Today in class we learned about sod houses. We did three activities, the first one that my group did was we smelt what a sod house would smell like. Personally it didn't smell that bad and I'm sure that if you lived in these house you would get used to it over time. The second activity that we did was we went into a rectangle that was taped onto the floor and we had to determine where we would have the stove where we would eat and where the sleeping area was. This was difficult to figure out because it was a very small space and there were five people. There was just barely enough room for everything that was needed. In the winter it would not be fun because you would be stuck in this little house with nothing that fun to do. The next place we went was to the picture area where we took our picture but the problem was that we had to stay in place for one minute which was very hard to do when people are trying to make you laugh. The last thing we did was as a class. We turned the lights off and because they wouldn't have electricity there wouldn't be much to do. Then we had some pop corn which was yummy. Over all I feel like I would go out of my mind after about 5 seconds of living out on the prairie if I lived during that time I would probably be the person who abandoned ship to live in the city.

Hello again everyone. So today in class we talked about the manifest destiny. This is the belief that God wanted America to move westward. Our goal in class today was to answer some questions about a quote and then we had to create a skit answering some questions that were on the board for us to copy down. The skits were... interesting we only had about five minutes to put them together and even then most of us didn't finish them. Yesterday in class we got into groups of three and we read about the Erie Canal and what it was. Then we came back from lunch and we played this game which wasn't really a game it was more like a game that we didn't get to play instead we got to take notes on it! Yey! that's the best. Okay I'm being a Debbie Downer, it wasn't that bad it just consisted of me taking notes which is boring ha ha  Anyways I got over it So that was today and yesterday for history all wrapped up in a nut shell. 

So today in class we had a substitute and we had to read these sheets about the Oregon trail. I learned some things such as the fact that because there were not that many trees around and due to the increasing number of travelers on the Oregon Trail, what little wood was available was used up. Due to this they had to collect...buffalo dung. It sounds nasty right? Ya I would agree with you there. That wasn't the worst part though, the children would actually take pellets that they found and they would toss them around. I understand that it was a substitute to wood for a fire and it didn't stink but still...just gross...  I also learned that many children died because they got run over with a wagon wheel. Also, everyone wanted to leave at once and this caused congestion and traffic jams on the trail. Some who were on the trail didn't even know how to control the oxen because they never had to do it before. When it came to bedtime for them they often feel asleep on the ground because of how tired they were from the long journey. It was about 2000 miles long and many illnesses were a problem for the travelers. It seemed like a very long and painful journey to make I don't think that I would have survived that if I had to go on it.

Hello everyone. Yesterday in class we got into groups of 2-3 people. We read this short document and we had to come up with a slogan, an icon, and a poem about this event. This is all connected to the war of 1812 because during this time the national anthem,  "The Star Spangled Banner", was created. Also during this war  there were many slogans that kept the troops going, things like "Don't give up the ship" and others. I found this to be an extremely difficult task; coming up with a slogan and a poem. The image was easy to do which was good. The article that my group had to read was about the Native Americans and their role during this war. Our slogan was "Save the Beavers" because they fought in the Battle of the Beaver Dam. Our image was a picture of a man. Our poem was about the struggle that the head Native American had to deal with. He wanted to unite all the Native American tribes to fight against the Americans. This was a difficult task because all the different tribes spoke a different language which was hard to figure out how to speak all of the different languages. Today we presented our slogans, poems, and images (everyone who didn't present yesterday) and then we talked a little bit about the curse that the head Native American placed on all the presidents who were elected in a year ending with zero and how they died in office. Mr. Boyle listed off all of the presidents who were affected by this and it was very interesting to think about. Tomorrow I will post the picture that we drew I can't post it now do to the short amount of time that we had at the end of class.

Hello people!!!! So today in class we got into groups and tried to decide what the event that caused the war of 1812 was. I was in the group of impressment. I can see how people would think that this is what the reason for the start of the war. I thought this at first but after hearing what all the other groups had to say I changed my mind. I instead felt that I should change my group to be in the group that said that the most important factor that caused the war was the Orders in Council. This affected the whole country not just one single group of people. It affected everyone. My original group was impressment which is when the English Navy needed men for the war and they basically drafted men into the Navy. Most of the men who were placed into the English Navy weren't even from England. I felt that this was a large issue but compared to the fact that their economy went downhill extremely fast because Britain said that no one could trade with France. Anyways I really feel that this is the main issue that caused the war of 1812 to begin.