13 Moon Calendar Necklace

Fourth grade students learn about how the Native Americans use the lunar cycle as a calendar.  There are 13 moons in a calendar year, hence the name of the necklace.  Each necklace represents one year.  There are 13 moon beads with 28 seed beads in between each moon, representing the 28 days in each lunar cycle.  The children created patterns between each moon.  Some even used ideas from what is happening in nature at the time of the moon to decide on their pattern.  This shows a great connection to the Native Americans.  They named their moons based on what was happening in nature.  For example, there is the Strawberry Moon and the Maple Sugar Moon.  Can you figure out what time of year those moons happen?

Completed necklaces.

 

Working on a necklace.