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Museum Educator-led Programs
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Mohicans Then and Now

Grades 1-2

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Learn More About the Mohican Room

Click here for printable version of all resources listed above

The Mohicans lived in Berkshire County long before European settlers arrived. Learn about their daily lives: how they used the natural resources in their environment to meet their needs for food, shelter and clothing. Through games and hands-on activities using tools and objects from everyday life, students discover Mohican technologies.

Location: Mohican Room   (Learn More About the Mohican Room)
Length: 1 hour
Grades: 1 - 2

Massachusetts Frameworks
History and Geography Grade 1: 1, 4, 5, 7

History and Geography Grade 2: 2, 4, 5

English Language Arts 1.1, 5.1

Science, Technology/Engineering: Technology/Engineering Standards 1.1, 1.2, 2.1

Health: Ecological Health 13.1

New York
Standard 1 History of the US and NY: 3, 4

Standard 3 Geography

Introduction
After learning where the Mohicans lived hundreds of years ago, students imagine themselves as part of a Mohican village from the past. During discussion, students will discover how Mohicans met their needs for shelter, food, and clothing by observing paintings, photographs, and models, and through hands-on interaction with artifact replicas and natural materials.

Building a Village
Students learn about the construction of wigwams and long houses and consider the function of different design features.

Food
The group discusses what foods would have been available to the Mohicans. Then students explore Mohican ways of growing, hunting, gathering, cooking and storing food by handling tools and materials like a bow and arrow, a hoe, bark baskets, and clay.

Clothing
Two students dress in Mohican clothing as a demonstration for the rest of the class, who will be able to try on the clothes during the “Celebration."

Celebration
Students explore the room and investigate things that interest them. Try on clothing, mash corn, shake rattles, touch furs, shape clay and more.

Mohicans Today
Photographs help introduce students to modern Mohican life, and the similarities and differences with Mohican life in the past.

• Mohicans lived in the Berkshires, and nearby parts of New York, Connecticut, and Vermont, for many hundreds of years.
• Mohicans then did not have many things that we have today, like cars,refrigerators, and ice cream, but they had their own effective ways of doing things.
• They used the natural materials found in this area to meet their needs for food, clothing and shelter. They tried not to waste or use too much of anything.
• Villages were built near rivers because they were important for farming, travel, cooking, and cleaning.
• Men hunted animals like deer, fish, and turkeys to survive. The Mohicans ate the meat, and used the fur, skin and feathers for clothing.
• Native Americans invented and used tools like bows and arrows, hoes, spears and drills.
• The Mohicans farmed corn, beans, and squash and gathered berries, roots, leaves and nuts for food.
• Today, many Mohicans live together in the state of Wisconsin. They no longer live together as a Nation in Massachusetts. They are also called the Stockbridge-Munsee Nation.
• Mohicans today wear modern clothes like t-shirts and sneakers, drive cars, and go to school and work. They also keep their traditional ways alive during everyday life and special celebrations like pow wows.

• Animal Hide
  The skin of an animal such as a deer, bear, or rabbit. Hides were used for blankets and clothing.
• Breech Cloth
  The main piece of clothing worn by Mohican men. It was usually made of deerskin and was tucked over the belt, pulled down to the knees, and then could be looped over the belt in the back.
• Canoe
  A long, narrow boat with pointed ends.
• Clan
  A smaller family group within a larger band of Native Americans. Mohican clans included the bear, wolf and turtle clans.
• Hoe
  A garden tool with a flat edge for breaking up soil, and a long handle. By standing it up straight and using the flat side of the tool, you can tamp soil down.
• Longhouse
  A long, narrow house with a round roof that held many families of the same clan. Each section would have a place for a fire and a smoke hole in the roof.
• Moccasins
  A covering for the foot made of one piece of deerskin. Moccasins allowed the Mohicans to walk quietly through the woods and safely on slippery surfaces.
• Native American
  The first people to live in North and South America, before people traveled from Europe to live there.
• Pow Wow
  A meeting of Native Americans.
• Roach
  A tuft of animal hair worn on top of the head.
• Shelter
  A building or a natural place like a cave where people can stay warm, dry and safe, no matter what the weather is like outside.
• Tanning
  The process of making leather from rawhides.
• Tradition
  Ways of doing things that have been passed down for a long time within a group of people.
• The Three Sisters
  Corn, beans and squash were called "the three sisters" because they were grown together, with each one helping the others. The corn grew up tall in the center, while the beans grew up around the corn. The squash grew in a circle around the corn and beans, with its large leaves covering the ground.
• Wigwam
  A small, round house for one family with a round roof made out of wood and bark.

