Burke Museum

           Today my class went to the Burke Museum for a field trip.
           The first thing we did was to explore the exhibits. We looked downstairs and found out about Native American lives. We learned about baskets they made. We also learned what they lived in and how they made their houses. I was fascinated by some Native American baskets - they were really tightly woven to hold water. The weaving was so dense that I couldn't even see anything through it!
           After the Native Americans, we looked upstairs for the "PLASTICS Unwrapped" exhibit which showed plastic that was being wasted. There were plastic bags, medical equipment, and even electronic waste. We got to see how much trash was in an albatross's belly - there were just about thirty assorted plastic products sitting there on the stand. A fun part, though, was that we got to try walking and running on synthetic legs, and we also did a scavenger hunt. I thought that this exhibit was amazing and interesting - the synthetic legs were really fun to run with.
           We also worked on projects. There were bentwood boxes, red cedar wood fiber weaving, button blankets, fishing hooks, and masks in the Thomas Burke Memorial Room. The project I chose to do was fishing hooks. I taped a toothpick and stick together. Then I taped raffia on the same spot as the toothpick and wrapped the raffia around and around, doing figure eights and covering the tape. Then I stuck the bamboo skewer into the raffia loops and taped the raffia as far back as it could go on the skewer. I thought the fishing stick was interesting because I felt like I could actually make something from the past. I was fascinated by the skill required to use these tools efficiently and effectively.
           To sum up, the Burke Museum was extremely interesting for its Native American artifacts, its plastic products, and its amazing projects from the First Nations!