Sacred Images - Fry Bread

Summary

Students will understand that plants can be used for many purposes. They will enjoy the flavors they help create as they munch on Navajo faux fry bread and lavender honey. The students will learn a new game that is fun and easy to play as part of a cultural experience.

Materials

• Sacred Images: A Vision of Native American Rock Art, Leslie Kelen and David Sucec (ISBN 0-87905-734-3)
• Recipe for Navajo faux fry bread and lavender honey (pdf)
• Utensils
• Lavender plant
• Jar of honey
• Paint sticks (stirrers found at a paint store)
• Crayons
• I'm In Charge of Celebrations, Byrd Baylor (ISBN 0-684-18579-2)
• Stick Game (pdf)

Background for Teachers

Cooking was simple. Roots, berries, corn, and nuts made up a large part of the Native American diet. Fruits and meats were dried in the sun to preserve for cold winters. Corn was one of the main food crops. Its uses varied from being eaten straight off the cob to cornmeal, which was made by pounding the kernels until it became a fine flour. The meal was made into corn cakes and cooked on a flat stone or wrapped in cornhusks and baked in ashes.

Sacred Images, pg. 52, plate 22 explains, "In the upper right hand corner of the panel, there is a circle with four quadrants, depicting the four seasons. Below the circle, a man is planting seeds. To his right, there is a symbol of music required to maintain harmony with the environment. Below, there is the image of the rake which represents the earth; its teeth are the roots of the plants that helped the Hopi survive during their migrations."

Intended Learning Outcomes

1. Communicate clearly in oral artistic, written, and nonverbal form

• Students will learn steps in following a recipe and appreciate cultural differences by playing a new game they make.

Instructional Procedures

1. Three to four weeks prior to lesson, make lavender honey in class (see Attachment #1).
   • If possible, have students observe lavender plants in nature.
   • The teacher will collect fresh lavender flowers and a few branches to have ready in the classroom.
   • In class, have each child crush some lavender flowers in their fingers to smell the aroma.
   • Collect 1 heaping teaspoon of flowers from the branches and place in cheesecloth.
   • Tie the cheesecloth into a bundle and push down into a jar of honey.
   • Tell the class: This will steep for three to four weeks and then we'll make something special together to have with this lavender honey. Have them predict: Do you think the honey will taste like the crushed leaves smell? Plants can be tasty if the right ones are chosen. Not all plants are okay to eat. Some plants are poisonous.
2. When honey is ready, follow fry bread recipe with class (see Attachment #1).
3. Have the students sit in a circle while they wait for their bread. Make connections about the circle as a sacred symbol: the bread is a circle, they are sitting in a circle, seasons flow in a circle, there is a circle of direction in a compass rose, etc.
4. Show Sacred Images, pg. 52, plate 22. Explain the picture and talk about the petroglyph symbol for the season. What season do we plant? What season do we harvest? Refer to the circle of life and how the growing seasons repeat.
5. Pass out bread.
6. Bring out lavender honey.
7. While the children eat, play Sacred Images CD flute music. Tell them that today we are celebrating out Native American studies.
8. Read I'm In Charge of Celebrations

Extensions

Show students a paint stick patterned on one side. Have each child draw a favorite petroglyph or pattern on one side only of their paint stick. When they are done, play Stick Game (outside is best).

See Attachment 2-Stick Game.