WW & 1st Year Humanities Foundations 2024-2025
Language
by Aveer Sood (3rd grade)
Since 3,000 B.C., language has existed all over the world. There are some theories how language started. The Sumerians were the first people to start writing. English is tied for the second language spoken by most people. Languages are cool because nobody actually knows how they started.
The origin of language is very complicated. Some 135,000 years ago, humans had the capacity to speak. About 7,000 languages have been identified, and half of them are not spoken any more. Other language families besides the Indo-European are: the Sino-Tibetan, the Afro-Asian, Uralic and Altideit family, the Japanese and Korean family, the Drividian family, and the Makiyo-Polynesian family. Until the 1700's, Europeans thought that all language came from the Biblical Hebrew. One theory about how language started was that people reacted to sounds. Language started when humans existed and needed to communicate.
Writing helps share people's thoughts. Writing began in 3,500 B.C. with the Sumerians. Cuneiform was the first type of Sumerian writing. Pictograms were pictures that would describe something people wanted to know. Hieroglyphics have over 700 different written signs. Scribes were special people who wrote stuff in Egypt. Johannes Gutenberg made the printing press in 1450, which allowed mass writing.
The report is written in English. English started with a Germanic language called Anglo-Saxon. This became Old English, which was spoken from 449 to 1400. Celtic words came from Ireland, and when Romans invaded the British Isles, they brought in Latin words. Middle English lasted from 1100 to 1450, and Modern English started in the 15th century. The Norman Conquest of 1066 brough French words into the English language.
English is the language we use today in America and many other countries. Writing is something people use to communicate without speaking. The origin of language helps people learn about how various languages started, and things someone might want to know about their language. To communicate just by speaking makes it so easy to get along with other people.
Bibliography
Kids Discover Magazine: Language. Kids Discover Publishing; New York, NY: April, 2000. Volume 10, Issue 3.
World Book Encyclopedia. World Book, Inc.; Chicago, IL: 1993. Volume L: pp. 66-68.
Chisholm, Jane. The Usborne Book of the Ancient World. Usborne Publishing, LTD.; London, UK: 1991. pp. 10-11.
https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/English-language/274183
https://news.mit.edu/2025/when-did-human-language-emerge-0314
Dogs
by Hazel Brown (4th grade)
Dogs have been domesticated for 10,000 years and are people's pets all over the world. The way a puppy is treated affects its learning as it gets older. Training your dog helps it to behave correctly. Communication shows what dogs want and need. Dogs are good pets.
Growing and learning is a very big part of a dog's life. A female dog carries her young for about nine weeks before they are born. The number of puppies a dog can have is determined by the size of the mother. At one to two weeks, a puppy has not yet opened its eyes and can only drink its mother's milk. At the age of eight weeks, a puppy can be adopted, and hopefully brought to a good home. Even when a dog has a healthy diet, exercise, and a lot of love, it will also need a regular veterinarian checkup. Stray dogs can be rescued and placed in animal shelters, and some are lucky and get adopted.
Training helps all dogs behave. All dogs need training to live a happy and successful life with human owners. If not trained, a dog will only live a couple of years. When and if a person plays tug-of-war with a dog, the person must make sure to win, so the dog knows who is the boss. A dog needs to know its name to be trained: that is the most important thing to train your dog to know. Everyone who has a dog knows that they love to play and get exercise. Teaching a dog to do super cool tricks is so fun, but a person needs to show the dog who the boss is. Dogs learn really quickly when they are rewarded instead of punished. People train their dogs because if the dog bites or hurts someone, the dog will have to be put down.
Dog behavior closely resembles that of dogs' closest wild relatives: wolves, who live and hunt in packs. Dogs can make facial expressions, which all mean different things, like being happy or tired. When dogs were wolves, they communicated by howls and barks. Most of a dog's behavior is inherited rather than learned. Dogs also communicate through their body movements. For example, when a dog's ears are relaxed, its face is relaxed, its mouth is open, and its entire rear end is wagging, the dog is happy. Another way dogs communicate is through barking, which can indicate the dog is scared, mad, happy, or hungry.
A dog's communication can tell you want the dogs needs or wants. If you want a well-behaved dog, you might consider training. A dog can have a lot of attitude or it can be happy and sweet, depending on how it was treated when it was a puppy. Dogs are so fun and cool!
Bibliography
Kids Discover Magazine: Dogs. Kids Discover Publishing; New York, NY: August, 2000. Volume 10, Issue 7. pp 8-9, 12-15.
World Book Encyclopedia. World Book, Inc.; Chicago, IL: 1993. Volume D: pp. 266, 277-280.
