PROJECTS OF INTEREST
COME VISIT OUR TOTEM POLE!
In January, 1999, our class completed a totem pole project with our Artist in Residence, Charles Chapman. It was created to link art, social studies, and language arts. In Social Studies, we've been studying Native American culture, past & present. In Language Arts, we've been reading and writing fables and myths.
Children were challenged to draw an animal they would like to write a myth about. Mr. Chapman then took the drawings and helped the children create Room 8's own, fifteen foot, towering totem pole. Visit it! It is in the rotunda of Roosevelt's main hall. You won't regret it!
Below are the fables Room 8 children wrote about their animals. Enjoy!
HOW THE EAGLE GOT HIS YELLOW BEAK... By Russel (3rd grade)There was a clump of flowers. They were dandelions. They had some yellow pollen. They were close to a lake.
One day a deer walked by the lake to drink some water. While he was drinking he accidentally stepped on some flowers by the lake. The lake was flooded with pollen. After that the lake was all yellow.
One day the eagles eyes caught a glimpse of a very big shiny fish. He saw the fish in the same lake that was all yellow. Then the eagle soared down to catch the big fish. While he was dipping his beak into the water, the lake painted his beak yellow. Ever since, eagle's beak is always yellow.
And that is how the eagle got a yellow beak.
HOW FROG GOT HIS HOP... By Kelly (3rd grade)Long ago, when man only could talk to frog, frog made a decision never to see man again. But after just four years, frog saw man again and frog got very angry and said, "Let us fight!"
But man said, "No."
At that point, frog got very mad and for the first time in his life he hopped on man's face. Frog was very surprised at this movement, and so he hopped right away and was never seen again for a long time.
As for man, after frog got his hop, it was very hard for man to catch frog. You have to be very quick.
That is how and why frog hops.
HOW THE SUN GOT IN THE SKY: An Indian Legend...By Alex (3rd grade)For a long time, people all over were in darkness. Total black. Raven was flying overhead...when he saw the people in darkness, he felt sad for them. "I must find a source of light for them!" he crowed. He flew all over trying to find one.
He finally came the the Sky Chief's palace, and it was lighted all over, just the thing he was looking for! Raven flew down and saw the sky chief and his daughter having a picnic under the pines on the shore. Then he had an idea!
He turned into a flea and sipped into the daughter's water glass. As the daughter drank, she accidentally swallowed the flea/bird. After a while Raven was reborn as a child!
The Sky Chief loved the child and carved toys for him. He invited all the elderly people in the family to come and see the boy. Raven/child saw a glowing sphere in a corner. Then he cried, "baw {ball}- baw{ball}." Then he started crying. They gave him the ball, but he kept crying. "Open it up," whispered Sky Chief. The baby crawled over to a ball of light inside the sphere, then turned into Raven himself and flew away with the ball of light. Then he threw it high up in the sky and it stayed there. That was the SUN.
And while Raven was carrying the sun up in the sky, his beak and the rest of his body was singed; that is how the ravens all over became black.
HOW THE SNOW LEOPARD GOT ITS NAME...By Ladan (3rd grade)Once in a far away place there lived leopards in the snow. They looked very different than the other leopards. The other leopards laughed and said, "You look funny because you are silver."
The silver leopards went to a powerful god and asked him if he could give them a different name. "Think of a name for me and I will give the name to you," said the god. The silver leopards thought a whole hour and one finally cam up with a name. "How about Snow Leopard?"
"Hmmm, okay," said the god. "You would look good with the name Snow Leopard. You go back and I will spread the news. Good bye!"
And that is how the Snow Leopard got it's name.
HOW THE FROG GOT HIS RIBBIT...By Matt (3rd grade)Once upon a time, when frog and snake still played together, Snake's father gave snake a squeeze toy. When he squeezed it, it went "ribbit." His father said,"Don't let anyone touch it."
Frog heard it and went to snake's house. He asked if he could play with it. Snake said, "No."
"Why not? said Frog.
"Because my father said only I can play with it."
