AND THE WINNERS OF, "Our Journey to Appalachia" PAPERS ARE..................
As a summative assessment all the 4th and 5th grade students at Highland were asked to compose a paper to show their knowledge about the Appalachian people and their immigration from Scotland. They were given a web to help organize their thoughts. Below is a copy of the web they used:
OVERALL WINNER: GAVIN BARTLEY 4TH GRADE
4TH GRADE WINNER: TABBY CLINE
5TH GRADE WINNER: DAISEY LESSENBERRY
All three of these winners received a $10 prize. listed below are copies of the award winning work!!
Gavin's paper
Our Journey to Appalachia
By: Gavin Bartley 4th Grade
Overall winner!!
Summative Assessment for Folk/ Appalachia in Art
Highland Elementary
Glasgow, Ky.
It was late fall, 1845, in Glasgow Scotland. My family and I had already made preparations to immigrate to America in early spring of the next year. We were struggling. A local weaving factory was mass producing the linen that made our living. This linen was best known as wool. My Grandma Stuart could remember the day when everyone came to her for the precious linen wool, but that time was now over. However, my family had heard of a place where the art of hand spinning wool would not be lost, and most profitable. This distant land was America.
By traveling west into the new territory there would be more opportunities to sell our handmade fabric. A lot of the Robinson family’s possessions had to be sold in order for us to have the money to make to make the journey to America. We sold a lot of quilts that Ma and Grandma made. Pa sold all of his crafting tools and supplies. The hardest thing, however, to sell was our cabin which I had lived in our twelve years. This made me very sad, but I knew that his was necessary for us to start a new life. We had to travel by ship to the western territory. I liked the water very much, but it seemed to make my Ma and Pa a bit nervous. My Grandma Stuart didn’t mind the water and my little sister, Lizzie, slept most of the way. I continued to think of our new freedom. I remembered my Pa talking about the squatters rights we would have in America. This meant that we would have the freedom to pick our own property for our new home. On our journey I constantly gazed at Grandma Stuart’s spinning wheel. This family heirloom was a major deciding factor in our going into the unknown west to settle. It excited me when I looked at it, but it also scared me. I just wanted the best for my family in the western land.
As we crossed the big Atlantic Ocean I thought of family and friends that we had left behind. It was hard to leave and I thought about them as our ship sailed from the coast of Scotland. Our journey was a long one because it took six weeks. We were afraid that the stinky food was bad enough to give us food poisoning . After a long and tiring six weeks journey we arrived in the port at Jamestown, Virginia. We had to prepare for the next part of our travel. My family used the money we had earned from selling all of our furniture and most of our family heirlooms to buy our Conestoga wagon. Our wagon was the first thing we bought. We had many necessities to buy, such as seeds for planting corn, beans and squash, also known as the “three sisters”. Ma and Pa knew we would need pots and pans for cooking, tools for planting and working the land. We had to buy metal items to take with us because we could not make them by hand. All my family helped pack our new supplies in our wagon. We went to join the other families to make a wagon train. Pa, Ma, Lizzie and I walked while Grandma and baby Meg rode in the wagon. Walking through the wilderness was hard. We stumbled over roots and stepped in holes. The ride for Grandma and Meg was very bumpy because of the rough trail from all the ruts made by the other wagons. All the time we traveled Pa was watching out for the Cherokee Indians. We were frightened by the Cherokee Indians because we had heard that they had been doing bad things to the pioneers.
