Lesson Overview:
Sacagawea was a valuable guide and interpreter for The Lewis and Clark Expedition. Students will learn about the importance of Sacagawea's role in the Expedition, and the history and significance of wampum. They will explore, through class discussion and written description, the concept of a prized possession. Students will create wampum of their own using repeated mathematical patterns and design elements.
Length of Lesson:
Four 45 minute class periods
Instructional Objectives:
Students will:
- identify Sacagawea and her importance to the success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
- define wampum and its use in the economy of Native Americans and explorers.
- write a description of a prized possession and what its loss would mean.
- create and record a simple pattern using a single string and beads.
- create a group pattern, construct a simple loom, and weave a wampum belt using the loom.
Supplies:
- Colored tiles or colored cubes
- Pony beads in white, red, and blue colors (greatest number should be blue)
- Three cups to hold each color of pony beads (enough for each team of four to share)
- 12" shoe laces, 12 " cotton kitchen string, or 12 "yarn knotted on one side (enough for each child)
- Scissors
- Tape
- Black construction paper or tag board, 18" x 24" (for each group of four)
- Colored pencils or crayons
- Graph paper
- Loom Supplies:
- Shoe boxes or heavy cardboard cake boxes (enough for each student to have one)
- Optional: flat 1/2 inch foam core
- Heavy black or white thread, yarn, string, or macramé cord
- Thin nail
- Centimeter ruler
- Blue plastic embroidery needles, enough for each student
Instructional Plan:
Background
Sacagawea, a Shoshone interpreter and guide, was a valuable member of The Lewis and Clark Expedition. Kidnapped at 10 from her tribe by the Hidatsa, she was sold to or was won in a game by a French-Canadian trader named Toussaint Charbonneau. She became his teen-aged bride and gave birth to a son, Jean-Baptiste, shortly before joining the Expedition in February of 1805.
Sacagawea carried "Little Pomp", as Jean-Baptiste was nicknamed, on her back and wore a blue beaded belt around her waist. She repeatedly proved her value to the Expedition by gathering edible plants, guiding them through new territory, interpreting, trading for horses with her brother, and saving vital supplies from a disastrous end.
In late November 1805, the Corps had made it to the Pacific Ocean in present day Oregon. Sacagawea was allowed to vote on a place for the party to stay during the winter. A chief of a local tribe wore a seal skin cloak, which Lewis and Clark wanted. The chief refused their offers of trade blankets and trade beads, but desire to trade for Sacagawea's blue beaded "wampum" belt. Lewis and Clark received the seal skin cloak as well as the tribe's good will and protection during their long winter stay.
The Corps divided several times during their journey back east; Sacagawea traveled with Clark's party. The full Expedition returned to St. Louis in September 1806. Over the years, Sacagawea and Charbonneau went west again to trap and trade. Sacagawea had a daughter and lived a long life; some say she died in 1812, others say she lived to be 100 years old. Have students use the interactive online exhibition, Lewis and Clark: The Online Bicentennial Exhibition, to explore unique primary source documents about Sacagawea's life and role in the Lewis and Clark expedition.
Wampum
The word wampum translates to "white shell beads". Beads made from shells have always been important to many Indian tribes; the ocean and other large bodies of water were considered sacred places where all life originated. Wampum was made in two colors: white and blue/purple. The white color came from a whelk shell, which could easily be formed into a bead and would not shatter easily. The blue/purple color came from the inner shell of a large clam called a Quahog (pronounced co-hog). This type of clam was rare and found on the Atlantic Coast. The white and blue shells were made into small tubular beads about 6mm long and 3mm wide.
Many designs were created with these two color shell beads. The designs adorned belts, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and other ornaments. Some of the designs represented past events in the history of the tribe. Many of the tribes had no written language so these designs acted as a permanent record of past events.
Wampum was used by tribes in council meeting ceremonies, as records for deeds, for gifts, and for ornamentation. Wampum was commonly woven into what was called "belts." Dark and light beads were made into patterns that had specific meanings. A "wampum keeper" interpreted the meanings of the designs and kept it safe until it was needed. Belts were exchanged between tribes as a kind of good will trade.