Frog was hungry and his stomach was growling so loudly that he asked Snake for some food. He ate a lot of mush, and then pretended to be sick. Snake said, "Come and lay on my bed." Snake put the squeeze toy on the bed and then left. Frog squeezed the toy and it went "Ribbit, ribbit." Snake heard and ran home and chased frog around. Then frog swallowed the toy and that's how the frog got his ribbit.
THE TIGER WHO DID EVERYTHING WRONG...By Ashley (3rd grade)Once upon a time when a tiger ruled the Pride Lands there was one tiger that did not follow the rules. All of the tigers growled at him when he came near them. They wanted him to go so they ran him out. When he was out of the Pride Lands he could not find food. He searched and searched and finally he could not believe his eyes. He saw herds of zebras.
He ran back to his Pride Lands and told everyone. Then they saw the zebras and thanked him, and from that day on they always remembered him.
THE COBRA...By Harley (2nd grade)The cobra came from a place that nobody knows about. It was very wet, dark, and cold where the people lived. The people were sad. One day the cobra set off to look for light. He slithered everywhere and found a cottage with light glowing like crazy. He went inside and said, "Give me the light or I will bite!"
So they gave him the light and he threw it in the sky for everybody.
THE BUNNY TAIL... By Roxanne (2nd grade)Once upon a time, there was a little bunny named Nina. Like all bunnies of her time, she had a long furry tail - about one foot long. Nina had a big family. One day her mother asked her if she could gather some berries. When she was deep into the forest picking some raspberries, she noticed a fox in the corner of her eye. She knew the fox was following her so she took off hopping as fast as she could go. She ran straight into a thorny bush. It was very dark, and she tried to get unstuck. She got away, but the thorn bush had a strong hold on her tail. The bunny was too scared to check her wounds so she hurried home to safety. Once at home, she realized that the bush had cut off her tail and all that was left was a puffball. The mom thought it was cute. It didn't take up so much room in their tiny house. So she decided to cut off all her children's tails. Soon all the little bunnies had soft little puffballs. From that day on, all of the bunny community cut their tails, and it soon became normal.
BEAVER FABLE...By Brenden (3rd grade)A long time ago Indian tribes had good lives, except in the winter. In the winter they had to find places where they could have shelter and warmth from the elements. So chiefs sent men to find shelters for their people. Some of these men came to a river and one of these men saw an animal. He had never seen such an animal before, it had large front teeth and a flat tail. He pointed it out to the other men. They watched it cut down trees and make a house out of the wood. They thought they could do the same so they tried it and it worked. The animal is known today as a beaver and that's how we got the idea for houses.
HOW THE SNAKE GOT LONG...By Angelica (3rd grade)Once there was a snake who was like other snakes ... short and fat. He was an especially big snake, and one day he could not get out of his hole. He was stuck. Then his sister helped him by pulling and pulling. He got very long. He was happy. From then on, snakes were long.
HOW BEARS GOT HAIR...By Ozlem (3rd grade)Once upon a time there was a bear. The bear really liked honey. Then one day he fell in the honey bucket next door. He walked home and he noticed that there was no water. Then he went to the other next door and that neighbor had hair in a bucket. He fell into that and the hair never came off. Then all of his friends thought hair was cool, so they did it too. That is how bears got their hair.
HOW THE PARROT GOT THE SUN...By Danielle (3rd grade)Once upon a time there was a parrot. He lived in a very dark, dark forest. There was no light at all. But one day the parrot got mad. He wanted light. He started to fly away from the forest. He flew and flew and then he saw light and he saw a girl drinking . He turned himself into a tiny bug and the girl drank him down. Year by year, day by day, then the girl had a baby. It was the parrot. The baby started to cry. The father said, "Give him the sun to play with."
Then parrot turned back into a real parrot and flew away. Then he threw the sun into the sky and there was light.
THE INDIAN FOX...By Desiree (3rd grade)Once there was a fox. He was called The Indian Fox. He was called that because he helped the Indians catch food and he was by their side every second, but at 5 o'clock PM, he always left the Indians. The Indians were curious about the fox. One day, when the fox went out, he didn't come back. The Indians were scared, but they always remembered the days when he helped the Indians.
