Nathan’s class is learning about the Native Americans and has to do a report on their favorite American Indian tribe. Nathan liked the North Eastern tribes, so we chose to study the Iroquois, a group of six tribes located in New York State, Ontario, Canada, and Wisconsin.
Research and books
The Internet is full of junk when it comes to Native American topics. Since the Wikipedia section on the Iroquois is locked for “vandalism,” I questioned the information there. Luckily, our local library has a healthy selection of books on Native American culture just for children. We checked out:
The Iroquois (Native American Histories) by Charlotte Wilcox for children ages nine to 12. Nathan’s currently reading this during his 15-minutes mandatory reading homework time. And he’s using a feather as a book mark, go figure.
As part of their project they have to do an oral report and artwork or a craft of some kind. My husband had the brilliant idea that Nathan make some Native American food to serve his class. I liked this idea because it was relatively inexpensive and I didn’t have to store a diorama after the project was over. I thought that Nathan’s classmates would enjoy eating Native American food, too.
I checked out another children’s book, Native North American Foods and Recipes by Bobbie Kalman. Since this book had more facts than recipes I also reserved two adult Native American cookbooks:
Foods of the Americas: Native Recipes and Traditions by Fernando and Marlene Divina and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. This book is in traditional cookbook format with chapters broken up into appetizers, soups, meats, birds, game, breads, desserts and beverages.
Spirit of the Harvest: North American Indian Cooking by Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs. This cookbook is divided into geographic regions, so we found this more helpful for the project. Nathan and I decided to make maple syrup candy and Algonquian Maple Popcorn Balls. Yes, the Algonquians are not part of the Iroquois Confederacy. However, all Northeastern Indians had access to corn and maple syrup, so I think we can fudge it. I’m sure all native Northeastern peoples did some sort of popcorn and maple dish.
With the election coming up, it’s wonderful to see all book publishers releasing new books for families and children on the election process and American history. Here are a few more to add to the list:
Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out, for children ages nine to 12, was created by the National Children’s Book and Literacy Alliance and featured by the National Endowment for the Humanities. This collection of essays, personal accounts, historical fiction, poetry and art looks at America’s history through stories about the White House. Our White House takes in everything from the amusing antics of presidents’ children and pets to the drama of the White House ablaze during wartime, to the role of immigrants, African Americans, and Native Americans.
Seven Miles to Freedom: The Robert Smalls Story for children ages four to eight. We hear so much rhetoric about freedom in political speeches. Here’s an example of someone who fought for his and his family’s freedom. Robert Smalls was a slave steamboat wheelman who became one of the Civil War’s greatest heroes. After his daring escape to freedom (I’m not going to spoil the story for you here. You’ll have to read it) Robert helped convince President Lincoln to left African-Americans enlist in the Union Army.
AMERICA: The Making of a Nation, this book is the form of an anonymous journal that takes readers through a chronological journey through important moments in American History. This is a gorgeous book and your whole family will enjoy paging through it and discovering hidden gems including lift-the-flap postcards, removable song lyrics, and even a foldout replica of the Declaration of Independence.
Yesterday, Disney released Schoolhouse Rock: The Election Collection, a special limited edition DVD collection of the ABC three-minute animated shorts we used to watch on Saturday mornings back in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
Schoolhouse Rock: The Election Collection features classic election-themed tunes including “I’m Just a Bill,” “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” and “I’m Gonna Send Your Vote to College.” The DVD also features a new-to-DVD song called “Presidential Minute” with two surprise endings and an Election Tracking Kit with stickers to help you keep track of the actual voting results in all 50 states with your children on election night.
Not only will this collection bring back memories for all you Gen X and Gen Y parents out there, this is a great way to share the political process with your children.
I’ll be blogging at MOTHERS Book Bag for MOTHERS and the National Association of Mothers’ Centers (NAMC) this week at The Big Tent in Denver during the Democratic National Convention. So, I will be too busy to blog here. However, I urge parents – no matter what their political affiliation – to watch the convention, read the newspaper and Internet coverage, and talk with your children about it.
There will be a lot of speeches of course, (click here for the schedule) so you may just want to save up your viewing time for Barack Obama’s acceptance speech on Thursday live from Invesco Field in Denver. (Rumor has it that Bruce Springsteen will be warming up the crowd.)
I’ll be home with Nathan and Lucie watching the hoopla and dancing to The Boss.
In the meanwhile, check out these children’s books on politics, presidents and elections:
Presidential Elections: And Other Cool Facts by Syl Sobel for ages nine to 12. Young readers will learn: Who can run for president? Who can vote? What is the Electoral College? What is a third-party candidate? What if something happens to the president? Some of the unusual facts they’ll discover include: Which Republican president had a Democrat for his vice president? How many candidates have won the popular vote but lost the election? You may learn some things, too.
America Votes: How Our President Is Elected by Linda Granfield for ages nine to 12. Granfield breaks down information about the American electoral process into manageable chunks. Subjects range from qualifications for voting, the troubled history of voting rights, the Electoral College, campaign finance, and election fraud. Granfield delights devotes the chapter “Animal Farm” to animal metaphors, including the Democratic donkey and the Republican elephant, and “Pass the ‘Lection Cake, Please!” to foods associated with various presidents.
If I Ran For President by Catherine Stier for ages four to eight, Six children take turns explaining the election process as if they were running for president. They discuss their decision to run, campaigning, primaries and conventions, debating, being interviewed, meeting the public, voting, and being sworn in on Inauguration Day.
Grace for President by Kelly Dipucchio for ages four to eight. Grace discovers that no women have ever been president, and decides she’ll be president one day. A teacher at her school decides to stage a school-wide election for president to teach the kids about the electoral process.
