Summer reading for Geography, History, and Culture is A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. After reading the book, complete a blog entry.
Instructions
1. Please select ONE of the questions below and contribute a thorough, thoughtful response. Your response should be around 250 words long, but can be shorter or longer, if you do a good job.
2. Support your thoughts with evidence from the book and historical evidence. You can also add evidence from current events.
3. Please cite evidence from the book by including the page number in parentheses after a quote or paraphrased passage.
4. You are also invited to reply to fellow students' posts. Please keep in mind the need to be respectful in all of our conversations with one another.
We recommend that you write your comment in Drive first, and then post to Blogger, in case of technical difficulties. If you have difficulty posting your comment, make sure you are signed into Google Drive. You can also email Mrs. Blyth or Ms. Ong-Dean for assistance.
Friday, June 14, 2019
Water Connection
Water: Last year’s middle school theme was water. Find a specific passage from this text that taught you more about the world’s water needs. Explain what you learned and connect it to last year’s World, Language, and Culture Week.
As last year’s theme was water, the book has a large connection to that between both stories. An example of that was on page 76 in chapter 13, where a group of thirsty travelers were drilling for water. This passage intrigued me due to two things. I knew that people had to first work for clean water, or just water itself, but I never knew you could drill for it. Second, I was very interested by the way of their water risk. They sacrificed their water that they already had to create fuel for what was potentially in store for them, more water. It connects to last year’s language and culture week because we watched a movie in advisory about families also in Africa searching for water, and when I read that passage, that was the first thing I thought about. This book helped me understand the water challenges that some parts of the world face.
History Blog Entry: Choice: Water Connection By Sam Smith.
Lasts years middle school theme was water. Find a specific passage from this text that taught you how more about the world's water needs. Explain what you learned and connect it to last year`s World, Language, and Culture Week.
Response: “Nya filled the container all the way to the top. Then she tied the gourd back in place and took the paddle cloth doughnut from her pocket. The doughnut went on her head first, followed by the heavy container of water, which she would hold in place with one hand. With the water balanced on her head, and her foot still sore from the thorn, Nya knew that going home would take longer than coming had. But she might reach home by noon, if all went well.” (Chapter 3). I learned a lot from this passage. This taught me that peoples` lives aren't as easy as ours are. They have to work really hard for their resources and we don`t. This startled me, I had no idea that this was going on while we were living our easy lives. That makes me think about them every time that I waste food or water. There are people out there in desperate need of resources and we are here with plenty of resources and wealth. We don't even know what these people are going through just to get a bucket of water for their family. People have really hard lives which makes them depend on their families more, and brings them closer together. They are not alone in this fight for resources. Their friends and their families are also fighting. The people who have these problems are in countries that have massive wars, this results in people not having their homes, and sometimes being separated or losing their families. As long as these wars keep going on they will still remain homeless and have a lack of resources to survive. This may be sad to some people but being sad doesn't help. Although feeling bad for these people may make you want to come and help them. If everybody came and helped a little bit it would make a huge difference and make their lives a lot better. These are the things I learned from reading this book.
Response for Summer Reading History You don't realize how important something is in your life unless it is taken from you. People living in the U.S. are very fortunate to have everything they need to survive, which most Africans living in suburban areas cannot relate to. They live in very poor circumstances, where they are constantly in danger due to famish, poverty, and war. "Going was easy. Going, the big plastic container held only air. Tall for her eleven years, Nya could switch the handle from one hand to the other, swing the container by her side, or cradle it in both arms. She could even drag it behind her, bumping it against the ground and raising a tiny cloud of dust with each step. There was little weight, going. There was only heat, the sun already baking the air, even though it was long before noon. It would take her half the morning if she didn't stop on the way. Heat, time, and thorns." (Page 1, Chapter one "A Long Walk to Water") The very first few lines of the book "A Long Walk to Water" by Linda Sue Park describes the hardships people living in places like Sudan have to face because of war. The book is about the experiences of 2 people that come from different areas of Sudan throughout times of war. Salva was a boy that was forced to flee from his village because rebels against the government raided his village, separating him from his family. He stayed in various different refugee camps, eventually being one of the lucky ones who got to move to New York. Few years later, after visiting his father back in Sudan who had just undergone surgery, he started to fulfill his dream of helping his home country's people so that they could have something he was not able to have when he was a child: Water. Nya was a young girl who had to walk half a morning everyday to get water from a dirty pond, so that her family wouldn't be thirsty for the day. Her life gradually changed after two men came to tell the chief of the village that they were going to build a well. The person who supervised to build the well was Salva. Not only did he help people he didn't know, he also helped a rival tribe. I find this very inspiring, because Salva was able to set aside all their differences to help people who had similar needs and problems that he had. I believe that the meaning of World Language and Culture Week is to raise awareness of the different struggles of different parts of the world. The reason why every advisory has to research a different country is because everybody in the school will have a chance to learn about the different perspectives, benefit, and needs of a country.
