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Plymouth Plantation was so much fun! It was a little like I expected, but not a lot. It was better! First, when we got to Plymouth town, where people live now, we walked around and then we went on the Mayflower II. It was really fun and very interesting. We met a lot of people in costume and they talked like they would talk in 1600’s. We also went into the master’s cabin where we met a woman who answered a lot of our questions.
When we got to the actual plantation we went to a Wampanoag Home site. We met people there who were living like Native Americans would in the 1600’s. They were there to teach people who came how their Ancestors would have lived.
After that we had a fire drill and then we went to dinner. For dinner the children had to serve the grown-ups and we had Turkey Pottage, which is a kind of pudding with turkey and beans. Then we had bread that soaked all the pottage up and some cooked carrots with cheese and grapes. For dessert we had pear tart and for a drink we cider.
Then after that we did some nighttime activities. First, we got to play some 16th century games. After that we went over to two deserted pilgrim houses that still had stuff in them and we got to look around and play with some of the stuff. The next activity was writing with quill pens. The catch; you had to write with 16th century letters. It was really fun. The last activity was three people getting to dress up as pilgrims and guess who got to dress up as the pilgrim woman? Yours Truly! It was really cool. I got to wear all the petticoats and everything! After that we went to sleep and had a snack. I woke up really tired because we had to wake up at six thirty! For breakfast we had bagels and juice. Then we got to go to the gift shop and get things. I got some candy and an arrowhead for me, a stuffed animal for my sister, and a cookbook for my mom and pirate figures for my dad.
Then we watched a movie about the pilgrims and the Indians and then we got to go to the plantation itself! It was really fun and interesting. We got to go into all the houses and we met William Bradford’s wife Alice!
After that we went into a little tent and had a pizza lunch with lemonade and cookies. Next? Bye Bye Plymouth and hello five-hour trip back to New York!
I think my favorite part was walking around the plantation and looking inside all the houses. It was a little bit like what I expected. I hope I can go again!

On the ship the Amistad,
I wait.
Wait for things to change.
To get better. To go home.
I think of home, and I wait.

This is one of the poems that a kid wrote in Ms. Edinger’s
House for a project that they did on Forced Immigration.

They did a lot of other things, like reading their teacher, Ms Edinger’s book. Ms. Edinger’s book was about a girl named Sarah Margru Kinson, one of the four children on the ship the Amistad.

Also, one of the other students, whose dad is from Mali, Africa, brought in some cloth, bags, necklaces and jewels.

Also, a poet named Natasha Trethewey came into the children’s class and read them some of her poems. After that, they wrote a poem together about Sarah Margru Kinson and then each of them wrote a poem a bout another person on the Amistad. The Amistad was one of the last slave ships to travel across the Atlantic before slavery was made illegal. A few weeks later, Natasha came in again to listen to the poems that the kids wrote.

Another thing that happened and that had to do with forced immigration was a slideshow that the kids saw. It had to do with Olavdah Equaino and their teacher. It had to do with their teacher because she lived in Sierra Leone and she took pictures that she put on the slideshow. It had to do with Olavdah Equaino because he lived in Sierra Leone and he lived in Africa and he got made into a slave.

“ I thought that this unit was interesting and I learned a lot from it,” said one of the students in Ms. Edinger’s class.

“I thought that the curriculum and ideas that my teacher came up with were amazing and I had a lot of fun learning about forced immigration,” said another one of Ms. Edinger’s students.

Maybe when Ms. Edinger’s book comes out, you can read it! This took place in New York in 2007, from January all the way to the beginning of March.

It was a lot of fun!

Next Thursday we are going to Plimouth Plantation! I am very exited. I hope that it will be a lot of fun. I hope that there will be people dressed up there so I can really see the kinds of clothes that people would wear at that time. I also hope that there will be people that can answer questions and talk to you about what life was like at that time in the world. I would also like to know about what children did at back then and I hope that we can do a few of the things that they did. I also hope that we will be able to try out some of the things that people did and had when they immigrated to America. I would also like to see houses from that time. It may also be fun to try some of the food that children would eat back then. I would also be very happy to touch and play with some toys that the children of Plimouth Plantation would. I also hope that I can play some games that children of that time would play. It would be very fun to look and even go on a recreation of the Mayflower and see how the pilgrims would live on it. It would also be great to learn about the first Thanksgiving, how it started and what kind of food they would eat at it. I expect a lot and I hope that it will be a lot of fun. Now where is my suitcase?!

Jabberwocky is a poem by Louis Carroll. If you don’t understand it, that’s OK, because it is supposed to be common nonsense. Here is the real poem:

Jabberwocky

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mom raths outgrabe.

‘Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!’

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought–
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

‘And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!’
He chortled in his joy.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe

It means that there was a boy that had to kill the “Jabberwock”, did it and brought back its head.

Here is my version:

Hicklywocky

Twas wester, and the slobbery tathes,
Did wabber and wobber in the wabe.
All bickening were the vobodos
And the mom raths outgrabe.

“ Beware of the Hicklywock, my daughter!
The tails that wack, and the wings that flap.
Beware the vooddoob cat and shun
The furauscous wadersnatch!

She took her vorple staff in hand,
Long time the fumascous foe she sought,
So rested by the tum-tum rock,
And sat awhile, and thought.

And as in deeperous thought she sat,
The Hicklywock, with a tail of ice,
Came pushing through the darky wood,
And groloped as it looked around twice.

Three five! Three five! And deeper and deeper,
The vorple staff went clopper-clop.
She left it dead, and with it’s head,
She went halluphing back.

“ And hast thou silenced the Hicklywock?
Come to my arms, my fleamish girl!
O Frambruous day! Kahoo! Kahay!
He worpled in his joy.

Twas wester, and the slobbery tathes,
Did wabber and wobber in the wabe.
All bickening were the vobodos
And the mom raths outgrabe.
I hope you liked it!