Totem PolesText Box: This year we started reading Joy Hakim’s “History of US,” which is the story of the US from start to almost present. Since we started with indigenous people who walked across at the top of the world, we eventually worked our way into the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest. Totem poles were common among these tribes, and were not used as gods, or idols, or any points of worship, but were used to tell a clan’s story. So, I thought how fun would it be for the kids to make their own totems. So, I went to Lowes and got some landscaping timbers, cut them in half, and gave each kid a four foot section. After we read a little bit about totems, they had to chose four animals to represent something meaningful to them. I let them chose any animal they wanted to...here is what they came up with. Text Box: Audrey chose the following: A Wolf to represent intelligence and leadership, a strong sense of family. A Hawk to represent strength and far-sightedness A Beaver to represent creativity, determination and artistic nature A Leopard to represent stealth and agility Text Box: Spencer chose: A Frog to represent travel A Loon to represent abundance in life A Dove to represent peaceful nature A Monkey to represent strength, fun and playfulness Text Box: Malena chose: A Dragonfly to represent an ever changing life A Duck to represent her love of running and flying A Hippo to represent her love of swimming A Deer to represent her love of blueberries Text Box: Cade chose: A Dragon because it was cool. A Bat because we had them in our house in Costa Rica and he thinks they are awesome A Macaw because they are awesome and cute A Bear because it is cuddly and strong It was interesting to see them chose the animals they did, and explain why. They worked on them for a large part of the week, and we hope next week to go into DC and have a look at some real totems in the museum.