Ask students if they know about manufactured snowshoes, and those produced today. Manufactured snowshoes have traditionally been made out of bent ash wood for the frame, oak braces, and leather laces. Today s snowshoes usually are made of aluminum and neoprene lacing. During the construction of the ship, The Griffin , La Salle used snowshoes to travel near Niagara Falls, Closer to home, Asaph Whittlesey was elected to the state legislature in 1860 and he snowshoed from Ashland to Chippewa Falls on his journey to Madison. If you have enough snowshoes available, students can use an open area of the playground as a snowshoes area.
Most students can manage for twenty to thirty minutes, with various levels of success.
Bibliography Bleeker, Sonia. The Chippewa Indians. William Morrow and Company, New York, 1955. Kohl, Johann Georg. Life among the Lake Superior Ojibway .