Tech-Taters

This I Believe is based on a 1950′s radio program of the same name, hosted by acclaimed journalist Edward R. Murrow. Each day, Americans gathered by their radios to hear compelling essays from the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Robinson, Helen Keller, and Harry Truman as well as corporate leaders, cab drivers, scientists, and secretaries—anyone able to distill into a few minutes the guiding principles by which they lived. These essayists’ words brought comfort and inspiration to a country worried about the Cold War, McCarthyism, and racial division.”
Please listen to our version of NPR’s This I Believe, with essays written by 5A students after considering what they believed to be most important in their lives. There are still a few more to add, so come back in the next few days to listen to the last few!

Thomas – Friends are Family

Claire – The Vial of Courage

Otto – Love’s Necklace

Owen – Love’s Always There For You

Sawyer – The Guide of Life

Nina – Love is My Light

Lia – Friends and What They Do For You

Moussa – Family is My Home

Aaliyah – Being Yourself

Zara – The Real Me

Amir – The Helper’s Faith

Autumn – The Impact of Courage

We have planted seeds called Wisconsin Fast Plants in science. They are called fast plants because they go through their entire life cycle in only 6 weeks. Band has also started. This is the first year we get to be in band, and we get to choose which instrument we wanted to play. In our class we chose; saxophone, trumpet, trombone, flute, clarinet and drums. In Wellness we are learning to play team handball. We are making timelines of our lives. We have collected 2 entries from each year of our life, and now we are working on revising them to make them interesting to an audience. We will add photos of the fast plants as soon as we download them!

We are making an ancient China magazine because we’ve researched so much on ancient China. We put all our effort in to it. I bet our parents are going to like it! We also made are own Freddie Jones avatar for the magazine. We also made many ads, a maze and some cartoons for it. One other thing we used as a tool was drop box so everyone could see the photos to put in. We are planning to finish it by February 18th. We are making the magazine on a page document. It looks good but sometimes the computer doesn’t agree with us. Who ever reads the magazine we hope you enjoy it!

The only thing she couldn’t do was see. That one, wonderful, horrible, sense that meant the world to Jess. The world is black. She felt the car buzzing along the road, heard the motor whirring, then, the wheels turning on gravel. The car stopped. A car door slammed and she heard her own door being opened. Feeling the fresh, windy air, filled with the smell of hay, and horses she knew she was there. Jess loved horses, she could feel the way they felt. In a way they were the only creatures that she could stand to be with. When she was around people, it was always “do you need help?” “are you okay?” she was the focus, but in a way she wasn’t. She was never another person. She was an alien. But with horses, it was different. She was one of them, no different from the rest. In their minds, for all they cared she lived in a stall and ate hay and oats. The worst time was school. The times she dreaded most was coming home to feel her report card. All C’s and a big D-for reading. Reading was the worst! The braile bumps seemed to burn into her. The just reminded her how different she was for everyone.   She stepped out of the car and got ready for the usual. “Are you feeling alright?” her mom asked “do you need help?” her father asked, and the lady at the stable whispered to her mother “so, she’s blind?” Holding back a tart remark, she felt  her way out of the car and turned toward the sound of neighing. Her mother sighed and whispered a reply to the lady, she could feel the discomfort in the air. But the lady straightened up and said “well, lets show you the stable.” Jess was led across the ground and felt the air get a little cooler as they entered a barn. Hooves stamped, hot breath filled the air with the smell of oats, hay  and manure. Heavenly. Today she was going to ride.

This was harder than she thought. She Tried to do what the riding instructor told her, but she just couldn’t seem to get anything right. Finally, the instructor gave up. “I can’t take this anymore, lets have  Julie try to teach her!”. Jess could hear her footsteps retreating. For minutes she waited, not knowing what she had done wrong. The crunching of steps startled her. A new voice spoke “You really made Leah angry” it said, but there was not anger in it,  it was as if she were sharing an inside joke with Jess they had used a million other times. Right then, Jess fond herself wanting to tell her everything. How hard it was to be blind, how no one ever seemed to trust her. “my name is Julie” said the voice “now lets ride!”.

