Shoeless and Bark ~ Our Work

Shoeless and Bark ~ Our Work
Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery were given specific goals or tasks by President Jefferson for their expedition. In the great learning adventure of the Shoeless and Bark Project these tasks are recreated in order that we might gain a deeper understanding of this piece of history. Read on to learn about some of our work for this amazing project.
Preparing for the Project To prepare for the Shoeless and Bark Project, we began learning about Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery. We learned about the Jefferson Peace medals that the Corps presented to the leaders of the Native American nations they encountered on their Voyage of Discovery. We decided to create our own "medals" to offer as gifts.
To make our Peace Medals pictured above, we used shoestrings, colored "straw" beads, and enlarged images of the new Jefferson Peace Medal nickels (printed on white cardstock and laminated). Working with partners, we created mathematical patterns with the straw beads, making sure each side matched our partner's (showing symmetry).
Task ~ Meet with People and Interview Them One of the tasks Lewis and Clark were given by President Jefferson was to meet and make friends with leaders of Native American nations in the new territory. Lewis and Clark did just that, and were quite successful, as well. They asked the leaders many questions and wrote about what they learned in their journals. The Shoeless and Bark Project had given us a similar task. We decided that for this task, we would invite some of the leaders of our Arlington Schools. We had questions from the project which we asked of them. There was much to learn. Each guest was also presented with one of our "peace medals" and a "gift of friendship" (new nickels pictured above).
Mr. Penta poses with Bark and Shoeless.	Our first leader was our very own Mr. Penta, the new principal of our school (Peirce School). He did a terrific job of answering our questions, then shared a biography of Lewis and Clark with us.
Mr. Penta set a great tone for our day of leaders. Next came visits from two leaders of departments in the Arlington schools. Mrs. Fischer is Director of Reading K-5 and Mr. Kent is Director of Social Studies K-12.
Mrs. Fischer shows us "the farthest distance she has been from her homestead" on our map.	Mr. Kent is being interviewed by his assigned group, telling us about his family and his winters.
We were amazed that Mr. Kent was teaching Lewis and Clark to 12th graders! We were also extremely wide-eyed when we saw the thickness of the book the seniors were assigned to read about the expedition! All of our leaders had done a great job, but we had one more extra special guest... Mr. Carme, the principal of the Bishop School, holds a very special place in Ms. Jacoby's heart, maybe because he is her wonderful husband :-)
Mr. Carme answered our questions and then read a moving book, My Name is York, written from the perspective of Clark's slave who accompanied them on the trip. A Very Special THANK YOU to all our guests for taking time out of their busy schedules to join us! You're TERRIFIC!
Task ~ Observe and Sketch Plants and Animals One of the important tasks given to the Expedition was to document the flora and fauna found in the new territory. This was done by observing, sketching and writing in journals. Specimens of both were also collected.
With the help of Suzanne McCleod and Marieke Zacher, two of our parents, we set out to do our own observations of our school grounds. This photo courtesy of Suzanne McCleod - thanks, Suzanne! Sketching and specimen collection got very high marks!
We were amazed at the beauty found right outside our school doors!

We made some exciting discoveries ~ daisies growing through our "Night Tree" and oak leaves with insect eggs were just two of them!
Task ~ Mapping Our Grounds Another very important task that Lewis and Clark were given was that of mapmaking. Clark was the expert in this area. For our work, we first learned about map keys or legends. We looked at examples on several maps and posters, then practiced creating our own. Next, we thought about important aspects of Peirce School's grounds. We came up with about 11 which we felt should be included on our maps and for which we would need symbols on our map keys. The children then did a fantastic job creating their own legends for our school maps. Then it was outside for mapmaking!
Special thanks to Suzanne McCleod and Marieke Zacher (pictured on right) were in order, again, for their terrific help with this aspect of the project. Photos by Suzanne McCleod
	Goodbye to Shoeless and Bark Sadly, it was time for Shoeless and Bark to move on. Before they did, however, Sachy brought in her own "Shoeless" and Bark could not believe his eyes! He thought he was seeing double! Goodbye and good luck, Shoeless and Bark! Happy Trails! We'll miss you! And thanks, Jen, for another wonderful project!
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