Shawnee Indian Mission Field Trip

Recently our students went to the Shawnee Indian Mission in Prairie Village, Kansas.  The following is the account of the field trip by one of our fourth grade students:

When I went to the Shawnee Indian Mission, I was very excited to learn about the Indians. We got to sit on a real buffalo rug. The tour guide told us about the Indian houses. One of the houses had a long entry. It was used to keep the animals inside during the winter so they wouldn’t freeze. Another one was built very big. All the family members slept inside.  There could be 15 to 21 people in that house. They all had a hole in the middle. It was above the kitchen. It was used to get the smoke out. The women would build the houses while the men hunted. We got to see mini versions of the houses.

                      

After that, we sat at a table. We had a sheet that had pictographs with what they mean below them. We had to make a story using them. I made a story that goes like this. A twister was coming. Two brothers saw it. It was stormy, cold, rainy, and much more. After it ended, they got many fishes. It follows the fish phenomenon that in a place when it rains, fish come down.

After we did the pictograph part, we got to be in a group of three. One of us would be the writer. I was the writer in my group. We got to examine the items and we would say if it was a tool, item, or both. We also got to put what it was. We got some of it right. Most of them were wrong. That happened to the rest of the groups. It was time to leave after that. This was one of my favorite field trips. I would love to go here again.

By Sydney N.

4th Grade


This is an account from one of our high school students:

A Day on the Frontier

by Devin D

Students from Accelerated Schools of Overland Park stepped back in time when they visited the Shawnee Indian Mission on Thursday, April 9th. At the Mission, located at 3403 West 53rd St. Fairway, Kansas, students learned what life was like for American Indians and families traveling West.

When they arrived at the mission, students were separated into three groups; two high school and one middle school group. One high school school group was sent upstairs to learn about the history of the Mission while the other two groups were busy doing something else. They learned that between 1839 and 1854, it was a 2,000 acre establishment with 16 buildings. There are only three large brick buildings still standing today.

Students learned many other facts on this trip, for example, that 200 Indian boys and girls. aged 5 -23,  attended school there.  The Mission also served as a supply store for families traveling on the Oregon and Santa Fe trails.

Later, the group switched with the other high school group and went out back to see a replica of the type of wagon families would take on the Oregon trail. The Santa Fe trail was used by merchants,  and they used large Conestoga wagons like the ones on display at the Alexander Majors Home..

The Oregon trail was normally used by families moving west. They used wagons that would be considered today as the “pickup of the 1840’s,” according to the tour guide. They were a lot smaller and were used only to carry the items necessary for traveling on the trail. Family members walked alongside the wagon the whole trail, sometimes up to 18 miles per day. To get a clearer picture of how many supplies could fit in the wagon, the group got a chance to step inside the wagon, which was about the size of a 4 by 8 foot sheet of plywood.