Alaska Native Perspectives on Weather and Climate

This is a great resource for environmental or general science classes, not only comparing traditional ways of knowing with the Western paradigm, but illustrating how they complement each other. The site is replete with lesson plans for each element/earth system, addressing grades 3-12.

Dena'ina E/nena

Dena'ina E/nena (Dena'ina Homeland) has a website called Campbell Creek Interpretative Trails, explaining the history and cultural significance of the trails within the Municipality of Anchorage. The Dena'ina people of the Cook Inlet used the Campbell Creek for subsistence fishing long before Anchorage became a city. For more information click here.

Searchable Smithsonian Archives

The Smithsonian website is full of great resources for educators. If you're planning a cultural studies unit, be sure to utilize the searchable National Anthropological Archives. There is also a searchable database for the the Human Studies Film Archive. Rotating exhibits from the Collections and Archives Program at the Department of Anthropology are highlighted here, so check back frequently.


When searching the archives, take a note of the plus (+) sign to the left of each individual search result. If the color behind the plus sign is light, that means that when you expand the result you will get more information, but no photograph. If the color behind the plus sign is dark, a photograph is available or other image is available.


From the NMNH Terms and Conditions of Use:

Subsets of the information, records, or images in one or more of the databases may be used, downloaded, reproduced, publicly displayed, distributed, or reprinted strictly for educational, scientific, scholarly, and other non-profit uses provided that the following attribution appears in all copies:  "Information provided with the permission of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 10th and Constitution Ave. N.W., Washington, DC 20560-0193. (http://www.nmnh.si.edu/)"

Our Mother Tongues: America's First Languages (website)

Our wonderful admin assistant Marilyn shared this amazing resource: the Our Mother Tongues languages project. Included on the project site is an interactive language map, the option to hear languages being spoken by native speakers, and the ability to send multi-lingual e-Card greetings! From Project Director Anne Makepeace:

So much of what is portrayed in the media about indigenous cultures focuses on loss and disappearance, but what is really happening in Indian country today is a vibrant cultural revival. The Wampanoag story moved me profoundly because it is a story of hope, of possibilities, of a community that was in many ways devastated by 400 years of contact taking charge of their history, their identity, and their culture by reawakening their language.

While the Wampanoag case is unique in that there had not been a fluent speaker for more than a century, thousands of Native Americans across the country are working to reclaim, revitalize, and perpetuate their heritage languages. Dedicated first language speakers and others are teaching their mother tongues to their communities with a special focus on the young, so that the deep knowledge embedded in their words and expressions will be heard and spoken by many generations to come.

 Be sure to check out the Alutiiq materials included on the site.