EXHIBIT HIGHLIGHTS
Recommended for Grades 5 to Adult
This one-hour tour provides an overview of the Pequot experience, highlighting exhibit areas from 20,000 years ago up to present day, pointing out the important connection of the land, the people, community, and family. After the tour, groups are welcome to return and spend more time in the exhibit areas that interest them most.
THROUGH THE EYES OF A PEQUOT CHILD
Recommended for Grades K–Adult
Imaginations soar with the sights, sounds, and smells in the 16th century
Pequot Village. This tour promotes understanding of Pequot life before
contact and demonstrates the importance of family and community.
GIFTS OF THE LAND AND WATERS
Recommended for Grades 3–12
Discover why Native people have great respect for the natural world and why resources are valued as “gifts.” Stone, bone, shell, and wood were appreciated because they could be transformed into useful tools. Students will explore the seasonal dioramas and learn how each season brings different gifts—obtained from both the land and water.
TOOLS OF THE TRADE: NATIVE TOOLS & TECHNOLOGIES
Recommended for Grades 6–8
Students discover how Native people solved problems by using pressure, heat, friction, and their own ingenuity to create tools and make work easier. They examine how scientific principles of matter and energy were employed thousands of years ago through the use of natural resources. Students learn how the design and function of simple and complex prehistoric tools not only aided survival in the past but continues to impact our lives today.
MASHANTUCKET’S NATURAL HISTORY
Recommended for Grades 5–12
Can you imagine what Mashantucket looked like 18,000 years ago? Travel back to the Ice Age, feel the icy chill, and view how a mile-thick glacier shaped the land now known as Mashantucket.
LIFE IN A COLD CLIMATE
Recommended for Grades K–4
This Natural History tour is designed for younger students. They explore why early mammals such as the mastodon, giant beaver, and dire wolf became extinct and learn about the important relationship of the caribou to the lives of Pequot ancestors.
LIFE ON THE RESERVATION
Recommended for Grades 7–12
Upper-level students learn about the harsh impact of reservation life and how the conflicting elements of social, political, and economic changes reshaped the Pequot world. Contemporary issues of federal recognition and sovereignty conclude the tour.
PEQUOTS IN HISTORY
Recommended for Grades 4–8
Learn about Pequot ancestors who lived at Mashantucket and the difficult choices they had to make to survive. Hear the stories of Sachem Robin Cassacinamon; of Hannah Ocuish, a servant at the age of six; and of Peter George, who spent several years on a whaling ship. This tour takes place in The Life on the Reservation gallery.
