Canku Ota

(Many Paths)

An Online Newsletter Celebrating Native America

July 31, 2004 - Issue 118

School News

gathered by Vicki Barry

The information here will include items of interest for and about Native American schools.
If you have news to share, please let us know!
I can be reached by emailing: VBarryMN@aol.com

Nebraska's ancient history will be on display on the Web

Children soon can get a glimpse of what Nebraska was like thousands of years ago.

Anthropologists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln recently received a $9,965 grant from the Cooper Foundation to create a Web site with lessons on the state's ancient history for students in grades 4 through 8.

LuAnn Wandsnider, an anthropologist at the university, said the Web site will tell kids about the American Indians who first came to the state 10,000 years ago and how they lived.

"We know that there were people here when mammoths who are now extinct were present," Wandsnider said.

Children also can learn about Nebraska's roots - literally.

"We know that some of the earliest agriculture took place here in Nebraska," Wandsnider said. For instance, sunflowers were among some of the first crops planted by American Indians as early as 200 B.C.

Wandsnider has been working on the Web site with Eric Kaldahl, the project's director at UNL, along with the Nebraska State Historical Society, Nebraska Educational Television and the State Department of Education.

The Web site is slated to be up and running in January at www.nebraskahistory.org.

The Cooper Foundation supports arts and educational activities.