After a long and hard journey we arrive din Barbourville, Kentucky near the Cumberland Gap. Our next important thing to do was pick a place to settle and make a new home. We found other pioneer in a settlement in the Appalachian Mountains and decided it would be a good place for our family to live. Pa and I, being the men of the family, started looking for a good spot to build a new cabin. We found a big piece of flat land where we could plant a garden. The land was rich with natural resources like trees we could use for building our cabin. We knew this was important to help keep us warm and to cook our food. The creek was another natural resource that every pioneer had to have to survive. Now that Pa and I had decided on this place to build our home we had to decide what to do first. The first thing we did was to unload the supplies we brought with us on our journey to the new land. We set up camp that would be our home until the cabin was finished. The next day Pa and I began to work to clear the land of rocks, trees and shrubs. We were lucky that we had arrived at the right season for planting our crops. Ma and Lizzie started the job of planting the “three sisters” using the tools and supplies we brought with us. Ma was careful to explain to Lizzie how important it would be to keep the garden watered. It took many days to clear a place to build a cabin. Pa and I worked hard clearing and cutting logs to build our cabin. A few days after started working on our cabin other people started to arrive in their wagons with tools and offered to help us build our cabin. My family was so happy to have the help from others because it made us feel welcome and we had new friends. We were ready to get our cabin built and have a real roof over our heads and not be sleeping and depending on shelter under the covered wagon. Our new friends helped us make all the furniture the women had been working just as hard helping Ma and Grandma make handmade items like pottery that we would use to eat off of and candles to help us see and tell time. The women thought it would be fun to get together to make quilts that we would need for the cold winters that were coming. While they were quilting the women also made baskets from reeds that we could use for gathering the “three sisters”. At night we would sit around the fireplace and make toys from corn husks and wood. Meg’s eyes got big and she had a big smile when she saw the corn husk doll I had made for her. It was important for us as settlers to know about woodworking so we could make a lot of other things we would need out of wood.
As Grandma Stuart sat by the crackling fire her Appalachian wheel began to spin. I feel she was thinking of Ireland and Scotland and how her life was back then. I remembered how the mass production of wool linen took over her Stuart trade. I could wee the determination in her eyes to produce the wool to make money for our new life. As I gazed into the fire I also began to think of the past. I thought of the rocking waves as they hit the sides of the ship bringing my family from the coast of Scotland. I also remember the sounds of seagulls and the smell of saltwater in the air. I was rubbing my finger over an Indian toy made by my Pa. It was a Native American Indian boy about my age. I called him Ahote. He is in a squatting position holding a bow and arrow. Ahote is now a part of my family and my new life in America. A smile crossed my face as I looked around me at my family and I knew I was home.
4th grader Tabby Cline's paper
Our Journey to Appalachia
By: Tabby Cline 4th grader
Summative Assessment for Folk/Appalachian Unit in Art
Highland Elementary
Glasgow, Ky.
It was late fall, 1845, in Glasgow Scotland, and already the Robinson family was beginning to make preparations to immigrate to America in the early spring. They had steadily been losing money as weavers of wool since the local factory began mass producing the same kind of product that their family had been spinning for many generations. Grandma Stuart, Ma Robinson’s mother could remember the day when everyone would come to them for the fine wool cloth that they wove by hand. Pa had heard that there could be wonderful opportunities to sell their hand made fabric in America. Pa said they would have to be willing to sell all their possessions, leave their home and make the journey to Appalachia where other pioneers would be traveling west into new territory.
By February, people were asking questions about why they wanted to leave. They said they wanted freedom, more opportunities and to be able to make money from weaving wool. They would take grandma’s spinning wheel, an heirloom to the family. It would also help them make more money. They would also take six quilts, one for each family member. They hoped living in America would be worthwhile. America was unknown, it was going to be hard, exciting and scary.
On March 18th, 184, they went to the port in Glasgow to board a ship to America. They said goodbye to family and friends. They would probably never see them again. They got on the ship set sail. It would be a six week’s journey to America. They had bad, stinky food. England was behind them now. On May 2nd, they arrived at Jamestown, Virginia. There they bought a Conestoga wagon. The first thing they bought were seeds for corn, beans and squash, the three sisters. They bought other necessities and all the metal items they could not make by hand. Then, they started packing the wagon. They joined a wagon train to cross the Appalachian Mountains through the Cumberland Gap. Grandma Stuart and baby Meg rode in the wagon. There were many ruts and roots on the trail. They worried about the Native Americans also known as the Cherokee.