European settlers were not allowed to use coins, so they began to trade wampum as money. In New York 1701, white wampum traded six for a penny. The blue beads were valued at three for a penny. European settlers later began to make or import their own wampum. These clay or glass beads were used to trade with the Native Americans. The tribes adapted the wider variety of colors and styles into their beaded craftwork. Today, many tribes are noted for their intricate beadwork.
Guided Instruction
Ask the students if they have a prized possession, such as a family heirloom, a gift from a favorite family member, a signature of a celebrity or pop culture idol, or a rare collected coin or card. After a brief class discussion about prized possessions, have students write 1-2 descriptive paragraphs about a prized possession of their own. Allow students time to complete this in class or for homework. Students should bring to class the completed handout, along with the prized possession or a photo of the object. Have students share their prized possession with the class.
Ask students how they would feel if they had to give up their prized possession. Explain that Sacagawea had to give up her blue beaded wampum belt in exchange for a seal skin cloak. Since the blue wampum beads came from a rare purple-blue clam found on the Atlantic Coast, the wampum must have been a truly prized possession of Sacagawea.
Each wampum belt had patterns that symbolized events or were simply decorative. Ask students to observe patterns found in and around the classroom. Examples could include the patterns of the ceiling or floor tiles; the arrangement of students' desks; the pattern of weave in clothing; and patterns in jewelry and watches.
Some Native American tribes gave meanings to colors. The pattern of colors that they wove into rugs or used in bead work, could mean a direction or symbolize an important part of the tribes' culture. Distribute colored tiles or colored cubes. Model a simple A-B-A-B pattern using the manipulatives. Have students, in groups, combine the pattern until it is 12 tiles long. Next, work on an A-A-B-B and then A-B-B-A pattern. Combine them again. Ask the students to predict what will be the next five pieces of the pattern and to explain why this is. For further exploration of patterns, go to the Patterns in Mathematics Web site.
Ask students what kinds of patterns can be made using 12 beads and three colors. Have students in groups of four. Give each student a 12-inch shoestring, a taped piece of cotton string, or a taped piece of yarn. (If using the cotton or yarn, roll the piece of tape around one end of the string or yarn like you have on the shoestring. This will help the beads go on easier.) Knot or double knot one end of the string so that the beads do not slide through. Give each group three bowls of beads. The colors of the beads should be red, white, and blue. (Note: Put more blue beads in the bowls than the other colors.)
Distribute the Pattern Page handout. Model with the students a simple blue-red-white pattern with the 12 beads. Change the pattern to red-white-blue and then to white-red-blue. Have the students record one pattern on the handout.
Challenge each member of the group to come up with a different pattern on the string using the same colors and
number of beads. The pattern must not replicate the models made by the class or by other members of the group.
Record the patterns in the handout. As each student finishes his/her pattern, have students record the pattern
on the paper. Place all four patterns from each group together on an 18" x 24" piece of black tag board or construction paper. Then, tape the pattern page for each student to the black paper so that all can see the patterns. Have students walk around the room to determine whether groups repeated each other's patterns.
On a piece of graph paper, have students record their group pattern again in respective order. Students should record the patterns this time using either crayons or colored pencils. Have them repeat the pattern three times. As this process may become confusing, remind students that this is not an easy task. They must pay careful attention once the pattern of four rows begins to repeat; it become more difficult to recall what comes next. Collect the colored patterns and display for the class to observe and discuss.
What makes the pattern look different from the first display in the group? Since the pattern has been repeated three times, it has developed new patterns both vertically and horizontally. The final piece will also show a dominant color or colors, not as evident in the first four strings. Give each student a smaller piece of black construction paper or tag board to mount their finished product. Have students in each group describe the pattern's dominant color and what makes it easy or difficult to recreate. Display these written descriptions with each groups' stringed beads.
Independent Project
Originally when cloth was woven in designs, patterns were created on paper first to visualize the final product. Ask students to think about Sacagawea's wampum belt, and remind them that it was made of primarily blue beads. Distribute two pieces of graph paper. The graph paper should be 10 across and 20 down. Distribute the Sacagawea Belt Prompt. Using only two colors of beads, students will create a blue and white belt for her. The pattern must repeat at least three times. Students must write out the plan using letter
symbols for the colors. They must also draw the pattern using crayons or colored pencils. Have students write a
short paragraph that describes the pattern. The colored paper plan and descriptive paragraph are shared with the
class. Inform the students that the process that they just undertook to create the blue and white belt is like
the process undertaken to transfer designs from paper to cloth. You may wish to show students an online example, a table runner with a two-color geometric pattern.
