds, and some of us will eat eggs (I'll take mine scrambled please!). I've also heard that some of us occasionally eat bugs (yuck!). Other than that, we are not meat eaters."
http://www.hoghaven.com/

Groundhog.org
The guys in the top hats at the Punxsutawney Groundhog Day celebrations are the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. They are the local dignitaries who run the annual event, and this is their official website. Don't leave without reading the FAQs, which cover Groundhog Day History, Past Predictions and Fun Facts About Groundhogs. "A groundhog can whistle when it is alarmed. Groundhogs also whistle in the spring when they begin courting."
http://www.groundhog.org/

Stormfax: Groundhog Day History
"When German settlers arrived in the 1700s, they brought a tradition known as Candlemas Day, which has an early origin in the pagan celebration of Imbolc. It came at the mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox. Superstition held that if the weather was fair, the second half of Winter would be stormy and cold." In addition to a great history of the holiday, this Stormfax site lists all of Punxsutawney Phil's predictions going back to 1887. And in case you were wondering, his accuracy is pretty bad. His predications have been correct only 39% of the time.
http://www.stormfax.com/ghogday.htm

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Giant Pandas
The giant panda is a bamboo-eating bear, native to China. Because of deforestation and other habitat destruction, the panda is endangered. However, conservation efforts such as Chinese nature reserves and captivity breeding have been having some success. Additionally, scientists have reevaluated their original numbers, and now believe that as many as 3000 giant pandas are still living in the wild.

Activity Village: Pandas
"The Giant Panda is one of the most recognizable species on earth with their black eye patches. Their Latin name ailuropoda melanoleuca means ?black and white cat foot'." This panda theme page for elementary grades includes Fun Panda Facts ("Pandas spend about 12 hours a day eating!"), printable panda bookmarks, four panda acrostic printables, worksheets, coloring pages, and a few panda jokes. "What goes black, white, black, white, black, white, black, white... A panda rolling down a hill!"
http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/pandas.htm

Animal Planet: Meet the Pandas
Mei Xiang and Tian Tian arrived from China at the Smithsonian National Zoo on December 6, 2000. Animal Planet called them " Washington's newest power couple." Judging from "the popping flashbulbs of panda paparazzi" that greeted their Federal Express flight, they were right. The great photos, streaming video, and wonderful interactive features (don't miss Wild Pandas) make this site my pick of the day! Panda lovers of all ages will find something here. Your littlest ones will enjoy clicking around the photo galleries, and older students will appreciate the well-written features.
http://animal.discovery.com/convergence/pandas/pandas.html

National Geographic Kids: Giant Pandas
"High in dense bamboo forests in the misty, rainy mountains of southwestern China lives one of the world's rarest mammals: the giant panda, also called the panda." This National Geographic Creature Feature introduces giant pandas with a Facts & Photos slide show, a video, map, and a giant panda e-card. The entire package can also be printed, and includes a double-sided 3"x5" collector's card.
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/animals/creaturefeature/panda/

National Zoo: Pandas for Kids
This one-page kids' summary serves as a Table of Contents for all the panda content at the National Zoo site. Highlights are the live streaming Panda Cams (with audio from panda-watching crowd), a printable panda mask, quiz, crossword puzzle, and the fabulous "Saving Giant Pandas" activity e-book in PDF. If you are planning a visit to the National Zoo, be sure to print out the activity book and take it with you. It includes an observation log to be completed at the Panda exhibit, and answers to frequently asked questions.
http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/GiantPandas/PandasForKids/default.cfm

San Diego Zoo: Panda Central
Meet the pandas of the San Diego Zoo, including the cub born this summer, Xiao Liwu (Little Gift). " Xiao Liwu is not yet ready to make his public debut, but he can be seen daily on Panda Cam. The cub receives weekly exams by our veterinarian team, and highlights of those exams can be viewed in our Videos section." In addition to the Panda Cam (from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. PST) be sure to visit the Photo Gallery and Fun Facts.
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/pandacam/meet.html

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Haiku
Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry consisting of seventeen syllables in three lines. The first line contains five syllables, the second has seven, and the third returns to five syllables. Traditionally, they also have some reference to the seasons and nature, but many times this requirement is ignored in English-language haiku. Here's one from a Threadless.com t-shirt that I can't seem to get out of my mind. "Haikus are easy / But sometimes they don't make sense / Refrigerator."

