Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum Develops Portable Education Program About Eastern Woodland Indians
St. Leonard, MD - Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum's (JPPM) Education Department has developed two (2) traveling trunks on Eastern Woodland Indian Cultures of Maryland available to Maryland educators. The lessons meet Maryland's current Voluntary State Curriculum for 4th graders, and each lesson can easily be adapted for a variety of audiences.
The lesson plans in the trunk cover past culture (known as lifeways), transportation and trade, the role of food and nutrition (known as foodways), adornment, primary resources, oral histories and traditions, games, and Native Americans in Maryland today. The program contains nine units and sixteen lesson plans. Each trunk includes hands-on activities and incorporates artifact reproductions to supplement the classroom-based activities.
"Showing our children the way our early cultures lived and worked in Maryland brings these histories to life," said Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. "These traveling trunks will let kids see and touch, in addition to just hearing about, the culture of these Native Marylanders," he added.
Secretary Audrey E. Scott of the Maryland Department of Planning is enthusiastic about the traveling trunks. "As an educator myself, I find hands-on programs like this to provide an invaluable tool to teachers", said Secretary Scott. The challenge in today's classroom is to make a subject like cultural history come alive. Traveling trunks fits the bill."
The traveling trunks are available to all Maryland educators and may be rented for a period of three weeks. Educators and others interested in more information about this program may contact Eric Frere, Education Coordinator, at (410) 586-8504 or by email at efrere@mdp.state.md.us.
About Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum
Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum (JPPM) is a state museum of archaeology and history that preserves, studies, exhibits, and interprets for the public the diversity of cultures and environments of the property, Maryland, and the Chesapeake Bay region. JPPM is a program of the Maryland Historical Trust, an agency of the Maryland Department of Planning. JPPM's website is http://www.jefpat.org.