Prathik Velagapudi
Mr. Barber
Irwin Academic Center
5th Grade
A Day in the Life of the Inuit
Introduction
My name is Akycha
Which Means Sun God
I am part of the Inuit tribe
My family and I live in the Canadian region of
North America
This is my story …
Journal Entry #1: Housing, Winter
Brrrrrr… It was cold working out in the harshest of winter to build a
house. My family and I were working to build a temporary shelter
which would take about an hour or two. This temporary shelter is
called a igloo. We are building it out of blocks of ice. Our regular
shelters are tents, they have fur on the outside. The reason our
family needs temporary shelter is because we have to follow our
food source. It is hard to find a place that has a lot of food around so
our family and others are nomadic.
http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/fp_
groups/fp_inuit2.html
http://www.visualphotos.com/image/
1x5073075/inuit_building_an_igloo
Journal Entry #1 Clothing, Winter
Ahh, it’s much warmer with this thick fur jacket on. The thick warm
jacket was build for the cold. It had some caribou fur to make it sooo
warm here, well for the Arctic winter. The caribou fur is what I would
prefer to wear simply because it is the warmest of them all, and suits
the winter in the Arctic best. I could wear other materials such as
seal skin, whale skin, and walrus fur. In the winter I wear two layers
simply for the fact that it is coooold in the arctic. The inner layer
faced inside and the outer layer faced out. I also wore a parka, or a
sort of wind proof jacket with a hood. It keeps me warmmmm.
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/online/ http://www.pulaarvik.ca/youngfa
exhibitions/winter/inuit_costume.aspx
milies/tradClothing.html
Journal Entry #1 Food, Winter
Twang!!! That was my arrow hitting the Caribou with precise aim. I
went to go get the animal and return home to eat. I wanted to hunt a
whale but I decided to hunt a caribou since we needed the skin.
There were many uses to one animal and our family and others
would use it wisely. The Caribou was used for food and for the skin.
The skin on the caribou was the warmest around. The whale has a
few uses as well, for the skin, muktuk, and oil. The walrus was
helpful as well, it was used for ivory and meat.
http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/fp
_groups/fp_inuit3.html
http://animal.discovery.com/mammals/caribou/
Journal Entry #1 Tribe
Characteristics, Winter
Yay! I can finally hunt! Those girls must be so jealous, all they get to
do was clean huts, sew, process food, and cook. Uh oh, neighboring
tribes were coming, dad told me to be calm and nice with them. Hi I
said, they said hi also. I asked if I could trade something and they
replied what do you want to trade? I said some fur for food. They
agreed and I hurried back home.
I was at the
border of
Canadian
Inuit territory
and Aleut
territory.
http://www.snowwowl.com/peopleinuit2.html
Journal Entry #2, Terrain Inuit live
on/in/near, Winter
Crack! Whoa! Help Help I called. My dad came and helped me up.
That’s why I shouldn’t run on ice especially thin ice. There is ice but I
have to watch out for thin ice. My family lives above the Arctic tree
line, so not many plants or trees could live past that line because it
was so cold. Hmph I wonder who named that. The ice is usually flat
and strong. I get water from some lakes, ponds, and rivers, all of
that is good freshwater.
http://www.allaboutshoes.ca/en/ourboots/overlay2.php?sub_section=910&contextual_image_shape_
display=&image_array_position=1&target_table=our_boots&heigh
t=340&width=670&contextual_image=contextual_image
http://www.greenlandexplored.com/Tours/Greenla
ndDogSledAdventures/GreenlandDogSleddingInfo
/tabid/91/Default.aspx
Journal Entry #2 Ecosystem of
Inuit, Winter
Chah, Chah, Chah, Chah. Finally I can plant my own Arctic Willow
Tree. Even though it won’t be useful to eat, it’s just for decoration. We
get our food from the animals. Most of the animals here eat other
animals for food. My mom told me that all life starts from a seed and
later plants. Mom said all animals have to eat plants first to survive,
then later another animal can eat that animal that ate the plant. And
then our family and other family’s share the polar bears, seals, caribou,
and walruses. Since most of the animals here eat other animals I don’t
know where the plants come from.
