New City Elementary School fifth graders proudly showed their models of Iroquois longhouses and shared their knowledge of them on Thursday.  Throughout the day, students in Karen Herskowitz’s Social Studies classes explained to their parents what they had learned about the Iroquois way of life and how they created their version of the tribe’s homes.

Students took turns reading aloud facts about the Iroquois.  After the presentation, small groups of students spoke about how they built their miniature longhouses and tried to make them as realistic as possible.

Kieran gave the details of the longhouse he built with classmates Jack and Michael. 

“The clan symbol is a coyote,” he said.  “We put smoke holes on top.  We put two fire pits for smoke holes.  We made benches for the Iroquois to sit on and sleep on at night.  We put fish up like the Iroquois would to dry.”

Elena, Cayla and Kristen described the interior of their longhouse, which had adults and children inside and a rabbit that was being dried before it would be eaten.  They spoke about the fish in a pond that also would become food for the Iroquois and about the types of animals the tribe raised.

“It was much fun,” said Cayla.  “We’ve been learning about them in school.  It took two weeks to build (the longhouse).”