One of the parents who attended Hawthorne Elementary School’s annual fifth-grade Native American Gallery Walk said it was a great way to showcase the students’ research, hard work and learning.

As part of the fifth-grade language arts and social studies standards, teachers Mary Jo Dorman and Amy Schuhmacher designed the unit to capture the interests of the students and make history come to life. The students learned about various aspects of the Native American people of North America. This was the students’ first research paper in which they were responsible for creating a bibliography and showing how they got their information.

After researching and writing a report on a Native American tribe of their choice, students created a 3-D quadarama to showcase four aspects of their tribe’s culture, ranging from shelter to family life. Andrea Harves, an art teacher, and Brenda Reeder, librarian, both had an active role in this project as well. The teachers said the students consider the project one of their favorites and remember it as a fun way to learn a lot about Native Americans.