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My class is studying pilgrims and in that study were learning about mourts relation. We got assigned quotes and we had to illustrate them and my quote was “it is a harbour wherein 1000. saile of Ships may safely ride.” The pilgrims were horrible writers and what I wrote was directly from mourts relation. Heres my card/illustration.

My little Dalton buddies came to my class. We’re writing a blog post about a school called Langston Hughes in New Orleans. My buddies wrote a paragraph about their relationship between house 43 and Langston Hughes. So here they are.

I have learned that in New Orleans there have been bad hurricanes especially hurricane Katrina. I feel that this is a really nice relationship because Donald is a really nice kid. A really fun activity that we did was planting daffodils at Isham Park to raise money so that The Langston Hughes Academy could get good books for their library. I have learned that my buddy’s last name is the same as my first name. My buddy likes the same sports as I do such as Baseball, Soccer, and Basketball.

I’ve got two buddies so heres the second ones paragraph:

I have learned that New Orleans was colonized by the French, that the Louisiana territory was sold by Napoleon Bonaparte to the U.S. government for 15 million dollars, that at one point the U.S was giving out plots of land to the American peoples that won a wagon or horse race to the plot of land. I have learned about Lundi Gras and Mardi Gras and how important they are to the people who live in New Orleans. I have learned about the French Quarter, the Garden District, and the Ninth Ward. My NOLA buddies favorite sport is Football and his favorite foods are Pizza, Gumbo, and Spaghetti and Meatballs. My buddy also loves City Park. We planted daffodils at Isham Park. We planted over 600 daffodils and raised over 2,000 dollars to help the school that our buddies go to buy books. This relationship makes me feel really good inside because I know that we helped our buddy’s school and it is nice to have a pen pal from another state.

This is a cinderella story I wrote.  It takes place in India so some words might be hard to read:

