As part of their learning about the Native Americans, the 3rd graders in House 44 recently explored primary documents from Indian schools in the early 1900s. They became “Primary Source Detectives” as they looked closely at the documents for details and clues that would help them to discover more about the history of these schools and students. The documents were culled from the National Archives collection in Chicago, where teacher Jenny Madden studied this past summer as part of the professional development program. Jenny spent a week in the National Archives facilities, researching and copying the authentic documents to bring back to House 44. The students discussed the differences of learning from primary documents versus secondary sources or fictional accounts. It is a great lead-in to archaeology, where students will be learning from other primary sources: our artifacts!