After reading A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park, I learned a lot about the struggles for enough water in South Sudan. “ Home for just long enough to eat, Nya would now make her second trip to the pond. To the pond and back-to the pond and back-nearly a full day of walking all together. This was Nya’s daily routine seven months of the year. Daily. Every single day.” pg 26 chapter five.
This passage taught me about how water is not easily available everywhere, and how we take advantage of buying two jugs of water for two dollars at the local Vons, rather than having to walk a whole day just for two jugs of water. Thousands of gallons of water are wasted everyday in America when every drop of water is precious in South Sudan. Last year’s theme for language and culture week was water and how to use it wisely and not to waste it. This connects to the scarcity of water in Nya’s life and how not one drop can go to waste. I also learned that everyone needs to take action. Soon enough, there will be almost no more clean, accessible water in Africa while we will continue to drink clean, filtered water. Salva and his team of workers inspired me to take action because this life changing obstacle needs the whole world’s help.
In the book A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, the main theme of water relates to the 6th grade theme of water in many ways. One passage that shows this better than any other is the opening statement from the perspective of Nya. Nya is only eleven years old in this passage, similar in age to the average 6th grader. Many children of that age would be doing mundane chores such as taking out the trash or vacuuming the floor. These tasks don’t really make a large difference because the lifestyle of a 6th grader in Parker doesn’t require a lot. In this passage we see that Nya has such a large task. In her home, even at that age she has such a responsibility. Having to carry a bucket of water for multiple miles every day. That is unheard of by children in the U. S. because there is less of a shortage of water. In a country like Sudan, this passage is very important for the fact that the first impression of this book is showing the largest struggle of their nation. An adult is not able to do that job, which shows how the struggle for water in Nya’s community really makes everyone work for survival, no matter your economic status or age in that village. This togetherness also ties in with the 7th grade theme of community awareness. This small paragraph is eye-opening and gives insight into the daily struggles the Sudanese people must face to stay alive. In conclusion, the opening paragraph for the book A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park relates to the main themes of both 6th and 7th grade, water and community awareness.
The passage I chose that taught me more about the worlds water needs is on page 20, it states, “Home for just long enough to eat, Nya would now make her second trip to the pond. To the pond and back-to the pond and back- nearly a full day of walking altogether. This was Nya’s daily routine seven months of the year. Daily. Every single day.” This passage taught me that some people don’t have access to clean water. Therefore some girls walk for water instead of going to school, playing or any other activities typical for a girl in a developed country. The girls are walking for water while the boys are getting an education because the culture places men before women, Last year I learned that many people have to walk a long distance for water and it normally isn’t clean. Since water is such a precious resource and everyone needs it to survive people end up walking far from home to retrieve water. This book and what we learned last year has brought me to know way more about the worlds water needs and how people will walk miles for water. Izzy glazerman
(Chapter Eight, Page 45) “Her sickness came from the water,” the nurse explained. “She should drink only good clean water. If the water is dirty, you should boil it for a count of two hundred before she drinks it.”
This specific passage taught me more about the world’s water needs by providing an example of how those not as fortunate as us fall ill due to their hazardous living conditions. Nya’s younger sister, Akeer, had contracted a sickness because of how much mud and grime remained in the water she had been ingesting. This occurrence led me to reflect on how gifted our community is to have access to a safe and plentiful water supply everyday. It is further explained that if Nya’s mother were to decontaminate water for Akeer by boiling it, it would dry up before reaching a count of two hundred. This is due to the minimal amounts of water located in the holes of the lakebed. From this passage I learned how billions of families each year are negatively impacted because of global water shortages. Though water accessibility has improved from the times of which Salva was eleven,(1985), to when Nya was a young girl,(2008), we still need to act on our current issues.This connects to last year’s World, Language, and Culture Week because of the awareness raised throughout our school about the conservation, uses, and benefits of water. The amounts of water used or wasted is extremely important because of how essential, yet scarce our supply is to everyone, (and thing), on planet earth. Last year it was highly mentioned on how we must preserve such a necessity, and in what ways we can improve our current environmental status. I appreciate how Parker incorporated this concept into our learning targets, because it has given me a global perspective on how the world's population continuously disregards the dangers of misusing our power. Each year our water status decreases drastically from the year before, due to some of the irresponsible choices made by us. Although some have taken initiative by conserving their personal amounts, many ignore the psa’s and continue to leave the water running whilst brushing their teeth, or by taking a 20 minute shower.
