House 43 Digest Online

Striving toward wisdom and putting faith in others

Grandparent and Special Friend Day Interview Questions

Filed under: Interview Questions, Social Studies — Fedonchik at 5:34 pm on Friday, May 8, 2009

House 43 children created a long list of questions to ask their grandparents and/or special friends today. Some of the parents who volunteered in the classroom mentioned that this list of questions were so insightful that they thought everyone should know about them. I hope you enjoy reading through the list, and I hope they come in handy.

PERSONAL HISTORY
-    Where did you grow up? Was it the country? City? Or suburb? What kind of structure did you live in?
-    Did you move to other places during your childhood?
-    When is your birthday? Where were you born?
-    What are your parents’ names? Where were they born?
-    Do you have siblings? What are their names? Were you the oldest? youngest? middle? only child?
-    Where do you live now?
-    Are you a morning person or a night person?
-    Where and when did you get married?
-    Do you have a hobby? If so, what?
-    How old were you when you read your first book?
-    What was your best friend’s name when you were my age? Are you still friends? Why were you friends?
-    When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? Did you fulfill your childhood dream?
-    Did you play an instrument? Do you still play an instrument?
-    Do you like art?
-    Did you go to sleepaway camp? Where was it? What was the name? At what age did you go?
-    Where did you go to high school? college? What classes did you take?
-    What were your jobs? For how long? Did you like them? Why did you choose your job? Which did you like best?
-    What was your first job?
-    How old were you when you first left home?
-    What is your dream job? Why?
-    Do you still work? Or are you retired?
-    What was your favorite thing to do when you were a kid? Why?
-    What is your favorite thing to do as a grownup? Why?
-    What did you (do you) do on rainy days?
-    Do you like cartoons?
-    What do you like most about life?
-    What was the most common invention when you were little? What has changed since then?
-    What big events happened in your life?
-    What was it like during WWII?
-    When and where were your children born? How many? What are their names?
-    Did you like to play any sports when you were growing up? If so, what/which sports? What sports do you play now?
-    Do you know any other languages? What are they?
-    What book are you reading now?
-    How many grandchildren do you have? What are their ages?
-    What do you like doing with your children? With your grandchildren?
-    How did you spend summer vacations? How do you spend them now?

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
-    What type of school did you go to? Where was it? How long was the school day? How many kids were in a class?
-    How did you get to school?
-    Was your classroom similar to mine? Why or why not?
-    Were there bullies at your school? Were you ever bullied at school?
-    What was your third grade teacher’s name? Was she/he nice?
-    What was your favorite teacher? Why?
-    What is your favorite memory of 3rd grade? Your worst memory?
-    Did you like to go to school? Why or why not?
-    Did you like to read? What books? What authors? Do you read now?
-    What was your favorite subject in school?
-    What was your favorite activity in school?
-    What was your favorite part of school?
-    What type of student were you?
-    What were you best at in school? What were you worst at?
-    Do you continue a friendship with anyone from grade school?
-    What was your favorite school year?
-    Did you have grandparents day at your school? What is your favorite grandparents day activity at Dalton?

NEW YORK
-    What is your favorite place in New York? Why?
-    Where is the place in New York that you dislike the most?
-    What was New York City like when you were a child?

PETS
-    Do you have a pet? If so, what? What was it’s name?
-    Did you have any pets when you were younger?
-    What is your dream pet?

TRAVEL
-    Where have you traveled?
-    What is your favorite place to travel?
-    What is your favorite continent? How many have you been to?
-    Where did you travel with my mom/my dad?

FAVORITES
-    What was your favorite thing to do when you were little?
-    What was your favorite food growing up? What is it now?
-    What was your favorite movie growing up? What is it now?
-    What was your favorite book when you were my age? What is your favorite book now?
-    What was your favorite color? What is your favorite color? Least favorite?
-    What was your favorite music? What is your favorite music? Least favorite?
-    What is your favorite store?
-    What is your favorite animal?
-    What is your favorite type of flower?
-    What is your favorite type of dessert?
-    Who was your favorite president? Why? Who is your least favorite president?
-    Who is your favorite artist?
-    Who is your favorite musician?
-    What was your favorite toy growing up?