If I Were President by Catherine Stier. This book provides an introduction to the responsibilities of the present for children ages four to eight.
Duck for President by Doreen Cronin and illustrated by Betsy Lewin. The book has been updated for the 2008 election:
Our fellow Americans, It is our pleasure, our honor, our duty as citizens to present to you Duck for president in 2008.
Here is a duck who began in a humble pond, who worked his way up to farmer, to governor, and now perhaps the highest office in the land.
Some say if he walks like a duck and talks like a duck, he is a duck.
We say if he walks like a duck and talks like a duck, he will be the next president of the United States of America.
Just in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, PBS Home Video is releasing Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami. The movie examines the time Ali spent in Miami after he returned from the 1960 Rome Olympics. It was a crucial time of transformation for him, not only from an amateur boxer to a pro, but his personal journey from being Cassius Clay into the legendary Muhammad Ali.
Though original footage and interviews we see Ali’s life in Overtown, the African-American side of Miami that was considered the “Harlem South” of its day. We learn about his training at the famous Fifth Street Gym in Miami Beach from the people he worked with like his trainer, Angelo Dundee. The movie also explores Ali’s relationship to the Nation of Islam, his friendship with Malcolm X, and his refusal to be drafted and fight in the Vietnam War.
It’s amazing in a time where a presidential candidate’s Muslim sounding name stirs up so much prejudice to realize how influential Muhammad Ali was and how loved he still is today. Ali’s story reflects so much going on in the early ’60s – the fight for civil rights, the black separatist movement, and the resistance by so many young people to the Vietnam War.
Muhammad Ali: Made in Miami is an amazing documentary. I just wish it was longer. Also, it is appropriate for older children, but does deal with adult subjects like prejudice, the assassination of Malcolm X, and shows some fairly brutal boxing footage. For more information on the DVD, see Richard Marcus at BlogCritics review.
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Nathan’s class is learning about the Native Americans and has to do a report on their favorite American Indian tribe. Nathan liked the North Eastern tribes, so we chose to study the Iroquois, a group of six tribes located in New York State, Ontario, Canada, and Wisconsin.by Charlotte Wilcox for children ages nine to 12. Nathan’s currently reading this during his 15-minutes mandatory reading homework time. And he’s using a feather as a book mark, go figure.
by Genevieve St. Lawrence. Another book for kids who are reading at a third to sixth grade level.
As part of their project they have to do an oral report and artwork or a craft of some kind. My husband had the brilliant idea that Nathan make some Native American food to serve his class. I liked this idea because it was relatively inexpensive and I didn’t have to store a diorama after the project was over. I thought that Nathan’s classmates would enjoy eating Native American food, too.
by Fernando and Marlene Divina and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. This book is in traditional cookbook format with chapters broken up into appetizers, soups, meats, birds, game, breads, desserts and beverages.
by Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs. This cookbook is divided into geographic regions, so we found this more helpful for the project. Nathan and I decided to make maple syrup candy and Algonquian Maple Popcorn Balls. Yes, the Algonquians are not part of the Iroquois Confederacy. However, all Northeastern Indians had access to corn and maple syrup, so I think we can fudge it. I’m sure all native Northeastern peoples did some sort of popcorn and maple dish.
, for children ages nine to 12, was created by the 
. What an amazing young man! 
for children ages four to eight. We hear so much rhetoric about freedom in political speeches. Here’s an example of someone who fought for his and his family’s freedom. Robert Smalls was a slave steamboat wheelman who became one of the Civil War’s greatest heroes. After his daring escape to freedom (I’m not going to spoil the story for you here. You’ll have to read it) Robert helped convince President Lincoln to left African-Americans enlist in the Union Army. 
, this book is the form of an anonymous journal that takes readers through a chronological journey through important moments in American History. This is a gorgeous book and your whole family will enjoy paging through it and discovering hidden gems including lift-the-flap postcards, removable song lyrics, and even a foldout replica of the Declaration of Independence.
Yesterday, Disney released 
a special limited edition DVD collection of the ABC three-minute animated shorts we used to watch on Saturday mornings back in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
by Syl Sobel for ages nine to 12. Young readers will learn: Who can run for president? Who can vote? What is the Electoral College? What is a third-party candidate? What if something happens to the president? Some of the unusual facts they’ll discover include: Which Republican president had a Democrat for his vice president? How many candidates have won the popular vote but lost the election? You may learn some things, too.
by Linda Granfield for ages nine to 12. Granfield breaks down information about the American electoral process into manageable chunks. Subjects range from qualifications for voting, the troubled history of voting rights, the Electoral College, campaign finance, and election fraud. Granfield delights devotes the chapter “Animal Farm” to animal metaphors, including the Democratic donkey and the Republican elephant, and “Pass the ‘Lection Cake, Please!” to foods associated with various presidents.
by Catherine Stier for ages four to eight, Six children take turns explaining the election process as if they were running for president. They discuss their decision to run, campaigning, primaries and conventions, debating, being interviewed, meeting the public, voting, and being sworn in on Inauguration Day.
by Kelly Dipucchio for ages four to eight. Grace discovers that no women have ever been president, and decides she’ll be president one day. A teacher at her school decides to stage a school-wide election for president to teach the kids about the electoral process.
by Catherine Stier. This book provides an introduction to the responsibilities of the present for children ages four to eight. 
by Doreen Cronin and illustrated by Betsy Lewin. The book has been updated for the 2008 election:
. The movie examines the time Ali spent in Miami after he returned from the 1960 Rome Olympics. It was a crucial time of transformation for him, not only from an amateur boxer to a pro, but his personal journey from being Cassius Clay into the legendary Muhammad Ali.
