Wahta (Maple) Project
Curriculum Areas: Oneida Language & Culture, Social Studies, Language Arts, Art
Recommended Levels: 7th & 8th
Time Frame: 4 weeks / 45 minutes daily
Tribal Affiliation: Oneida / Woodland
Geographic Location: Oneida, Wisconsin
Developed by: Gail Danforth, Oneida Language & Culture teacher, Turtle School, P. O. Box 365, Oneida, WI 54155
Email addresses of developers: gdanfort@oneidanation.org
Date lesson was developed: 7/25/01
American Indian Standards:
American Indian Foods
Standard
1.1: Interpersonal Communication
Standard
2.1: Practices of Culture
Standard
2.2: Products of Culture
Standard
3.2: Acquiring New Information
Standard
5.2: Lifelong Learning
American Indian Language and
Technology
Standard 1.1: Interpersonal
Communication
Standard 1.3: Presentational
Communication
Standard 3.1: Making
Connections
Standard 5.1: School
and Community
Goal:
· Students will increase their knowledge base of the maple syrup process.
· Students will increase their skills of: organization, technology, research, teamwork-cooperation, and oral presentation.
Behavioral
Objectives:
1. Students will use a team approach. Each team will choose a topic pertaining to maple sugar time.
TASKS:
·
Evaluate and
review available materials
·
Brainstorm
topics
·
State outcomes
of the project
2. Each team will complete a two-page paper utilizing their computer skills. A title page will be designed using available software. A bibliography will also be included with the report.
TASKS:
·
Determine
various components of the project
·
Organize
individual student responsibilities
·
Students will
turn in a task list
3. Each team will present to the class a presentation on their report. All students will take a follow up quiz.
TASKS:
· Develop a rubric for the wahta project
· Students will develop questions for a quiz based on the presentations
Prior Knowledge Needed:
Materials and Resources Needed:
Culture Content and Strategies:
The spring of the
year provides the staff, students and the community to be involved with the
process of one of our Indigenous foods, maple syrup. Maple sap, or the sweet
water is looked upon as a medicine for the people. A thanks to the Maple
ceremony is done to open the season and to end the season.
Topics that can be
explored according to each student’s individual interests and talents include:
·
Maple tree
identification and tree selection
·
Time to tap/
End of the season
·
Setup Sugar
Camp
·
Boil Down
·
Steps of
gathering sap now and long ago
·
Maple History
·
Recipes
·
Artwork
·
Legends and
Stories
·
Internet
·
Other Nations
Sugar Camps
·
Enter
Technology
·
Little known
Facts
·
Sugar Bush
Vocabulary
·
New Sources
·
Photo Project
·
Other student
generated topics
Please refer to Wahta – Oneida Language lesson, for integration of the Language and culture into this subject area.
Lesson Summary
and Performance Tasks:
The teacher will review the expected goals, objectives and tasks with the students, and answer questions. Timelines need to be set (i. e. searching the internet for resources), as this can be a lengthy project, although it coincides with the tree tapping time which can go from four to six weeks. This is an excellent project to balance the acquisition of information when student aren’t able to go outside to sugar bush due to in climate weather.
Please refer to tasks listed under each objective.
Assessment:
·
Each student
will complete rubrics for the project.
·
A
teamwork/cooperation rubric assessment completed by the teacher.
·
A Likert scale
developed by the students using Oneida Language.
·
Projects will
be displayed at the Community Maple Dinner.
·
Projects will
be a part of the student’s portfolio.
· Projects will be reviewed at parent-teacher conference.
·
Technology
Integration:
Enrichment/Remediation:
SUGARBUSH – This is
the actual hands-on going out to the sugar bush and tapping of the maple trees.
Students can videotape this process.