As last year’s theme was water, the book has a large connection to that between both stories. An example of that was on page 76 in chapter 13, where a group of thirsty travelers were drilling for water. This passage intrigued me due to two things. I knew that people had to first work for clean water, or just water itself, but I never knew you could drill for it. Second, I was very interested by the way of their water risk. They sacrificed their water that they already had to create fuel for what was potentially in store for them, more water. It connects to last year’s language and culture week because we watched a movie in advisory about families also in Africa searching for water, and when I read that passage, that was the first thing I thought about. This book helped me understand the water challenges that some parts of the world face.
ReplyDeleteBy none other than the magical pen of Ryan Wyly
History Blog Entry:
ReplyDeleteChoice: Water Connection
By Sam Smith.
Lasts years middle school theme was water. Find a specific passage from this text that taught you how more about the world's water needs. Explain what you learned and connect it to last year`s World, Language, and Culture Week.
Response:
“Nya filled the container all the way to the top. Then she tied the gourd back in place and took the paddle cloth doughnut from her pocket. The doughnut went on her head first, followed by the heavy container of water, which she would hold in place with one hand. With the water balanced on her head, and her foot still sore from the thorn, Nya knew that going home would take longer than coming had. But she might reach home by noon, if all went well.” (Chapter 3).
I learned a lot from this passage. This taught me that peoples` lives aren't as easy as ours are. They have to work really hard for their resources and we don`t. This startled me, I had no idea that this was going on while we were living our easy lives. That makes me think about them every time that I waste food or water. There are people out there in desperate need of resources and we are here with plenty of resources and wealth. We don't even know what these people are going through just to get a bucket of water for their family. People have really hard lives which makes them depend on their families more, and brings them closer together. They are not alone in this fight for resources. Their friends and their families are also fighting. The people who have these problems are in countries that have massive wars, this results in people not having their homes, and sometimes being separated or losing their families. As long as these wars keep going on they will still remain homeless and have a lack of resources to survive. This may be sad to some people but being sad doesn't help. Although feeling bad for these people may make you want to come and help them. If everybody came and helped a little bit it would make a huge difference and make their lives a lot better. These are the things I learned from reading this book.
Response for Summer Reading History
ReplyDeleteYou don't realize how important something is in your life unless it is taken from you. People living in the U.S. are very fortunate to have everything they need to survive, which most Africans living in suburban areas cannot relate to. They live in very poor circumstances, where they are constantly in danger due to famish, poverty, and war.
"Going was easy.
Going, the big plastic container held only air. Tall for her eleven years, Nya could switch the handle from one hand to the other, swing the container by her side, or cradle it in both arms. She could even drag it behind her, bumping it against the ground and raising a tiny cloud of dust with each step.
There was little weight, going. There was only heat, the sun already baking the air, even though it was long before noon. It would take her half the morning if she didn't stop on the way.
Heat, time, and thorns."
(Page 1, Chapter one "A Long Walk to Water")
The very first few lines of the book "A Long Walk to Water" by Linda Sue Park describes the hardships people living in places like Sudan have to face because of war. The book is about the experiences of 2 people that come from different areas of Sudan throughout times of war.
Salva was a boy that was forced to flee from his village because rebels against the government raided his village, separating him from his family. He stayed in various different refugee camps, eventually being one of the lucky ones who got to move to New York. Few years later, after visiting his father back in Sudan who had just undergone surgery, he started to fulfill his dream of helping his home country's people so that they could have something he was not able to have when he was a child: Water.
Nya was a young girl who had to walk half a morning everyday to get water from a dirty pond, so that her family wouldn't be thirsty for the day. Her life gradually changed after two men came to tell the chief of the village that they were going to build a well.
The person who supervised to build the well was Salva. Not only did he help people he didn't know, he also helped a rival tribe. I find this very inspiring, because Salva was able to set aside all their differences to help people who had similar needs and problems that he had.
I believe that the meaning of World Language and Culture Week is to raise awareness of the different struggles of different parts of the world. The reason why every advisory has to research a different country is because everybody in the school will have a chance to learn about the different perspectives, benefit, and needs of a country.
