WW & 1st Year Humanities Foundations 2021-2022
I don’t know…
by Everett Lingle
…what to write:
sports
or not?
I could do hockey,
soccer, or football,
but hockey slams players
into the boards.
Soccer, probably… but
I don’t really want to.
Football: too rough.
All I’m doing in school this week
is ISAT’s.
Sibling? Maybe, but
my sister is playful and
as dramatic as theater.
My cousins?
Nope.
Too much singing.
I still don’t know
what to write.
But wait!
I have an IDEA:
you’re reading it.
Chilly Willy
by Charlotte Grace
Darkness makes me feel
alive as I stand here
on a mountain of snow. Here
I talk about money,
on a mountain of snow waiting
for someone to come
with a key to open the door. I am
perched on a white, fluffy mountain
waiting for a white car to come.
There she is: Marie with
the key! We all rush toward the
door of the house.
Marie opens the door and everyone
rushes inside.
Thanksgiving in Mexico
by Maddison Elliot
“Happy Thanksgiving,” I yell, jumping out of bed. My family and I are in San Jose del Cabo for two weeks. We are staying at the Royal Solaris, the best hotel in Mexico. We have come here four times every other year, and it’s right on the beach. My dad and I went down to breakfast and met my family there. We ate on the beach. Since it was Thanksgiving, I had mini pancakes, known as hot cakes in Mexico. I also had donuts and chocolate milk. When I went into the buffet, the hot cakes were steaming in my face.
A little after we ate breakfast, my older cousin Piper finally came down, and we just sat on the sun chairs for a little while. It was almost 11:00 AM. All my cousins and I went down to the ocean and played in the waves for a little before the security guard kicked us out because of the strong current. After that, we jumped into the room-temperature pool to get the salt off. The water was a bright blue, and the shape of a big S with a bar in the middle. We swam over to the Pizza Hut as we smelled the scent of fresh pizza. I ordered cheese pizza: there was powder all over it. When I took a bite, the cheese started to string up.
In the afternoon there was a big race on the beach. I signed up, and so did all my cousins. I’m the littlest, so I was sorted into a different group with the eight-year-olds. The staff at the hotel was explaining how to play when the rest of my cousins started laughing. I felt a little left out, so I thought, “I’m going to win this race.” The staff put us in lines, and everyone yelled: “Three, Two, One, GO!!” We started racing. I jumped through the hoops, grabbed my egg, and ran. And just like that, I won. Yay! I felt so undefeatable!
Later, we bought milkshakes to celebrate my success. I ate strawberries thirty minutes after the race. Then I went up to my room and looked through my closet. I screamed, “What happened to my dress for tonight’s dinner?” I must have left it at home. I went back to the pool and asked my dad if I could buy a dress. He said yes, so I went downtown. I found the most beautiful dress ever. It was long and green, with bow straps on the shoulders. After that, I bought a gelato, a type of ice cream with a creamier texture. It was so good. Then I went back to the hotel. I went to my room, put on my dress, then did my hair. By that time, it was 6:00 PM. “I’m going to be late!” I screamed. I grabbed my dad and ran to the lobby where my family and the cab were waiting for us. We jumped in. It was very cramped. Luckily, it was a short ride.
We sat down at the restaurant and ordered our food. While we waited, we went around the table, saying things we were grateful for. I said, “I’m grateful for family and this trip.” Then our food arrived. I had ordered two milkshakes and chicken and some fries. The whole room smelled like fried chicken and was a little steamy from all the hot food.
After the kids’ table was done eating, we were bored, so we split some ghost peppers and ate them. Ghost peppers are the spiciest peppers in the world. Our parents started laughing because we were red like tomatoes. I personally loved the experience, but not the taste (too spicy). After that we left. We were laughing the whole van ride back to the hotel while some of us were fighting the pain of the spice.
We made it to the lobby and the parents went back to their rooms, while the kids went to sit by the pool. At the pool, the sky was pitch black, and the humidity was insane. I put my feet in the water. I heard a little tap, then felt someone pick me up. It was Piper. Splash! She threw me in the pool. Then my cousin threw Piper in, and a war started, with everyone ending up in the water. I was a little cold, so I pulled myself out and grabbed a towel and started walking to my room. When I went into my room, my dad was fast asleep. I took a nice warm shower and brushed my teeth. I turned all the lights off and climbed in my bed, then whispered, “Goodnight.”