Archaeology Reflection

Filed under: Archaeology, Social Studies — Fedonchik at 2:59 pm on Friday, April 3, 2009

The following is a reflection of the first phase of House 43’s experience as Junior Archaeologists. First the children reviewed the roles and responsibilities while at the dig site. While we typed their thoughts and projected them on the SmartBoard, the children worked together to create this guide to 3rd grade excavation. This was a group activity where one child would start a definition for a specific role and then the rest of the class would help to refine the definition. Lastly, each child remarked on his or her favorite memory of excavating.

3rd Grade Excavation: Roles and Responsibilities

Washer: When an artifact is found, the washers dry brush if the artifact is metal, paper, leather or bone; or wash the artifact if it would not rust, like pottery or gold. The washer’s job is to make sure the artifact is clean and there is not dirt all over it.

Excavator: When you are an excavator, your job is to dig up the artifacts from one square (quadrant) at a time, and you also have to get the dirt onto a plate and hand it to the screener. The tools you use to excavate are a trowel and a brush. When you are using the trowel you have to use the side to dig smoothly. Once you find an artifact, you brush it off so you can see it clearly.

Recorder: After an artifact is washed, it is brought to the recorder. The recorder stamps a card and writes what level the artifact was found in, what square it was in, and a description of what the artifact looks like.

Mapper/Logger
: When an excavator finds an artifact, the mapper sketches the artifact on a sheet of paper that divides squares A, B, C, and D. They draw the picture in the area of the square that the artifact was found in. The logger writes down a description of the artifact that was found, and the name of the square.

Screener: The screener takes the plate from the excavator and puts it in the screen and shakes it into the giant wooden box and checks that nothing small was missed by the excavators. As you dig deeper the dirt is easier to screen, and falls more quickly through the screen. You need to be careful to hold the screen over the big box. Be sure to close your eyes until the dust settles!

Our Memories …

“The first artifact we found in our archaeological dig was very exciting for me.” (LB)

“When we found the firearm, it was lying on the side of the box.” (LCR)

“When we found the huge axe that covered A and C it was cool because it was really big.” (DT)

“When we found the big swords it was cool because they were big and one was in a sheath and they were also still very, very dangerous.” (BR)

“When we found a box, and when we opened it there were a lot of spices in it and it was cool because you could still use the spices and they smelled. There was cinnamon, and it smelled like cinnamon.” (ZP)

“Going down to archaeology for the first time was really fun because it seemed really different and we’d never done it before so it was cool to start.” (CM)

“When we found the only club it was heavy to hold and it was scary to hold.” (OF)

“My favorite memory from archaeology was when we found the first artifact because I never thought that we would find something so quickly just like that.” (LA)

“I liked when we found that big helmet.” (MR)

“When we found something that looked like a folder and we opened it up and there was a small painting inside. It was really cool because it was the first time we had ever found anything on paper.” (MG)

“My favorite memory from archaeology was when we were getting our smocks on, Neil was telling us that the dirt was getting less and it could fall down more easily, and if you held it over yourself it would fall on your shoes. I felt like a real archaeologist.” (OGP)

“My favorite memory of archaeology was when we finished digging all the dirt out of the box and we were excited that we found all the artifacts.” (EA)

“My favorite memory from archaeology was washing the first and only crystal we found. It was a really cool crystal and it was so shiny.” (NC)

“My favorite archaeological experience is when we didn’t even start digging, and we saw a movie about how to be an archaeologist and I felt really excited that we were going to do this project. I felt like it was going to be really fun.” (FB)

“I remember washing a dagger and it was really fun, but scary. I sort of felt like I was in an imaginary world but I also felt like I might have nightmares. I didn’t.” (RG)

