The Results Are In

The results are in.  Thank you every one for voting.  All one hundred and ten of you.  Yes, 110!

Third Place
20%: A piece on Tecumseh (22 votes)       


Second Place
29%: A historical fiction piece on the Salem Witch Trials (32 votes)       


First Place
49%: A World War I piece about kids living in Berlin, Germany (54 votes)     

I plan to post my blog on World War I by next Wednesday, but if my brother doesn't stop singing the Power Rangers theme song who knows how long it will take me.  Wish me luck. 

I curse the day my brother first saw that show!

 

 

What Should I Write?

Hi.   

So tonight I said, "Hey mom I haven't done a post on my blog in awhile."  So we started thinking of ideas.  I decided that I wanted to have a vote. Here are my ideas:

• A historical fiction piece on the Salem Witch Trials 
• A piece on Tecumseh 
• A World War I piece abut kids living in Berlin, Germany.  

You help me decide. Voting ends on the seventh of September.  I will post results that night and then around September 14th I will post a blog about the winning topic.  

So vote!

 

And, you can send me more ideas for blog post at maxine.tewsley@att.net. Your ideas will be on my blog with a special shout out to you when it comes out.  Thanks, please vote.

            

Signing off, 

Maxine Tewsley

The Holocaust: Not a Time to Smile

Follow this link to see my entire multi-genre project on the Holocaust:

http://maxinemakinghistory.weebly.com/

Holocaust Poems

Note from Maxine's Mom: At the end of 4th grade, Maxine's class took on the task of writing about one subject in multiple genres.  Each student selected a topic, researched the topic, then wrote about the topic in a variety of formats.  Maxine selected the Holocaust as her topic.  The following are the poems she wrote on the Holocaust and submitted as part of her final draft.

JEWS JEWS

Jews, Jews

skinny and scared

concentration camps

cold cots

no pillows

gas chambers

leafless trees

piles of shoes

Gold teeth too

THE FINAL SOLUTION

Death

Nazi

Here I come

I seek Jews to kill

Adolf Hitler

guns

kill all the Jews

Its the final solution

The Holocaust

I am the Holocaust*

I am a friend of Adolf Hitler

I am a terrifying event 

I am a nemesis of all of Europe's Jews

I am a trickster who makes Jews think their taking a shower but instead I kill them

I am a killer to Jews, gypsies and more

I am a time that says the Holocaust is my name and killing Europe's Jews is my game

*denotes the version submitted as her final work. The following represent the poem as a work in progress:

I am the Holocaust (draft version)

I am a friend of Adolf Hitler
I am a terrifying event
I am an enemy of the Jews
I am in Europe
I am a trickster who says, "Take a shower."
But instead of coming out alive and wet, you come out dead.
I am a Nazi thing
I am a horrible time
I am a killer of Jews, gypsies and homosexuals
I am a time that says, "the Holocaust is my name and killing Jews is my game."

Days Go By

Days go by

I fell (feel) alone and dry

My heart pounds at the sound of boots

snowy days

rainy days

cloudy days

even sunny days

all is miserable 

in my life

during the Holocaust

Abe Lincoln voki

This is my voice saying the Gettysburg Address while looking like Lincoln.  You can do it too if you go to http://www.voki.com/.

Searching for History

This Memorial Day weekend, my family and I spent time in Lewiston, New York.  On our last day we went to Apple Granny for lunch.  The placemats had a local history quiz on them. It said: 

“Put your Sherlock Holmes hat on and go out and do a little investigating. With a little skill and some luck you could be one of the weekly prize winners.”   

I thought it would be really cool to do it because I like history and it was kind of like a mystery you had to solve.  It seemed really cool.  After lunch my brother, my mom and I went out in search of the answers.  My dad and Uncle Kenny joined later.

My brother and I - just before we went on our history quiz hunt. We are in front of the Frontier House - one of Lewiston's most historic buildings.

Important Note: If you want to find the answers to any of the questions on this quiz for yourself then you may, but don’t read the last paragraph.  If you want to find out the answers without taking a trip to Lewiston, then you can read the bottom paragraph.

Stop #1: 4th and Center Street 
 
Question: Chabert de Joncaire obtained permission from the local Seneca tribe to build a trading post in Lewsiton in what year? 

  



Stop #2:  Freedom Crossing Monument 
A Note from Maxine: The Freedom Crossing Monument was erected to help people remember that slaves were carried across the Niagara River near Lewiston to Canada. Some people say Harriet Tubman helped bring slaves to this spot on the Underground Railroad. When I first saw the statue, I didn’t notice that there were secret codes, but now I know that there are 5 hidden messages on the statue.

Question:  What is engraved on the baby’s foot and what does it mean?  

A Hint from Maxine: It is a bible verse.  Can you guess what bible verse it is?  

Stop #3: Just south of the monument

Question: On October 13, 1812 the United States invaded British Canada from Lewiston. It was called the Battle of Queenston Heights. At what time of day did the American troops raise the American Flag on the Canadian side?

Stop #4: The broken anchor by the Lewiston Museum

 
Question: The large steamship the Cibola caught fire off the Lewiston dock in 1895. What was the name of the engineer who died in the blaze?  

Stop #5: Center and 8^th Street

  

Question: Lewiston's Catherine Hustler invented the cocktail. She described it by saying, "It warms both the body and soul and it is fit to be in a vessel of __________.

A Note from Maxine: I've never tasted a cocktail, except for a Shirley Temple. Shirley Temples are very good. I think they are fit for a vessel of __________ too.

When I found all of the answers, I felt like I had solved a mystery.  It was fun.

The Answers:

1. 1720
2. Exodus 5:1. Let my people go.
3. 9:00 am
4. William Hammond
5. diamonds

Spring Break

It is Spring Break for me.  The first few days I hung out with my cousins.  Then just me and my brother went to my grandparents.  Yesterday we went to see hop.  And today we are going out to lunch and then, we will see our cousins and go to see baby lambs with them.  On Monday night me and my brother found out we were getting picked up early from my grandparents on Thursday to go to... CHICAGO!   I am so exited.  We are staying at the hotel my uncles staying at.  We are going to the Series tower and to the American Girl Doll store!  we are going to the aquarium to. 
I will tell you more as the week goes on.