Plymouth Colony

A group of people called Puritans sailed to New England in 1620.  The Puritans wanted to purify the church the of England from all Catholic religion.  Finally, they came to North America to settle a colony where they could have freedom of religion.  These Pilgrims sailed to America on a single ship called the Mayflower.  After sighting land, they signed the Mayflower Contract to declare that everyone would help in lawmaking  and and then obey the laws.  They named the colony Plymouth Plantation. Their first winter was extremely rough, and many people died.  The Indians helped them though, taught them, and by next fall they had successful crops.  Then they had a feast in celebration with the Indians.  This was the first Thanksgiving.

Squirrels

Squirrels live in every continent except Australia and Antartica. Tree squirrels are common in the United States. During the winter they have shelter in a nest that they have built; most squirrels have a few nests in case one is disturbed or threatened.

These are pictures Annie and I snapped in our backyard. The squirrel on the top of the page has been digging for nuts and has finally found one. In the second picture the squirrel has just invaded the bird bath. Eventually, the birds came back to eat the birdseed we put there. Next fall we are going to collect nuts for the squirrels and put the nuts in a bucket for them. In the

third picture the squirrel was running along the edge of our backyard fence. (We see them do this very often!) In the fourth picture the squirrel was jumping through the air as I snapped a picture of him. You can even see the snow flying up. The squirrel on the bottom is eating a nut that it dug up right outside our window. In the winter squirrels use their thick, furry tails as a blanket and a signal to other squirrels. Squirrels are very interesting and cute animals.

New Amsterdam

New Amsterdam was one of the thirteen original colonies that later became known as New York. The Dutch traded some land called Manhattan Island from the Indians. Already, many countries were settling North America, and the Dutch wanted some land to. The Dutch built a town called New Amsterdam. New Amsterdam prospered and became a popular trading spot. But soon the people of New Amsterdam became unruly and untidy, and the governors could not control them anymore. Many governors tried, but the people wouldn't listen. They decided to try once more with Peter Stuyvesant. He made new laws and built more protective walls. But soon the English attacked New Amsterdam and the people had to surrender. The English took over New Amsterdam and renamed it New York. The Dutch no longer had a settlement in North America.

Climates in the Pacific

Most islands in the Pacific lie in the tropics and are warm almost all year round. The average temperature near the equator is 81 degrees fahrenheit and 73 degrees fahrenheit near the tropics. Also, areas where there are mountains and higher islands are a bit cooler. In fact, the tallest mountains in Hawaii, New Zealand, New Guinea have snow on them all year round. Most islands also have a wet and dry season.

HAWK!

Today I came downstairs to find a hawk sitting 3 feet away from our front door. After looking closer, I saw that it had a starling under his talons! He was just sitting there, staring into our house. After researching it, I think it was a red-tailed hawk. Red-tailed hawks live in North America and have reddish-brown tails. After a while we scared him way, hoping he would take his messy breakfast with him. Sadly, he didn't. He probably left a very hard worked for meal in our front yard.

The Pacific Ocean

There are 5 different oceans. They cover about 72% of the earth's surface. The biggest one is the Pacific Ocean. The Pacific Ocean is the largest body in the world and covers about 66 million square miles, that is about 1/3 of the earth's surface. There are thousands of islands in the Pacific. These include island nations, such as Japan and New Zealand, and hundreds of scattered islands. These islands include the Solomon islands which lie north-east of Australia, the Hawaii islands, and the Caroline islands, which includes over 930 small islands lying just north of the equator. The Carolines are a part of a island called Micronesia.

The word pacific means peaceful. The Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan gave the Pacific this name because of the difference between the rough South American seas and the calm Pacific waters. The average depth is 12,900 ft. The greatest is 35,840 ft, in Challenger Deep.

HAPPY NEW YEAR !

Happy New Year everyone!  I hope you had a great New Year's eve. We went to the Vaughans'  house and stayed there until 12:30, blew horns, then went home and got to bed around 1:00a.m.. How are you going to say 2010, twenty-ten or two thousand ten?  I'm going to use this blog to post stories, articles and other things that I write. I'm really exited. Happy Holidays!

Caroline Meek