The days spun around Jess like a dream. Riding, talking, things seemed fun that were a dull chore before. Jess could walk around the barn without anyone helping her. She knew the names if all of the horses, and slowly Julie started teaching her how to read. Starting with little things like the braile on the horses stalls. Soon Jess started to look forward to her time with Julie when they were learning to read. She checked out special books from the library, and read them at home. The more time she spent with the horses and Julie, the better her grades got. She was happier, her parents were happier, the world seemed happier. Then it all went wrong. One day, as they laughed and chatted over a book Jess had just finished reading,  Jess heard a car lull  itself into the driveway and to a spot 1 feet away from where they were sitting. Julie went still. Jess could feel the tenseness in her body. “stay here Jess” she said hoarsely, all of the laughter gone from her voice. And that was it. Three days later, Julie left for California. Her mother had died, and now she had to move to California to set things right, the house was her’s now, and she had to take care of it. Jess’s grades got worse and worse, and she dropped back to her regular, dull life. The only thing that kept her from going crazy, were the horses. They kept her through the days. One day, As she stroked Peppy, one of the horses, she heard a car pull into the driveway. Not caring in the least, she brought out two peppermints and Peppy lipped them up. It wasn’t until she heard the frantic neighing and yelling did she stumble outside. She heard hooves and  the dust in her mouth made her cough. “What is going on?!” she asked. One of the stable girls answered “A new horse came from Seattle, he’s going crazy! He so strange, I think he’s blin-” she caught herself. Jess ignored her and rushed forward toward the sound of hooves. She heard gasping, and felt the warm breath of a horse on her face. She felt her way along to its neck and patted it. The horse snuffled. Jess smiled. “What is his name?” she asked. One of the stable girls called out “I think it’s Blue”. For moments turning into minutes the two just stood there, they knew, at last they had both found a true friend.

On November 11th we had all our family come in so we could show them our work.  It was from 8:00 to 8:45.  We had little red commenting booklets at our seats so that after people looked at our work, they could write in what they thought.  People could go around (parents and students) and look at everyone’s work, and comment if they wanted to.

Some of the things we showed them were our timelines.  We made them by picking two life events from each year.  Then we wrote them into books and illustrated them.  We also showed them our blackberry books.  They are called blackberries because they are dark purple, the color of blackberries.  We use them like sketch books.  Sometimes we use them for art, and sometimes we get assignments from Ms. G.  Like once we got a funny shaped blue piece of paper that we had to turn into something.  The other thing we showed them were glogster.  Glogster is place where you can make online posters.  We made glogs about number theory terms and that’s what we showed them.

Anya and Kalik

Anya glanced nervously down at her sister Kalik. She was tugging at the rim of Anya’s thick fur jacket recently made by Anali, one of the only people in the Bear clan who was skilled at making clothes. Some people said that Kalik, only four winters old, had animal sense. Anya could tell now. Her sister felt something bad was coming.

And suddenly, Anya saw a quick shadow run through the winter woods. It was the coldest season of the year, and Anya knew she should be helping set the fire. Oh, why couldn’t Pa be home from work with the hunters? I want him to come home for the first meat of the year…

Anya saw it, barely. Its white coat blended in perfectly with the snow, except for the black, concentrated eyes staring right at her. A wolf.

Kalik started whimpering. “Kalik,” Anya called, “Go back into the hut. Don’t be afraid! I will come when I am done.” She didn’t feel as strong as she sounded as Kalik ran into the hut. How was she, only 11 winters old supposed to scare away this large, terrifiying wolf?

The wolf approached her and the hut. She wondered whether the wolf had passed through the rest of the huts. She hoped not. She didn’t want anyone to have been hurt. But even her hooded fur coat couldn’t stop her from being numb all over and make her brain think straight.

Anya thought through the possibilities of winning. She couldn’t fight it or kill it because Pa hadn’t taken her on hunting lessons yet. She would have to use her smarts. She didn’t know that that was one of the best things to do.

Running inside, she saw the first thing that could help her, her father’s extra bow. But no, she didn’t know how to use it and wouldn’t dare waste it — they take so long to make. But the next thing she saw, she knew would work. She grabbed it quickly and ran back out.

The wolf started to growl. Its beady eyes said, I will conquer you. Anya had never felt this way. Pa had always done this kind of work. And he did it with such ease. Why wasn’t he back yet?

The piece of fresh meat was in Anya’s shaking hands. She had to throw it, as far as she could, into the woods. But what if it didn’t work? She would have wasted her whole family’s dinner.

She closed her eyes so she wouldn’t have to see the wolf. It came closer — she heard the wolf’s silent steps. Even closer, she could feel its breath. Pow! Her arm went up, and with all her might she flung the meat into the forest.

When she opened her eyes a crack, the wolf was gone. Just as she had hoped, the wolf had run after it.

She stumbled into the hut in complete disbelief. She had done it! Kalik was there. Anya knew her sense had told her the whole thing. Kalik was giving her a great big hug.

by Claire