Lloyd Harbor fourth graders participated in exploring and learning about a “Journey into American Indian Territory.” This authentic, curriculum-based learning experience is a stimulating hands-on program that is brought in each year by the Cultural Arts Committee to the elementary schools as well as the Junior High. Students go back in time to learn about the Mohawk Nation and traditional Iroquois government and culture. The educators speak about, demonstrate, play games and do crafts with a variety of museum artifacts that explain the Native American daily life of hunting, planting, gathering and growing to survive. The lessons also make connections to strong character education which is the heart of Iroquois teachings of respect, honor and responsibility, and their special relationship to nature, the greatest teacher. Through folklore, they teach us to never take more than we need from nature so there will always be enough. “Nya-weh” (which means thank you), to our social studies teachers, for preparing our students, and to the K-12 Director of Humanities, Megan Gieser, for coordinating this fabulous program in our school district with the Cultural Arts Committee.