Please sign your blog posts so your teachers can assign a grade.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading A Long Walk To Water by Linda Sue Park, I learned a lot about the struggles for enough water in South Sudan. “ Home for just long enough to eat, Nya would now make her second trip to the pond. To the pond and back-to the pond and back-nearly a full day of walking all together. This was Nya’s daily routine seven months of the year. Daily. Every single day.” pg 26 chapter five.
ReplyDeleteThis passage taught me about how water is not easily available everywhere, and how we take advantage of buying two jugs of water for two dollars at the local Vons, rather than having to walk a whole day just for two jugs of water. Thousands of gallons of water are wasted everyday in America when every drop of water is precious in South Sudan. Last year’s theme for language and culture week was water and how to use it wisely and not to waste it. This connects to the scarcity of water in Nya’s life and how not one drop can go to waste. I also learned that everyone needs to take action. Soon enough, there will be almost no more clean, accessible water in Africa while we will continue to drink clean, filtered water. Salva and his team of workers inspired me to take action because this life changing obstacle needs the whole world’s help.
- Julia Gabriel
In the book A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park, the main theme of water relates to the 6th grade theme of water in many ways. One passage that shows this better than any other is the opening statement from the perspective of Nya.
ReplyDeleteNya is only eleven years old in this passage, similar in age to the average 6th grader. Many children of that age would be doing mundane chores such as taking out the trash or vacuuming the floor. These tasks don’t really make a large difference because the lifestyle of a 6th grader in Parker doesn’t require a lot. In this passage we see that Nya has such a large task. In her home, even at that age she has such a responsibility. Having to carry a bucket of water for multiple miles every day. That is unheard of by children in the U. S. because there is less of a shortage of water. In a country like Sudan, this passage is very important for the fact that the first impression of this book is showing the largest struggle of their nation. An adult is not able to do that job, which shows how the struggle for water in Nya’s community really makes everyone work for survival, no matter your economic status or age in that village. This togetherness also ties in with the 7th grade theme of community awareness. This small paragraph is eye-opening and gives insight into the daily struggles the Sudanese people must face to stay alive.
In conclusion, the opening paragraph for the book A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park relates to the main themes of both 6th and 7th grade, water and community awareness.
-Ethan Urquhart
The passage I chose that taught me more about the worlds water needs is on page 20, it states, “Home for just long enough to eat, Nya would now make her second trip to the pond. To the pond and back-to the pond and back- nearly a full day of walking altogether. This was Nya’s daily routine seven months of the year.
ReplyDeleteDaily. Every single day.”
This passage taught me that some people don’t have access to clean water. Therefore some girls walk for water instead of going to school, playing or any other activities typical for a girl in a developed country. The girls are walking for water while the boys are getting an education because the culture places men before women,
Last year I learned that many people have to walk a long distance for water and it normally isn’t clean. Since water is such a precious resource and everyone needs it to survive people end up walking far from home to retrieve water.
This book and what we learned last year has brought me to know way more about the worlds water needs and how people will walk miles for water.
Izzy glazerman
(Chapter Eight, Page 45) “Her sickness came from the water,” the nurse explained.
ReplyDelete“She should drink only good clean water. If the water is dirty, you should boil it for a count of two hundred before she drinks it.”
This specific passage taught me more about the world’s water needs by providing an example of how those not as fortunate as us fall ill due to their hazardous living conditions. Nya’s younger sister, Akeer, had contracted a sickness because of how much mud and grime remained in the water she had been ingesting. This occurrence led me to reflect on how gifted our community is to have access to a safe and plentiful water supply everyday. It is further explained that if Nya’s mother were to decontaminate water for Akeer by boiling it, it would dry up before reaching a count of two hundred. This is due to the minimal amounts of water located in the holes of the lakebed. From this passage I learned how billions of families each year are negatively impacted because of global water shortages. Though water accessibility has improved from the times of which Salva was eleven,(1985), to when Nya was a young girl,(2008), we still need to act on our current issues.This connects to last year’s World, Language, and Culture Week because of the awareness raised throughout our school about the conservation, uses, and benefits of water. The amounts of water used or wasted is extremely important because of how essential, yet scarce our supply is to everyone, (and thing), on planet earth. Last year it was highly mentioned on how we must preserve such a necessity, and in what ways we can improve our current environmental status. I appreciate how Parker incorporated this concept into our learning targets, because it has given me a global perspective on how the world's population continuously disregards the dangers of misusing our power. Each year our water status decreases drastically from the year before, due to some of the irresponsible choices made by us. Although some have taken initiative by conserving their personal amounts, many ignore the psa’s and continue to leave the water running whilst brushing their teeth, or by taking a 20 minute shower.