Laurel Moondream showed our class the traditional Apache Rock Game

Theses are the different pouches that her people used. One was to keep the flint to help make a fire, one to hold all of your sewing kit supplies, and one to keep the tabacco in for your medicine and prayer. The pouch with beads was used as a trade pouch. Anything you had to trade you'd keep in here. There was also a gift pouch which was given to you before you made your special journey to help you make a big decision. On the front was a picture of a compass and on the back, a picture of two circles connecting together to symbolize earth and the sun to symbolize life.

Tyrek worked to remember what special positions the rocks went in and the story that went along with it.

Here, Laurel Moondream explained to us that the Apache used rocks to show where you went. They were called signal stones. These stones would be placed in certain ways to signal to your family that you were down at the stream or out looking for berries.

Corn husk dolls can be made very simply with some damp husks and some rubber bands. Peter told us the story of the first doll sent down from Creator. This doll stopped by a lake and admired itself because it was so beautiful. It did not want to play with the children, it just wanted to look at itself. This upset Creator so he took away the dolls face to teach it a lesson. This is why traditional corn husk dolls have no face on them.

Barbara is giving the student an opportunity to see what mother earth provided for the people, the Penobscot Native Americans from Maine.

This basket holding the corn husks is so well made, it can hold water without leaking! The woven basket was made for another purpose.

Here she shows them how rope can be made from dry corn husks braided together.

Here you can see a woven basket filled with pouches and personal belongings, a moose antler, a beaded pouch and a sharp carving stone.

Here Tyrek and Avi explore a hand carved bowl and spoon taken from a knot in an old tree.

In this picture we can see a buck's horn, the skull of the fox, the talking stick, a knife carved from a horn and a rattle made from born and birch bark.

This is made from the leg of a deer. It is used during a ceremonial dance as part of the regalia, or native clothing. It is decorated with fur from the animal too.

This is what deer skin looks like before it is treated. It's rough and stiff. After it is soaked, rubbed with the brains of the animal and rinsed, a family must keep that hide moving for almost four hours in order to make it soft! That's a lot of work!

These moccassins were made from deerskin and decorated with small glass beads.

This cradleboard was used to keep the babies soft, safe and stimulated. It went everywhere with mother and learned the first lessons from life from this spot!

Students got to see many different animal skins like deer, skunk, racoon, fox, muskrat, coyote and rabbit. They thought the rabbit was the softest of them all.

These gentlemen get to feel what real coyote and racoon fur feels like.

This is red fox and is a clever and sly creature.

Elijah gets to see what it's like to dress up like brother skunk!

Everyone was allowed to ask any important question they could think of.

Students had a chance at the end to ask questions when the talking stick came around to them.

Laurel Moondream shows us some Apache signs, this one being the sign for her people meaning The Elk Finders.

Here is Barbara in her traditional Penobscot regalia.

Here is Peter Whitefox telling the stories of his people.

Laurel is playing the drum while the other two sing. The drum was important for many reasons. It is a circle and all things in life go in a circle. It is also alive with a heartbeat and if you listen closely, you can hear your heart beat right along with it!

Peter is playing a Blackfoot chief nicknamed Chief Tenderfoot in a story describing the first mocassins ever made.

And here are those moccasins made for him by a special medicine woman.

Here is rude and tricky coyote. He has bad manners and he speaks in two ways. He does not always tell the truth. Stories about coyote are supposed to teach about how not to act.

The children listen intently to find out how the crows lost their beautiful singing voices.

The crows are singing like bells while coyote chases them away and making fun of their "funny feet."

Barabara, Laurel Moondream and Peter are singing a traditional song in vocables. Not real words, but sounds that portray the deepest of feelings. Feelings that are beyond words.

Here the children got a chance to join in and play along with the thre visitors with rattles as they played the guitar and sang.

Barbara gets ready for her dance. She is showing the students the hoops that are colored to represent the four directions.

Dancing to the beat of the drum and vocables sung by Whitefox and Moondream, Barbara dances throughout the hoops.

Here she picks up the first hoop, which she will later combine with others to represent the creation of the earth and all the animals within it.

The bells around her ankles sang along with the dance and the drum. What a sight to be seen!

Through her dancing and her clever manipulations, Barbara steps out of the hoops and they are in the shape of the globe. Mother Earth.

The students even got a chance to try their hand at the hoop dance!

Did they just say, "Teen-aged Mutant Ninja Turles?"

In all the Native American tribes from the north, there is no word that means "goodbye." All words mean, "We'll see you again."