Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Young HIstorians-Milkweed/Morse Code/ WWII/1944

December 1, 2010

Dear Young Historians:

We didn’t have a chance to try Morse Code, a way of sending messages, the last time we met. Today we will try it using flashlights and rapping on tables to send “coded” messages. We will also be learning why school children during WWII collected milkweed pods.

Because so much of the war was over the ocean, there was a need for life vests. Kapok was what would have been used for the vests. However, the Japanese kept the USA from getting it. The floss of the milkweed floats the same way Kapok did. The children of Cavendish helped the war effort by collecting the pods

1944 Timeline
• Ballpoint Pens Go on Sale
• D Day
• Paris liberated
• Hitler Escapes Assassination attempt
• Oswald Avery determines that DNA is the hereditary material of the cell
• Roosevelt re elected for a 4th term as president
• The G.I. Bill of Rights is stabled to provide assistance to war veterans
• The World Bank is established to assist European postwar recovery.

Music: Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland

Movies: National Velvet, Arsenic and Old Lace

Books: “The Razor’s Edge by Somerset Maugham; "Gigi" by Colette; Newberry Winner: Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes; Caldecott Winner: Many Moons, illustrated by Louis Slobodkin; text: James Thurber

Songs: Don’t Fence Me In Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters; Swinging on a Star Bing Crosby

1 comment:

  1. Before a 1300 Number is even developed, people are reliant on Morse codes for long distance communication. :)

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