The work of learning about the Navajo

Have you wondered what your daughter has been working on lately because very little has come home? Learning about the Navajo is learning through doing, creating, singing and eating, so there is little evidence to send home in the plastic envelope.  But take a look below and catch a glimpse of her recent experiences as she learns about and develops a respect for the Navajo people.  ~Kristin

A Navajo girl's backyard looks different than our backyard.

Mr. Yazzie is a tribal council member to the Navajo Nation.
He traveled from New Mexico to Springside just to teach us.
One of the things we learned from him is that a Navajo drumbeat is like a heartbeat.

Miss Crowell leads us in Navajo songs at our Kindergarten group sing.

Singing and drumming with Mr. Yazzie

Mr. Yazzie answers our questions about the Navajo.

Mr. Yazzie teaches us about the rainbow on the cradleboard.

To the Navajo, the family is like a circle.  Claire is taking a photo of some of the
people in her family circle - her grandparents.

Grandmothers are revered in the Navajo.
They are the weavers, and they own all the sheep.
Here's Sarah with her grandmom.

Ella and her grandmother - in a circle of love.

Corn is scared to the Navajo.
The girls are shucking their afternoon snack of corn on the cob.

Winslow is making a clay pot to hold corn pollen.

A Navajo cradleboard, Kindergarten style

The cradleboard made it easy for the Navajo to carry their babies on horses.
Amanda's baby doesn't have a horse, just Amanda's good care.

Navajos have deep reverence for Mother Earth.
Here's a Mother Earth doll, an earth ball and a clay bowl.

Navajo don't live in tipis.
Their homes are called hogans.
If you lift the flap of these hogans,  you will see a Navajo family inside.

We have wild deer, and the Navajo have wild horses.

Sheep are the important animal to the Navajo.
Gabrielle is making a sheep for the mural.

Cassie is adding decorations to her clay pot.

Julania and Sophie are starting their dreamcatchers.
Making dreamcatchers generated lots of conversations about bad dreams.

A finished dreamcatcher

The Navajo Nation has an official seal and so does the Kindergarten Nation.
On our seal are the things we hold as important to the Kindergarten Nation.