Thanksgiving

Helloooo people that read this!

In the US they celebrate Thanksgiving on the third Thursday in November.  The FIRST Thanksgiving was when the pilgrims landed in America, and (after their first year) thanked God for surviving so far, and had a big meal with lots of turkey in it (with the Native Americans who had helped them stay alive). So in the modern-day USA they celebrate by eating lots of turkey and lounging in front of the TV for the rest of the four-day weekend.

Also every year the president pardons a turkey. In other words, they randomly choose a turkey and say in posh words ‘You’re probably the only turkey in the United States not on somebody’s plate, congratulations!'.

Here is a picture of President Obama, pardoning this year's turkey:

It’s traditional to think or write about what you are thankful for.

On Thanksgiving, we went for a walk in the woods with dad. 

We also went to our friends’ house to have dinner. As well as turkey, we ate stuffing, sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie, and corn bread. Yum!

Museum of Science and Industry

Yesterday we went to Chicago to ... see above!  To find out more about the Museum of Science and Industry, click here. 

My favourite things were 'The Toy Maker' and the 'You' exhibit.

The toy maker was so fun. It was about how toys were made. There was a robot that really drew! That was also an excuse to play video games. You can play games where you are the employee and you make decisions for the company. 

The drawing robot

The 'You' exhibit was all about the human body. There was a thing where you put your hand on a pad and it shocks you. There was a giant film of a beating heart and lots of models of bodies.



Running on a giant hamster wheel

I also liked the baby chick hatchery, which was part of an exhibit about genetics.  The chicks were cute.

My favourite parts were the coalmine and the submarine.  The submarine was a real U-boat from World War 2! I thought it was pretty big, but mum said it would have been really cramped in there. They had some really good footage of the U-boat's capture (by a US ship).  You had to stand in line for ages and ages to get in to the coal mining exhibit, but it was very good. It showed you the machines from the past and present. (Wyoming is the best state for coal, by the way!)  First we went to a coal seam, then on a coal train to an area with modern methane sensing technology.  It was ironic because he showed us the 'Davy lamp' invented by Humphrey Davy, who was from Penzance in Cornwall, where my mum comes from.

I also liked the exhibit where you learnt about extreme weather like tornados and the space exhibit where we saw the real equipment which the Apollo 11 astronauts used to practise for the moon landing. 

Me and a tornado...

Ellen making a mini-tornado

  



Us on the moon... Oh, OK, not really...!

Chief Pokagon

I’ve been doing a project about a Native American Chief called Chief Pokagon. He was the reason that his tribe, the Potatwatomi, could stay near South Bend when all the other Native Americans had to leave because the white people came. He could stay because he agreed to become a Catholic. He also had to pay taxes. I found this out at the history museum.

At the history museum. This is a canoe like the ones the Potawatomi
would have used on the St Joseph river in South Bend

Me in a wigwam like the ones Chief Pokagon's people lived in

To find out more about the Kidsfirst Children's History museum, click here.

Snow down, hoedown!

Yup, people, it snowed on Bonfire Night. In case you hadn’t heard it snows here. Generally in DECEMBER though.

WHAT AM I DOING WITH ALL THESE FULL STOPS?!

EXCLAMATION MARKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We actually woke up last Saturday to find it was white everywhere! Here's what our garden looked like:

Anyway, on Bonfire Night we went to a hoedown with our Girl Scout troop. (They don’t celebrate Bonfire Night in America.) We didn’t actually dance, but we did a corn-maze in the snow! The maze was on the theme of countries of the world and you had to answer questions as you went around.

Trying to answer the questions

 

My map got a bit soggy...

Afterwards we had roasted marshmallows (called s'mores) and hot chocolate.

Hallowe'en Again...

As we’ve mentioned before, Hallowe’en is really big here. Here are our costumes:

Even mum dressed up...

We managed to do six different Hallowe’en things this week and here they are:


School Haunted House (Wednesday)

The school haunted house was really fun.  First you went through a tunnel and some-Star-Wars-person-I-don’t-know showed you the right way.  You went into a kitchen with an ape man, and on the way out of the kitchen a man with cheese showed you a dead head, which MOVED. Then light-sabre-man showed the way again and you went through a really dark zone where some Dracula phantom person jumped out from behind you. (I froze so he had to say ‘Go onwaaaaards’!). You went to a house then, where dead bodies screamed from under tables.  One of the dead bodies was the Principal, Mr Barwick. Then a menacing gravedigger showed you out. In total the eighth-graders who organized it made $890!!!!!!!


Trick-or-treating in Wakarusa (Thursday)

Hi viewers. In England, we’re not allowed to go trick or treating. Waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh.  It’s really cool.  I had a big bag and got loads of sweets. He he he!  We went to the town near where Patrice and Catherine live. It’s called Wakarusa. There was a big tree made of pumpkins.

School Hallowe’en Party (Friday)

Hi, people of Europe. Our school had a Hallowe’en party. First we got changed. Then, we played games: Bingo, Bowling (with a pumpkin), and a card game called ‘Apples to Apples’ .We then had a snack. I had so much fun there.


Studebaker Museum (Friday night)

In case you didn’t know, Studebakers are a kind of car that used to be made here in South Bend.The 'Trunk and Treat' at the museum was basically where you got ‘candy’ out of the boots (or 'trunks' as they say over here) of the old cars. The 'Recykilling Centre' exhibit was pretty scary too.

The 'Recykilling Centre'

There were crafts too, which were quite good. We made magnets.  Also have you ever seen Elvis’s car? It’s pretty ‘groovy!’ 

To read more about the Studebaker Museum, click here.


Pumpkin Decorating (Saturday)

Hello people of far away. The pumpkin painting was fun. Maddie did 2 . Mum and I did 1 each. I did a dead man. Maddie did a phantom and a dracula. Mum did happy hallowe’en man. He was carved and had a hat.

Trick-or-treating in South Bend (Sunday)

This was pretty much the same as Wakarusa, but we were only there for an hour and got twice as much (South Bend is busier!).

We went back to our house afterwards and traded sweets.

Diorama

Yesterday and the day before, I finished my diorama.

A diorama is a scene from a book, in a shoe box. I made mine on the last Harry Potter book. It was made out of paint, lolly sticks, modelling clay, string, fabric, and playmobil people. I wouldn’t count it as homework because it’s too fun. My scene was when Harry, Hermione, and Ron get captured by werewolves. I bet my diorama was the best ever.  

Here it is:

Tornado Lockdown!!!!!

Today we had a TORNADO WARNING!!! That means that one is about to happen or is ALREADY HAPPENING! Luckily it was happening south of us, BUT we had to put our hands over our heads and sit facing the wall. Now, just to point out TORNADO WARNINGS only usually last about five minutes, and ours lasted TWO HOURS!!!

It was scary! SCARY! But eventually it stopped.

You can read a news report about today's weather here.