Lakshman’s Lamp

Once there was a brave boy living with his family in a pretty big house with his mother and father.  The boy’s name was Lakshman.  One day since Lakshman was almost 16 he got to get a sword.  There was a big war in India, there were many tragedies but the worst one was that in that war his mother passed away because of it.  A few years past and his father got very lonely and sad, but a few years later a beautiful woman with a son that was close to Lakshman’s age moved into the city.  She was very nice to Lakshman’s father, but Lakshman saw how she treated other people.  But Lakshmans father was too blinded by love too see how she would treat other people.  So soon they got married, but a few years after that Lakshmans father died too.  He died of old age.  Lakshman lost his only real family.  The stepmother made a few new rules that weren’t fair for Lakshman.  But Lakshman lost his room, his things and some of his clothes.  Lakshman couldn’t do anything about it.  And very soon he did everything for his stepfamily like cleaning the clothes, cooking the food.  He also slept in the basement.  He was kind of like their butler.  It was very hard for Lakshman.
Lakshman grew tired and weary because he kept on getting more and more work so he consulted his stepmother. “Stepmother,” he said “you are giving me more work and you are getting lazier.”
The stepmother responded, “I will not tolerate this nonsense.”
Lakshman raised his voice, “You can’t treat me like a slave!”
The stepmother shouted, “I am only doing what is fair for everybody!”
“This is only fair for you, but it isn’t fair for me!” Lakshman responded.
And just then the son walked in and barked, “What is all this shouting for?”
The stepmother slyly answered, “Lakshman was just being a nuisance.”
“That is a lie!” Lakshman yelled.
“Be quiet!” his stepmother hissed.
Lakshman muttered, “I’ll be in my room.”
And after that his grumpy stepbrother waddled back outside.  And the stepmother sat down and tried to go to sleep.  “Lakshman,” she hollered.
“What stepmother?” Lakshman asked.
The stepmother responded, “I want cold water.”
“Coming stepmother,” said Lakshman.  Lakshman rushed up the stairs with a jug of water.  And the stepmother shouted at Lakshman because it wasn’t cold.  Lakshman rushed down again and got the stepmother her cold water.  It was just than that he heard a knock on the door.  So Lakshman rushed down again and opened the door.
“Let me introduce myself I am the Magarajah’s messenger the Maharajah would like you to know that he is having a festival for Diwali, and his daughter will choose a husband.
Just as the stepmother heard that she rushed down.  She said, “Of course we’ll go.”
And the stepmother slammed the door in the messengers face.  “Quick we need to get you ready for the festival,” said the stepmother to her son.  “Lakshman prepare him for the festival!” shouted the stepmother.
“Yes stepmother,” Lakshman murmured.  Lakshman did every thing that was needed.  He got his stepbrother ready.  Ran all the errands and more.  But one day he saw a fancy lamp that was cheap because it was badly damaged so he bought it with his money.  When he got home he got a beating because he had bought something bad.  But finally it was the big night  — it was Diwali.
His stepfamily went off in a carriage but before they went they locked Lakshman up in the basement.  Lakshaman sat in a corner and said to himself, “Now what am I supposed to do, all I’ve got is my old sword and this stupid lamp!” After he said that smoke and steam came out of the lamp.  Lakshman shouted “What’s happening!”  Then he saw that there was a genie.
The genie’s first words were, “What do you mean stupid lamp, this lamp contained an all powerful genie.”
Lakshman cried, “I didn’t know!”
“It’s okay, but what do you want because I can grant you wishes,” responded the genie.
“Well, actually I wanted to go to the festival,” confessed Lakshman.
“Okay,” said the genie “but you need good clothing, transportation and a way to get out of here.”
“Then do your magic,” replied Lakshman.  The genie turned Lakshman’s tattered clothing into a shining kurta, he made the sword gold and shining and gave it a case, Lakshman was teleported out of the locked basement and a horse walked up to the door.  “You didn’t need to shine my sword and give it a case!” said Lakshman in astonishment.
The genie responded, “It was just an extra gift for getting me out of my lamp.”
“Okay, but I have to go now,” said Lakshman.
“Wait! My magic stops at the first sign of sunrise.”  And after that Lakshman got on his horse and rode away to the festival.
Meanwhile at the festival Lakshman’s step family had finally arrived, they rushed over to the princess and the stepbrother asked if he could sit with her, when the princess saw how ugly he was she said, “Maybe later.”  A few minutes after that Lakshman came in everybody turned their head to see Lakshman’s golden kurta. Even the princess had to move her head to look at him.  Her stepmother gasped, “Is that who I think it is!”When the princess saw him she immediately walked up to him and asked if he could sit with her he said, “Yes.”   They looked at the dancers and had a great  time but Lakshman lost track of his time and when he saw a little light in the sky he said, “I have to go!”
Lakshman ran out onto his horse but it was no longer there he ran very hard but his sword case fell.  When he got home he told the genie that he had lost his sword case.  The genie calmly said that it was his good fortune because soon the princess will search for him using the sword case.
The next morning the door was knocked and the princess walked in and asked all the men in this house to bring out there swords and Lakshman rushed out and put the sword in his case.  Lakshman stepbrother was furious because Lakshman didn’t give him a chance but quicker than he could think of something to do Lakshman was walking out with the princess.  The arrangements were made their wedding would be the next week.
The next day Lakshman’s stepbrother was snooping around the basement.  He found Lakshman’s lamp and rubbed it.  The genie was brought out.  Before the genie could react the stepbrother said, “I want a way to get rid of Lakshman.”
“Sorry I can’t do that, but I can make sure he won’t wed the princess if that is what you want,” said the genie.
“Then do it now!” shouted the stepbrother.  The genie produced a jar of a sour smelling purple liquid.
The genie sadly said, “Just make him drink this and nobody will recognize him until he drinks the liquid you hid it in. If you don’t hide it in a liquid it won’t work.”  The brother put it in some tea and to his liking the liquid turned the color of the tea.  He gave it to his brother Lakshman and said, “Take this tea. I put a sweetening in it. I hope you like it.”  Lakshman drank it and he instantly became a bird.  Lakshman would visit the princess every day because she was sad.  One day Lakshman found some tea so he wondered if it would do anything to him so he took a sip from it.  There was a flash and he turned back into his original form.  He went straight to the princess’s palace and she found him.  The wedding was the next day.  After they got married the stepfamily died in a fire.  But Lakshman always remembered his genie.

The End

I’ve read two books from the series The Seems. The two books are The Glitch in Sleep and The Split Second. And there will soon be a third one called The Lost Train of Thought, they are a fantastic series if you like an adventure, but it is a little confusing. It’s all about a boy and an organization called the seems and how they fix the world, but when a group called the Tide threatens to destroy the Seems, a team of fixers have to fix the world. The whole plot of the story is a little confusing because it switches around from place to place and you have to read them from the first book and go on to the second book, but if you read carefully it’s a great book.

