My life as a Cherokee

[Shaurya Kumar][Mr. Barber]

[Irwin Academic Center][5th Grade]

IntroductionHi my Name is Dustu… which means

Unknown.

I am part of the Cherokee tribe.

I live in the South East Region.

It is the year 1539

This is my Story…

Housing-SummerJournal entry #1

Today when I woke up my dad was working on our summer house with my mom and brother. I was so excited that I jumped out of bed and said … “I’m coming dad!” As soon as I got to the creek my mom handed me the poles and I started working on the frame. You see my brother had already got to the creek about 30 minutes ago. He was gathering the covering or coating, which was usually wood, bark or woven clothing, which my mom then covered in Earth and Clay. I was making a rectangular frame.

Clothing-SummerJournal entry #1

Moccasins, Breechcloth, Leggings for men

While My brother, my dad, and I were building our houses my mom was making our Native clothing. My brother got decent size moccasins, small Breechcloths, and Puny Leggings. I got the same thing but 3 sizes bigger. My dad got the same thing but much bigger. My mom wove herself some wrap-around skirts & poncho-style blouses made from woven fiber and some from deerskin she also got moccasins.

Moccasins, wrap-around skirt, poncho style blouses for women

Tribe Characteristics-SummerJournal entry #1(Gender Roles)

Men- My dad’s roles were different from my mom’s. My dad went hunting for food, fought war’s, and diplomacy.

Women- My mom did the farming, took care of our property, us. She also made some social decisions for the clans. The women were also landowners.

Kids- I went to school with my brother, and we helped around the house and did some tiny chores. I went hunting and fishing with my dad today. We had toys to play with. Yesterday I also played Anejodi against another village.

Terrain-SummerJournal entry #2

My dad and I were picking a new terrain for our family to live in. My dad and I settled on a very decent, Ordinary land. We settled on ridge and Valley area. With Flat Lands, Rolling Hills, and Gorges. Our new land was obviously in the Piedmont Region. Believe it or not but that’s the terrain that every typical Cherokee lives on or near. I like our new area!

Ecosystem-SummerJournal entry #2

I went into the woods and saw the biggest black bear ever! It looked about exactly 15 feet tall. Of course I didn’t have time to do the exact measurements. I shot it for our main course… and my life. I also hunted down a rabbit as our appetizer. We needed drinks so I collected some berries and squeezed the insides. There was a fresh water pond nearby so I collected some of that too. I shot a bird and we had dessert. (Bird Pie) to be exact.

Common Plants-SummerJournal entry #2

While I was taking a stroll in the forest I saw some interesting plants. Some interesting and common plants I saw were… Marsh Elder, Lambsquarters, Sunflowers, Pigweed, Squash, and Eastern Flint which is also known as… CORN! I picked a couple of each and went back to our house. Luckily I had brought my pocket knife. It was handy to cut off the corn. Some plants we just kept as decorations.

Common Animals-SummerJournal entry #2

I went hunting with my young brother who still 7 years old and I was 10 and 3/4ths. We went into the deep woods. My brother nearly fainted when he saw that 10 foot Black Bear in the river. I aimed and shot. I was showing him some common animals for a school project. He wouldn’t believe me so I showed him. I took my bow just in case. We saw some rabbits, bears, birds, coyotes, deer, fox, raccoon, squirrels, mice, snakes.

Weather-SummerJournal Entry #3

We were playing outside when rain started…Thunder Boomed…The weather right now is a very basic and simple weather. Which is Rain every once in while. Snow in the winter. Humid in the summers. Bouncy weather in the Spring/Fall. In summer we are always looking for some shade because it’s so Hotttttt! In the summers it usually around 90 Degrees to 100 degrees. In Spring it’s from 40 degrees to 80 degrees. Same in Fall. In Winter it’s about 0 degrees to 50 degrees.

classroom20.com

Weather Impact-SummerJournal Entry #3

We don’t really have any bad weather or bad impact. The weather is always or usually good the worst we can have is a tiny flood or a burned house. Someone should make something that absorbs the lightning from the top of a house which safely travels it to the ground. I would call it the lightning pole. We had a tiny flood last week too. My brother went to play in it and got sick. He just has cold. Not very bad. He’ll recover in about 3 days if he’s doesn’t go outside. My neighbors got their house struck by lightning They are actually working on their roof right about now. I’m actually helping them and writing at the same time.

Survival Strategies-SummerJournal Entry #3

I looked up in the sky… I saw some very dark clouds. At that time I figured it was going to rain. So I went inside told mom that I was going to collect some Wood, Bark, Earth, Clay. After I collected some I took some Woven Clothing and made a Waterproof Coating. We rarely have any problems like Earthquakes so we didn’t exactly do anything with our house. I mean Last time we got one was a loooooooooooooooooooooong time ago. Our Waterproof Coating is also very helpful for the heat. It keeps us at a nice and cool temperature. We don’t have to build something that way.

Reflection #1

I think that everything will go fine now. I mean no people have tried to threaten us YET. The weather shouldn’t be a problem now on. My dad will let me do some serious hunting when I’m 12.Like Go hunting for Coyote, and Bear, and couple of other ferocious animals. Sure I shot a bear but I didn’t want it to threaten us. I hope life will be easier than this later on. I also hope I will get an awesome job where we will earn more money and won’t be so poor. What’s this some foreigner came on our land in 1540. He says his name is Hernando De Soto.

Reflection #2

I enjoyed this project. It made me want to put effort into it. I liked studying and gathering research about the Native Americans. I enjoyed looking for pictures and inserting Animations. I really liked the background that I found. I think that I put a lot of Effort into this Project. I think my grade will be around 93%-99%. I hope later on this year we will get more projects like this.

Bibliographyhttp://www.bigorrin.org/cherokee_kids.htm

http://www.telliquah.com/cherokee.htm

http://www.brainpop.com

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherokee

http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/society/A0811701.html

http://www.georgiatrailoftears.com/history.html

http://www.aaanativearts.com/cherokee/cherokee-houses.htm

morningstarstudio9.com

thenewsconnection.com

http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/northamerica/before1500/environment/cherokee.htm