by Jack Purdum

                    “The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving.” -Ullysses S. Grant. The Civil War was the war between the North, Union, and the South, the Confederacy, of the United States. They fought over slavery. The North wanted everyone to be equal while the South wanted to have slaves. The Civil War was the bloodiest battle in American history. In the Civil War, there were many thing that changed the outcome of the war. Some of them were advantages in people or generals, weapon supply, important battles, etc. They ended in the surrender of the South.

                       There were different advantages between the North and the South. Those advantages helped them in different ways during the war. “America will never be destroyed from the outside, if we falter, and lose our freedoms it is because we destroyed ourselves.” (-Abraham Lincoln). The Northerners advantages were that they had factories, more railroads, and more weapons. Unlike the South who had few factories, had to farm, and had to wait on Europe to get supplies. The South had advantages too. They had more experienced generals, they were fighting a defensive war, and had better trained soldiers. With these advantages, both sides appeared pretty equal.

                         There were many important battles in the Civil War.  One of the important battles was the Battle of Bull Run. This battle was the first battle of the Civil War. Both sides thought  that the battle was going to be over very quickly. They thought it would be the only battle in the Civil War. It showed them the war was going to be long and bloody.  The next important battle was the Battle of Antietam. Also called Sharpsburg, Antietam was the first major battle in the Civil War. It was the bloodiest single day battle in American history. General Lee’s army was out number 2 to 1, but he fought to draw and escaped. That is an example of better generals. There were 22,000 casualties in this battle. The next important battle was the Battle of Gettysburg. The battle of Gettysburg was maybe the most important battle of the Civil War. This battle had the largest number of casualties. There were 50,000 casualties. The Union’s general was Gen. Meade. The Confederacy general was General Lee. Lee’s goal was to get to Harrisburg to get the Union to give up.  General Pickett, the other Confederacy general, launched an attack on the third day that ended the battle for the Confederacy. The Confederacy was devastated by artillery and rifle fire. This was the battle that turn the tides of the Civil War. The next battle was the Battle of Vicksburg. It started on May 18, and ended on July 4, 1863. This battle was a Union victory on the same day as Gettysburg. Vicksburg was a Confederate camp that controlled the Mississippi River. General Grant captured 29,000 Confederate soldiers and let them go if they promised not to fight again. That day General Grant took control of the Mississippi River and after that day no more prisoner exchanges were made. These battles really helped the sides change their positions in the war.

                          The Confederacy ended up losing the war in the Battle Richmond. The Confederacy suffered a huge loss. They later surrendered at the Surrender at Appomattox. Generally brought the white flag and surrendered. The rest of the generals surrendered after Lee and that was the end of the Civil War. Three days after Lee’s surrender, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

                             The American Civil War was a war between states rights, slavery, and economic problems. “A house divided amongst itself cannot stand. “– Abraham Lincoln. In conclusion, The Civil War was good and bad bad. It ended slavery, but killed a lot of people with it.

In Wonder, August might be starting school. He has made a few friends. His friends are Jack Will, Charlotte, and Summer. The story is currently taking place at Beecher Prep School. He is being bullied by Julian but has decided not to mind it. He is having fun too. He soon realized that he was going to like school.

Quote a line from Wonder.

“She had long, wavy, brown hair, and a brown t-shirt with a purple peace sign on it.” This explained what he was seeing. It didn’t tell but it showed. The author wanted her to be introduced like that because it was the first time someone came up to August. They became friends and started the Summer Table. They ended up making a whole list of people who could sit at the Summer Table. For instance, Julian was like July. Maya was like May. By the end of lunch, they had a whole list of people who could sit at the table.

by Jack Purdum

                    We were about to go up the magnificent mountain. Over 3,000 feet high. We were in Japan. I was with my grandparents, Mimi and Ruff, and my “Japanese Grandfather”, Anthony Maruko. We were looking up the snowy mountain, Mt. Fuji. “I am so excited!” I exclaimed. Ruff responded with the same answer as he said the other times I said that, “Be patient”.

                    I saw the bus driver pull up to us. She was very nice. She welcomed us in to the heated bus. As we went up the mountain, I played chess with Ruff. It was getting to be a very long drive, the mountain getting bigger by the minute.

                    “Finally!” I said, “We made it to the top.” I saw a great view in font of me. We took a lot of pictures. It was really cold; I wore 3 sweatshirts. After that, we got some hot chocolate, took more pictures, and just enjoyed the moment. Later, we headed back down. It was an awesome, fun, and ‘cool’ trip.

Vasco da Gama

The Beastiest

by Jack Purdum

                   Goalkeepers are very important on the soccer field. One time, as goalie, there was one minute left. We were winning one to zero when, there was a foul in the box, they got a penalty kick. My heart was racing, my knees were trembling, they shot and I blocked it. We had won! There are a lot of things to know and have as a goalkeeper.

                   First of all, goalkeepers need the right equipment. Goalkeepers should have pads. It is great protection. There are some spots where padding is very important including, elbows, thighs, and hips. Every goalkeeper should also have gloves. They have grip to catch the ball. They have padding for palms, and protection for the wrist and fingers. Keepers also have to know how to take care of their gloves. They should wash them after every game and have a back-up pair.

                    Next, goalkeepers have to have courage. They can’t be intimidated, or they won’t try. They could just get out of the way and let the ball go in. Goalkeepers also can’t flinch. If they flinch, they could jump wrong. They can’t be scared to get hurt because, they will. Goalkeepers cannot be afraid to go after the ball.

                     Lastly, Goalkeepers need to know the rules and the point of the game. Goalkeepers won’t be called on as much as field players but, still will be called. It is illegal in soccer to push or trip. Those are called fouls. They can use their hands, but within reason they can’t use their hands out of the box and can only hold it for six seconds. They also can’t pick up a pass from their teammate. The goalkeepers job is to block the ball from going into the goal.

                     In conclusion, there are many things that goalies must know and have on the soccer field. Goalkeepers are a very important position in soccer.

Q&A: NASA’s Bobak Ferdowsi

Activity 1: Interesting Fact

Bobak Ferdowsi got accepted into NASA because of his “far-out hairstyle”.

Activity 2: Main Idea

The main idea is that a Mars rover, the “curiosity”, touched down and Ferdowsi got into NASA becAuse of his hairstyle.

Activity 3: Questions

How does someone get into NASA by their hair?

Is this the first time a rover touched down on Mars?