We have reserved the facilities at SunWatch Indian Village (2301 W River Rd, Dayton, OH 45417, http://www.sunwatch.org/ ) for Friday, April 8th & Saturday, April 9th. The purpose of the trip is to supplement & reinforce the learning taking place during our Native American Badge & to provide the girls with a unique overnight opportunity (in lieu of Camporee). *Explorer girls (4th-6th grade) must attend Saturday’s program in order to earn their Native American Badge, as the museum trip is one of their requirements. Pioneers & Patriots (7th grade & up) will also be completing one of their badge requirements at the Friday night program. If they cannot attend on Friday they will need to do requirement #16 (Native American clothing) on their own. The Pioneer/Patriot leaders have clothing information & scrap material for girls who need it.
To sign up for the event, we have broken it down by level:
Tenderhearts: http://www.helpersignup.com/viewsheet.php?type=2&sheet=2f21794b0b6d007eb511dab5321de7b5
Explorers: http://www.helpersignup.com/viewsheet.php?type=2&sheet=bbf91b66474b510a3364022f17f43ec9
Pioneer/Patriots: http://www.helpersignup.com/viewsheet.php?type=2&sheet=0b199cdf09e312b5513b7b35cfaf893c
When you sign up, please indicate if you are coming on Friday or Saturday. Permission slips will be made available as the date gets closer. We are still in the process of planning, but the information we have so far is below:
Friday Night
Cost for the Friday night program will be approximately $30/person. This pays for the facilities, the staffing, the craft supplies, the overnight, a light breakfast & the Saturday morning program. Check in for the Friday night program is 6:30 pm. The museum will do three crafts with our girls. 1st – 3rd grade will learn about & recreate Fort Ancient Indian pottery. 4th-6th grade will learn how the Fort Ancient Indians made their houses & then build 3D paper models. 7th grade & up will learn about Native American dress & work together to authentically dress dolls. After the crafts, our girls will be given time to shop at the gift store (which is fairly large & very nice. There are several fun & educational items that are reasonably priced. They also have SunWatch patches the girls can purchase for their uniforms).
Sleeping arrangements: Girls 1st-2nd grade will sleep inside the museum facility. They have rooms upstairs for us that are next to a small kitchen & restrooms. That part of the building overlooks the village where the older girls will be staying. We also have a room available if any dad’s would like to stay. Any 1st grade girls must have their mom stay in order to spend the night. Second graders may have their moms stay if they wish. Third grade girls will have the option to stay inside or to sleep in the village with the older girls.
Girls 4th grade & up will sleep in the replica Indian houses which have been reconstructed on the original sites. They have dirt floors, thick grass roofs, & mud and wood walls. Each building has a fire pit in the center & bench-like structures along the walls that can be used for sitting & sleeping.
Saturday Morning
Cost for the Saturday morning program is $5.00 for adults, $4.00 for children. Siblings are welcome to come with parents. *Since this program is a requirement for the Explorers, the troop will pay the $4.00 for the 4th-6th grade girls to attend. That also means the troop will pay $4.00 of the $30.00 fee for Explorers who come for both Friday & Saturday.
Breakfast will be at 8:00 for those who spend the night. Our day program starts at 9:00 am. It consists of a 12 minute video presentation, a tour of the museum & playing Native American games in the reconstructed village. The program will end around 11:00-11:30. Families are welcome to stay & shop in the gift shop after the program.
*SunWatch Indian Village is an excavated Fort Ancient Village from around 1200 AD. Because they lived so long ago, they did not dress the way Native Americans did in the 1700s & 1800s. The women often dressed from the waist down only. Please be aware that there are some color drawings in the video & a statue in the museum that show this style of dress.
