Teresa

Worthy
Alaskan Curriculum
ALST 603
Script to accompany the ‘Kobuk River as seen through Go Home, River’ slide
show
** Slides can be found at this address:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4o9LC3-O28PdURMbjQxT1JhNEE/view


*Before presenting the slideshow read Go Home, River by James Magdanz with the
whole class and talk to them about how the book is set on the Kobuk River in
northern Alaska.

Objective: Show students what the Kobuk River really looks like and what modern day
travel and life on the river are today.

Enduring Understanding: Alaska is a large and beautiful state populated by a diversity
of cultures and communities.

Grades: 2-4

Slide 2-3: (Read book page on slide) Do you remember what river that is that the
boy and his family live on? The Kobuk River. Today I’m going to show you what that
river really looks like and what travel and life look like on the river today.

Slide 4: The Kobuk River is in far northern Alaska above the Arctic Circle. To get
there from Anchorage you would first need to fly to Kotzebue and then to one of the
smaller villages on its banks.

Slide 5-9: This is what the Kobuk River looks like on one of those flights.

Slide 10: People have lived in communities along the Kobuk River for 10,000 years.
Today people live in five villages along its banks. (From Kobuk Valley Nat. Park Site:
https://www.nps.gov/kova/learn/historyculture/giddings.htm )

Slide 11-12: Noorvik is the village closest to the ocean.

Slide 13-14: Next is Kiana, which sits were the Kobuk and Squirrel Rivers meet.

Slide 15: After that comes Ambler.

Slide 16: Then Shungnak.

Slide 17: And then Kobuk.

Slide 18: Something all of these river villages have in common is their Inupiaq
heritage, same as the family in the book. (Read slide). Which of these values did you
see the family show in the book? (Students can reference text if they want).
Teresa Worthy
Alaskan Curriculum
ALST 603
*Information on values was taken from the Traditional Values of Alaska Poster.

Slide 19: They also all rely on the river for food just like the family in the book. Here
are villagers in Kobuk with a net full of whitefish. Remember how the mother in the
story prepares this with seal oil for her family?
*Picture used from Alaska Magazine
https://www.alaskamagazine.com/contests/alaska-photo-contest/readers-choice-
submissions/248861-thomas-tessier-2015-05-07-13-53-47/

Slide 20: In the story the boy and his family start their journey by traveling up the
river to its source, where the river begins. This is also known as the headwaters.

Slide 21-22: This is a real place called Walker Lake.

Slide 23: From here the family then begins their journey down the river and out to
the sea.

Slide 24-32: This is what the Kobuk River looks like today. Apart from the airplanes,
motorboats, cabins, and modern communities, the river is relatively unchanged
from what the boy and his family would have seen while traveling down the river
150 years ago.

Slide 33: The boat the family takes up and down the river is called and umiak, which
is similar to a modern day canoe. It was likely made of driftwood and skin.
(http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/aborig/watercraft/wau03eng.sht
ml )

Slide 34-36: Today most people take motorboats up and down the river, but some
people still travel in canoes, packrafts, or kayaks.

Slide 37-38: (Read slide). For the most part, camping along the banks of the river
hasn’t changed. People still camp on sand bars, have fires, appreciate the nature
around them, and sleep on the ground, except now they are normally in a tent.

Slide 39-40: Or they will sleep in cabins they’ve built along the river.

Slide 41: Toward the end of their journey the family comes to the delta of the Kobuk
River. The delta is where the river separates into smaller channels and meets the
ocean. In the story the father explains this by saying “the river ends with many
fingers.”

Slide 42-44: This is what the Kobuk Delta looks like from a plane. Can you see what
the father meant when he said the river ends with many fingers?

Teresa Worthy
Alaskan Curriculum
ALST 603
Slide 45-46: When the family finally reaches the trade fair they were on a beach 10
miles north of modern day Kotzebue.

Slide 47- 48: Today people will still come to Kotzebue for supplies and goods but
they will normally take an airplane and buy the things they need from the bigger
stores that their smaller communities lack.

Slide 49: So what do you think, is life really so different on the Kobuk River now
than it was 150 years ago? How is it the same? Would you want to live in this part of
our state?