Third-graders Jaida Gordon (l-r), Ariel Majorczyk and Mark Felong perform a play their class wrote about Lenape Indians, at Roosevelt Public School on Feb. 24. JEFF GRANIT staff Roosevelt children discovered a magical portal in the woods that took them back in time to Lenapehoking, a term for the lands historically inhabited by the Lenape Indians.
The plot of the play “Lost in Time,” written by and starring third-graders from the Roosevelt Public School, follows three second-graders — Anna Murray, Anthony Orlando and Chloe Colleton — who have to find their way back to the present day with the help of Lenape Indians. The Feb. 24 production helped culminate a severalmonths long unit on New Jersey history.
Third-graders Ariel Majorczyk, Jaida Gordon, Mark Felong, Katie Murray, Liam Biggers-Brookhouse, Parker Roberts, Jade Raines and Timmy Skelton portrayed Lenape Indians in the play. Earlier in the year, teacher Irene Levine had her class research American Indians’ lives and culture by reading “The Lenape or Delaware Indians” by archaeologist Hebert Kraft, one of the foremost authorities on the reign of the Lenape in New Jersey.
Clockwise from top: Roosevelt Public School third-graders wrote a play about Lenape Indian life that they performed for friends and family on Feb. 24. Third-grader Timmy Skelton (r) looks on as fellow classmates perform a scene from the play. Third-grader Katie Murray spoons Three Sisters Stew into her bowl during the Lenape-style feast her class enjoyed after the performance. Students used the information in Kraft’s book to write research papers on different facets of Lenape life and develop their roles for the play. Jaida developed her hunter character after researching the tools and types of game that the Lenape used.
“The most important job was hunting so families could eat and keep warm,” Jaida said, noting that she learned that American Indians used bear fat as grease.
Liam wrote his paper on Lenape elders and portrayed one in the play.
“Elders taught children legends and stories,” Liam said. “The stories told the history of the tribe and ways of their people.”
Student-teacher Tanya Gilmore explained that the interdisciplinary unit helped students sharpen their skills in social studies, history, language arts, art and critical thinking. Art teacher Barbara Atwood helped students create Lenape-style coiled pottery and Mesing masks. Levine encouraged students to use their culinary skills to create dishes using staples of the Lenape diet. Wearing traditional Lenape garb and face paint, students enjoyed Three Sisters’ Stew, succotash, corn chowder, maple syrup popcorn, fried bread, strawberry juice and potato soup after the play.
PHOTOS BY JEFF GRANIT staff After the feast, the third-graders invited the second-graders over for games that Lenape children played. Timmy, who portrayed the entertainer in the play, taught his schoolmates to play pickup sticks, hoop and pin, and the moccasin game.
Levine tries to incorporate different and creative activities into the Lenape unit she teaches each year. “We created a Lenape model for many years,” she said. “This is the first year we created a play from scratch.”
Levine said her students voted on every aspect of the play. She made slides of photographs she took in the woods and at museums, and they voted on which images to use as backdrops. They also voted on plot details, which ultimately focused on courage, accuracy, strength, patience and kindness.
Jackie and Bill Shineman, who traveled from Ann Arbor, Mich., to see their grandson Liam in the play, said Levine’s teaching methods have many benefits.
“She chunks material into different aspects, which leads to differentiation — kids learning at whatever level they are in reading and their thought process,” Shineman said. “And, to do a project like this gets them ready for high school, where they will have lots of long-term research projects.”
Liam’s mother, Keitha Biggers-Bookhouse, said the rural setting, small class sizes and dedicated teachers like Levine are the reasons why her family pays tuition to send their two children to the school.
Levine and Gilmore said they are very proud of their eight students and their hard work.
“They put their hearts into every part of this project,” Gilmore said. “They are very dedicated little souls. If I use the word ‘adorable,’ it might embarrass them, but they are.”