Meet the third grade class from Cahuilla Elementary School in Palm Springs.

They've spent months learning about the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.

Today, they're visiting Indian Canyons, ancestral lands of the tribe where those lessons are about to come to life.

-Today I'm going to speak to you in a language that's in excess of 8000 years old, even older.

This field trip, led by Tribal Ranger Wade, is part of a collaboration between the Palm Springs Unified School District and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians.

-The most important, aspect for these kids to come out and is just to learn who we are, to know that we are still here, that we're we dress the same, we go to the same schools, and we shop at the same grocery stores, that we don't live in the canyons or in, in areas outside that we live in homes just like everybody else.

It's a partnership that began about a decade ago as a way to dispel misconceptions and help students understand the region's Native American history.

Tribal leaders came together with school district officials to create a curriculum for local schools.

It is a unit of study of ten individual lessons that teach students things from who the Cahuilla people are to how the water resources are in the valley and how they're used, what trading looked like, little bit about their history.

And artifacts is a big piece of it as well.

-We can eat the fruit from the palm.

And the fruit tastes like dates.

-Ooh, I love dates!

-Good, good.

The program has since earned widespread recognition for one distinctive quality.

It fulfills California state history standards for 3rd, 8th, and 11th grades.

-And that was something that was really important as we were moving forward, because we didn't want teachers to have to teach something additional in the classroom.

We wanted to teach something that was required but unique to our area.

This is soap.

-Oh!

-Thats right, they even had soap back then.

For students, this field trip makes a connection to the tribe.

Their school is named after.

-Instead of just a little picture in a book.

I can actually see it in my eye pictures.

It's wonderful.

I love how, there's so many plants that could help us survive.

Assembly Member James Ramos, the first California Native American in the state legislature, spearheaded an effort in 2024 to require all public schools to teach accurate Native American history.

It was signed into law by Governor Newsom, creating new opportunities for models like this one to reach classrooms across California.

-When you have these kids that come out and they say, oh, that's a that's a quail right there.

That's, that's, lizard right there.

And I know the Cahuilla word for that one or you know, calling out different things and actually comprehending what they're being taught in the classroom.

It's just an incredible experience.

-It's important because, so it's like, you have to know about the past to know about the future.

For some kids, like Vivian, who has roots in the Cahuilla tribe, this trip is even more personal.

-It just feels good.

It feels nice to know that at.

You're originally from here.

-Obviously this is going to turn into a memory, a memory that they get to live.

It's going to be inside of them.

being out here in nature, they're actually getting that tactile experience, calling you all your five senses.

And there's that mystery of what are they going to really see in real life that is not in a book or in a video.

-Well, I've seen all these palm trees, and I learned in the classroom, all these palm trees are called an oasis.

-I always like seeing the reaction of the kids, their eyes just light up.

Their faces are genuine smiles because they're actually interacting.

And so that's very rewarding.

-I also learned that if you see palm trees, there's a good chance of water nearby because you know they need water to grow.

-As the students explore the canyon, they carry more than new knowledge.

They carry understanding.

The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and Palm Springs schools say they're teaching more than history.

They're building a future where Native American heritage is honored, understood, and alive.

California has passed laws addressing Native American education in recent years.

One law encourages school districts to work with local tribes to develop curriculum that reflects tribal history and culture.

Another law requires schools to include instruction about the mistreatment and contributions of Native Americans during Spanish colonization and the Gold rush.

California is home to 109 federally recognized tribes.