Luis is a third-grade student at Dailey Charter Elementary School in Fresno. He and his fellow classmates participated in a field trip to the River Center last week.
The Trust’s Education Program Facilitator Katie gathered the class together near the camphor tree for an activity called Hunt and Gather. In the activity students visit six stations that have information about some of the local food sources Native Americans relied on for survival.
“In this activity we will be learning about local Native Americans,”
Katie told the class.
“What do you know about the people who lived along the San Joaquin River?”
Luis raised his hand. He described the difference between gathering and collecting.
“Native Americans didn’t take things because they wanted to, they only took what they needed,”
Luis shared.
Excited by Luis’s robust knowledge, Katie invited him to help her lead the rest of the activity introduction. Luis’s teacher gave him a high five, and his classmates cheered him on.
Following the introduction, the class was broken into small groups to explore the activity stations. Luis shared that he was especially interested to learn about cattails because he didn’t know anything about the plant. After the game was finished, Luis ran up to Katie to tell her all the things he learned about cattails.
“The Native Americans ate the cattail pollen,”
he shared.
“It’s the stuff that makes me sneeze, but they ate it!”
In the months ahead, hundreds of local students will take a field trip to the River Center. Thank you for making these programs possible.
