205. Story - Working at the Mill

This is hard work, I said after making a mitten. Life on the Mill is hard! I feel bad about being owned, and working for 12 hours! Every day when I came home, I am dripping with sweat and always tired!!

All of this hard work started when I was six. I begin working with my parents. Every day I was either getting hurt, or very sick. I told my parents that I had to stop working, but, they told me how much money they needed, so I agreed. Every day has been a nightmare!!

I wish that one of the machines would break down so I could go home. I begin working on a scarf when I had an idea, I could make the machine which I was occupying break down, so I did not have to work. I told my parents my idea, but they told me to put the idea out of my head!!

That night, I thought about my idea, and suddenly, another bright idea had come to me! Instead of making the machine break down, I can pretend to be sick, but I remembered that you had to stay home if you were sick on Sunday because the church was on Sunday!! I began to scheme.

I had an another alternative idea!! Maybe if I could get hurt, I would be fired! But then finally, I thought about my family, and how much we needed money, so I decided to throw all the ideas apart. I knew there was only one thing for me to do. I had to keep on working at the Mill!! No breakdowns!! No getting sick!! And no getting hurt!! From that day forward, I made up my mind to keep working on my job.

204. Christopher Columbus

                           Christopher Columbus Writing

                                                    (Wednesday, September 14, 2016) 

Today when I was the watcher, I noticed that the boat has stopped moving!! I and the other men rushed to the side of the boat to see what was wrong! It turned out that the seaweed that was under the boat grew so long that the boat gotten stuck!!

I went to the captain and told him that the boat got stuck. The captain rushed outside and he told his men to come up with a plan. I remember when my toy boat fell into the water and my mother helped me get the boat out.

I told the captain my idea and he told me to do it. I told the men to grab a sail that we weren't using and use it to fish it out. When the seaweed was out we used the seaweed as paddles, and when they were grabbing hold of the sail they also got some fish!

The captain and the men all thanked me and we continued our trip to India. After the situation was over I went back to be the Watcher. Later that night the captain called all of us and he praised my idea and that was very generous!!

203. The Iditarod!!

I can't wait to run the Iditarod again! Me and my owner had been practicing for months and the race is  tomorrow! All of this hard work is finally going to pay off!! Oh, sorry, I didn't introduce myself! My name is Snowy, Snow for short!! My owner, Shirley B. Hampton is a veteran, that means that we have ran the Iditarod many times and that we know the trail very well. Me and Shirley are packing up for the, we need to be!! I did my exercise and ate my food 1 I heard one my comrades growl in pain!! Me and Shirley rush to my comrade Racer’s side!!

Shirley discovered that he was sick and that he couldn't race! She said that it was okay and she was about to put me in a harness, when, Razor stood up and walked over to the side waiting to be hooked up! Shirley said “ If you want to do it this bad, you could do it!!!”  So, I got hooked up and we got at the starting line and boom, we took off running like we have never run before! We were close when Shirley spotted a moose! we approached the most with, and a  musher go past us! we took the same route he took and safely got past  moose!!

Shirley came over and made sure that we were not hurt, then, we went on with the race!! We saw a musher up ahead, and we gained speed, we went past him and Shirley looked behind her, which was a mistake, because there was a tree right in front of us! I noticed it, and I went to the side, but, the sled tipped over, and Shirley fell out! Luckily, A musher came over. We all looked at Shirley and wondered what happened!!

Me and the rest of the team circled around Shirley and we were all feeling sad, when Shirley said something! We all “cheered!” We waited for Shirley to get up and when she did, she begin the race again!While I was running the race again, Shirley shouted “Gee” and I thought that she lost her mind, because it was a dead end!! I stopped myself, and Shirley came over for a closer look, and she saw the dead end and said “Thank you Snowy!!” I was very pleased!! I ran faster than ever, pushing through the snow to our victory!!!!!!

202. Should Togo Get Credit

My opinion is that all of the dogs should get credit because, Balto ( the dog) wasn't the only one who was riding the Iditarod and Togo did run 350 miles, but, all of the dogs tried their best and they worked together. The mushers also fell into hard times and they all did their part so the other dogs and mushers should have credit!!

In fact, if Balto and Togo couldn't make the race, the mushers would try to get them going, because children were getting sick and dogs had to do it so if another dog team were in this situation, they would have to go, because of all the people getting sick in Nome, Alaska !! All the dogs have to be honored and, just because Balto was first, it doesn't mean that he should be honored!!

All of the dogs volunteered and they were determined, brave and also were very careful not to keep the serum from freezing!! But, the  serum did freeze but, the effect was still the same, so all of the sick people in Nome were getting better, thanks to all of the dogs and mushers who participated in the Iditarod!!

201. September 19,1492

Today, I had to tell my crew that if they found land I would give them 10,000 Maravedis!!

I saw Pedro spying on me when I was talking to the men about the money.

 Yesterday,  I told him that I would give gold bowls, gold blankets, and more!! I do not know how to keep up with all the boasting.

 Some of the men are wondering if I would really give them the gold. I'm also facing many problems.

The king and queen called, and said that the trip will have to stop if we don't find land!

That night, I was wondering if I should tell Pedro about my problems. In the morning, I told one group that if we do not find the money we will be hanged!!

I told another group, that we will get a lot of money!! I hope that we will find India, meanwhile I will try to keep hopes up!!

200. October 9th, 1492

Dear Lanto,

When I was cleaning my room, I saw 3 big white birds, unlike any that I have ever seen before.