The 20th Century
by Esabella Erekson
For Americans, the 20th century was a time of big change. BIG events, such as World Wars I and II, led to many inventions. How many times clothes and fads transitioned was remarkable. Entertainment shifted many times, too, from books to television right in your own home. The 20th century was very fun and interesting.
Events and inventions led to many changes in America throughout the 20th century. Through vaccinations, the World Health Organization ended smallpox in the year 1980. Also, through vaccinations, Dr. Jonas E. Salk and Dr. Albert B. Sabin contributed to the effort to end polio myelitis in the mid-1900’s. Around that same time, Albert Einstein came up with his relativity theory E=mc2. Exactly thirty-four years later, World War II broke out. This war produced the most inventions in military history, including the most powerful military weapon ever: the atomic bomb. America did not enter the war until it had been going on for two years, right after Pearl Harbor, in Honolulu, Hawai’i, was attacked. These events and scientific discoveries affected people’s everyday life greatly.
Throughout the 20th century, each decade had its own clothes and fads. Big dances were popular in their own decades, such as the Jitterbug (1930’s) the Twist (1960’s), Disco (1970’s), and Swing dancing and Hip Hop in the 1990’s. Clothing fads, such as wearing blue jeans, changed many times over the decades. During the 1940’s and 1950’s, jeans were commonly worn only by teenagers as casual bottoms. In the 1960’s, jeans spread to young adults as a symbol of their beliefs against parental values. However, by the 1970’s, jeans were accepted by all age groups, and were no longer considered vulgar and rebellious. In the 1960’s, fashion trends that sparked our fashion today started. During this time, young adults wanted to seem even younger by wearing miniskirts and mod jackets. Afro and bouffant hairstyles were extremely popular in the 1960’s. Portable, electronic music devices all started in 1979, when the Sony Walkman was invented. During the 20th century, clothes went from old-fashioned and proper to what we wear today.
Entertainment gives people something to do, and most forms of entertainment used today were discovered in the 20th century. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published in 1900. It was such a hit that L. Frank Baum decided to write thirteen more Oz stories! However, a more popular form of entertainment was television. Movies were first invented in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Unfortunately, they were silent until 1927, when The Jazz Singer made its debut. Videos did not receive much attention in schools until the 1960’s. One T.V. show, Howdy Doody, was filmed in front of a live audience of kids. Throughout the 20th century, entertainment went from books to a television in your very own home.
Technological entertainment was invented in the 20th century. Fashion trends kept building off each other to create fashion today. Inventions made in the 20th century helped cure some deadly diseases. The 20th century was truly a time of change.
Bibliography
Kids Discover Magazine: 20th Century. Kids Discover Publishing; New York, NY: December 1999-January 2000. Volume IX, Issue 12. pp.18, 22, 24-25, 27, 30-31.
World Book Encyclopedia. World Book, Inc.; Chicago, IL: 1993. Volume F: pp. 50-51; Volume I: p 355;
Volume M: p. 546.
Dogs
by Maddison Elliott
Evolving fifteen million years ago, dogs now live all over the world. there are more than 197 dog breeds, and every day, week, or month, there is a new breed. Some people do not even know it. Dogs are like humans because they have jobs: whether it is helping policemen with solving crimes, or telling people that they need to sit down, dogs are helpful. Dogs cannot talk, but they can bark or show how they feel. Owners can train their dogs to help around the house. Dogs can also make people feel better.
Breeds are different types of dogs. There are more than one hundred different breeds, but there are also main breeds that originated domestic dogs. Hounds are very popular: there are twenty-two different breeds of hounds. Most breeds of hounds hunt very well by sight and smell. Dog breeds come from a long line of animals. Scientists created a name for the dog breed family tree, the Canidae Fischer family, whose members are wolves, foxes, coyotes, and jackals. Dogs come in many different sizes. Certain breeds are sports dogs or house dogs. Sports dogs play outside games with their owners. House dogs stay inside, lying on their owners’ laps. Often kids or very active adults adopt sporty dogs. Dog moms carry their pups for around nine weeks before they are born. The size of dog breed determines the number of pups a female dog has. Toy dogs are another dog family, which includes sixteen different breeds of dogs. Toy dogs are mostly at-home pets or compete in various dog shows.
