Assembly Programs

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Assembly Programs
Native American History

We bring in hundreds of reproduction artifacts, educational tools and material cultural items for students to touch, try on, look at, and utilize in classroom demonstrations.
The intent of the program is to offer students opportunities to immerse themselves in history, especially the everyday lives of the Native American Indians of the Woodlands, even if it is just for a few minutes. There is no substitute for long term comprehensive study to really understand the people of the past -- We have done this in many ways and hope to bring some of that to life through the hands on learning process. These are examples of activities, ideas, and tasks that are part of the past lifeways of some of the Native American Indians. This program is strictly about the past and is not intended to portray Native people as if they are forever locked in time. This is about the fascinating and rich technological and spiritual people who are the ancestors of today’s modern day Indian people.

Hands On Interactive - Student Participation In Vignettes
Pre-contact - Discussion and vignettes revolve around the building of structures, materials used, villages, locations, plants used for food, clothing, rope, shell used for wampum, jewelry, tools made of bone, antler, copper, wood, and stone and how Native family life evolved and changed over time

Hunting Practices, Food Preparation, Fishing - Student involved demonstrations of hunting equipment, clothing and fur identification

Hide Tanning - Students participate in step by step activity that helps them learn the difficult and complex processes of hide preparation. Students are involved directly in fleshing, scraping hair, stretching and applying brains to the hide and then staking it out. Students try on finished items in different stages of production

Fur Trade - Students role play the parts of fur traders, Native Indians and voyageurs. They learn how pre-historic cultures were changed forever with the introduction of trade items and Europeans who brought them

Lessons in language, games, craft workshops, dances and music are added when time and circumstances permit. There is a children’s trading post with items ranging in price from .50 cents to $5 that can be brought in upon request

Fees and Details

We will travel to schools throughout Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky and down to West Virginia weather permitting

The programs are intended for students in grades 2-3-4-5

Program Length Varies: 1 hour up to 4 hours which can be split up with lunch and breaks for students or the program can be conducted for one grade in the morning and repeated for another in the afternoon. Some schools want an all day program with pre-contact, hide tanning and fur trade vignettes the first half of the day and the second half of the day doing dances, adoption ceremony, games and archery. Crafts can be scheduled as well as a children’s trading post as additional activities.

Number of students: 15 to 150 sitting in a gym, media room, classroom, library, museum or outdoor classroom setting on the floor or on chairs, allowing room for them to come to the staging area and get involved. Games, archery, dances, crafts and trading post need additional space in a gym or outdoors

Piankeshaw Needs: One hour set up, 3 - 4 eight foot long tables end to end, bucket of water, paper towels and waste can

Sheryl and her team engage students with questions which helps them understand the working knowledge of the audience

The larger assembly programs start with the discussion and presentation of structures, and students are quickly asked to join presenters up front to demonstrate stages of house building, canoe construction, tool use, plant processing, weaving, trying on plant fiber clothing and jewelry.

Students are asked about family life and hunting practices to see what they know and then are asked to join the presenter on stage to demonstrate how to use weapons and tools, and identify animals based on the furs brought in. Students then are asked to remember earlier parts of the program to compare them with another technological process in the form of hide tanning. Students are selected at random throughout the program to participate and we try to pick those continually who have not had a chance to participate. The Fur Trade role playing gives students additional opportunities to dress in period clothing and act out a very important event that occurred over and over again in the Great Lakes and Northeast. When time allows, additional activities that give students opportunities to dance and make music, play games and learn archery are offered.

The programs are flexible in terms of time spent with the students and can be custom tailored to your specific area of study within the framework of Native Woodland Cultures. Beyond what is already a standard part of the programs --Sheryl and Piankeshaw Trails have mortars, pestles, wool trade blankets, more trade clothing, drums and stone tools--along with hundreds of other cultural items that can be brought in upon request. Jessica can conduct programs specifically on foods, food processing and for special events, she brings in a complete wigwassi with mats and bark coverings, food drying racks and conducts cooking demonstrations.

Fees Roughly $150 for 1 hour presentations in local libraries and home school settings within 100 miles (No extra mileage charged)

$250 for up to 2 hours in local and regional classroom settings within 100 miles (No extra mileage charged)

$300-$400 for all day presentations in local and regional classroom settings within 200 miles (No extra mileage charged)

$500 for two hours up to all day in classrooms and settings that require a drive of over 4 hours or over 200 miles - Mileage may be extra in those instances and sometimes overnight stays are necessary for long distance travel and will be charged extra

We are located in southern Indiana near Bloomington and mileage will be calculated from near that point

What do Teachers get to guarantee a good program and how do they prepare for a visit by Piankeshaw Trails?

