First graders had a wonderful time visiting the Springfield History Museum on the Square today! To begin our trip, we listened to a presentation about the Native American tribes that used to be living on the land where we live now! We got to venture around the corner from the main entrance to the education center of the museum! First graders were excited to share some facts that they had learned about different tribes during their research this trimester and to see real artifacts similar to the ones they will be making for our own museum that we will share during our trimester celebration on Friday. We got to enjoy a wonderful and very thorough presentation from Mr. Smith about the Osage. We learned all about what they ate, the tools they used, and all the ways they used the parts of a buffalo. We even got to see and touch many artifacts including animal hides, bones, tools, dolls, arrowheads and more! Did you know that the Osage was the most prominent tribe in our area and spanned SW Missouri, NW Arkansas, NE Oklahoma and SE Kansas? Many other tribes also moved through this area as they traveled from east to west on the Trail of Tears. An interesting fact that we learned was that the Osage women carried their babies on their backs on cradleboards. The boards included a wooden piece meant to shape the babies forehead flat, as a flat forehead was considered the peak of beauty among the tribe.

After the presentation, first graders got to visit the Native American history portion of the history museum. We checked out different types of animal tracks, saw some neat art and clothing and then got to play inside a teepee made of real buffalo hide! Thank you so much to our friends at the Springfield History Museum on the Square for letting us visit and helping us learn so many neat things about Native Americans.