Dogs have very important jobs. One of the most important dog jobs is a police dog. Police dogs bite suspects and sniff out important scents. Most police dogs are German shepherds. Dogs can also help humans who have disabilities. Service dogs mostly help with blindness or constant panic attacks or seizures. Dogs can also work up in the mountains. Huskies mostly work as mountain rescue dogs because of their fur coats. If someone gets hurt or lost, dogs can sniff them out. Dogs are very smart if people train them right. People train digs to perform in shows, do backflips, or jump through hoops. Most of the dogs that perform these stunts are Australian shepherds. Almost all service animals have vests that indicate they are working and cannot be touched. Vests also help workers in a store or on a plane be aware of a working dog. Most service dogs know when to bark and when not to make any noise at all.
Dogs tend to bark when they are trying to communicate. If a stranger comes to your house, dogs will bark to warn you. Dogs have many different kinds of barks. They will give an aggressive bark like a growl, which is a warning. If a dog howls, it is a good sign they are happy or calling their friends. Another way dogs communicate is by movement. Dogs wag their tails and relax their ears to show they are happy and calm. People should always watch out for dogs that are growling and showing their teeth with their ears high, which means they want to pick a fight. Dogs can be scared even though they are big and bold. If a dog shows its teeth, leans its back downward, and folds its tail under its stomach, it is super scared, and will bite anyone for protection, if they are not careful.
Barking is an emotion that can convey different tones to show how dogs feel. Dogs make jobs easier for humans, by taking the tasks that are difficult for humans to complete, such as running a lot and biting criminals. Because humans tamed wolves, foxes, and jackals, various breeds of dogs were made. Now there are more than 100 breeds of dogs, which help us keep ourselves healthy and others safe.
Bibliography
Kids Discover Magazine: Dogs. Kids Discover Publishing; New York, NY: August 2000. Volume 10, Issue 7. pp. 4-5, 8-9, 12, 17.
World Book Encyclopedia. World Book, Inc.; Chicago, IL: 1993. Volume D: pp. 265-268, 279.
The Ice Age
by Winston Gelardi
The Ice Age existed all over Earth and started 70,000 years ago. At the end of the Ice Age, many large mammals died. Ice Age mammals may look cute, but they were very fierce. The Little Ice age comes every 10,000 years, and just cools down the Earth. As a topic, the Ice Age is harder than it seems.
At the end of the Ice Age, many mammals died. As animals moved out of their natural habitat for food, they encountered a virus or a microbe that they had no resistance to. About two-thirds of large mammals were overhunted by humans. Another theory is that, “As Earth’s climate grew warmer, many trees and plants died and were replaced by new plants that the big animals could not eat. As those large plant-eating animals (herbivores) became extinct, the meat eaters (carnivores) that depend on herbivores for food died too.” There are many theories why the Ice Age mammals died off.
Ice Age mammals were huge and dangerous. The Wooly Mammoth weighed six tons. A sharp blow from a Wooly Mammoth could snap a lion’s spine. The Saber-toothed tiger could kill animals bigger than itself. American Mastodons lived in North American forests and had curving tusks. They ate 200 pounds of grasses and plants every day. All these mammals were alive during the time of the Ice Age.
The planet has also had cooling events on a smaller scale, which are called Little Ice Ages. A new Little Ice Age comes every 10,000 years. In the previous Little Ice Age, China lost its orange groves. Ships had to make changes in sailing routes to avoid frozen seas and icebergs. Scientists cannot predict exactly when the next Little Ice Age will occur. No one knows what life will be like during the next Little Ice Age.
The Ice Age was a significant period on planet Earth. There are many cooling recurrences that scientists call a Little Ice Age. During the Ice Age, there were many different mammals. After the Ice Age, animals that had adapted to the cold did not survive because of the heat. As a result of studying The Ice Age, scientists can help humans deal with climate change in the future.
Bibliography
Kids Discover Magazine: Ice Age. Kids Discover Publishing; New York, NY: August 2003. Volume 13, Issue 8. pp 6-7, 10-11, 16-17.
