A Great Woman of the Civil Rights Movement: ROSA PARKS by Courtney Z. Knight

On February 4, 1913 Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. She was named after her maternal grandmother, Rose. Instead of 'e' at the end it's Rosa with an 'a'. Her parents were James McCauley and Leona Edward McCauley. James, Rosa father went North when Rosa was a toddler. Leona, Rosa's mother was pregant with Rosa's' brother Sylvester so she stayed in the South. Rosa's mother became a teacher in a another town so she moved her children to Pine Level to live with her parents while she was teaching. The last 2 times Rosa saw her father was when she was 5 and when she was grown and married. Rosa was home schooled by her mother for a little while because schools for black kids in Pine Level only went up to sixth grade. So when Rosa completed her education in Pine Level at the age 11, her mother put her in Montgomery's Industrial School for Girls (a.k.a. Ms. White's School for Girls). This school was run by white Quaker women who believed that all people were equal.

There were Jim Crow Laws segregating the South and that made Rosa's life hard. Jim Crow laws kept whites separated from blacks and were meant to make whites believe they were better than blacks. It was harder than we can imagine because black people were beaten, lynched, and burned to death by the KKK(ku klux Klan) and mistreated by most whites. Even though slavery was over most black people still did house chores and picked cotton for white people. There were signs that said "whites only" and "colored" every where. At restaurants, on buses, in movie theaters, water fountains, etc. And white sections were always nice and clean. While the blacks sections was always dirty.
While in high school Rosa met a man named Raymond Parks who was a barber. Everyone called him Parks for short. Parks would come to Rosa's house with flowers and asking for a date but Rosa was very shy. Parks kept coming back until Rosa said yes. Parks and Rosa dated for a while and later they were married.
One day Rosa's' mother saw a picture of Rosa's' High School best friend, Johnnie in the newspaper and it said she was an NAACP worker in Montgomery. The NAACP is the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Rosa Parks went to one of the meetings to surprise her friend and the members asked her to become a member and volunteer to be the secretary. She said "yes". Mr. Parks helped fight for equality too but he didn't join the NAACP.
December 1, 1955 was the night Rosa made history. After work Mrs Parks did a little shopping & went to Lee's Cut Rate Drug Store to get aspirin for her body aches; she had been at work on her feet all day. She was seamstress at a major department store, Montgomery Fair. Three stops after Mrs. Parks boarded the bus, a white man boarded the bus. All the white seats where full so he was left standing. According to Jim Crow Laws if the white section of the bus was full the blacks had to get up and move further back to make more space for the white passengers. Mrs. Parks was sitting in the first row of the black section with other black people. The other black passengers got up and moved to the back. Rosa Parks stayed seated. The bus driver told her to get up but Mrs. Parks said, "No". This was the same driver who had thrown her off of a bus 12 years before & she was tired. Tired of the oppression of black people. Mrs. Park had known and suffered this oppression her whole life. Mrs. Parks was arrested. A white couple Virginia & Clifford Durr helped get Rosa Parks out of jail. They talked to the police officers at the police station because the officers wouldn't talk to Mr. Parks because he was black. Mr. Parks came and E.D.Nixon (President of the NAACP in Montgomery) bailed Rosa out. A group of ministers including, Dr. Martin Luther King met to decide how they would fight this injustice.
They knew that the majority of the bus riders in Montgomery were blacks so they decided to have a boycott. This meant that no black people would ride the buses. The boycott started on the first day of Rosa Parks' trial. Black people walked to work, school, stores, church, EVERYWHERE. Finally on November 13, 1956 the US Supreme Court ruled that segregation on the Montgomery buses was against the US Constitution. On December 20, 1956 the Supreme Court sent papers to Montgomery ordering the buses to treat blacks and whites equal. The boycott lasted for one year and 16 days. On December 21, 1956 black people started riding the buses again and sat any where they wanted to!
Mrs. Parks continued to fight for equality in the world because she knew the JIM CROW LAWS of segregation were UNFAIR to the black community. There were only a few nice white folks she knew at all in her life time.
And that is why I have chosen Mrs. Rosa Parks as my African-American female hero.

Comment and Proof Read!

Hello Class 408 students. I'm glad to see you checking in on our blog during your vacation!

While you are here be sure to read and comment on your classmate's entries, AND check you own entries for typos that you can EDIT. I am seeing many careless spelling, punctuation, and grammar errors. You are experts at correcting MY typos - now correct your own :)

Happy vacation,

Maureen

4th Grade Math Test Info

Stephanie Slabic our math coach has complied some websites about the NYS Math Tests for me to pass on to you!

Your child should only do a few of their vacation homework problems a day and should mark any questions they find extra tricky.

3-5 Testing Information

New York State Pre and Post March Standards – Your children will NOT be tested on everything that is supposed to be taught in their particular grade. Because the tests are given in MARCH, there are many topics that will be covered afterwards, and thus will not be addressed on the test. This website shows you what standards are Pre- and Post-March.