“My favorite part of excavating, was the looks on House 43 students’ faces each time an artifact was uncovered, and how they worked together to get the jobs done.” (JS)

“My favorite part of excavating (or possibly least favorite) was listening to the shouts of utter and complete joy that came from House 43 students as they explained to each other what was uncovered in the last session.” (TF)

Archaeology: Level One Site Summary

Filed under: Archaeology, Social Studies — Fedonchik at 6:07 pm on Friday, March 6, 2009

The following group of paragraphs were written by House 43 as a class. Students offered ideas and sentences to the group while looking at and analyzing the artifacts from level one of our Kashgar, China dig site. The inferences made by House 43 students in these paragraphs present possible explanations as to why these artifacts were found together in the same place. Enjoy!

We think the first level of our site is a merchant’s house or antique store because we found many things that are precious like the jewels, money, and the pottery. There are a lot of different objects here. A merchant is a person who sells stuff. He is like a shopkeeper who travels, like Marco Polo’s father and Uncle. He trades his items for other things. We found Mah Jong tiles and they could be in the house as a game to play or they could be to sell. The box might be a merchant’s wallet for carrying money. The merchant might sell decorations for the house because we found a small dragon statue. We also found a lion statue. We heard that if you pet a lion paw, it gives you good luck. So, he might have it in his house for good luck or maybe to sell for decoration for good luck for the people. Maybe he had lots of good luck charms because merchants need lots of good luck to have good travels and trade. The turtles might have been used for holding chopsticks. We heard that it was not polite to put chopsticks on the table, so the turtle was flat to hold the chopsticks. So maybe the merchants sold the turtles with the chopsticks we found. Another reason it could be a merchant’s house is that we found a lot of coins, but we did not find a lot of money. We don’t know that the person was rich or famous. There are teapots so maybe he sold tea or something that needed to be oiled. If it is a merchant, the merchant painted because there is ink and a paintbrush. Maybe he was an artist.

We also think this might not be a merchant’s house because it seems like a collectors house because collectors collect all sorts of artifacts.  At a merchant’s house there might be lots of the same thing or have items of one theme, but at this house there were lots of different things. Maybe he was artist because of the paintbrush and ink. He or she might have used the flute. Many times instruments inspire artists. It is quite common for an artist to have lots of inspirations and quite a few things for his art. There are a lot of things that he might have used because they look to be in pretty good condition like the round silver bell. Maybe he is a musician because we found a flute.

Level one might also have been a restaurant or a kitchen, a dining room or living room in a house because we found plates, teapots, bowls, chopsticks, vases and decorations. The bicycle could have been used for delivery if it was a restaurant. The flute and games could have been entertainment in the restaurant.

We looked at the coins. There were coins from 1968, 1973, 1975, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1992, 1958, 1967, and 1994.  We know that level one is most recent, but we don’t know how recent level one is. We know that the site is, at its oldest, 15 years old because we found a coin from 1994.

We spent a lot of time calling the merchant a man, but it could have been a woman. We found perfume bottles, some earrings, a necklace, and a purse. Maybe a man and a woman lived here. Perhaps there was even a family. The merchant, or whomever, would have used a bike to travel. We know this because we found bike pedals, bike brakes and reflectors. When we watched a video about Kashgar, there were a lot people who travel with their things on bicycles.

Archaeology – Day 2

Filed under: Archaeology — Fedonchik at 4:01 pm on Friday, February 13, 2009

Your children are enjoying their excavation. We have heard from many parents that their children are LOVING the dig. We are so pleased that your children are sharing with you the process of excavating artifacts. Today, the children shared with me (Julia is with the kids at the site) many items they uncovered. At this point, we are focusing on describing the objects. In a few days, we will ask the children to make inferences about why the artifacts might have been found together. Throughout the experience, the children will test these hypotheses.

Today, the children uncovered….

