Early Lifeways:  Natick’s First Century

Explore Natick's beginnings as a Praying Indian village and compare Native American

and Colonial life-ways through primary sources and with hands-on learning

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Program Objectives

• Introduce use of primary sources
• Compare and contrast Native American and Colonial life-ways
• Examine the unique blending of Native American and Colonial culture in Natick
• Experience local history

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 Program Outline

 Part I -- In school preparation

The Historical Society provides a Pre-visit pack for teachers to use in the classroom prior to the field trip. Students work together to produce a Timeline of Natick’s first century using information sheets and visuals included in the pack to prepare for their visit. Additional optional activities and a vocabulary list are also included.

 Part II -- Museum visit

a) Welcome and orientation

Surrounded by the Society’s collection students discuss how to use a Museum. In small groups they take what they have learned and demonstrate their skills by examining an artifact and taking on the role of a Museum guide to interpret it for the other groups

b) Weather permitting, students walk through the John Eliot Memorial District where they examine the landscape to discover what it can tell them about the early history of Natick. They use a compass and map to record the sites in the District that memorialize the early years of the Town

c) The program concludes at the English Burying Ground where students hunt amongst the gravestones for clues about the early Colonial settlers of Natick. They record their findings to take back to the classroom  

 Part III – Back in the classroom

The Natick Historical Society provides a Post-visit pack that teachers can use with the materials students return from the Society with to extend learning back in the classroom. Students use visuals and maps to draw a birds-eye view of South Natick in 1750 or today, and examine how some of the family names they discovered during their visit to the Society are remembered around the town. Finally, students are asked to look to the future and imagine what contributions they may make to Natick’s history.

We are very flexible and can adapt this program to your time constraints and specific topics of interest.