IT SNOWED AGAIN!! You would think that Arizona would be far enough to get away from the snow... next time I'm going to Florida. My time here is quickly winding down so I'm starting to both physically and mentally prepare myself to return home. For the most part things have been pretty normal here, I teach the 3rd and 4th graders PE on Mondays and Fridays. I'm really enjoying that a lot. I also had the chance to go skiing on a mountain in Colorado last week, that was truly amazing. I will not be forgetting that anytime soon. I took some pretty cool pictures while I was there but they are on my camera and I can't post them to here because my phone has no internet. Today is the last time I'll be doing something two more times while I'm here. I have EPIC (the youth group) and pickleball tonight, and I'll get to do those one more time while I'm here. It's been a really great time here, but I am very ready to go home.
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
Friday, February 24, 2017
Books I've been reading for school
In this blog post I am going to be writing about the books I've been reading. I've ready 4 books since I arrived. So I'll do a short little summary of each one.
The first book I read was called America's First World War: General Pershing and the Yanks.
I've already talked about General Pershing in one of my posts so I won't dwell on that book for too long. It was about Pershings life and all his war experiences, both exciting and boring, happy and tragic.
The second book I read was called Lord of the Nutcracker Men. This was a book that I really enjoyed quite a lot! It was about a little boy named Johnny, his father was a toy maker and before he left for the war he gave his son his own little army of nutcracker men. Johnny loves to play with his army and pretend that he is fighting his own little World War. The beginning of every chapter starts with a letter from his father and a new little army man that his father has sent. As the war escalates Johnny begins to think that what he pretends to do at home has an effect on the war in the trenches. He is terrified that he might be killing people by playing with his toy soldiers.
The third book was Warhorse, it's a story told from the perspective of a horse named Joey. (I'd say that's a pretty good name) Joey goes through a lot during the war, he has many different owners over the 4 years he is in the war and has to do very strenuous work. Things that killed many other horses, but he has a drive unlike any other horse, he wants to get home to his real master. I liked this book a lot, and I was very excited to find out that there is a movie version of it too! I will definitely be watching it when I get home.
The fourth book that I have read while in Arizona is The Great Gatsby. I had seen the movie before so I somewhat knew the story already, but it had been a while and I had forgotten a lot of the details. The book takes place in the 1920s and is the story about a young man who moves to New York and is next door neighbors to the popular party thrower, Jay Gatsby. No one knows very much about Gatsby, and what they do know probably isn't true. But as the story goes on Gatsby opens up to his neighbor and we learn Gatsby's backstory and then continue to learn about him in his current situation.
The first book I read was called America's First World War: General Pershing and the Yanks.
I've already talked about General Pershing in one of my posts so I won't dwell on that book for too long. It was about Pershings life and all his war experiences, both exciting and boring, happy and tragic.
The second book I read was called Lord of the Nutcracker Men. This was a book that I really enjoyed quite a lot! It was about a little boy named Johnny, his father was a toy maker and before he left for the war he gave his son his own little army of nutcracker men. Johnny loves to play with his army and pretend that he is fighting his own little World War. The beginning of every chapter starts with a letter from his father and a new little army man that his father has sent. As the war escalates Johnny begins to think that what he pretends to do at home has an effect on the war in the trenches. He is terrified that he might be killing people by playing with his toy soldiers.
The third book was Warhorse, it's a story told from the perspective of a horse named Joey. (I'd say that's a pretty good name) Joey goes through a lot during the war, he has many different owners over the 4 years he is in the war and has to do very strenuous work. Things that killed many other horses, but he has a drive unlike any other horse, he wants to get home to his real master. I liked this book a lot, and I was very excited to find out that there is a movie version of it too! I will definitely be watching it when I get home.
The fourth book that I have read while in Arizona is The Great Gatsby. I had seen the movie before so I somewhat knew the story already, but it had been a while and I had forgotten a lot of the details. The book takes place in the 1920s and is the story about a young man who moves to New York and is next door neighbors to the popular party thrower, Jay Gatsby. No one knows very much about Gatsby, and what they do know probably isn't true. But as the story goes on Gatsby opens up to his neighbor and we learn Gatsby's backstory and then continue to learn about him in his current situation.