World Book Encyclopedia. World Book, Inc.; Chicago, IL: 1993. Volume I: p. 8.
Spiders
by Rohan McClaran
Spiders live all over the world, even in your own house! They evolved 300 million years ago. The Attercopus was the first ever spider to roam the earth. Arachnids can have up to eight eyes and will always have eight legs: four on each side. Spider webs can be all different shapes, sizes, and colors. The Golden Orb Weaver spider spins a gold-colored web. Spiders are not vegans, but they do eat vegans, such as grasshoppers. They will also eat other spiders, so they are cannibals. They will eat anything from a tiny fruit fly to a blackbird. Spiders are my favorite because they have a cute little look and scare people to death.
Characteristics define an animal by what it looks like. For example, a tiger is orange with black stripes. The Marbled spider has a small but stubby abdomen, with gold and brown patterns. The famous Black Widow has a pitch-black body and a blood red hourglass on its abdomen. Black Widows are very poisonous. Some spiders, such as the Arrowhead spider, live up to their names. This spider has an arrowhead-shaped body with black spots. The Chaco Golden Knee Tarantula is one of the biggest of its kind, and its leg span can be seven inches. The Gold Silk spider has a bright gold, cylinder-shaped body. It is related to the Golden Orb-weaver. Characteristics allow people to identify types of spiders.
Webs are made of a silk that is a liquid and a solid. Spider’s webs come out of a silk gland; there are six glands that produce a spider’s webs. Spiders lay eggs, eat, sleep, and catch their prey in their webs. The Filmy Dome spider spins a bunch of threads around a domed-shaped sheet and hangs under the dome. Insects who fall on the dome are pulled through the webbing. The Bowl spider spins a bowl-shaped sheet above a flat sheet of silk. Threads above the bowl get stopped. The creepy house spider spins a loosely-woven tangled web of dry silk held in place by a long thread attached to the walls or other supports. The center of the web creates an insect trap. The Triangle spider spins a triangle-shaped web between two twigs. The web has dry and sticky strings that trap insects. The Labyrinth spider spins a tangled web as its hiding place, and an orb web as its insect trap. Spider webs vary as much as their owners do.
Spiders hunt for many things, such as pill bugs, grasshoppers, flies, and other spiders. They will also eat other bugs. The Brown Recluse spider is dangerous. It has a distinctive violin on its back, and a cytotoxin that kills nerves. The non-venomous Jumping spider leaps into space after its prey, floating to the ground on its dragline. Fisher spiders live near water and hunt bugs that live in the water. Because of their light weight, they can walk on water. Crab spiders have short, wide bodies and look like small crabs. They will camouflage themselves in plants and wait for bugs to come, then they will pounce. Water spiders live under water in airtight silk nests, where they will molt, mate, and raise their families. They hunt by lowering into the water and snatching their prey with their legs and fangs.
Spiders are sneaky carnivores that hunt with their legs, pedipalps, and fangs. Spiders create webs with six different silk glands: each one produces a different texture of silk. When silk comes out, it is watery, then it instantly dries. Characteristics help identify a creature by its looks, like a spider always has eight legs, up to eight eyes, fangs, and two pedipalps. Spiders are really interesting creatures, and there are so many cool things to know about them. My favorite thing to do is chase girls with spiders and listen to them scream.
Bibliography
Kids Discover Magazine: Spiders. Kids Discover Publishing; New York, NY: February 2003. Volume 13, Issue 2. p.13.
World Book Encyclopedia. World Book, Inc.; Chicago, IL: 1993. Volume SO-SZ: pp. 783, 787-789.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/spiders.
The Titanic
by Luella Grace
In 1912, the Titanic was supposed to sail the ocean from England to New York City, but one night, disaster struck: it ripped its hull apart on an iceberg. At the time, the Titanic was the biggest ship in the world. It was also one of the most expensive, because it was fancy! The Titanic’s undoing is a story of drama, heroism, humility, and arrogance, which has it all!