Third Grade :
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/3-8/gr3prepost.htm
Fourth Grade :
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/3-8/gr4prepost.htm
Fifth Grade :
http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/3-8/gr5prepost.htm

2006 Exams - The following link is to the website that hosts downloads for each grade's 2006 exam. This is the actual exam that was administered last year and is a good indicator of what this year's test will be like. This is the practice test we are using in class.
http://www.nysedregents.org/testing/mathei/06exams/home.htm

2005 Sample Test - This is a SAMPLE test to look at with your child. There is also a scoring guide which tells you how your child's answers will be graded.
http://emsc32.nysed.gov/3-8/math-sample/home.htm

Archived Tests - Here are more examples of previous years' tests. If you download these tests for practice - be VERY careful. These tests were given in MAY of the schoolyear and contain many of the POST-MARCH standards that I mentioned earlier. Not every question on the archived tests will be covered on this year's test!
http://emsc32.nysed.gov/osa/arcelinmat.html

Math Games For Practice

NCTM Illuminations
http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivitySearch.aspx
This website has many terrific games for all Pre-K through 12 Grade families. Just check the grade level you would like to work with, and scroll down to find the type of game is appropriate for your child. 3-5 Families - check out the Factor and Product Games!

National Library of Visual Manipulatives
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vlibrary.html
This is another website that allows you to choose grade level - then find a particular activity that addresses a standard. This is a great website Pre-K through 12th Grade!

Funbrain.com
http://www.funbrain.com
This website has a lot of fun "arcade" style games that give kids a chance to choose their grade level then complete many fun math problems.

NY Metro Parents Article on the 4th Grade Math Test
http://www.nymetroparents.com/newarticle.cfm?colid=8311

Black Histery Month By KATE MACRAE

Black Histery Month is made to celerbrat black people who made imporntant contributions to are life.
Some of the people we honer are people who tought us that just because we are differnt on the outside
does not mean we can't have the same good jobs and things. Black histery month foceses on blacks
who made a differins we should all houner people who made a differins in are world like Rosa Parks
,Harett tubmen and other great people like docters and writers.

Can you translate this poem?

"Warmblood born a blood born Death
Will rob your body of its breath
Mark your skin,seal your fate
The Underland becomes a plate


Turn and turn and turn again
you see the what but not the when
Remedy of wrong entwine,
And so they form a single vine.



to know the complet poem and more, read GREGOR & THE CURSE OF THE WORMBLOODS!

the Ela test

Hello my name is kimani and im going to tell you what was going on the day of the test! On the day of the ela test people were nervous and they said '' I wish this was the last day of the test !'' they said that because they were nervous and people {like me} thought they were gonna fail but maureen said''if you just try your best there will be no reason to be nervous about the test!'' so people stopped being nervous because of what maureen said! [ remember try your best on the math test thats coming]!

Short Sleeve Sampson

By Hannah Martin Malcomson.

Short Sleeve Sampson is a Professinal Wrestler,even though he is a dwarf of 4'2"!

Let me tell you a little about him.
Sampson's real name is Dan Dilucchio.
He has other ring names, including, Mini-Taker, Pocket Rocket, and Mini-Angle.

Sampson weighs 115 pounds.He was born in Brooklyn N.Y., and was trained by
Tiny the Terrible.


Here are some championships that he won:

*Chaotic Wrestling
*CW Midget Wrestling(1 time)
*CW Light Heavyweight Championship

Today he lives in Rhode Island, and mostly wrestles for the Micro Wrestling Federation.

When he enters the ring, he raps, "I've got the power of the hour.
All my opponents I'm going to devour."

Dear Class 408 -- 2/13/07

Hi Class 408,

Greetings!

This is just a quick note to say hello and I miss you. I really appreciate the beautiful scrapbook you put together for me and the heartfelt things you said on my last day. I couldn't have asked for a nicer send off.

Thank you for delivering a copy of the 408 reporter to me on Mondays. I think you are doing a fantastic job with the paper.

Also, congratulations to everyone who particiapated in the Black History month assembly. You all are so talented!

All is well with me. The second graders are delightful and Ms. Jen Klein is a great teacher to work with. Once I've settled in to the routine on the third floor a bit better, I'll come back and spend some time with you guys.

I'm going to post some pictures from my time with you -- so keep an eye out for those.

Love,
Melanie

p.s. Have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Math Mania

From WME [World Math Entertainment] we bring you…
Math Mania

The following questions will test your brainpower. Please write your answers on a different piece of paper and label which question your answer belongs to. When you are finished give your paper to Elijah.
Side effects may include dizziness sleepiness & brain hurting.

1. There are 36 geese in a flock. Some got hunted and 29 remain. How many got killed?

2. Take the number of countries in North America and divide it by the number of continents on the globe. Add your answer [except the remainder] and times it to the number of states in the United States of America. Than add the remainder to your answer. What is your answer?

3. Panz famous Manhattan pizza has four main toppings. Ones string cheese, the other sausage, the next pepperoni, & the last olives. There are twelve pieces of toppings on the regular pizza. A greedy costumer came and ordered a pizza four times as large & four times the toppings. How many toppings will Panz need to put on the pizza?

4. 3,673 people clime MT. Everest every year.3, 473 don’t make it to the top. How many people make it to the top?

5. Infinity divided by 7=?

6.What is the square root of 81?

