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Hands-On Learning at Lobo Lodge

Dancing to the beat of drums Wednesday, students from Del Obispo Elementary School explored Lobo Lodge, a hands-on museum celebrating the history and heritage of Native Americans.

The fourth-grade students examined artifacts and deer and rabbit pelts as they discussed what Native Americans’ lifestyle was like in centuries past. They also donned shell and shark-tooth necklaces and straw skirts, and learned a few Indian words.

Students’ enthusiasm was evident in their smiles and comments.

“I’m glad we came,” said Rebecca Marshburn, 9, as she beat a drum with three of her classmates. “I really liked the arrowheads.”

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Lobo Lodge, which opened in early 1995, is part of Capistrano Unified School District’s Indian Education Program. Named for Clarence Lobo, a chief of the Juaneno Mission Indians of San Juan Capistrano, the lodge is at Richard Henry Dana Elementary School in Dana Point.

The lodge was founded to provide a cultural and educational center for children in kindergarten through sixth grade, including the district’s 611 students of Native American descent. It offers free tours to classes from the district’s schools.

“We wanted to give them a real positive identity with the lodge,” program director Lois Madson said.

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Museum presenter and teacher Martyne Van Hofwegen said she incorporates classroom curricula into all of her presentations. During her talk, she takes students on a region-by-region tour of Indian lifestyles, artifacts, music and regalia typical of tribes from the Great Plains to the Northwest.

In California, Van Hofwegen, who is of Choctaw-Cherokee ancestry, focuses on the local Juanenos, or Acjachemem, as they were called before the Spanish renamed the tribe in the 1770s. She explained to students that Indian tribes are different from each other and that they are seldom depicted realistically on television or in movies.

For instance, “Indians don’t say ‘How,’ ” she said. “I want the students to walk away from here with respect for Indians.”

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