Monday, February 13, 2017
A little update on my life
Not too much has been happening out of the ordinary here at the Mission. I've been teaching PE to the 3rd and 4th graders here, we've been playing soccer. I am staying pretty busy around here, I have something to go do almost every night. There is even soccer on Wednesday nights, however I'm excited to get home and play for my soccer team. For the most part every day is about the same as the last one, the time is starting to pass quickly these days!!
Monday, February 6, 2017
Another blog about my history learnings
In the past two weeks I have finished my History of Us 1880-1917 book and read my first extra reading book. The extra reading book was called America's First World War. It's a very interesting book about a influential man in American military, his name is John J. Pershing. The book tells about how Pershing worked his way up through the ranks of the army. Pershing was born before the Civil War and died after the start of World War Two. When he was a young man he wanted to be a lawyer, but he was offered free college education at the United States Military Academy and he changed his course drastically. He originally planned to go to get an education, then when his army duty was finished he would go to law school. That, never happened. As he went through college and then the rest of his time in the Army, Pershing made friends with important people and was noticed for his excellence as a military leader. Not the least of these friends was Theodore Roosevelt, they fought together at the Battle of San Juan Hill. Pershing grew in importance and eventually lead the Americans "Over There" to aid in the World War. Pershing's help was vital to the outcome of the war.
Overall Pershing's story is really a very fascinating one! He was born when ramrod guns ruled the world, he fought in wars where they machine gun mowed soldiers down, fought along side tanks, saw the effects of gas warfare, and lived long enough to know the threat of atomic bombs. It is said that no matter what he faced, Pershing was always professional with a straight back and a serious expression. The only time he acted otherwise was when he was around young children. He lost his wife and three daughters in a fire in San Francisco, only his son survived. It would seem that to fight for his country was all he was passionate about after that. Pershing passed away July, 15th of 1948. He was 87 when he died. He is buried in the Arlington National Cemetery, along side the men who served under him.
Along with John J. Pershing I learned more about Theodore Roosevelt and about his childhood, college years and ultimately his presidency. The famously know Teddy Bear was named after an incident of Roosevelt hunting. It is said that while he was hunting bears he found a small cub that he thought was too cute to kill so he spared it's life. A toy maker sent him a stuffed bear and called it a Teddy Bear, soon everyone was buying them and they're still in high demand today. Theodore Roosevelt also said that he didn't think there was ever a presidential family that had more fun being president than the Roosevelt family.
Overall Pershing's story is really a very fascinating one! He was born when ramrod guns ruled the world, he fought in wars where they machine gun mowed soldiers down, fought along side tanks, saw the effects of gas warfare, and lived long enough to know the threat of atomic bombs. It is said that no matter what he faced, Pershing was always professional with a straight back and a serious expression. The only time he acted otherwise was when he was around young children. He lost his wife and three daughters in a fire in San Francisco, only his son survived. It would seem that to fight for his country was all he was passionate about after that. Pershing passed away July, 15th of 1948. He was 87 when he died. He is buried in the Arlington National Cemetery, along side the men who served under him.
Along with John J. Pershing I learned more about Theodore Roosevelt and about his childhood, college years and ultimately his presidency. The famously know Teddy Bear was named after an incident of Roosevelt hunting. It is said that while he was hunting bears he found a small cub that he thought was too cute to kill so he spared it's life. A toy maker sent him a stuffed bear and called it a Teddy Bear, soon everyone was buying them and they're still in high demand today. Theodore Roosevelt also said that he didn't think there was ever a presidential family that had more fun being president than the Roosevelt family.
Thursday, January 26, 2017
More from Arizona
Well, I have received my first piece of mail while staying here! My brother very graciously offered to let me use his really nice camera while I am here and it arrived last Thursday. So that has been really exciting! I've already had a few opportunities to use it and I'm looking forward to being able to document my trip through photos! Right now I am helping one of the teachers here by downloading audio books for her class, which is quite the extensive process! I don't really have any regular jobs, I help clean up the cafeteria after meals though. But besides that I mostly go around doing what people need to have done and try and make myself useful. The weather has been very interesting, it snows a lot but normally all melts away by the end of the day. At this point what I do most is probably games and puzzles, I've done 3 puzzles in the last 3 days. 300 piece, 300 piece, and 550 piece. Today I'm hoping to get a start on a 1000 piece puzzle!
