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Sammy Still, with the Cherokee Nation Cultural Resource Center, tells a story to the children of the Igali and Unahnti Head Start Centers earlier this month.

TAHLEQUAH, OK - Children at the Cherokee Nation Early Childhood Unit Unahnti Head Start Center have been working hard on language lessons over the last few weeks.

The teachers, Pam French and Naomi Carey, decided that they would spend two weeks on this lesson plan and the Cherokee culture. This gave them more time to introduce the language and have people come in to the center to show the children the Cherokee culture.

Sammy Still, who works at the Cherokee Cultural Resource Center, visited with the Unahnti and Igali Head Start Center children earlier this month. Using a terrapin puppet, Still taught the children the Cherokee word for terrapin (doxie), and told them stories.

Deputy Principal Chief Hastings Shade visited with the Unahnti Head Start class last week. He brought cow horns and deer antlers to show the children how he carves figures--such as a buffalo, elk, and eagle--into the horns and antlers.

Shade also introduced the kids to a game with a deer antler.

"This is the kind of game we played with when I was your age," Shade told the children. "We didn’t have the fancy toys you have now. We had to make our own."

Shade also brought a horn that was given to him by his grandfather. His grandfather used the horn to call his dogs. The Deputy Chief blew the horn for the children so they could hear what it sounds like.

The Deputy Chief also told the children a couple of stories... one about how the terrapin beat the wolf in a race and how the quail got his whistle.

Miss Cherokee, Janelle Adair, also visited the Unahnti Class last week, sharing her experiences and knowledge of the Cherokee culture.