- A knife or dagger that looked like it had an ivory holder (or scabbard) and handle. Both were off-white in color and were engraved.

- A teapot that was broken in to two pieces. It was an orangey, brown color, like clay without any decoration. It looked pumpkin-shaped.

- An inkpad in a holder that looked like it was made out of china. Inside there was red ink that still worked! There was a print of the stamp indented on the pad. It was of a wormy dragon in the shape of an “S.”

- A coin made of copper. It is a pence, perhaps from London?

- Goblets or cup holders — at least 4 of them. They were decorated with thumb-like indents in them all over. They looked like a golden color. There was no handle.

- Many broken pieces of plates with designs that were light with brigh colors.

- Jade chopsticks. They were green.

- A blueish, green statue. It is an animal figure – unknown. It might be a lion or it might be a dragon or maybe a lion and a dragon mixed.

- A sharp knife in a case made out of camel bone? The case is a beige color with carved dragons on it.

- A bike pedal with an orange reflector.

- Two statues of people dressed in robes. One had a little hair. The other was bald.

- Mah Jong tiles, which are red on the one side and white on the other. There is Chinese writing on the white side of each tile.

- Golden dragon pin. The dragon is curly, sort of like a snake. The pin looks like real gold. The pin was open when we found it.

- Gold cup holders with cracked pieces of blue and white plates (porcelain?) inside. You could see fingerprints in the decorations, so we think they might have been hand-made.

- A dragon with a broken tail. The dragon was green with fangs and had an open mouth. There were scales on the top. The colors are green and white. The dragon was on all four legs — “It was rather cute!”

- Two turtles. One was white and one was green (jade?). They were different, but both were small. They were carved. We think they might be chopstick rests.

- A bag of coins. The bag is red with golden swirls on it. The coins are silver. There are a lot of Turkish coins. One coin had four holes on the edges.

Native American Museum and Feast Photographs

Filed under: Native American Research, Social Studies, Uncategorized — Fedonchik at 3:40 pm on Friday, February 13, 2009

We have posted on the third grade website, on the scrapbook page, photographs from the wildly successful, pride-filled, and delicious Native American Museum and Feast. Thank you to all of our friends, families and community members for supporting the hard work of House 43 students, and for contributing to this wonderful celebratory event.

Click here to view the photographs.

Our First Day Excavating

Filed under: Archaeology, Social Studies, Social Studies 2007-08 — Fedonchik at 6:12 pm on Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Today was House 43’s first day excavating the site from Kashgar, China. We have included some pictures to chronicle the big day. When the children returned to the classroom, we asked them about what they found. Here is a list of what was uncovered today:

- A big pot that looked like a coffee or tea pot with a big handle — the handle was on the top, where it could be held, not on the side

- A box that looked like an eyeglass case with flower patterns that held 5 Indian rupies (paper money) and Turkish coins

- A musical instrument — a wooden flute with designs on it that was “2-1/2 – 4 feet” long

- A teapot-like object — silver — with a lid that could fall off

- A plate with white and blue coloring — “it wasn’t cracked! You could use it now!” The design looked like the design on the blue and white Chinese teacup in the classroom

- Cracked plate in many small pieces with pink flowers and blue turquoise petals

- Silvery box-like object that you could open up in the shape of an oval with a lid. There were petals and flowers on it.

- Gold cup — possibly a vase? — circular shaped, flower design carved cylinder (wider at the middle) without a bottom or a top

- Cement blocks — lots of them

- 2 or 3 coins — one with a 5 on it, definitely foreign. One silver coin was from Turkey

- A pendant, which might have been on a necklace, with a drawing of the Great Wall of China on it

- Little pieces of plates with decorated designs with bright colors

- Brush in a cup — the wooden cup had three-dimensional designs of flowers with stems; the paint brush has a black handle with gold painted designs

- A green cylinder with carvings — possibly jade

Clothing Of The Northwest by CM

Filed under: Native American Research, Social Studies, Student Work, cm — Fedonchik at 1:09 pm on Monday, February 9, 2009

Clothing of the Northwest

My topic is clothing of the northwest coast. I will cover why cedar trees are important for clothing, types of clothing, other types of clothing that are useful for the Native Americans. The northwest is the coast north of California and south of Alaska. The climate is very rainy, so the houses and the things they used had not to rot. That is why they used cedar that I will tell you more about later. This paper is about the Native Americans of the northwest coast is before the European contact. Some of the tribes that lived there are Salish, Hupia, Kalapua and Yakama.

