The fourth grade has been studying the indigenous people of Pennsylvania known as the Lenape. We traveled on a field trip to Churchville Nature Center this week to learn from skilled guides while traveling through a series of interpretive stations that focused on horticulture, family life, hunting skills, fire making, pottery, food and cooking, and cordage (the making of strings and ropes from natural materials) to learn how the Lenape lived. The students had the opportunity to experience first-hand a little of what is was like to live in our area as a Native American, just before contact with European settlers. The students had a chance to reflect on their visit and offered up some of the following thoughts.
“I think it must have been difficult to keep people alive because they wouldn’t know what was bad and they didn't have good medicines like we have today.” -Clellan
“I think the men and women had really hard jobs. It would be hard for men hunting and also doing what the women say. For the women I think it would be hard to tell the men what to do and planting gardens and watching children.” -Grace
“The most interesting thing was hunting and string making. They made string out of deer tendons!” -Matthew
“I was surprised how the boy, before he went hunting, had to sit and sweat in a sweat lodge” -Brian
“Building a fire was interesting because if you are ever hiking in winter time you’ll know how to make a fire.” -Luca
examining a bear skull
mixing water to crushed cornmeal
trying on a beer skin
learning how a dugout canoe was made
making clay beads
dressing as a Lenape girl
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