The education programming at Nez Perce National Historical Park offers students, teachers, and parents the opportunity to learn about the Nez Perce people and culture. Programs are offered throughout the school year and include: tipi pitching; the life of children; seasonal cycle/memory string; and the park film, Nez Perce: Portrait of a People.
Tipi Pitching/Traditional Homes
Grade: 4th grade
Time length: 30 to 40 minutes
In this hands-on program each student has a job in the construction of a ten-foot Nez Perce tipi. They learn the importance of how and why tipis were constructed and used, the materials used to make traditional homes, how that changed over time, and how traditional homes are used today. Each student also has the experience of going inside the tipi. Students examine and discuss photographs of a traditional Nez Perce home, longhouse, tule mat tipi, buffalo hide tipi, and a contemporary Nez Perce family’s home.
Relevant Idaho Curriculum Standards
Science
588.05a: Unifying Concepts of Science – Understanding concepts of form and function – Discover the relationships between shape and use.
595.01b: Technology – Understanding the relationship between science and technology – Recognize that people have invented tools for everyday life.
Social Studies
440.01a: Economic Fundamentals – Understand basic economic principles – Explain how Native Americans and early settlers met their basic needs.