The Four Seasons of Haiku
Beatrice van de Vis is publisher and host of this haiku blog, where all poets are welcome to submit family-friendly haiku. You'll find the seasons listed in the horizontal navigation at the top of the site, along with a link to What is Haiku? "Traditionally haiku are rooted in natural history and the seasons, and make us conspirators with wildlife, as nature half-writes the haiku before we've even put pen to paper."
http://www.4seasonshaiku.com/

Haiku
Haiku (.com) is another site where you can publish your own haiku. "Once you have posted at least five original haiku in your personal page, our editorial staff may contact you to publish your haiku in ?Favorites' or across selected pages of the directory." Start your exploration with Favorites, then give the Twaiku links (haiku on Twitter) a try. You'll find them in the right-hand navigation column.
http://www.haiku.com/

KidZone Poetry: Haiku
"Here's a Haiku to help you remember: I am first with five / Then seven in the middle / Five again to end." The KidZone haiku section includes printable worksheets, sample haiku, and a haiku starter exercise for elementary classrooms. "Haiku poems can act almost like a riddle. Try writing a haiku poem about a certain animal but don't mention the animal's name. See if your friends can guess what you wrote about!"
http://www.kidzone.ws/poetry/haiku.htm

Nifty: Children's Haiku Garden
The Children's Haiku Garden is a collection of illustrated poems written by kids from the states, Japan, Canada and the UK. For instructions on submitting your own haiku and artwork, click on Ryo's Message link near the middle of the home page. From Amanda, age 8, Wenatchee, WA, "In the sunny times / Picking dandelions outside / I get a bee sting."
http://homepage2.nifty.com/haiku-eg/

PBS: Creativity: Haiku
This fun interactive refrigerator-magnet game will automatically make a haiku for you, or let you build one yourself from the word magnets in the game space. For more haiku exercises, click on the buttons to the right of the game board: Understand, Expand, and Interact. "It is no wonder that a syllable-based language like Japanese (where for example if you wanted to say the girl's name Mina backwards you would say Nami) would give us a syllable-based form of poetry."
http://www.pbs.org/parents/creativity/ideas/haiku.html

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Riddles
What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries? What can you catch but not throw? What goes around the world but stays in a corner? No sooner spoken than broken. What is it?* If you enjoy a challenge, then today's mind-bending riddle sites are for you.

AzKidsNet: Riddles
To reveal the answers to these riddles, simply hover your cursor over the riddle or the purple push pin. The answer should appear in a floating box, depending on your browser. The site will most likely not work well on mobile platforms. "What kind of cheese is made backwards? Edam!"
http://www.azkidsnet.com/riddles.htm

Brain Food: Riddles
"Puzzles For the Brain To Gnaw On." Brain Food's puzzle collections includes hundreds of problems organized into seven categories: Riddles, Logic Puzzles, Word Puzzles, Lateral Thinking Puzzles, Tricky Puzzles, Word Boxes, Numbered Puzzles, and Logi-Number Puzzles. You'll find the Groaners listed under Tricky Puzzles. "I have two U.S. coins that add up to fifty-five cents. One is not a nickel. What are they?" Click Solution to reveal "A nickel and a half dollar. Only one is not a nickel." I can hear you groaning from here.
http://www.rinkworks.com/brainfood/p/riddles1.shtml

NIEHS Kids Page: Brainteasers
"Scientists get to solve puzzles every day, because science and research involve finding solutions from the clues that we are given. Just like with brainteasers and riddles, the answers to science mysteries are not always easy to see at first. With time and effort, they eventually become clear." Unique sections in this National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences site are Palindromes, Optical Illusions, and the Mind Over Matter tricks.
http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/games/riddles/

Mind Breakers
The Mind Breakers want to "brighten up your grey brain cells" with the best in puzzles and riddles. Each of their listed puzzles is rated for "coolness" and complexity on a scale of one to four. Call me uncool, but I couldn't tell what made one riddle cooler than another. Temperature aside, navigation around the site is simple, and answers are supplied. Be warned, however, some of the riddles have trick answers.
http://www.mindbreakers.com/

WU: Riddles
William Wu has created my pick-of-the-day riddle site for high-school students and adults, especially those with an interest in math or computer science. Because he doesn't want to "spoil the problem-solving experience for many visitors," answers are not available at the site. Rather, they are posted to the community forum, where you can search for them via the forum search function. Some riddles do, however have hints. To view them, click and drag your mouse over text area to the right of the "Hint" label.
http://wuriddles.com/

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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/
Changing Winds Advocacy Center
Through presentations, classroom sessions, curriculum, fund raising, charitable works, and multi-media efforts, we seek to raise public awareness of the stereotyping, discrimination, racism and other unique situations facing Native Americans.
http://changingwinds.org/
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Canku Ota is a free Newsletter celebrating Native America, its traditions and accomplishments . We do not provide subscriber or visitor names to anyone. Some articles presented in Canku Ota may contain copyright material. We have received appropriate permissions for republishing any articles. Material appearing here is distributed without profit or monetary gain to those who have expressed an interest. This is in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107.
 
 
 
Canku Ota is a copyright © 2000 - 2013 of Vicki Lockard and Paul Barry.
 
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