Famous Fur Trappers and Traders

Famous Fur Trappers and Traders
by Ryan Cox

Three famous fur traders or trappers are: John Jacob Astor, Jedediah Smith, and Alexander Mackenzie. Fur trappers are also called mountain men. They trapped or hunted beaver and other animals for their skins. A mountain man would have a pistol in his leather belt and he carried balls for his pistol. He would have a powder horn under his arm. The beaver skins that the fur trappers caught were dried and then folded. Once they were folded they were put in eighty to one hundred pound packs. The packs were then shipped to stores that bought them.

Jedediah Smith
Jedediah Smith was a fur trapper and explorer. He had many adventures. Once he got attacked by a bear and got his scalp nearly ripped off. He also got broken ribs. He had his friend sew his scalp back on loosely. I bet that must have hurt a lot! One of his ears was sewn on backwards. He always wore his hair long to hide the scar. He found the South Pass. On a five year trip, he had twenty-five men killed and over three hundred pack horses stolen. On a later trip, he needed to go out to find water. When he had found water he was ambushed by Comanche Indian warriors. He was only thirty-two years old when he died. I wish he could have lived longer. He might have done even more amazing things. Still, he did some amazing things in his short life.

Alexander Mackenzie
He made the first east to west crossing of North America. It was ten years earlier than Lewis and Clark's east to west crossing. First he made a trip up a river that brought him to, not the Pacific Ocean as he had hoped that the river would bring him to, but to the Arctic Ocean. He named the river that he traveled on Disappointment River. Then he went on another expedition. This one actually brought him to the Pacific Ocean. When he got there he wrote on a rock with vermilion mixed in melted grease so that it said: Alexander Mackenzie, by land, 22nd of July, 1793.

John Jacob Astor
By about 1809, John Jacob Astor was recognized as one of the lead fur traders. He made it so that he was in charge of fur trade in the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley regions. This made it so that he could become the first multi-millionaire in the United States of America.

These are some amazing fur traders or trappers that did some exciting things. Fur traders and trappers had an important role in our country's growth because they explored the county. It would have been fun to meet one of these fur traders or trappers.

Geronimo Stilton by Ryan

October Book Report
By Ryan Cox

Geronimo Stilton is a mouse who writes a newspaper. He is a bookworm who is also very smart. He often gets into trouble. He also writes adventure books, and he is always the main character. Three of my favorites books are: Valentine's Day Disaster, Surf's Up Geronimo, and Watch Your Whiskers Stilton!!

In Valentine's Day Disaster, Geronimo Stilton has a big Valentine's Day party set up for Valentine's Day. He forgets to set his alarm, so he wakes up late and is late for work. Then he finds out that the people who deliver his newspaper won't deliver it anymore. Next, he meets a girl named Cheesy Lou who calls and gets one hundred horses and cowmice to deliver the newspapers that had not been delivered. They went to Geronimo's house. Then Geronimo's sewer pipe burst. Cheesy Lou cleaned everything up and washed everything. Afterward, the power fuse blew. Cheesy Lou went to the basement and fixed the electricity. Finally, it was time for the party, but one one was there. So Geronimo thought that every one forgot about him. Everyone surprises him and says, “Geronimo, we love you!”

In Surf's Up Geronimo, Geronimo goes on a trip to a hotel and finds out that it is a horrible place to stay. Then when he opens his door to the bathroom, he sees some black tiles. When he steps on a black tile he hears a disgusting crunch. He runs and gets his glasses and finds out that the black tiles are cockroaches! For breakfast he had a bread roll that tasted rubbery, and a cup of coffee that tasted like mud. After breakfast he got forced to go do dangerous activities that he didn't want to do. The next day he found out that even though he had paid for a week he only got to stay two days. Then he finds out that the next airplane doesn't leave for a month. So he leaves as fast as he can that day.

In Watch Your Whiskers, Stilton!,Geronimo finds out that a mysterious one eyed rat paid lots of money for the newspaper stands not to sell his papers. He also paid lots of money for the book stores not to sell his books. Then the one eyed rat also paid lots of money for the apartment they were staying in. He also bought the bank and took back all of their loans. So then they go work in the basement of a bakery. Geronimo plays a game in which you are asked 5 questions. If you get them all correct you get a million dollars. If you get even one wrong your tail gets chopped off. He got the million dollars! Then he and the one eyed rat became friends.

You can probably tell why I like Geronimo Stilton's books. They are very fun and exciting. He has made lots of books. They are all fun. I can't wait to read more.

Math Games

These are some of the fun ways we practice math facts:

This is a fun math game.

The kids also love Khan Academy. I love it because it can teach Ryan about Logrithams and I don't have to try to remember.

For basic drills (addition and multiplication facts), we love fun4thebrain.com

Solar System project

We made a solar system out of food, then went outside and set it up so that it was by scale. The kids were impressed at how far out some of the planets were. Our scale was 1 inch= 3,600,000 miles. We traveled a long way today!!! Enjoy the videos. (The last one is of the little boys-- they didn't want to be left out.)





Little Boys

Science Animation

This video is a fun way we found to learn a little about Oxygen. Things like this make science cool!

Oxygen from Christopher Hendryx on Vimeo.

Redwall Book Report

Journal of Matthias

from Redwall by Brian Jacques

(Matthias is a mouse who wants to be a warrior.)

Journal Entry #1

I am so mad! A rat came today and started telling us what we had to do to surrender. He was in our abbey too. We could kill him at any time. Yet he was telling us what to do.

Journal Entry #2

Now I am madder than ever! Our portrait of Martin the Warrior has been stolen! From right under our noses too. We really need to fight better than this. If they can get in and out then we are not doing a very good job of defending our abbey.

Journal Entry #3

At least a little bit of good came out of Martin being cut out and stolen. Behind where the picture was, there was a poem that gave hints about where Martin's sword was at. We found another poem under the abbey. That also helped us find the sword. It was on top of the abbey.

Journal Entry #4

Today Jess squirrel went to get the sword. But there was no sword! Jess even saw the wires that would have kept the sword in place. On her way down, she got attacked by sparrows. One of the young sparrows got hit down by an arrow.

Journal Entry #5

The sparrow says its name is Warbeak. My friend found a way to the top from the inside. He also figured out that the sparrow king has Martin's sword. I am taking Warbeak up there to look for the sword. I hope we get rid of the rats soon. I am getting tired of this war.

Journal Entry #6

I didn't like it up at the top of the abbey. The sparrows kept me captive. At least I know where the sword is now. A snake has it. I will try to go and get the sword from the snake.

Journal Entry #7

I went and asked an owl what it knows about the snake. Lucky me, he even knows where the snake's house is at. I should get there soon. I hope it has the sword. If it doesn’t, I don't know where I'll look next.

Journal Entry #8

Today was an exciting day for me, a lot more exciting than I hope to have in a long time. Today I fought the snake. Luckily, I killed it. It was exciting, yet very scary. I hope never to fight a snake again. I found Martin the Warrior’s great sword. So at least I gained something. Now we will win the rats for sure. We will finally be done with fighting.

Journal Entry #9

Today we finally got rid of the rats. They were in the abbey when we got there. They had tied everyone all up. We got there just in time to get Redwall back. I personally killed Clunly, their leader.

Journal Entry #10

I have been made the warrior of Redwall! Everything is back to normal. At last we are done fighting. I have had a son called Mattimeo. He even tries to lift my sword.

Hatchet

Tyler built this diorama and acted out the story for his book report.