7. What always goes up and never goes down? [Balloons pop and fall down].

Spiderman vs. Sandman

The comic book chapters I am going to write about is Spiderman and the Sandman.

Spiderman is a teenager who got his power from a radioactive spider. Sandman is a villain who Spiderman stopped from doing wrong.

The story started with Sandman robbing a bank. It happened in a Manhattan Bank in the middle of the city. Sandman smashed Spiderman into the taxi and they were fighting, and fighting hard!


The city was busy and a lot of people were in the street. Sandman tried to get away from Spiderman and ran into a school. They started to fight in the school and Spiderman was trying not to make him hurt anyone.

At the end of the story Spiderman saw a vacuum and vacuumed the Sandman into it. Then Spiderman got all the money that sandman stole from the bank.

by, Myles

Class 408 Names Word Search by Aliyah

Word Search by Aliyah

You can make your own too at www.learningplanet.com

Click on the picture to see and print a larger version

The Bolder vs The Meteor- A Fiction Story

On a cold day the Bolder felt some heat on him, it was a meteor! The scientest said “4 days and 24 minutes until the meteor comes. The Bolder prepared for the meteor. He grabbed his guns. The meteor came and the Bolder could not stop it. He rushed up to it and BAM! He was killed.

by,

Malcolm

The Wordsearch that makes your brainpop off!

Click on this to print a larger version
Good Luck!

by, Kimani

Math Word Puzzle by Kate

Click on this to print a larger version
Good Luck!

-Kate

More on my Tour of the Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims

History: Plymouth Church was founded in 1847 by transplanted New Englanders. 21 men and women founded the church in Brooklyn Heights. One was Henry Ward Beecher. He was an abolitionist born in 1813. In his sermons he also supported women’s rights!

by, Veronika Collins

From Maureen – People who wanted to “abolish” (or do away with or end) slavery in the United States were called “Abolitionists.”

Learn more about the Plymouth Church by visiting their website at: http://www.plymouthchurch.org.

How would you like to go on a field trip there?

WHAT'S UP WITH OUR AFTERSCHOOL BASKETBALL TEAM

WHAT'S up 408 in afterschool? There is a team that is not in after school, they are really good. But 408 I wonder if they going to play hard on defense. And I have to say that NO ONE IS GOING TO BEAT THEM IN A GAME OF BASKETBALL!

REPORTING FROM THE GYM,

Laron

How Stealing Makes a Community Feel

It makes people feel like they can't trust other people.

It makes people feel sad that people wasted their money on something that someone stole.

It makes poeple think that people are greedy or liars. It makes people think not so great things about other people.

- Class 408

Time to write

Hi the unit we are studing in writing is Relistic-Ficton it is great.We put bits and peaces from our life into our stories. First we think of somthing that we have went throw in our life and then BAM we put Ficton on it but wait not on all of it some of it see Relistic -Ficton has to be something in your life that can happen but it didin't our teacher is teaching us ways of learning to help ourself's by making stories so hot that you cant but help reading it over and over again.That 's my report for TIME TO WRITE.

by damaras obi

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU ARE LATE

In the school PS.261 if you are late you will get detention because many people have been coming to school late. The reason why the principal wants us to come in early is because we are missing a lot of lessons in our classes. So the next time your teacher asks you about lessons you may have missed for being late, you'll understand it.

If you take the bus it doesn't matter if you are late as it is not your fault, it is the bus driver's.

He is one tip to be early, come earlier than you usually do.

by, Ziyad

Insturment Quiz

1. What kind of music do you like better,

A. Jazz
B.Classical
C.Hip-Hop

2.What musican do you like the best,

A.Duke Ellington
B.Mozart
C.50 Cent

3.Which insturment do you like better,

A.trumpet
B.harp
C.D.J.



If you picked mostly A's,you like the insturments piano,trumpet,saxphone,and clarinet.

If you picked mostly B's,you like the insturments piano,harp,violin,viola,cello,and base.

If you picked mostly C's,you like the drumset.

The Peace Project by zora

IT"S PEACE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


If you get into a fight you should just walk away. And if someone is bugging you tell a teacher.
Peace can even help save your life!
So get off your chair and help make PEACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

all kinds of books

Books are very fun to read there all types of books there can be funny books, scary books, intersting books, and maybe there are some books that are just plain mysteries. There could even be story books in magazines, articles, and in news papers. Did you know that books can be real. Books are really intersting maybe you'll find yourself in a good book one day.Did you know that books can be chapter books chapter books are when there diffrent parts in one book.A picture book is a book is a book with lots of pictures.A non-fiction book is a book that is a true story.A fiction story is a story that was made up.A realistic fiction story is a story a story that can be real but isn't real.If you want to be a writer when you grow up try writing a book that everyone will love.

The Phantom of the Opera part 2

A song that made her feel so weird the phantom looked right at her she came right over to him and tried to take off his mask and it came off he got so mad at her that he said some mean things about her then he said "We must return".The wrote a letter to the manngers the wrote that he wants christine Daae to take Carlotta's place but they didn't swithed the part of Christine's.Christine had to play the slient boy the phantom didn't like that not at all.