Kids brown-bag it for Native American Day

Marisa O’Neil

Kindergartners at Lincoln Elementary School in Corona del Mar

prepared for Thanksgiving early.

Dressed in Native American-styled vests made from paper grocery

bags and construction paper headdresses, they planted corn, gathered

berries and even hunted a buffalo on Friday as part of the school’s

annual lesson.

The buffalo, made from chicken wire and fleecy, brown cloth, stood

patiently in the school’s field while the children prepared for the

hunt. Following directions from a volunteer parent, 5-year-old Ryan

Wolfe picked up a long stick from the ground, carefully selected a

feather from a basket hanging in a nearby tree and tied it to his

stick to make a spear.

Ryan carefully approached the buffalo and waited for further

direction.

“Uh, do you know what to do?” he skeptically asked parent

volunteer Robert Gonzales.

After a quick lesson, Ryan planted his feet a few yards away from

the buffalo, brought the spear back and chucked it at the wire beast.

It didn’t even flinch as the spear whizzed by.

Ryan’s second throw faltered, too, landing short of the buffalo,

but his third shot hit it square in the flank. The young hunter spun

around and smiled widely, elated from his solid shot.

From there, his group went to catch some colored-paper fish in a

tin-tub “stream.”

Across the field, other students sat around a tepee, crafting

noise makers from toilet rolls filled with macaroni. They drew tribal

designs on the shakers. Semi-tribal designs.

“I drew a rocket with fire coming out of the back,” 5-year-old

Karim Elkotn declared.

Elsewhere, students lined up at a long table, making clay pots to

be fired in a kiln later. And other children planted a seed of corn

in a cup full of dirt, with a bit of fish and homemade prayer stick

“just like Squanto taught the pilgrims,” teacher Jeanette Dreyer

said.

Most of the boys and some of the girls, such as 6-year-old Anna

Hurray, claimed the hunting station as their favorite -- even those

who didn’t fare so well.

“You throw the arrows and hit the bull,” 5-year-old Alex Gonzales

explained. “I missed him two times.”

The annual pow wow is part of Lincoln’s series of simulations for

each grade. Earlier this year, fifth-graders had an Ellis Island

re-creation. The aim, Principal Barbara Rothman said, is to let the

students learn by doing.

But sometimes, for little kindergartners, the doing is so much fun

the learning doesn’t always stick.

As one group sat busily making Kachina dolls, which were used by

some Native American tribes to bring good luck, someone asked if they

knew what the dolls were for. The students gave the matter some

thought, but only one spoke up.

“I don’t know,” 5-year-old Mason Lee admitted matter-of-factly as

he continued to happily color his project.