Mohican Resources
This exercise will help students begin to imagine how life was different for the Mohicans hundreds of years ago than it is today. Look at the map of Mohican land with students and discuss which states are included. Point out your school's location on the map.

As a group, brainstorm a list of items the Mohicans did have and did not have. For example, Mohicans did have bows and arrows, clay bowls, deer skin, canoes, and corn. They did not have cars, trains or planes, refrigerators, zippers, ice cream, sugar, metal pots and pans, horses or donkeys to ride, television, video games, or school.

For items in the did not have list, ask students what they think Mohicans might have done instead. For example, how did they travel? How could they sweeten their food without sugar? Any questions you are not able to answer as a class are good questions to ask during your visit to the Museum.

Mohican Village
Take your class out to the schoolyard to consider what it would be like to build a village. Before you go outside, brainstorm with your class the things you would need in your village (shelter, food, water, etc.). Make sure to think about how much of everything you would need for the entire class to live in the village.

Then take your class outside and ask them to look around the schoolyard to see if they have the raw materials they would need (water, trees, flat land to build on, etc.). Where would you build the houses? Would there be enough room for all the villagers? Where would you plant your garden? How would you defend your village? If there are not enough raw materials for the village, how might the villagers be able to get them?

Plant the Three Sisters
Corn, beans, and squash (three sisters), when planted together, grow in harmony, depending on each other for support throughout the growing season. Learn first-hand why Native Americans grew these three plants together by growing your own “three sisters." Click here for complete instructions.

Pebble Pictures
Pebble pictures were made by Plains Native Americans as a way to encourage artistry in children. Children were given eighteen white pebbles and had to create an outline of animals, trees, buildings, etc. Once the pictures were completed, the tribe’s chief would judge them and declare a winner. Today Native Americans use colored stones or beads to create these pictures. Your class can create pebble pictures using beads or even small pieces of colored paper that can be placed or glued onto another piece of paper or cardboard.

Make a Clay Pot or Headband
Native Americans used symbols of animals and other natural items to represent themselves, their clans, and their tribes. Mohican clans were the turtle, the bear and the wolf. As a class, decide on a symbol you think represents your school and your class. Then have each student choose an animal symbol for him or herself. Students can then decorate headbands or clay pots with their animal symbols. Click here for complete directions.

Tracking Card Memory Game
To be able to feed their village, Mohican hunters needed to be able to track the animals they were hunting. This fun game will introduce students to the track marks of various animals native to the Berkshires. Print out the cards on colored construction paper or card stock, and make one set of photocopies on the same stock. Then cut them into squares. You now have a set of 30 memory cards that students can play with in groups of 2 - 4 during free time. To play, shuffle the cards and lay them out face down in 5 rows of 6. The first player then turns over two cards. If they match, the player keeps them and goes again. If they don't match, the player flips them both back over in place and the next player goes. Players continue taking turns until all the cards have been collected. The player who has collected the most cards wins. Click here for cards.

Native American Games
Many Native American Games helped to develop aim, coordination, strength, stamina, focus, and observation skills, which were all essential survival skills. Games of luck also prepared young Mohicans for hunting with its element of chance and the possibility of disappointment. Click here for a list of Native American games with directions.