The Caribbean
by Elly Toebe (4th grade)
The Caribbean is a tropical place located between the West Indies and Central South America. Some of the Caribbean islands are: Trinidad, Tobago, Puerto Rico, and Barbados. Caribbean history includes events from the 1700's to the 1800's. Weather in this area can vary, from sunny beach days to freezing hurricanes. Pirates from many other countries would come to the Caribbean to take sugar cane and gold. The Caribbean's dramatic history makes it special.
History of the Caribbean reveals a lot about its culture. Spain, France, Britain, Holland, Denmark, and Sweden all had colonies in the Caribbean at some point. The Caribbean is part of the Atlantic Ocean between the West Indies and Central South America. The native people of Arawack died out less than one hundred years after Columbus' arrival, because of diseases that the natives had no immunity to. When pirates arrived on the northern coast of South America, in what is now Brazil, Venezuela, and Guyana, they called it "The Spanish Main." The population of Caribbeans lands is 36,314,000. The islands became a place for many ships to meet before heading back across the Atlantic.
There are many different kinds of weather in the Caribbean: you will never know what it can bring you. The Caribbean Islands are near the equator, so the weather is warm all year round. Hurricanes are powerful, whirling storms that measure 200 to 300 miles in diameter with winds up to 73 miles per hour. These tropical storms typically occur in the Caribbean. Hurricane winds swirl around the eye, which is the calm area in the center of the storm. Hurricanes will kill more people than any other storm. Large ice forms form at the top of hurricanes.
The real pirates of the Caribbean are not like the ones in the movies. They are similar, but not the same. This dynamic center of the Western world was represented by the islands and coastlines in 1716. Pirates loved the Caribbean because of all the gold that was coming in and out on Spanish ships, which were an easy target for pirates. Pirates carried weapons such as pistols, daggers, axes, and a short-caned sword called a cutlass. The first permanent Spanish pirate settlement in the Caribbean was on Hispaniola in 1496. In the 17th century, European pirates accidentally brought diseases, including malaria and epidemics of Yellow Fever to the area.
The pirates were very important people who affected history. The weather in the Caribbean helps it hold its beauty and interesting features. History shows people how Caribbean natives and colonizers lived. The Caribbean has a lot of diversity: it is so interesting because it is such an amazing group of countries.
Bibliography
The Eyewitness Book of Weather. Alfred K. Knopf; New York, NY: 1991. pp. 44-45.
Kids Discover Magazine: Caribbean. Kids Discover Publishing; New York, NY: January, 2004. Volume 14, Issue 1. pp . 2, 4-5.
Real Pirates: The untold Story of the Whydah. Premier Exhibitions: 2013.
World Book Encyclopedia. World Book, Inc.; Chicago, IL: 1993. Volume So-Sz: p. 763; Volume C: p. 237; Volume H: pp. 452-453; Volume D: p. 453.
https://www.Worldatlas.com/webimge/countries/namerica/caribb/caribfacts.htm -- viewed March, 2025.
https://www.rmg.co.UK/stories/topics/who-were-real-pirates-caribbbean. -- viewed March, 2025.
Endangered Animals
by Addy Archibald (4th grade)
Endangered animals exist all around the world. Humans have been concerned about endangered species since the 1700's. When animals are endangered, someday they could go extinct. Pollution, loss of habitat, and hunting are the main causes of extinction. People can help endangered animals by not throwing trash in the ocean, because that makes pollution. The world needs animals because they fertilize plants for food. If there were no animals, people would also eventually die out.
It is very important to know which animals are endangered so we can help save them. One rare animal that is rarely seen is the pygmy hippopotamus, which is poached for its tough skin. Another kind of endangered animal is called the resplendent quetzal, which is dying out due to people taking over their habitat. Another rare but beautiful endangered animal is the African elephant, which is poached for its tusks. Another rare animal that is dying out is the loggerhead turtle, due to tourists taking over their homes and smashing their eggs. A very smart animal which is becoming extinct for no good reason is the chimpanzee, which is the closest relative to humans. Chimps are dying out due to loss of habitat and hunting for their pelts. One pretty weird kind of endangered animal is the river dolphin, which is dying because it is losing its food as a result of polluted rivers.
The koala from Australia is endangered because its home is being taken over by hunters who kill koalas for their precious fur. A cause of extinction for the Loggerhead turtle is people throwing garbage in the sea: the turtles are eating the trash. One of the most common causes of extinction is plastic in the ocean, which gets stuck either in or on animals. Boat drivers are killing whales by driving big cargo ships straight into whale breeding grounds. Another terrible way animals become endangered is when people kill them illegally by poaching. Loss of habitat, loss of food sources, and hunting are the most dangerous ways animals die.