http://animal.discove
ry.com/mammals/pol
ar-bear/
http://www.treeplantflowerid.com/Salixpurpurea.php
Journal Entry #2 Common Plants,
Winter
Ahh! My plant grew very good for the past two days. I chose to grow
the arctic willow my favorite plant. All plants that grow in the arctic
stay low to avoid harsh winds. That’s what dad said and he’s a
genius. Wildflowers also sneak in to places. I figured out by watching
closely that the caribou and musk oxen eat the wildflowers for food. I
also eat some of the wildflowers. Mom uses wildflowers for boots,
clothing, and floor mats. Lichen and mosses grow here too, they
grow in clusters, as I observed, to grow better. Dad said that they
used to eat caribou moss when other food was scarce. “Come here
Akycha we are having caribou moss for lunch”, said my mom.
http://lucasgarcia1.edublogs.org/
http://www.marinebio.net/marinescienc
e/04benthon/arclife.htm
Journal Entry #2 Common
Animals, Winter
Ha Cha! Blood gushed out of the lifeless creature. I gave many
thanks to the creature for giving up it’s life for our families. I used a
stone knife, one of the best, made by my dad, the best weapon
maker here. I also could have hunted for other animals too, like
seals, walruses, or even polar bears. I could have maybe, even
hunted fish though it wouldn’t be sufficient enough. The whale that I
hunted had a lot uses, blubber for the people and for oil, muktuk, for
food, and skin for tents.
http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/fp_groups/fp_inuit3.html
Journal Entry #2 Adaptations,
Winter
“Dad can you tell me what adaptations we had to make once the Inuit
came here?” I said.
“Okay then here it goes. We used fur for clothing, and tents. We also
used igloos for travel. Our families stuck together to help each other.
We were in the cold so we used to use every part of the animals we
could for all the resources available. Things gradually changed, we
thought of religious beliefs later on, so every animal we kill, we have to
say thanks to it’s spirit for it’s resources. Then, well our kind survived.
That’s the story.” said dad.
http://wearecanadians.wor
dpress.com/2011/03/14/th
e-inuit-people-of-canada/
http://www.crystalinks.co
m/inuit.html
Journal Entry #3 Weather
Description, Winter
Oooh, Ahh. Pretty colors! I just saw the aurora borealis. Even
though it was freezing, I just experienced the best part of the sky!
Currently it was about -40 degrees Celsius, that’s about the low
temperature here, but sometimes the temperature can go lower in
winter. It was currently winter where I wouldn’t see the sun for
several months. Hhhhh, oh how I love the summer months, you get
sun, and you can see the beautiful landscape. In the summer
usually the high temperature is 10 degrees Celsius. I love it that
way. Uh oh, there is a storm coming now. In storms fierce winds
blow even stronger than usual. The wind picks up ice particles to
make a snowstorm which makes it impossible to see anything. I’ve
got to go
http://www.trave
inside now.
lvivi.com/whereto-watchaurora-borealis/
http://p6.hostingpr
od.com/@treks.or
g/arcticthe.htm
Journal Entry #3 Weather’s Impact
on Daily Life, Winter
Weeeeoooo. Strong fierce winds were blowing against me I fought
to find food for family and friends. Dad was trying too, but I couldn’t
trust him to find food with these winds as well. I finally saw
something move, I got my bow and arrow ready and Twang! My
arrow hit a polar bear, the perfect food since my family was starving
a little bit, surviving on grubs, and other plants. It was harsh trying to
find food in the winter, even in the summer it was hard to find food,
but not as hard as now. I put the polar bear in my sled, jumped in,
and left for home.
http://www.drg.tv/ProgramDetails.aspx?ProgramDetail=11140
http://thegoldenspiral.org/2009/04/09/ne
ws-from-the-north-4909/
Journal Entry #3 Survival
Strategies, Winter
Zpppppppp. I closed the thick two layer fur jacket up to fight the frigid
winter of the Arctic. I went outside to hunt. It was very windy but I had to
find food for my family and others. It was also foggy due to the storm,
and worst of all the ice was thin. This weather would last for winter, the
wind would come any day, and the fogginess comes from the blizzard
which happens in winter. I carefully placed my foot in the right places, I
took out my goggles, which make it more clear. I then trudged many
places to find food but could not find any, I even asked the neighboring
tribes but they also didn’t have much food. Then I hurried back home to
deliver the news. Our family and others had to eat lichen, and moss. I
love eating lichen and moss, but I would miss seal, fish, walrus, and
http://thegoldenspiral.org/2009/04/09/ne
polar bear.
