The fourth grade has been deeply immersed in their study of the Lenape, the local indigenous people inhabiting the Philadelphia area 500 years ago. Students are just finishing up their research into their way of life and belief systems. When they visited Churchville Nature Center a few weeks back, they had the opportunity to sit inside a small replica longhouse and examine how it was made. 
This Friday they started their day learning how to lash together two perpendicular sticks. Once they demonstrated they could fasten two sticks together without much wiggle room they then put their ideas and knowledge to work on how they thought a longhouse should be built. Outside their classroom doors, they laid out the dimensions using stakes. They decided on the dimensions of 10 ft. long x 5 ft wide and 5 ft. high to a crossbar. They put a ten-foot-long ridge pole seven and 1/2 feet off the ground. We had an incredibly versatile ladder at our disposal which helped enormously with this part. They then bent green bamboo fronds that they bound together from one side of the crossbar over the ridge to the other sides' crossbar to create a round hoop-shaped roof. Over the next few weeks, they will have the opportunity to add to it and play in it as well.
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