Tuesday 20 March 2012

Potlatch

On Friday, March 9, we held a potlatch in celebration of our Social Studies unit on the Aboriginal groups of the Northwest Coast.  It was an fun-filled day enjoyed by all!

Before the potlatch there were various preparations to be done.  Ms. Wood, the Grade 6/7 teacher across the hall who grew up in Haida Gwaii, came to teach our class a traditional potlatch song and dance that we would perform right before feasting.  Thank you, Ms. Wood!
We also needed to prepare the traditional potlatch stew to be eaten at the feast later.
Finally, it was time for the potlatch to begin! Chief Roy gave the welcoming speech to the Wolf Clan (Ms. Sutherland's class) and the Bear Clan (our class).
Each clan presented a legend.  Our class, performed "Little Bear's Vision Quest".
Each class wore "button blankets" featuring crests of their clan in traditional red, white and black.
Giftgiving is another important part of a potlatch.  Here, Chief Roy presented the Wolf Clan's chief with a traditional copper.  Each guest at the potlatch also received a bookmark with an Aboriginal design.
Finally, at the end of the potlatch we feasted!  Each student brought a dish to share.  We had traditional Aboriginal food including salmon, berries, quail's eggs, stew and bannock, along with  a lot of other delicious fare. 

In the afternoon, we invited families to come and visit our "Longhouse Museum" and to watch the play that we had performed in the morning during the potlatch.  We had a great turn out and were really excited to share our learning with so many parents!


Thank you so much to all of the families who sent delicious food for our feast and who came to our "Longhouse Museum".  It was a wonderful day of learning and a great way to end our Social Studies unit.

2 comments:

  1. Hello Ms Birdsall and Grade 4,
    Thank you for visiting our blog. How did you find us? It's so great looking at the learning children in other schools get up and it's especially exciting to find out what children in other parts of the world do.

    I am very interested to find out more about your Social Studies work about Aboriginal groups of the North West Coast. I will pop back tomorrow with my class and ask them to leave you some comments too.

    Bye for now
    Mrs Warner
    Fieldhead Carr Primary School, Leeds UK
    http://year4blogspot.blogspot.co.uk/

    p.s
    Have you heard of "Quadblogging"?

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  2. Sounds really cool!! Was the play fun? I wish I was there... See you soon!! ~Juliet~

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