Cedar trees are very important to the northwest coast Native Americans because of what I am about to tell you. In the northwest coast, it is very rainy so wood would rot. One of the things that cedar is used for is houses because of an oil in the cedar stops it from rotting. The northwest is a rainy place. Cedar wood is also a great for canoes and cooking pots. masks and totem poles were also made from cedar wood.  Everything was used from a cedar tree. The long thin roots were used for strong waterproof baskets. Strips of cedar bark are woven in to baskets, hats and mats. When strips of inner bark were pounded with a bark beater the bark turned in to soft long fibers that were used for clothing. Mot of the northwest clothing was made from a cedar tree. All the rest of the clothing was made from other skins for warmer clothing.

Clothing is very useful to the Native Americans. But not as much as other groups. The northwest coast Native Americans don’t wear much clothing. I’ll tell you why. Native Americans of the northwest coast wore almost nothing. IT is that way because of the climate ad location. It was warm, but rainy. It was also very useful for ceremonial wear. It was like that because the Native American were very ceremonial. That was one of the biggest uses for the Northwest coast Native Americans. Half of the clothing was made from materials that came from animals. But almost all of the things that could be used were used. Also somethings were used for special occasions. I’ll talk about that next.

The next thing you will read about is clothing for special occasions and cold weather. To ceremonies the people wore deerskin tunics with designs, fancy leggings, sometimes painted basket hats, or seashell jewelry. Blankets were used a lot. The Chief wore carved headdress with fur, sea lion whiskers and a woven blanket. Maybe even a necklace or bracelet of sea lion whiskers. In colder weather, they wore buckskin leggings, but in the summer they wore doeskin leggings. In the mountains while hunting they wore a simple snow-shoe. In the mountains, they also wore mittens. The used mountain goat wool. Clothing was not the only way Native Americans celebrated their culture. The way they wore their hair also symbolized things, such as strength.

I hope you like what you just read. One of the reasons this was hard is because there was not a lot of information on the northwest clothing of the Native Americans pre-European contact. When the Europeans came, they got stronger metals. They also made blankets out of mountain goat wool. They were called Chilkat blankets. It took at least six months to make one.

The Northwest Native Americans! by ZP

Filed under: Native American Research, Social Studies, Student Work, zp — Fedonchik at 1:08 pm on Monday, February 9, 2009

The Northwest Native Americans!

My paper has a lot of information about how the northwest Native Americans cooked their food, ate it, and got it. The northwest Native Americans did hunt. They hunted fish and deer. They did not hunt other animals because the Northwest coast was near rivers and oceans so they d really didn’t need to hunt. They loved fish oil. They used it for almost everything they cooked. They also loved Salmon. The northwest tribes that I know of are the Hupa tribe, the Kalapuya, Tlinget tribe, the Tsimshian tribe, the Kwakiutl, the Haida tribe, the Nootka tribe, the Makah tribe, the Salish tribe, the Bella Coola tribe, and the Yakima tribe. This was a long time ago and the northwest coast Native Americans live way differently now.

Before I tell you how they cooked the food and what food they ate you need to know how they got the food. The northwest people did hunt. They hunted fish, whale, and deer. They gathered berries, roots, and bird eggs. Clams were gathered on beaches. The northwest people ate a lot of fish like halibut, cod, flounder, and candlefish, and of course salmon. They ate fish because they were close to the rivers and oceans. Sometimes a whale washed up on the beach and the whole village would come out and help the men skin the whale. The northwest people used wooden clubs, traps, nets, and spears to hunt the fish. Nets would catch the fish. Clubs were made out of wood. The men would hit the fish with them. Traps would catch the fish.