For older or more advanced students, you may wish to take this process several steps further. Students can
create a blue beaded belt from a plan/design on graph paper. Use the following steps:
- Take a shoebox and pierce 11 holes with a thin nail on what will be the top and bottom of your loom (the narrow sides).
(Note: If students want to actually make a belt to wear, the shoebox will not be long enough. Therefore,
use foam core boards instead of a shoebox. Rather than make holes at the end, notch the ends of the foam core
boards and wrap the yarn through the notch. The foam core will be as long as they want the beaded part on their
belt. They can then leave yarn at each end for the wrapped part. So they will be placing individual warp threads on the foam core.)
- Distribute the Instructions for Loom and Belt handout.
- Knot one side of thread or string and thread an embroidery needle. Lead the thread or string from one narrow side to the other and then moving to the next hole and going back around to the other narrow side. Continue doing this until you have created the width size of your belt. It should be at least the minimum of two inches. The long threads should be fairly tight, but should have a little give to make it easy to weave. If the thread sags, tighten them up.
- Tie off the final piece. Tape both end threads down on the outside of the box. This makes the warp.
- Hold the loom so that the narrow part is going left to right. Just like they strung the warp thread. Holes or notches are at the top and the bottom.
- Work horizontally across the narrow part of the box. Tie the weft thread in a hole at the right side of the loom with a single overhand knot. Leave a 5" tail.
- Thread a plastic embroidery needle. Take the first horizontal line on their graph paper plan and thread the
colored beads onto the needle just like the plan designates. Pass the needle under all the warp threads and
pull until the beads are in place under the warp threads.
- Remember when you are creating your design on graph paper and then warping your loom, you need the same number of weft threads so that there is a weft thread on each end and a weft thread sitting between each bead. Each bead on the weft thread sits between warp threads.
- Bring needle back around facing towards the right and pass the needle back through the beads ending up on the right hand side. Then string beads for the second row following the graph pattern.
- This time, bring the thread on top of the warp thread. Remember this time to bring the thread above the warp, and not below the warp.
- Check that all the beads are in place between the warp threads in the row. Then, turn needle around and run it back towards the right through the beads. Carefully continue to repeat this method. Tension should be snug and smooth.
- Repeat method until all rows are complete. Do not pull too tight when turning the needle around to run it back through the beads.
- Check the ends of both sides often to make sure they are even and have not been pulled in by to much tension. (If threads are pulled in, the belt will not have a nice even neat finished look all along the sides. It will appear wavy and somewhat unfinished.)
- As yarn ends, with your weft thread leave a tail on the end of the row and start a new piece of yarn. When you finish you can go back and take the tail and weave it back into the belt with your needle.
- Once completed, take belt off the loom and tie the end pieces of yarn (two by two in a knot). This will keep the weft yarn from coming undone, raveling or falling off.
- When students have completed their belts, you may wish to designate a special day they can all wear their creation. If students did not make a belt, they can wear their creation as a piece of jewelry or a patch on their clothes.
Assessment:
Use the Assessment Rubric to evaluate students progress and successful completion of project.
Extensions:
- For younger students, you may wish to finish the project once students have copied the group patterns.
- For older students, you may wish to have them complete more descriptive writing of their process and final
product. Students may also make the belt pattern larger.
Sources:
Print:
- Bellingham, Robin, Glover, Hana and Jema Hewitt. Beading. Upper Saddle River, NJ; Creative Arts & Crafts,
2004.
- Erdrich, Lise. Sacagawea. Minneapolis, MN; Carolrhonda Books, Inc., 2003.
- Fradin, Dennis Brindell and Bloom, Judith. Who Was Sacagawea?. New York; Grosset and Dunlap,
2002.
- Pierce, Don. Beading on a Loom. Loveland, CO; Interweave Press, 1999.
- Reid, Margarette S. A String of Beads. New York; Dutton Children's Books, 1997.
Web:
Authors:
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Mary Beth Bauernschub, Teacher
Kingsford Elementary School
Mitchellville, MD
