Sixth Grade
Worksheets
The Inuit: People of the Ice
In Canada, the Arctic is a barren land of snow and ice in the winter. In the summer, it's a place of long days and incredible beauty. It is a place where few people choose to live, but there are some people who call this place home. The people are the Inuit.
The Inuit are descended from people who crossed the Bering Strait to come to North America from Asia. Eventually they encountered another Arctic group, the Tuniit. The Tuniit were a tall, strong people, but they were easily frightened and did not have good weapons. The Tuniit culture declined and disappeared between 1200-1500 A.D. Meanwhile, the Inuit thrived.
Inuit homes were simple. During summer, they moved around a lot and lived in tents made of hide and whale bone. In the winter, their homes were dug below the surface of the ground and built from blocks of packed snow. The blocks were placed in a spiral arrangement with a domed roof. This type of house is called an igloo. Some Inuit built houses dug into the earth with sod covering the roof.