Our 30 years in the business- plus current and on going classroom teaching as a sub for grades K-6, & Special Needs Children

Teachers get a packet of information when scheduling and can get much from this website that will give them a background on the programs presented

Teachers get a contract upon agreement of date, times and specifics of program content

Teachers can request additional information - curriculum materials to prep students. The reason that is not a standard part of the contract process is simple. We have always worked on the premise that by prepping students too much ahead of time, it can give the children a false sense of what to expect and they may anticipate only certain parts of the presentation and not listen to others.

On a personal level, after doing these presentations for many years under so many different circumstances, we have found that the surprise element is what feeds the energy of the program. We want the kids to think about the questions we ask and not already have the answers. If they do, from classroom discussions, that’s great, but if not, we work in a way-- off of their reactions. We add my own personal touches of humor and facial expressions to the program whenever possible. In many cases, it works so well, to see the children react to an answer to a question that we have posed after I show them or demonstrate for them -- usually with a kind of humor that is based on that specific audience.

For instance, if we am doing a library presentation and there are parents and very young children who are shy or too young to really grasp the details of the program, we don’t simply ignore them in favor of the older children--instead I go to them and try to involve them by perhaps encouraging them to try on a gastoweh or a shirt and say something such as, “This young man just wants the tailor to come to him.” Ha Ha. Another instance might involve a student at the front of the classroom posing as a tree that another student is about to take the bark off of. If the student posing as the tree starts answering my questions that I have posed to the audience, we might make a silly comment about talking trees in _________ town I might be in. That usually gets the kids laughing and the tree person stays involved in the process. Sometimes, it is the little things that make a program work from one that doesn’t.

These programs are very very hands on. If you take students to museum or a park or somewhere else on a field trip, they usually get a lecture on keeping their hands off of things inside. Many times children’s museums do have hands on gimmicks and equipment, buttons to push and switches they can crank or yank. Piankeshaw programs offer enrichment plus lots of rubbing furs, trying on clothes, trying tools, touching stones, bones, feathers and even old trade beads, fingerweaving, playing drums, rattles and bells. The trade clothes and bows are handled so much, they should be able to get up and do the talking for us. You get the picture by now. Piankeshaw programs are for everyone! They are especially good for special needs children.

Sheryl is the director and often comes to your facility dressed in authentic clothing of the Native Woodland people. It is her way of honoring the people of the past and immersing herself in their lifestyle. She has built hundreds of structures, slept in the cold and the heat of a camp and built many camp fires to listen to stories of the past. She has decades of experience listening to her mentors and the elders and has a deep heart felt respect for the Native Woodland Indians. She brings that love and passion for the Native cultures of the past to life through presentations, publications and educational arts and crafts.

Sheryl has built a reputation for working with children in creative and diverse ways. If there are special needs children in the audience, then Sheryl has special methods that she uses to help them be an important part of the program. We respect and encourage those who may have learning disabilities or are physically impaired to come up and interact with the artifacts and educational items on stage.

Since Sheryl substitute teaches in her spare time, she gets to interact with hundreds of school children and they range in age from five to twelve years old. She has been requested to work with young children and special needs children on many occasions. With this additional hands on experience, Sheryl is prepared to work with many different types of audiences year round.

Sheryl Hartman has dedicated long hours to research and development for programs and publications. She has a collection of books that numbers into the thousands. She has pictures in her on line collection probably numbering more than 6,000. She is currently working on a large publication on Eastern Woodland Clothing, Textiles and Structures. This is by far the largest single publication she has yet attempted.

These programs and publications offer students of history and past cultures opportunities to immerse themselves in exploring the past without having to go to the library for ten books. I have to thank some of the people that have mentored me in the past including:

Loren Herrington of Pontiac, Michigan

Howard La Hurreau - Potawatomi/Miami

Cheryl Munson of Indiana University

Tom and Tim Connin

Dr. Elizabeth Glenn of Ball State - now retired

Lora Siders - Miami

Robert Owens - Miami

Fred Shaw - Shawnee

Nanapashamet

Rick

Dr. Helen Tanner - Never Met but Read Her Work

Dr. Penelope Drooker - Read Her Work and Email With Her

Many More not listed here. Magwetch