ws-from-the-north-4909/
Reflection, Future Plans
& Outlook for Inuit
In the future I wish to become an expert hunter. Hunting with precise
aim. I will need to practice but at the moment, with all the weather
being bad, I can’t hunt, but on the bright side I can practice aiming
and shooting at my target. I also want to be a awesome carver like
my father. He made the best weapons for everyone to hunt, so now I
want to be an expert carver, carving the sharpest weapons, and
maybe even create a new weapons. There are also problems that
stop me from accomplishing my goals. For one the weather in my
region is making food scarce. We have to reside eating plants. The
animals are dying alone by disease. That stops my goal of being an
expert hunter. Also I want to be an expert weapon maker. The
whales are leaving or dying because of bad weather, and I need
their bones to make weapons. Although I can use rocks to carve
weapons I want to start from the basics. Fulfilling my goals are going
to be extremely hard.
Reflection Outlook for my tribe
Eating moss and lichen is very tasty, but I’m just not used to it. I
always eat animals, such as seal, polar bear, and fish. Hunting
these days wasn’t going well, the animals left because of weather,
or they died because of the weather. And if there were still animals
to hunt the weather was stopping me from hunting them. The
weather was still windy, foggy, and there was still thin ice. I think we
might have to move to another part of my region. The neighboring
tribes however have food, but it is very scarce there too, so they are
also refusing to trade for any food. All is bad here but moving should
be a good choice.
Reflection, Self Evaluation
I think overall this project went great. The Inuit had a lot of
information that I could find. I did have a few dramatical errors as my
teammates said, I fixed them though. I enjoy writing from different
people’s perspective, and writing from a person in the Inuit tribe was
awesome, I felt like I was doing what he was doing! The things that I
did not enjoy about this project were, well I loved this project.
Nothing was bad about it. I think I did great on this project. I think I
put an immense amount of effort in this project. I had to work on this
project at home sometimes to catch up with everyone. I also crosschecked information a lot more than I needed to (In my opinion). I
think I would give myself a 95 because I think, and my teammates
said, that I wrote too much and it felt like an essay. That would be
some points off for me, but I just love writing, I think I brought some
of the readers in my story, I also put some pictures in my
presentation so I think my grade would go higher a bit.
The End,
Any Questions
Sources (Websites)
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http://nativeamericans.mrdonn.org/arctic/inuit.html
http://www.school.eb.com/comptons/article-202845?query=Inuits&ct=
http://www.school.eb.com/comptons/article-9275079?query=Inuits&ct=
http://nativeamericans.mrdonn.org/arctic/shaman.html
http://www.brainpop.com/socialstudies/culture/inuit/
http://firstpeoplesofcanada.com/fp_groups/fp_inuit2.html
http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Brazil-to-Congo-Republic-of/Inuit.html
http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/first_nations_inuit/index.cfm
http://peacefulsocieties.org/Society/Inuit.html
http://www.peacefulsocieties.org/NAR08/080814inui.html
http://www.indians.org/articles/inuit-weapons.html
http://intermediatehuron.blogspot.com/2008/06/family-gender-roles-marriageand.html
http://www.athropolis.com/arctic-facts/fact-inuit-beliefs.htm
http://www.ehow.com/about_6324128_early-eskimos.html
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/192518/Eskimo
http://www.angelfire.com/mt/inuit/transport.html
http://hivulipta.tumblr.com/post/3630427721/water-supply
Sources (Printed)
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Social Studies Alive America’s Past Pages 22-23
Imagine It! Pages 99-119
The Inuit by Suzanne M. Williams
The Inuit by Rachel A. Koestler-Grack
The Inuit by Danielle Corriveau
The Inuit by Jennifer Fleischner
http://www.lvccld.org/library/hot_topics/more.cf
m?db=books&guideID=44&age=3&subjectID=2