HOW THE PIG GOT SO FAT...By Jonathan (3rd grade)Once upon a time there was a pig that was very skinny. The pig was skinny because he never ate. He was the skinniest pig on the farm. The farmer tried to give the pig some food, but the pig didn't eat.
One day, the pig did eat and he liked it, so the pig kept on eating and eating and eating. The pig was fat. The other pigs thought he was very handsome and started eating too. Now all pigs are fat.
FOX...by Angelica (3rd grade)Once upon a time there was a fox who lived with his parents. He walked through the woods and he saw the river. He took a drink of water. He saw a little girl and ran to the mountains. He ran up the mountain. He liked the mountain. He howled and he heard an echo of his howl. He liked his echo. He howled again and again.
The fox ran to his parents. The girl chase the fox but lost him after getting tired. The fox saw a valley. He saw the rainbow that showed him the way home, but at night he returns to the mountains to howl. He lived happily ever after.
ARCTIC FOX...By Christy (3rd grade)Once upon a time a small arctic fox lived in an igloo with his friend the sea lion. Both of them were babies and both were orphans. Once in the middle of winter, the sea lion said, "I'm going to the lake and catch enough fish to last us through winter."
The sea lion and the arctic fox went to the lake, but the top was frozen solid. "What are we going to do?" asked the arctic fox. They looked all over the lake, then they spotted a hole in the ice on the lake. The sea lion said, "I will go under water and catch as much fish as I can, you make sure no snow clogs up the hole or I'll be trapped forever."
So the arctic fox sat there on the cold ice brushing the snow away. He got very tired but he managed to stay awake. Then a polar bear came and fell asleep on the hole. The arctic fox barked as loud as he could but the polar bear kept on sleeping. So he scratched him on the nose. The angry polar bear chased after him. The arctic fox ran towards a weak part of the ice and jumped over it. The heavy polar bear fell into the water. Then the sea lion came out of the hole and brought up more than enough fish for both of them. So they lived happily ever after. The brave arctic fox was a hero in their house.
HOW THE FLAMINGO GOT ITS PINK...By Alex (2nd grade)One day a white flamingo was taking a bath in the water. Then an alien ship started chasing them. A little pink thing came out of the ship and sprayed pink stuff on them. That is how the Flamingo got its Pink.
HOW THE KITTEN GOT HIS PURR...By Lauren (2nd grade)One summer day there was a kitten named Pounce. Pounce had no one to love so he could not purr. A little girl named Mary adopted Pounce and she loved, fed, and took care of him. He was so happy to be loved, he began to happily purr.
WHY WE PROTECT BABIES...By Arshia (2nd grade)Long ago there was a baby bear and hunters that hunted bears. The hunters tried to shoot the baby bear. The mother bear came and knocked three of the hunters onto the ground. One of the hunters didn't have a gun so the baby bear scratched the hunter on the leg. Then the hunter ran away. When he got to his home, he told everyone in the village what had happened to him. Now everybody knew how good that mother bear was, and realized that bears were not just ruthless killers. Now everyone knows that it is important to always protect someone younger than you.
HORATIO...By Olivia (3rd grade)Horatio came. There was silence in the world. Horatio flew over the world looking for sound. Horatio stopped at a tree. He heard something and looked down. He saw a girl at a pond at the bottom of the tree. She was eating some rice. Horatio turned himself into rice and fell. The girl ate Horatio. As weeks and months and years went by the girl had a baby. Horatio was reborn! The girl had a baby with black hair and blue eyes. The girl sent notes to everyone in the kingdom. Everyone came to see the child. Horatio pretended to play, but when the girl picked him up he heard a sound, then he cried.
The box fell and Horatio ran to get the box. He got the box and said boo-boo. He got bigger and said loo-loo. He got even bigger and said Hoo-hoo. Then he flew with the box and threw the sound that he first heard through the air. Now everyone can hear sounds, and the world is not quiet.
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