These started from sticks I purchased at the market a couple Saturdays ago. Just for fun, I stuck them in a glass vase and filled it with colourful plastic beads so they would stand nicely on the kitchen table ... don't know why I put water in as I recall now when as a youngster we had dry pussywillows on the buffet. Anyway, it's been cool to see the changes as they sprouted roots, winding around and through the beads. Then came the greenery, so now I have to decide if I want to plant them around the yard. This is a great classroom visual for youngsters to watch how roots and buds change ... realizing the pussywillows are alive. Latiy^thos/Planting time ;)

This is the guide I use to teach the Kanuhelatuksla/Thanksgiving Address on the felt board. The felt pictures are colourful and I use Oneida language just as we do when speaking it at gatherings. Students and teachers enjoy hearing the language and usually try to say some of the picture words.
We begin with:
Akweku uska tsi ^twahwe'nu:ni: ukwa'niku:la' /Everyone as one, we will wrap our minds, thoughts.
T^twatanuhela:tu: k^tyohkwa/we will thank the people
tsi' sheku ^wa:tu: ska:n^:/we can have peace
^twanuhtunyuhe'ke/we will all be happy.
Ta:ne:tho n^yotuha'ke: ukwa'niku:la/so be it the way it will be, our minds, our thoughts.
Then Yukhinulha'/Mother Earth and move on to the plants, trees, animals, waters, birds, thunderers, sun, moon, stars, 4 messengers, Skanyataliyo/Handsome Lake and finally, Shukwaya'tishu/Creator.

I've been working with wampum beads lately; going into the schools to show students the 2Row. They've been very cordial and interested in the stories as well as the beadwork itself. We make string wampum with the 2Row pattern as it's easiest to do in the short time available. I usually start with introductions in the Oneida language, interpreting as I go. Then I do the short form Kanuhelatuksla/ga-new-hey-law-duke's-law ... Thanksgiving address. The French immersion students especially enjoyed the language aspects and the part about how the word Iroquois came to be what we're called as a people rather than our own name of Hotenoshone/hoe-den-o-show-nay or Longhouse People. Iroquois is from the French, who, when they experienced the tenacity and guerrilla-like warfare of our warriors as 'we' sprung up from the grasses, bushes or down from the trees, they called us snakes ... specifically adders. It may seem like an insult, but after learning more about our history, I am proud of that name tho' I use it only in the context of teaching. The French and British both realized the value of having our warriors on their side tho' most of our people wanted to stay neutral in their disputes. Only fighting for our survival was necessary. One good read is Pierre Burton's The Invasion of Canada 1812-1813.