Cover Letter for Educational Boxes

buffalo Buffalo Trace Education Project

July 5, 2016

Greetings:

This is an educational project box on the Buffalo Trace. The box is designed so that teachers and other educators can learn and teach about the early transportation route of the American bison, Native Americans, and Pioneer settlers of Indiana and places west. Assistance for the boxes came from many sources and we are very grateful to all our sponsors. This program has been made possible through a matching grant from Indiana Humanities in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Humanities, George Rogers Clark National Historic Park, Indiana Historic Pathways and many volunteers.

Included in the box:

  1. Binder with 15 lessons and activities
  • Bison or Buffalo
  • Touching the Bison
  • Life Cycle of a Bison
  • Bison Wallows
  • Chomp! Plop! How a Bison Gets Food In and Out
  • How Big is a Bison?
  • Bison by the Numbers
  • If a Bison Could Give Advice
  • Where Did the Bison Go?
  • Surveying the Buffalo Trace
  • Rangers of the Buffalo Trace (Drama)
  • The Floating House (Readers Guide)
  • Using the Bison as a Symbol
  • Traveling the Buffalo Trace (Game)
  • Who Were the Native Americans of Indiana?
  1. Bison Items
  • Fur (hump and hide)
  • Horn cap
  • Hoof (half a hoof)
  • Sinew
  • Dung
  • Tooth
  • Mineral Salt (nutrient)
  • Acorn (food)
  1. Historical Buffalo Trace Items
  • Surveyor’s “Chain” and compass
  • Section of 50 caliber muzzle loading barrel, ball and patch
  • Buffalo Nickel
  • State seal of Indiana (with bison as a symbol)
  • Wooden nickels (with bison facts)
  1. Books, Music, and DVDs
  • Bison by Cherie Winner (Our Wild World Series, 2001)
  • The Floating House by Scott Russell Sanders (2011)
  • Who Came Down That Road? By George Ella Lyon (2011)
  • “The Buffalo Trace” by Charles Moman (Original song and music, 2016)
  • Reenactment of the 1805 survey of the buffalo trace by William Rector – DVD (2016) by Education Committee of the Initial Point Chapter of the Indiana Society of Professional Surveyors.

We hope you get many hours of enjoyment out of the lessons and experiences included in this box of activities. The buffalo trace website at https://buffalotrace.indianashistoricpathways.org/ has more information and resources available, and is an evolving resource.

For questions or comments on these boxes please contact the Hoosier National Forest at 812-275-5987.

 

Sincerely,

/s/  Teena Ligman

 

Teena Ligman

Project Coordinator