Friday, January 20, 2017
Margaret Sanger
For school today I was supposed to read a little article about Margaret Sanger and write a blog summary of what I learned.
Margaret Sanger was the woman who founded planned parenthood. People will say that planned parenthood is a good thing to have in today's world with so many difficult situations that aren't fit for a newborn child, and others say that all life is precious and that planned parenthood is a terrible thing. Whatever side of that coin you are on, it would seem that Margaret Sanger was on neither. The main point that the article was getting across was that Margaret Sanger more or less started planned parenthood to get ride of children who were going to be born with defects, she is quoted in a biography saying, "By all means, there should be no children when either mother or father suffers from such diseases as tuberculosis, gonorrhea, syphilis, cancer, epilepsy, insanity, drunkenness and mental disorders. In the case of the mother, heart disease, kidney trouble and pelvic deformities are also a serious bar to childbearing No more children should be born when the parents, though healthy themselves, find that their children are physically or mentally defective.” (“Woman and the New Race,” 1920, Chapter 7)."
The whole article was filled with very interesting points and a fair amount of Margaret Sanger's quotes. I would urge you to read it to at the very least get a different perspective on the ideals that the planned parenthood industry was founded on.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/5/grossu-margaret-sanger-eugenicist/
Margaret Sanger was the woman who founded planned parenthood. People will say that planned parenthood is a good thing to have in today's world with so many difficult situations that aren't fit for a newborn child, and others say that all life is precious and that planned parenthood is a terrible thing. Whatever side of that coin you are on, it would seem that Margaret Sanger was on neither. The main point that the article was getting across was that Margaret Sanger more or less started planned parenthood to get ride of children who were going to be born with defects, she is quoted in a biography saying, "By all means, there should be no children when either mother or father suffers from such diseases as tuberculosis, gonorrhea, syphilis, cancer, epilepsy, insanity, drunkenness and mental disorders. In the case of the mother, heart disease, kidney trouble and pelvic deformities are also a serious bar to childbearing No more children should be born when the parents, though healthy themselves, find that their children are physically or mentally defective.” (“Woman and the New Race,” 1920, Chapter 7)."
The whole article was filled with very interesting points and a fair amount of Margaret Sanger's quotes. I would urge you to read it to at the very least get a different perspective on the ideals that the planned parenthood industry was founded on.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/may/5/grossu-margaret-sanger-eugenicist/
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
A History of US 1880-1917 Part 1
While I am in Arizona I am reading a book series called A History of US by Joy Hakim for my history. I brought along two books, the first, An Age of Extremes, is set from 1880 - 1917 and the second, War, Peace, and All That Jazz is 1918 - 1945. Everyone once in awhile I will be posting updates on what I have read from these books.
The first few chapters of this book were about men who found ways to use the changing ways of America to their benefit and great profit. A well known early American businessman was Andrew Carnegie. Young Andrew Carnegie was born in Scotland, his father was a weaver who was out of a job and his mother was the practical one keeping the family together. It was she who decided that the Carnegie family should pack up and move to America. This decision was a very good one for Andrew Carnegie's welfare. He worked his way up job by job, promotion by promotion and pay raise by pay raise. When he was 33, Andrew Carnegie was a very rich man and he wrote a note that promised himself that he would work for two more years and then help other people. Sadly, it would seem that Andrew Carnegie forgot about that little note, he had become the king of the steel industry and showed no signs of stepping down. Carnegie was making millions, and his workers were living in the slums, they had very poor working conditions and many were injured on the job and left to take care of themselves without any help from the company. The workers of Carnegie's steel factories started to go on strike, very much like Andrew Carnegie's father had done. But that did very little to phase the great Andrew Carnegie, he was on a vacation in Scotland. Then, one fateful day in 1901 a very wealthy banker named J. Pierpont Morgan offered to buy out Carnegie's company. With the money from Morgan, Andrew Carnegie would become the richest man in the world. Maybe it was that prospect that made him take the deal, or maybe it was that little note he had written to himself years before that reminded him to help other people who were less fortunate than him. Whatever the cause, Andrew Carnegie drastically changed his lifestyle. He started donating money wherever he could. By the time he died, Andrew Carnegie had donated $324,657,399. When he learned of that number he is reported to have said, "Good heavens! Where did I get all that money?"
That was just one of the people I read about, so I will continue to post updates on as many people as I can.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)