They arrived at Barbourville, Ky. near the Cumberland Gap. They were picking a place to settle. They found a beautiful place close to a creek, with flat land, perfect so raising a garden. There were lots of natural resources like trees. Pa Robinson had practiced his “squatters rights”. The first thing they did was clear the land of rocks, trees and shrubs. The girls planted the three sisters. They kept them watered well. Then they cleared more logs for a cabin. While their cabin was not finished, they slept in the wagon. They built the cabin with help from others. Grandma Stuart worked on quilts and pottery , and Lizzie made candles and toys. George and Pa Robinson practiced his woodworking skills by making anything else they needed. Everything was handmade. Quilting and woodworking proved to be very useful skills.
By fall, Grandma was spinning wool with her spinning wheel. People were starting to hear about the wonderful wool she could spin and the Robinson’s became well known around Barbourville and throughout the Cumberland Gap for their hand woven wool. The move to America proved to be the right choice for them.
5th grader Daisey Lessenberry's paper
Our Journey to Appalachia
By Daisey Lessenberry5th Grader
Summative Assessment for Folk/Appalachian Unit in Art
Highland Elementary
Glasgow, Ky.
It is late fall in Glasgow Scotland, and already all of the Robinson family is beginning to make preparations to immigrate to America in the early spring of 1845. We have steadily been losing money as weavers of wool since the local factory began mass producing the same kind of product that we had been spinning for many generations. Grandma Stuart, Ma Robinson’s mother, could remember the day when everyone would come to us for the fine wool cloth that she wove by hand. Pa had heard that there could be wonderful opportunities to sell our hand made fabric in America. He said we would have to be willing to sell all our possessions, leave our home and make the journey to Appalachia where other pioneers would be traveling west into new territory.
Our decision to immigrate was the hardest decision to make, but it was better for the family. There would be more opportunities and much more freedom. The biggest reason we should leave is to make more money making wool. So, we decided to go. All of us started to pack up. The only things we took were money from selling possessions, and our heirlooms. But most importantly we took the spinning wheel to make money. Although we were ready to go, one question remained in our minds. What would life be like in America. I thought it might be unknown, hard, exciting and scary. I didn’t know. Most of all I hoped it would be worthwhile.
Soon enough we said our goodbyes to family and friends. Then we got on the ship for our six weeks journey. The ship was very stinky. To add on top of that it had very horrible, nasty food. Although the food was nasty it was all we had. The six weeks journey seemed like forever! I couldn’t sleep at night because of the waves crashing against the side of the boat. Finally, we arrived at the pot in Jamestown, Virginia. Thank goodness we did! When we got off of the boat I was so restless then my knees gave way and I fell to the ground.
We bought a Conestoga wagon with the money we got from selling our possessions. Next, we bought our supplies and necessities like corn, beans and squash seeds (the three sisters). Then, we bought al of the metal items that we could not make by hand. We packed up all of our items and joined with others to make a wagon train. As we traveled through the wilderness we never parted with the wagon. Grandma and baby Meg rode in the wagon. It was a very hard journey and a rough trail. We tried not to hit every rut and root, but we always did. One thing was always in our mind. What if a Native American comes along? We know we are scared of them, especially the Cherokee that lived the Appalachian Mountains.
Soon enough we arrived in Barbourville, Kentucky near the Cumberland Gap. We picked a place in the Appalachian Mountains to settle. The place we picked was close to the creek with flat land for growing a garden. The best part was we had lots of natural resources like wood from trees. George and I cleared the land of rocks, trees and shrubs. Mama, Grandma and I planted the three sisters and kept it watered. While we were doing that, George and Daddy cut down trees to build a cabin and to make tools. At night we all had to sleep in the wagon until they finished the cabin. After the cabin was built, Daddy and George mad the furniture. Mamma, Grandma and I made the pottery. Grandma is really good at making pretty plates. Grandma also made the quilts. Mamma made the baskets, and I made the candles. Daddy made us some corn husk dolls and even showed us how to make them too. Daddy and George did woodworking a lot in their spare time.
In the end, Grandma Stuart started spinning wool and used her spinning wheel to make money. It was kind of hard to see at night, but other than that I think our settlement went pretty well. We had all the rights and freedoms we had hoped for in our new home in America.
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