Tuesday, November 3, 2015

I love starting the day with a good Pooh quote. 

How is your morning so far? Quite well I hope! 

For History, we're still talking about Jamestown. Yesterday we covered the first couple of years in Jamestown which weren't that great unless you like eating boiled shoes. Today we're going to talk a bit about the natives that were living there when the colonists arrived. They were led by a man named Chief Powhatan. Powhatan had a daughter, named Matoaka. She was his favorite of all of his children. He nicknamed her "Little Wanton" or "Little Naughty" would be another way to say it. In their language "Little Naughty" would be said "Pocahontas." 

no. not her. 

Pocahontas, legend says, saved the life of John Smith. This may or may not be true. Primary source documents written by John Smith tell about her saving his life, but they were written years later. Nothing was ever written about it at the time and no one else ever wrote about it either. That makes people think maybe it never happened and John Smith made it up. Apparently he liked to write about himself being saved by young women-but at this time Pocahontas would have only been 10 or 11-not a sexy Disney princess girl. 

John Smith was taken prisoner by Powhatan, but a month later was back in Jamestown with food from Powhatan for the colony. According to the legend, Powhatan brought John Smith forward and was going to kill him by bashing his brains in with a stone club. Pocahontas put her head over John Smith's head to protect him. There are several things that may have happened here. 

1. It really happened just like that. 

2. Powhatan planned for it to happen that way, so that he could release John Smith without seeming weak. 

3. John Smith made it up. 

At any rate, Pocahontas did not fall in love with John Smith, but she did seem to like him. She would bring food and supplies to Jamestown, until she heard that John Smith had died and then she stopped. He had not really died-this was when he got that gun powder burn on his leg and went back to England. Several years passed and no one heard from Pocahontas. She had been taken captive by a man named Captain Argyle. While she was a captive the colonists taught her about Christianity. One of the colonists-a man by the name of John Rolfe-fell in love with her and married her. She became a Christian and changed her name to Lady Rebecca Rolfe. They had a son named Thomas. During her marriage to Rolfe, it was known as "The Peace of Pocahontas" because there was peace between Powhatan's tribes and the colonists in Jamestown. This lasted for six years, but ended when John Rolfe took her to England, and she died on the ship on the way back. 

This is a portrait that was painted of Pocahontas in traditional English clothing. 

This is supposedly a portrait of Pocahontas and her son Thomas, but people aren't exactly sure where it came from. 

This model is dressed as Pocahontas would have been in her native dress. 

What do you think about Pocahontas' story? Do you think that the story about her saving John Smith's life is real? We're going to combine writing and history today. Use your Daily 10 time to tell me your opinion of whether is true or not. If its not, what do you think happened? If it is, why did no one else know about it? 

Also write me a paragraph giving me a vivid description of what it was like to live in Jamestown during the time when Pocahontas was visiting John Smith on a regular basis. You can imagine that you are a young girl, or anyone else in the village. Just make it clear from what POV you're writing from. 

For Math, do XtraMath. I don't see where you did the multiplication placement test yesterday. You need to do that today. 

For Spelling write me a Ricky Dillon sentence for each of your words. (Ricky Dillon optional). If you need to look at the definitions again you can find them here. 

For Science read the next lesson on Light Reactions of Photosynthesis and watch any videos that are included. Answer these questions: 

1. How do autotrophs differ from heterotrophs? How are they the same?
2. What do plants do with most of the sugar they produce during photosynthesis?
3. How do decreasing levels of CO₂ affect plants? How do you think increasing levels of CO₂ affect plants?
4. Where do plants get the raw materials for photosynthesis?
5. What do plants take up through their roots? Which of these substances are used for photosynthesis?
6. Where does the chemical reactions of photosynthesis take place?

Bah! We forgot Grammar last night. Skip Grammar today. 

For Reading read a book of your choice for at least 30 min, and then read the section in Reading for Thinking about underlining and highlighting that we discussed last night. 

Ok sweet girl! That's it for the day! I hope you enjoy your movie tonight. Don't forget to ask Mrs. Tara about your poster, and remember: 

If you make faces, it might stick that way.