Pizza With The Founding Fathers

Dear Readers, I have invited the Founding Fathers into our modern time to take them to my favorite restaurant, Mellow Mushroom.  I will buy them a Coke, a cheese pizza, and a brownie dessert.  While we eat, I will ask them these questions:

1. President Washington, you owned hundreds of slaves and your views about slavery changed throughout your life, ending with you giving your slaves their freedom upon your wife's death. What made you change your mind about slavery?
2. Do you think you still would have freed your slaves if you had not fought in the war and seen the African Americans fighting for their country alongside you?
3. President Washington, you are known as one of the greatest leaders in history. You took a makeshift army and won a war against the most powerful country on Earth. What qualities do you think make a good leader?

1. President Adams, I admire you for not owning slaves during a time when in was common and accepted. Why did you chose not to own slaves?

2. You were the last of the Founding Fathers, who are here at Mellow Mushroom with me, to die. It is reported that you said on your deathbed that, "Jefferson still lives." But actually, he died several hours earlier than you on the same day, July 4. Are you surprised to find out you were the last one standing? How do you feel about it?
3. President Adams, people wrote bad things about you during your Presidency. Your close friend and Vice President, Thomas Jefferson, is reported to have instigated some of the slander. How did this make you feel? How were you able to forgive President Jefferson?

1. President Jefferson, what were your inspirations to write the Declaration of Independence?

2. Why did you say slavery was wrong, but you still owned slaves?

3. President Jefferson, I like to read books just like you liked to read books when you were alive. If you could recommend three books to a boy my age, what would they be?

1. Mr. Franklin, what was your favorite quote from Poor Richards Almanack? My favorite one is, "Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead."
2. Mr. Franklin, you had many jobs during your life - scientist, inventor, printer, writer, politician, ambassador, revolutionary, post master, and others. Which one was your favorite job and why?
3. Mr. Franklin, you spent many years as an ambassador to France for the colonies, helping us to gain France as an ally and win the war. What was your favorite thing to do as an ambassador in France?
4. May I ask you an extra question? I also admire you for choosing to stand up against slavery. What do you think are the long-lasting consequences of slavery in America?


My assignment was to write three questions for each Founding Father that both informed and inquired. This was extremely difficult for me! But, in the end, I would love to sit down with these Founding Fathers, eat good pizza, and ask them these questions.

Peace Out -
Ollie, Mom, George, John, Tom, and Ben

Week 8 Review

Last week, at the end of week 8, we finished the HBO movie series about John Adams.  I am going to be writing and publishing a review on it soon.  I also finished my unit on adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators.  I'm glad to have that over with!

During week 8, my mom and I finished reading this book, Master George's People.  I was surprised to learn that George Washington owned slaves.  This book is about the people he enslaved at his plantation, Mt. Vernon.  You learn some of their names and life stories.  It also documents President Washington's changing views on slavery throughout his life.  I discovered by reading it that the people who worked on Mt. Vernon made enormous sacrifices so that George Washington could be off leading the Revolutionary War and being President.  Without them, he would not have been able to make a living and keep up his most beloved Mt. Vernon.

I also learned about the Culper Code and how it helped us win the American Revolution.  I wrote a secret message for you using the code:

553 193 74 KRETL

If you want to break the code, visit this link at Mt. Vernon's website with the entire Culper Code and the history about how the code helped us win the war:

Culper Code at Mt. Vernon

Another thing I did during week 8 was write a story using my vocabulary words from the book Sign of the Beaver:

Do You Have A Mean Coach?!?
Is your coach finicky?  If he is, please read more.  If he is, and you read this essay, you might find it easier to nonchalantly walk into your next game.  Is he trying to lie and act dumbfounded if you told your parents, and they talked to your coach, and he said he didn't do it?  I bet you felt contemptuous about that.  I'm pretty sure you glowered at him next game.  Remember your manitou and rise above this incomprehensible man.  When your parents find out they are going to be disdainful toward him.  He will act disgruntled, but he always has.  You and your parents have to be wary next year.

This is a picture of a storyboard I created last week for a stop motion animated movie I am making as a report for the book Sign of the Beaver.  I made ten storyboards that outline the props, scenery, and sequence of each scene I will film for my movie.  It might take us a few weeks, but when we are done, I will publish my first stop motion animated movie!

Some other things that kept me busy during week 8:

• An All About Frogs nature club at night at Reed Creek.
• A nature walk with my mom where we saw many signs of Spring.
• Learning and testing Newton's first two laws of motion (videos coming soon).
• Some IXL grammar and Code.org coding.

That's all for now.  Peace out - 

Ollie and Mom

The American Revolution - Persuasive Essay

After reading George vs. George with my mom, I was given the assignment to write a five paragraph persuasive essay detailing which side of the Revolutionary War I would have chosen.  First my mom taught me how to write a five paragraph essay.  Then I had to outline the essay.  Then I wrote a rough draft.  Then I edited my rough draft.  Then my mom helped me edit the essay into a final piece.  Here is our work:

In 1776, The American Revolution officially started with the Declaration of Independence.  Americans were divided into two groups: those who supported independence from Britain, known as Rebels, and those who supported King George, known as Loyalists.  If I had lived then, I would have been a Rebel.

To begin with, Americans had their own debts to pay and should not have been taxed to pay Britain’s debts.  Americans were already paying their own debts off from helping Britain fight a lengthy French and Indian War.  Even though they had their own American taxes, the British started taxing colonists to pay the British debt from the war. One of the ways the British did this was through the Stamp Act.  

Secondly, Americans attempted peaceful measures to avoid war, but Britain would not cooperate.  After Americans boycotted the Stamp Act and imported British goods, King George sent Redcoats to patrol Boston.  They killed 7 colonists and 10 more were wounded.  They called this the Boston Massacre.  After the Boston Massacre, they shut down Boston Harbor because America was boycotting British tea.  This caused a lot of Americans to lose their jobs and go hungry.  Colonists felt angry with King George and Parliament.  

Lastly, I don’t think King George was called by God to rule America like many of the Loyalists believed.  King George thought he had a God-given right to control America.  The Founding Fathers and the Rebels thought we should have a free government where the people elect their lawmakers.  

In conclusion, Americans were already being taxed with American taxes and were upset that Britain was taxing them too. They were trying to send peaceful notes to King George to prevent a war from breaking out.  King George did not want to concede because he thought he was called by God to rule over America.  Colonists were left to decide if they wanted to form their own country where they would elect their own officials and be free from Britain, or continue to be subjects of King George.  I would have been a Rebel.  

What side would you have been on?

Ollie and Mom