Headstart students learn about Native Americans

By Staff
Melissa Cason
While Thanksgiving is still more than a week away, students at the Russellville Headstart got in the holiday spirit by learning about Native Americans this week.
Shelia Abernathy and Johnny Brazell teach students age three to five years. This week, the students learned about Native Americans.
"I think at first, they thought that the Indians were bad. Something to be afraid of," Abernathy said. "So we learned about their culture, and how they lived thousands of years ago."
During the week, the students completed several projects including creating a head dressing complete with their Indian names, a vest, and pottery.
"The vests were a part of our parental involvement," Abernathy said. "The students made Indian vests out of paper bags at home wit their parents' help."
Each vest was different. Some were just colored while others had paper decorations all over them. Each student wore a unique vest Friday.
"We also made pottery this week," Abernathy said. "We used water, flour and salt to make the pottery and let it dry overnight. The students, then, painted them with any color they wish."
Abernathy said the Native American week was very educational for the students.
"Next week, we are going to study the Pilgrims in preparation for Thanksgiving," Abernathy said. "We wanted to give the students a little history that surrounds the holiday."
Abernathy said the students also read books, sang songs, and completed other activities to go along with the Native American studies.
Abernathy said the classroom's parent volunteers were also a big help with this week's activities.
"We always want to thank our parent volunteers," Abernathy said. "We always look for ways to include our parents as much as possible."