I ran outside to see, and I saw people! I went to touch them and they gave us beads, and  other gifts.

I saw a boy who was 10 years old. He and I became best friends. After we finished playing, I heard Pedro and his “master” say that they were going to take 6 people back with them!!

The next morning, I told  Pedro what I had heard and he said that it was true!!  I went to Pedro’s Master and told him not to do so, but he refused.

I saw 6 people climb aboard the boat,but, they kept jumping off the boat and they kept coming back. I was so relieved.

By,

Your friend

199. November 8th, 1492

What are those three white soaring birds from the sky, it looks strange. I wonder…. I know its birds from heaven!!! A s sit moved closer and closer, it did not look like a pretty bird,it looked like it was about to eat us!!

Aaaaaaahhhhhhh! I screamed. I ran to the chief and told him the dream that I had got. Just that moment, I saw the same birds I had saw in my dream, but, instead they looked like cargo ships.

I saw men or what i thought was men. I rushed over to the men, and they gave us beads, bells and one of the men got out their sword and i grasped it so hard that i cut myself!!

I started to like the men but, I didn't forget about the dream that i had. That night, I talked to my Chema. And i said that no matter what i say to my people, they will not listen. I told my Chema to let anything bad happen to me, so my people can understand what i am trying to say.

The next morning, I was taken aboard the canoe. I was sad, mad and lonely, but, i didn't cry. I knew what i had to do, I jumped off the small ship!!

I reached a island and I told the people there what had happened to me. But, they too did not listen.I now spend my days as a spirit still remembering the horrible men!!

198. Immigrants

When I came to America, I knew it was hard work, here is the story!! I woke up and I checked to see if I could go to America. I am going there because of wars, less money, less jobs, and religious freedom. Some people were afraid of the government because the government was too strict and they said “ If you don't agree with us, you will have to leave this country!!”

Some people who escaped the country were lucky, but, the journey was so dangerous because people who had 3rd class or a steerage were unlucky because they had bed service, cabins and there were a lot of sicknesses and lots of bad weather. The people were really suffering, but, at least they could go to Ellis Island to get inspected and they could finally go to America.

On the other hand, the 1st and the 2nd class were living the life of their dreams because they had nice rooms, food, money and not a lot of sicknesses. However, they had inspections at the ship to make sure they were well. The immigrants job’s were mostly farming, bakers, nurses, doctors and blacksmiths.

Once 3rd class or steerage came to Ellis Island, they were inspected to make sure that the new immigrants did not have any injuries because then they can not be put to work. So, if they are injured, they are sent back.

197. Hero or Villain?

Have you ever wondered if Christopher Columbus is a hero, villain or both? As you read on, you will find some evidence for why he is both a villain and a hero.

Christopher Columbus was indeed a villain. One way that Christopher Columbus was a villain was that he was selfish because he promised his crew that if a crew member spotted a sign of gold, he would give them 10,000 maravedis, Christopher columbus lied to them by claiming the maravedis for himself. Another reason that he was a villain was that he stole the Native Americans and the Taino people. He also tricked the Taino people and the Native Americans. He also began acting in an unfriendly way that they did not think of him as an angel.

Christopher Columbus may seem unfriendly but, he is also part hero. As a hero he was a brave because he crossed the whole Atlantic Ocean with himself and his crew. He is also an excellent navigator, he traveled without any map because the place was not marked. He traveled by the guide of the ocean and the constellations of the stars.

In conclusion, Christopher Columbus is a villain and a hero. We still celebrate his bravery as a day called Christopher Columbus Day. He had a lot of pressure on him, but he did what no other person did, he went West to find East so he could go to India.

196. Frogs And Koalas

In the steep mountains and thick forests, a group of toads are lounging on the rocks and trees. These little creatures, are being hunted almost everyday!! In another region, halfway across the world, a group of  koalas, sweet, but feisty, are jumping  from vine to vine! What they don’t know, is that these poor little animals are also being hunted!! Why are these innocent animals being hunted? and, Why are people hunting them?? In the next paragraph, these questions will soon be answered!!! We will also talk about the similarities and differences about frogs and koalas keep reading to find out the facts!!

Surprisingly, frogs and koalas have many similarities, let me tell you about some of them. Both frogs and koalas are vanishing because loggers are cutting down their habitat and the poor animals have nowhere to live!! Another similarity, is that both animals need protection from the dreadful loggers and the horrible pollution because all animals and human beings need to live in a cleaner environment!! We humans pollute the water and,if we continue to do so, then we are going to say, good-bye koalas and toads!! And they both live in trees because, well, trees are frogs and koala’s habitats and as i told you before, loggers cut down the trees and the frogs and  koalas won’t have a home to live in!!

Those were some similarities  about frogs and koalas!! Now watch out for the differences!! Koalas live in Australia, and frogs live in Ecuador. Another difference is that frogs are amphibians and koalas are marsupials. An interesting fact is that  koalas eat 2 ½ eucalyptus leaves and frogs eat mosquitoes and other small insects!! Another is that Ecuador, has over 417 types of frogs, on the other hand, there's only 1 type of koala on Australia!!

In conclusion, koalas and frogs have many similarities and differences but scientist are helping both animals have a better life, by making sure that koala’s and frogs are in a safe and secure environment!!

RESOURCE:
FROGS AT RISK and FOLLOW THAT KOALA!!  BY: CHRIS JOZEFOWICZ.