When the Titanic sank, it was on its first voyage. It left Southampton, England on April 10, 1912. It hit an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland, leaving a 300-foot-long gash, causing it to break apart. It is estimated that about 1,500 of the 2,200 passengers and crew died in the icy water. When the Titanic’s forward compartments flooded, the wireless operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride signaled SOS and CQD (come quickly, danger). The Titanic was said to be the safest ship afloat; however, it sank on its maiden voyage.
The Titanic was the biggest ship in the White Star Line, with sixteen water-tight compartments. In 1908, plans were approved for the Titanic, and in 1909, it was built, along with two smaller ships. However, it had bad rivets which contained metallic impurities, so when the Titanic hit the iceberg in the Atlantic Ocean, the rivets came out. The ship was so big that when it began to sink, the upper-class passengers only felt a little vibration. Even though it was the biggest ship in the world, the Titanic sank anyway.
The White Star Line had no hesitation about giving its first-class passengers fuzzy rugs, cushy sofas, and a gymnasium all at their disposal. The second-class rooms were a little more basic but about the same, and the third-class rooms housed up to eight people, a disadvantage, but a luxury because most ships’ third-class cabins held up to forty people. First-class rooms cost between $1500 and $4350, which is $26,741 to $77,549 in today’s money. This is the reason why the Titanic is sometimes called the “Millionaires’ Special.” The Titanic’s staff included 900+ workers, nine supervisors, 390 stewards and stewardesses and 289 firemen. Despite all this, the Titanic would probably not meet “fancy” standards today.
Even though the Titanic was a luxury in 1909, it would not be considered fancy by today’s standards. Although it was the biggest ship in the world before it sank, it now has quite a competition from some newer cruise ships. The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage, which ships these days do not usually do. The Titanic’s mistakes have made it so engineers will not ever call something unsinkable again.
Bibliography
Kids Discover Magazine: Titanic. Kids Discover Publishing; New York, NY: April, 2001. Volume 11, Issue 4. pp 3-6, 8-12.
World Book Encyclopedia. World Book, Inc.; Chicago, IL: 1993. Volume T: p. 299.
To print a list of all your VOCABULARY to date, go to the 1st Year Vocabulary page OR play to study your words on Quizlet!
Please have your students read books from the 4th-6th Grade Reading List during the year.
Remember that these lists are not an indication of reading level, but are created to give students a background for their upcoming years of study at the NFS. Please do NOT have children read books from lists that are in their reading level, but above their NFS class level.
“Teaching is mostly listening, and learning is mostly telling.”
-- Deborah Meier, 1995
Cinquain
by Mary Parker (2006)
North Fork:
World History —
Continuously writing poems.
We learn without realizing:
Achievements.
Pieces now in play:
(updated 6/2/22)
Winston
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 100%
Everett
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 100%
Esa
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 100%
Maddison
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 100%
Rohan
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 100%
Luella
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 100%
Charlotte
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 100%
Fibonacci Links to explore:
Numbers in Nature reveals the secrets of the Fibonacci sequence in an exhibit from the Annenberg/CPB video.
Dr. Ron Knott's website on Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Section in Nature is a great place to explore the Fibonacci sequence. His site allows you to see many of the ideas we discuss in WW and continue to explore in the 1st Year Program.
See pieces written by WW students (2nd-6th graders) from 2000-2020 HERE.
See pieces written by 1st Year classes (6th & 7th graders) from 2001-2020 HERE.
Snow
by Luella Grace
Standing on the snow pile,
morning frost on the ground:
talking about money
and how much is in our
bank accounts…
Feeling the bliss of not being in school;
knowing that Marie will come.
Expecting to do our reports
when she finally arrives
to open the door.
A great surprise awaits:
the building’s already warm!
The Tiger and the Wolf
by Esabella Marie Erekson
When they came into the world,
they were together.
Like a second mother, Lily
watches her brother.
Like a fierce guard dog, Jed
defends his sister.
They can speak in a language
that no one else understands:
living in their own world,
they can never be parted.
Before they were born,
I waited for them.
Once they came, I was the Queen.
They listened
to every word I said.
Now, they have caught up
to my tricks.
Their personalities are different, yet
they are exactly the same.
Jed is a natural-born leader:
Lily depends on and follows him.
Lily is motherly and kind:
always keeping Jed in line.
I love both the same: they are
part of my wonderful family.
