third graders learn about how the local Native Americans depended on the sea.

1. Quahogs (clams)

2. Quahogs (clams)
Delicious in stews or steamed
food √ in a big pit.
They used Quahog shells for digging in the
gardens and to scrap out the burnt ashes
from a dugout canoe. The shells also made
tools √ good bowls.They also used a whole shell
like tweezers to pluck out their hair one by
one for special hairstyles.
Quahog made the best wampum
beads. They liked it for the beautiful
wampum √ purple sections and because it was
hard.

3. Fish

4. Fish
They smoked fish to make it last for
the winter or just cooked it over the
food √ fire and ate it then. They would also
add it to stews.
Small fish bones were very good for
tools √ needles for careful sewing like
stitching moccasins together.
They would place a fish into each
mound with the seeds for corn, beans,
fertilizer √ and squash (the “Three Sisters”) to
fertilizes them and help them grow.

5. Horseshoe Crab

6. Horseshoe Crab
They would use the tail for
sewing. It would punch holes
tools √ in leather. They would also use
it for the point of a fishing
spear.
They would put the legs and
insides of the crab into the
fertilizer √ gardens to help the “Three
Sisters” grow.

7. Seals

8. Seals
They got a lot of meat from seals. It
was a good source of fat and
food √ protein and it could feed a lot of
people.
They would take the skin off
clothing √ the seal and make it into a
warm winter fur coat.
They would use the seal bones
tools √ for lots of tools.

9. Cattails

10. Cattail
They ate the roots and the
food √ tubers from the plant, like a
potato.
They could use the fluffy seed
clothing √ heads for insulation in winter
clothes.
The straight cattail stalks were woven
into mats to cover the wigwams in the
tools √ summer. They also used the leaves to
weave baskets and make rope.

11. Seaweed

12. Seaweed
They used some seaweed
food √ to thicken soups and
stews.
They used seaweed as
fertilizer because it rotted
fertilizer √ into the ground and made
compost.

13. Seagulls

14. Seagulls
Seagulls were eaten for their
food √ meat.
They used the feathers for
clothing √ decoration, especially in their
hairstyles.
The beak could be used as a
scraper, the wings could be a fan,
tools √ and the feathers were used on
arrows to help them fly straight.

15. Whelk

16. Whelk
They could get delicious meat
food √ from big whelks.
The shells were used to make tools
tools √ like scrappers, knives, or for making
designs in pottery.
Whelk was good for making
wampum √ white pieces of wampum.