Humans are helping to save manatees by placing signs to tell boaters to slow down, so they don't hit the gentle giants. We can help save animals by not killing elephants for their tusks because someday they might go extinct. A long time ago, people thought that bluebirds were going extinct, but due to people who care, they are making a comeback. Governments have also outlawed poaching of rhinos, tigers, sea turtles, and other animals that are hunted illegally. At home, we can make sure garbage makes it into the trash. People have stopped buying snake and crocodile skins because they want to save the species.
People have been worried about endangered animals since the 1700's. Clubs of adults and kids work together to help save many species, like the manatees. The main reasons for extinction are poaching, hunting, pollution, and loss of habitat. The long list of endangered animals includes the loggerhead turtle, the manatee, the resplendent quetzal, the African elephant, and the chimpanzee. Many people in the word love animals and are sad to see them being killed or hurt. We all must remember that if animals die, we will too.
Bibliography
Kids Discover Magazine: Endangered Animals. Kids Discover Publishing; New York, NY: June/July, 1995. Volume 5, Issue 6. pp . 10-13, 16-17.
World Book Encyclopedia. World Book, Inc.; Chicago, IL: 1993. Volume E: p. 270-271.
The Solar System
by Peter Toebe (2nd grade)
Our solar system has existed in the universe for 8.8 billion years. Stars are big balls of gas and fire. Black Holes are broken, invisible stars. There are more planets in our solar system than anybody knows about. Space is cool because there is so much to learn.
Stars cover the sky like little lightbulbs everywhere. A star is a big ball of light and gas in the sky. A lot of proto energy comes from the warmth released by a star's initial collapse. Some stars are so far away that they appear to be no more than specks of light, even through very powerful telescopes! There are 200 billion billion! The sun is also a star. The sun is the only star near enough to Earth to look like a sphere.
Black Holes are the vacuums of space. In the middle of a lot of galaxies is one of the strangest and deadliest things in the whole entire universe: a Black Hole. A Black Hole is a broken object like a star that is invisible. Black Holes are invisible because they trap light. A Black Hole has such strong gravitational pull that nothing can escape it, not even light! Black Holes have a huge amount of matter squeezed into an incredibly small space. If the Earth could be squeezed enough to become a Black Hole, it would be the size of a bouncy ball.
Paragraph 4 -- planets
Stars are balls of light, but they are not just ordinary balls of light... they are amazing balls of light. As we think about Black Holes, they are just scary black vacuums, but they are actually really cool objects! Planets are really cool floating spheres that have all kinds of cool things on them. The Solar System has all kinds of cool life. We may not know about some of the things in it, but it is still amazing!
Bibliography
Kids Discover Magazine: Solar System. Kids Discover Publishing; New York, NY: October, 1995. Volume 5, Issue 8.
World Book Encyclopedia. World Book, Inc.; Chicago, IL: 1993. Volume B: p. 405; Volume P: pp. 516-518.
https://www.natgeokids.com/au/category/discover/science/space -- viewed March, 2025.
https://science.nasa.gov/universe/black-holes -- viewed March, 2025.
To print a list of all your VOCABULARY to date, go to the 1st Year Vocabulary page OR play to study your words on Quizlet!
Please have your students read books from the 4th-6th Grade Reading List during the year.
Remember that these lists are not an indication of reading level, but are created to give students a background for their upcoming years of study at the NFS. Please do NOT have children read books from lists that are in their reading level, but above their NFS class level.
“Teaching is mostly listening, and learning is mostly telling.”
-- Deborah Meier, 1995
Cinquain
by Mary Parker (2006)
North Fork:
World History —
Continuously writing poems.
We learn without realizing:
Achievements.
Pieces now in play:
(updated 5/23/25)
Hazel
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 100%
Fibonacci: Bees
Pink poetry: Poem of Feeling; General to Specific; The Right Words
Elly
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 100%
Fibonacci: Bees
Pink poetry: Poem of Feeling; General to Specific; The Right Words
Aveer
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 100%
Fibonacci: Sunflowers, Rabbits, Bees
Pink poetry: Poem of Feeling; General to Specific; The Right Words
Peter
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 100%
Fibonacci: Bees
Pink poetry: Poem of Feeling; General to Specific; The Right Words
Addy
Revisions = 100%
Edits = 100%
Fibonacci: Bees
Pink poetry: Pictures w/words; Poem of Feeling; General to Specific; The Right Words
Fibonacci Links to explore:
Numbers in Nature reveals the secrets of the Fibonacci sequence in an exhibit from the Annenberg/CPB video.
Dr. Ron Knott's website on Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Section in Nature is a great place to explore the Fibonacci sequence. His site allows you to see many of the ideas we discuss in WW and continue to explore in the 1st Year Program.
See pieces written by WW students (2nd-6th graders) from 2000-2023 HERE.
See pieces written by 1st Year classes (6th & 7th graders) from 2001-2020 HERE.