Hide Tanning Simulation
Purchase thin sheets of sponge from a craft supplier and cut them into smaller pieces. Wet some with water and show students what they look and feel like. Have students observe them again after they have dried out. Like hides used by the Native Americans the “hide” will be soft at first and as it dries it will become stiff. To remoisten in a way that will keep the “hide” soft for a long time, use an inexpensive bottle of body lotion or even shortening like Crisco, and rub the emollient into the dry sponge. The cloths should soften and stay soft, just as a dried stiff hide would soften after being treated by the Native Americans. What was the secret ingredient in Native American tanning? Animal brains.

All print resources listed are available through the Central/Western Massachusetts Library System.

Use the Berkshire Athenaeum’s on-line catalogue to search for these print resources in Central/Western Massachusetts.

Print Materials For Students

Bruchac, Joseph, Jonathan London, Thomas Locker. Thirteen Moons on Turtle’s Back. New York: Philomel Books, 1992. This collection of poems that tell the story of the legend of the 13 moons could add a new dimension to a study of the seasons. Available in book and cassette format.

Carlson, Laurie. More than Moccasins: A Kid’s Activity Guide to Traditional North American Indian Life. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 1994. This book has fun Native American crafts for children from ages 5 to 12.

De Wit, Dorothy. The Talking Stone: An Anthology of Native American Tales and Legends. New York: Greenwillow Books, c1979. Twenty-seven tales of Native Americans from nine geographic regions of North America.

Doolittle, Bev. The Forest has Eyes. Connecticut: Greenwich Workshop Press, 1998. This book is full of Native American animal spirit paintings; accompanying poems help children understand the traditional Native American relationship with nature.

Williamson, Ray A and Jean Guard Monroe. First Houses: Native American Homes and Sacred Structures. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1993 Presents a variety of North American Indian creation myths and discusses how the "first houses" described in these myths set the pattern used by the tribes for their own homes and ritual structures.

Print Materials For Educators

Ciment, James. Scholastic Encyclopedia of the North American Indian. New York: Scholastic Reference, c1996. An accessible reference with diagrams, photos, maps and illustrations covering Native Americans of different regions of North America.

Montgomery, David. Native American Crafts & Skills. CT: The Lyons Press, 2000. Clear, concise text and step-by-step diagrams describe traditional methods of making Native American tools, clothing, shelters, and more. Covers many different tribes from across North America.

Murdoch, David. North American Indian (An Eyewitness Book). NY: Dorling Kindersly, 2000. Covers the clothing, homes, crafts, tools and ways of Native Americans across North America. As an Eyewitness Book, it does a fantastic job of illustrating the topics and items discussed.

Wilbur, Keith C. The New England Indians. CT: Globe Pequot Press, 1978. A very good resource about how natural materials were used by early natives in the Northeast to create tools, pottery, canoes, clothing, and shelter. The many illustrations are extremely helpful in understanding the steps involved.

Web Materials for Students

Native Language of the Americas: Mohican Indian Fact Sheet
This site is organized into questions and answers and responds to many questions frequently asked by students.

Nipmuc Indian Association of Connecticut
This is the official site to the Nipmuc Indians of Connecticut. This is a good site for crafts and information of current Indian traditions, ceremonies, art and publications.

Web Materials for Educators

Carnegie Museum of Natural History
This website allows you to explore a tribe from each corner of the United States. To learn more about Native Americans in the east you can look at the Iroquois, or you can compare tribes in different areas by exploring the north, south or west of the United States.

Incredible @rt Department
A fantastic list of links to Native American art education resources on the web, covering North, Middle and South American art. Created by a former middle school art teacher and hosted by Princeton online.

Index of Native American Native American Teaching Resources on the Internet
A searchable database that includes book reviews, articles, and web pages

National Museum of the American Indian
This is a Smithsonian Museum website and is a good place to find current Native American art work and events, and examples of historical artifacts.

Stockbridge-Munsee Community
This is the official web site of the Stockbridge-Munsee Nation on Wisconsin. This is a good site to learn about that life and structure of the current Mohican Nation, and includes information on the history of the tribe.

 

The Institute of Museum and Library Services, an independent Federal grant- making agency dedicated to creating and sustaining a nation of learners by helping libraries and museums serve their communities supports the Berkshire Museum.

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