I recently read a book called The King of Mulberry street by Donna Jo Napoli. The King of Mulberry Street is an amazing historical fiction book. It starts out with a boy saying, “I woke up to mamas singing in the kitchen.” I think that this book started out nicely and how it got right to the point. It is a great historical fiction book because it uses real places like Napoli and Ellis island. It also includes some authentic foreign language like, “Chi sparagna ‘a mazza nun vo bene e figili.” -Those who don’t beat up their children don’t love them. (16). It takes a little long for the story to start but it’s a great, adventurous book.

I studied the Amistad and Sarah Margru. Eventually I did a poem about Sarah Margru’s adventure on the Amistad. I did a poem and then I put it above my collage. My poem is fiction so Sarah Margru didn’t really think the things that I wrote but she probably did feel it. I was inspired by two things Elizabeth Alexanders poem and a book called The Underneath. I think The Underneath was a very poetic book. Heres my poem.

This year at my school the fourth grade got the privilege to see Elizabeth Alexander speak. She read us poems about the Amistad and how she was inspired by walking in New Haven Green where she knew that the Amistad captives were held. I loved the Amistad poems.

She also spoke about the inauguration and what she felt. She told us that the experience was awesome in a more serious way. She also told us that she could pick one person to go on stage with her. She originally wanted her husband to go on stage with her but eventually it was decided that her father should go onstage with her. She did this because her father had been working with a civil rights group for all his life and it was a big thing that there finally was a African American president. On that day he wore the same pin that he had worn when Martin Luther King gave his speech. The pin had a picture of a white man’s hand and a black man’s hand shaking, and it had the three words “hope, peace, and work.” Her father must have felt touched.

Elizabeth Alexander also talked about Ms.Crandalls School for Young Ladies, and Misses of Color. What happened was that a quaker opened up a school for young girls. So all the ladies in the town would send there white daughters to that school. There was an African American girl that cleaned the school. She asked Ms.Crandal if she could she be taught once she finished her chores. She was permitted to do that. The towns folk didn’t like having a black child being educated with there children. So they took there children away from Ms.Crandalls school. And Ms.Crandall said that she’ll make it exclusive for african american children only. And she did. The townspeople didn’t like this so they killed a school cat and left it at the door but it didn’t scare the school then they poisoned the water so they couldn’t drink, but the school used melted snow. Eventually the towns people burned down the school. This was brutal and bad. But I got a lot out of it and Elizabeth Alexanders other poems.

I read a story about a girl named Sarah Margru Kinson. My teacher wrote the story and she told us to go to a blog that had the story. Sarah Margru Kinson was one of the only slaves that escaped from being a slave. I loved how it described the nature of Africa and how there was green everywhere. The story of how she was on a ship called the mistad and how the slaves attacked. It was kind of like mutiny.  But the slaves attacked not the sailors. Sarah Margru was going between America and Africa. I thought it was a little like a cinderella story. Kind of like Olaudah Equiano where he was a prince then a slave then he became a merchant. For some slave’s there’s no happy ending, but the lucky ones made it like Sarah Margru.  She must have been very lonely. Lucky for her she had some friend on the amistad. The amistad was a cargo ship that they were carried on. She had a great story, but she was one of the only lucky ones. She must have been happy.

I loved the middle school play/musical called Oliver. It was played at Dalton. It had great music and choreography. The special effects were amazing too, but one of the only flaws was it was kind of obvious that a girl played the main character Oliver Twist. Because when she took off her hat you could see her bun at the back of her head. I loved the person that played Fagin and Bill Sykes, but I thought the guy who played Mr.Sowerberry was amazingly funny. And when they were in the funeral parlor singing Mr.Bumble looked so funny because he made a weird face.

The story Oliver was kind of about how a orphan gets kicked out of his orphanage and he moves around he city, but at the end it turned out that he came from a rich family and he goes away from a place that relies on pick pockets and stuff like that. But at the end somebody takes him to this place and his relative takes him, but Bill Sykes confronts them. And at the end the police come and kill Bill Sykes. That’s pretty much most of it, except for the details. Oliver was amazing.

I watched President Obama’s Inauguration at my house. I would have watched it at school, but I was sick. This inauguration made history. President Obama is the first black president in American history. There were so many people that watched the Inauguration. There was also lots of cheering, and the people that were singing were amazing. President Obama’s speech was incredible, I really thought about what was happening to the world when Obama told the speech. I also liked the poem a lot. It was very touching.

It was amazing when president Obama took the presidential oath and when Joe Biden took the vice presidential oath. And as I said earlier the speech he told everybody really touched me. I hope that president Obama will get us out of this crisis with the Iraq war and the wall street crisis. I also really hope that president Obama will help out the world and the environment. I think that president Obama can help the world.