The Tulalip Tribes Charitable Fund has awarded the Renton History Museum a $6,000 grant to continue its free storytelling program for schools in the Renton School District.

In 2010 and 2011 the Renton History Museum offered a Native American storyteller to any school that participated in its Coast Salish curriculum; the Tulalip Tribes Charitable Fund grant will extend that program.

The museum’s Coast Salish curriculum is available for free to third- and fourth-grade teachers in the Renton School District.  Its five units meet the requirements of the Washington state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) and provide students the opportunity to do hands-on study of Native American-made objects in the process of learning about Coast Salish history and culture.

In 2010 and 2011, more than 600 students at eight Renton elementary schools benefited from the curriculum; an additional 500 learned about the oral tradition from storyteller Roger Fernandes.