They used weirs, gates, and stonewall to trap the fish. My question is what is a weir? It is a fence in the water to trap the fish. Wow. The northwest people are a really good community. They are a great community because each person had a special job. Like the men have the hunting and fishing job.  When I read these books I felt like I was a northwest Native American!

The northwest Native Americans cooked lots of different ways. The northwest people ate with their hands. They cooked on sticks over the fire, made cooking boxes out of wood. The northwest people dipped the fish into the fish oil and ate it with their hands. The fish was cooked on roasted sticks that they cooked over the fire. They did not make pottery. Cooking boxes could not be cooked on the fire because they were made out of wood so they put fish and water and hot rocks until it boiled. Fish rotted very quickly, so the women dried it over the fire and if it were hot outside, they would put the fish out in the sun. They did that for the berries, too. It was so much fun studying about the northwest Native American’s food. They have a great menu because they have so many ways to cook their food. I compared these days to those days, and they have some good ways to cook their food, like cooking boxes are brilliant.

The northwest native people ate a lot of different things. The northwest people had a lot of favorite foods, like fish eggs, salmon, fish oil, whale oil, and deer meat. On special occasions they would even drink fish oil. They used fish oil for almost everything. The northwest people LOVED fish eggs and fish oil. Some fish eggs are now known as caviar. The northwest Native Americans had a big party called Potlatch. During Potlatch the people would come and eat a lot of food, and the host would give presents to everybody. You would not get the same presents. As an example a big chief would get a big present like a canoe or a coat. The host would sometimes give almost everything away. But of course when the host goes to another Potlatch party he would get a valuable gift. The northwest Native Americans have great taste. I love salmon fish eggs are ok but Native Americans are so cool!

The northwest Native Americans have cool ways to cook their food get their food and eat their food. They sound like nice people, don’t they? I want to say that Native Americans ROCK! They had cool ways to survive and cool things to eat. Northwest Native Americans and I are alike. We both love food!

Clothing by SP

Filed under: Native American Research, Social Studies, Student Work, sp — Fedonchik at 1:08 pm on Monday, February 9, 2009

Clothing

I’ll be telling you about what men and women wore, the materials and tools and the decorations and designs of the southwest. The tribes Hopi, Pueblo, Apache, Zuni and Navajo loved in the southwest in the area around New Mexico and Arizona. The climate in a temperate desert is very hot.  The time period was a long time ago, around the fifteen hundreds, before the Europeans arrived.

What men and women wore
In the southwest men and women mostly wore the same clothing.  Girls and boys mostly wore kilts/skirts, similar fringed aprons, leggings, sandals, and belts. The elders wore the same as either the girls or boys, of course in their own size. The men sometimes wore gentlemen clothing which is a garment that hangs down from the man’s waist. The women sometimes wore a manta, which is made of two blankets.  One of the blankets is wrapped around and tied on the shoulder, then the other blanket is wrapped around and tied on the waist.  In the southwest you can see that the men and women usually wore similar clothing, but sometimes they also wore different clothing.

Materials and tools
In the southwest the materials and tools made it much easier to make the clothing. One of the tools used for making the clothing was wooden frames or looms or spindles. For weaving you would also use a comb to make the blankets weave close together and flat. Some other materials were buckskin, wool, turkey feathers and plant fibers.  Some more tools would, of course, be their hands, and they used slender branches to make smooth hard knitting needles. Pinion trees and rabbit weed were dyes. In the southwest you can see that most of the tools were mostly used for weaving and the materials were very different.

