Totem Pole Art

The book on the left is Alaska ABC Book by Charlene Kreeger and Shannon Cartwright.  The book on the right is Totem Tale, A Tall Story from Alaska by Deb Vanasse and illustrated by Erik Brooks.

I am a big fan of tall tales and I love finding tall tales specific to states so that we can incorporate them into our Fifty States Project.  We have been fortunate to find them for quite a few states so far and Alaska is no exception.

This week we read Totem Tale, A Tall Story from Alaska by Deb Vanasse.  The tale takes place deep in a forest where a carver stacked totem animals and forgot them.  As the full moon rises, the totems (raven, grizzly, wolf, beaver, eagle, and frog) come to life.  They have a great time acting like the animals they represent, but as a hint of dawn appears in the sky, they remember that they must return to the pole or the rising sun will trap them in the land of in-between and never-there.  They had trouble remembering how they fit and each one wanted the place of honor at the top of the pole.  It isn't until the raven reminds them that together they told a story that they are able to take their places on the pole.

The author's note states that indigenous cultures of the Pacific Northwest and Southeast Alaska have carved totem poles to illustrate the stories of their clans for more than two hundred years.  According to the author, some of the best places to see totem poles include Wrangell, Sitka, Ketchikan, Seattle, and Vancouver Island.

I originally thought about printing up clip art animals for C and R to glue onto paper towel tubes, but they both wanted to paint their own totem poles.  I still might print the clip art for R - you will see why in a minute.

C put a lot of thought into how he wanted his totem pole to look.

Once he had a plan, he painted the paper towel tube and after it dried, he added details with a black Sharpie marker.

His totem pole, from top to bottom, includes a raven, crab, frog, wolf, and grizzly bear. 

R loves to paint and she went right to work on this project.  If you are a regular reader, then you know that R likes to do her own thing!

 When she was finished, she told me her totem pole is a scarf for C's animals!!!  She cracks me up.  I couldn't get her to smile or do anything other than be silly for this photo!

Our next step for this project is making up stories to go along with the totem poles.  I'll post them soon.

I am linking this to stArt at A Mommy's Adventures and Kids Get Crafty at Red Ted Art.