Monday, November 24, 2008

Lewis and Clark

Last month, we read some books we really liked – New Found Land (Allen Wolf), and Streams to the River, River to the Sea (Scott O’Dell). Both of them were about Lewis and Clark’s journey to the Pacific Ocean and about Sacajawea. We also read The Ledger Book of Thomas Blue Eagle, which has art in the style that Indians did when they went to white people’s schools.

Arjuna thought we should make a poster about Lewis and Clark and Sacajawea, so we did. Some of the drawings are in the style of the Ledger Book art.

Introduction: In 1804, Thomas Jefferson asked Meriwether Lewis to cross the country by boat, to try to find the Northwest Passage to the Pacific Ocean, and to see the lands the United States got in the Louisiana Purchase. So Lewis wrote to his friend William Clark, and they went on a great journey.

Here is our poster:






Here are some of the things that happened along the way:

Along the Ohio River, from Pittsburgh to St. Louis, Captains Lewis and Clark assembled their crew. In Pittsburgh, the crew contained 7 people and a couple of soldiers. By St. Louis, the crew consisted of 45 people.




Captain Lewis gave medals to all the chiefs they met along the way.



The meeting with the Teton Sioux did not go well. The Corps narrowly escaped an attack near the river.


Lewis and Clark were at a scalp dance. One of the crew was yipping and partying when he saw a slave woman and her child on her hip. She followed one scalp, one scalp only through the whole dance, as if it would grow back nto a man.




Lewis and Clark stayed at Fort Mandan and met a tribe of Indians called the Hidatsa. There they met a Shoshone girl named Sacajawea. She was married to a trader named Charbonneau. They would need her along the way. So a Shonshone girl was in the crew.





While the Corps was with the Mandan, they abandoned the keel boat and made six dougout cottonwood canoes. they would have to carry the men some two thousand miles.



Sacajawea was trying to give birth to her baby but she could not. Then Lewis gave her a cup of water with the rattles from a rattlesnake. And then there was the little baby, Jean Baptiste.


While they were with the Mandanas, the Corps went on a buffalo hunt. The Indians formed a circle around the herd and shot them. The crew did the same. There was plenty of meat, hide, and hump for everyone.



Seaman was swimming and chasing a beaver. He had almost caught it when the beaver bit him. Lewis could not stop the bleeding.He figured out that the beaver had bitten a vein. It took about two weeks to heal.



On the way to the Pacific Ocean, Sacajawea and the Corps needed more horses. They stopped at a Shoshone village. It was Sacajawea’s tribe. “There they were, my people, my people, my people. Now I can laugh, now I can smile, now I cry. Now I am me. Now I am home!”

At last they reached the Pacific Ocean! 
They stayed the winter at Fort Clatsop.





Pierre Cruzatte only had one good eye. One day on the journey home, he was hunting and thought Lewis was an elk and he shothim in the buttocks.



The next thing we're going to read about is early California history. Maybe we'll make another poster. Or maybe something else!

Mom

Another thing about Bangkok was that our mom got a haircut. Here it is.


She also got a new computer that can take really cool pictures. Here is one of me and her.


The Beach, then Bangkok

About a week ago, we went to stay at a beach house south of Bangkok. First of all, it was really weird to be inside a house! Once we got used to it, though, it was nice! We lounged in bed and watched Singing in the Rain.




There was a great pool. We were the only people there!





It was really fun.


While we were there, we celebrated the Thai holiday of Loy Krathong. It's the end of the rainy season, and everyone lights candles and sets them floating on rivers and streams and in the ocean. They also light paper lanterns and send them up into the night. We did it, too. It was so beautiful. The lanterns were like something in a Miyazaki film.





Then we went to Bangkok to drop our dad off at the airport. He went to Australia for three weeks to a permaculture and water harvesting course. Bangkok was more fun this time. But really our favorite thing about going to Bangkok is getting to eat pizza and drink root beer.




Julie met a giant sheep.We don't really know what to say about it.

So now our dad is in Australia for 3 weeks and it's back to the farm and school.





Saturday, November 1, 2008

Happy Halloween!

Last night was Halloween. It was so fun! We had the best costumes ever.

AJ: I was a samurai. I had a green kimono with flowers on it. I had a sword and a headband. My candy bag was the same fabric as my kimono.


Julie: I was a forest fairy/moon fairy/elf. I had a crown made of leaves and flowers and a beautiful outfit and a blue sparkly cape and my bag had real leaves on it too.


We walked down the hill to the huts. There was a candle lit in the first hut. We went over to it. Our mom was inside and we said, “trick or treat!” She said those things people usually say on Halloween: “Oh! Who do we have here? A forest fairy? Oh! And a samurai!” She gave us some candy. Then she said, “Wait here,” and went to the next hut where there was also a candle. We went over to that hut. She used a different voice and gave us candy there, then went to the next hut. We trick-or-treated at about six huts. She was a different person at each hut. It was great!

We did not get a lot of candy, but it was the funnest Halloween and the best costume Halloween ever!

More Bugs of Thailand: Praying Mantis

Earlier this month, we saw praying mantises being born. They came wriggling out of a brown thing that looked like a bubble or a knob that was stuck to a pole. They came out looking like little yellow-green worms but with two legs. Then they slid down a thread like a spider web. In the next minute, they grew into praying mantises and scurried off. There were probably a thousand of them – no lie. It was the most amazing bug life I have ever seen. - Arjuna







How's Things at Home?


We are wondering how all our friends are. What were you for Halloween? What is happening in school? What are you reading? Who are you hanging out with? Please send us email and let us know. Our gmail addresses are arjunarogers and padmajulie. We really miss our friends and would be happy to hear from you.

Arm Warmers - do they have these at home?

I get to climb around at the construction site. If I climb high, I use a harness.