Decorations and designs
In the southwest decorations and designs were inspired by ancestors so they were very important to the women who made the decorations and designs. They were very pretty once they were made. They used bold diamonds and zigzag patterns.  They also used plants such as pinion trees and rabbit weed to make dyes of different shades and colors. Some materials like animal skin, plant fibers and turkey feathers were put on blankets or clothing as decorations or designs. The way the baskets and necklaces were decorated and designed was passed down to the girls from their mother’s ancestral tradition. For necklace making stones were used for beads. Bones were made into ornaments. Turquoise was added to make it pretty.  In the southwest you can see that there are many interesting and different ways to make decorations and designs.

Conclusion
I found researching and typing to you interesting, really fun and exciting but also a challenge because I want my paper about Native Americans clothing good enough for you to read. The most interesting thing was writing my first draft!!!!! I was really nervous. Would you be nervous? I got the southwest and I was so happy about that!!!  Would you have wanted the southwest, southeast, northwest or northeast? I couldn’t wait for you to read this paper!! I had so much fun in the prosess!! I am so glad I got to do this amazing project for you!!

Northeast Technology by RG

Filed under: Native American Research, Social Studies, Student Work, rg — Fedonchik at 1:08 pm on Monday, February 9, 2009

Northeast Technology

I am studying technology. Technology is a subject that consists of machines, weapons, clothing, shelter, and, culture. Technology turned from rock caves, to wigwams, to buildings today.  In this paper you will learn about how Native Americans made weapons, houses, and, canoes.  I am studying the Native Americans of the northeast woodlands. They had plenty of food such as deer and bear.  The tribes you will learn about are the Iroquois and Lenapes. I am telling you about time before European contact.

How Native Americans made houses.
Native Americans made wigwams, small circle like houses, and big oval like houses called longhouses.  They made their houses this way because they lived in big families and didn’t move that much.  The Iroquois made wigwams out of upright logs and cross poles covered in elm bark.  Next they made a frame for the walls out of pieces of elm bark by pushing the saplings into an arch.  To cover the house frame, women peeled sheets of elm bark.  The Lenape used elm bark chestnut or reeds to cover the house frame.  Canoes were made out of the same material as wigwams and longhouses.

How Native Americans made canoes
Native Americans made a lot of different types of canoes, for different reasons like war, traveling, and hunting.  The birchbark canoe was made from cedar saplings set close together and tied together with tough fibers or roots. Then they sewed pieces of birch bark together and sewed them to the frame.  The birch bark canoe was used for fishing.  The dugout canoe could carry twenty to forty people.  It was good for sea battles, fishing, whaling, and carrying families.  The dugout canoe was made of one big tree trunk. After removing the branches and bark they burned the dugout canoe out by using many fires. Then they scraped, and hollowed it into shape. The dugout canoe and others were very good for war because of their massive size. The weapons were also very useful for fishing hunting and war.

How Native Americans made their weapons.
Native Americans made all weapons by hand because they didn’t have any machines.  They needed weapons for fishing, hunting, and war.  Sharp stones such as flint and quartz were made into knives, drills, and scrapers.  The Native Americans made bows from slender sticks.  They heated polished and oiled the bow over and over it would bend into shape.  At each end of the bow they cut notches for the bowstrings.  The strings were made of many twists of sinew or tendons.  Men decorated their bows.  When finished the bow stood 6 to 5 feet tall!  Arrows had to be straight otherwise they wobbled when shot.  Native Americans made arrows from hickory, ash, and viberum branches.  To one end of the arrow shaft (the body of the arrow) they bound split feathers.  Some used hawk feathers.  At the other head of the arrow shaft they put a flint arrowhead bound by sinew.  As you can see the Native Americans made all weapons out of their natural environment and by hand.

Just so you know, Native Americans are not like the ones in Peter Pan.  If you happen to know something interesting about clothing tell me.  My favorite part is the third paragraph in which I teach you about weapons because I wanted my topic to be War and Warfare. If you are wondering why I don’t have any clothing in this research the reason is because I didn’t want to.

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