The First Woman to Swim the English Channel

By Jenn E.

Who was the first woman to swim the English Channel?
Gertrude Ederle was the first woman to swim across the English Channel in 1926. She was also known as the ‘Queen of Waves’ after she succeeded in her swim. She swam the channel in 14 hours and 30 minutes. She held this record until Florence Chadwick broke it in 1950. She lived from 1905 to 2003: she almost lived a hundred but not quite!

What did she achieve by doing this?
She achieved a lot by doing this. First, she was the first woman to swim the English Channel. Second, she proved that women can do things that men can do. And third, she became sort of a role model for some people.

Where is the English Channel?
The English Channel is part of the Atlantic Ocean and this part separates it from Great Britain and France and then this part joins the North Sea and then to the Atlantic. The English Channel is about 560 km long and 240km wide.

When did she swim the English Channel?
She swam the English Channel at Cape Griz-Nez, France, at 7:05 a.m. and 14 hours later she arrived at Kingsdown, England after 14 hours of swimming.

Why did she want to do it?
She probably wanted to do this for herself, but then she became very famous after this. They held a big parade for her after she had achieved this. And also, money came in very handy after she swam and the press was around her a lot when she was done her swimThis would also help more with women’s rights, because women can do anything that guys can do and she proved it.

How did this affect everyone?
After she finished her big swim, they held a huge parade for her afterwards. Many people said that a woman could not swim the English Channel, but she proved them wrong by doing this. She would have also helped the women rights by swimming the English Channel.

Resources:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/en/doc/200312/01/content_286309.htm

The Story of Black Tuesday and the end of the Roaring Twenties

By Mark D.

• Who did it affect?
The event of Black Tuesday affected the people of the United States of America, and the ripple effects affected virtually the rest of the world.

• What happened?
Black Tuesday was the beginning of the biggest stock market crash in the early 1900’s and started the Great Depression.

• When did it happen?
This event occurred on October 29, 1929.

• Where did it start?
This event began on Wall Street, New York, New York, which is the major financial section in the U.S.A.

• Why did the stocks crash?
After the war ended everyone was feeling free and at liberty to do whatever they wanted and to have a good time. The people were spending more and more and the banks were lending more and more out. After a period of time the banks had no more money to lend out and started to recall the loans. The people had no money to give back and forced them to sell their business and the stocks are now worth nothing.

• How did it affect the world?
After the stocks crashed in America the repercussions began. America was very productive and a major power in the world. Many countries had strong ties with the country and all financial markets crashed except Japan. The stock crash was the main reason of the Great Depression even though only a slim minority of Americans owned stocks. With the Depression, Hitler claimed that the Jews were the fault of the broken economy and gained the respect of Germany, resulting in Nazi Germany creating the Second World War.

Resources:
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/begins.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_Crash_of_1929

Magazine Covers

To begin our research, the students in our Language Arts class received a list of major topics from the 1920s - things that made the news. They read a bit here and there on these issues and events, and then chose a favorite topic to create a magazine about. Their task was to create a magazine cover based on a certain subject. Here are some examples.

Winnie the Pooh

By: Amy J

Winnie the Pooh is a funny and entertaining movie and TV episodes. The man who played Winnie the Pooh is an original voice of Sterling Holloway and Paul Winchell is the voice recorder for a hopping happy, Tigger. The man who made this all begin was a British storyteller. The author is A.A Milne and the Illustrator is E.H Shepard. This all began when it was published in the 14 October in 1926.

Alan Alexander Milne was born on the 18th of January 1882 in Hampstead, London. A.A Milne was the youngest out of the three sons. In 1913 Milne married Dorothy de Selincourt, the God-daughter of Punch editor, Owen Seaman. He graduated from Cambridge in 1903.


They have a lot of songs in the episodes and one that is always in the movie and episode is the theme song for Winnie the pooh the lyrics are: Deep in the hundred acre wood, Where Christopher Robin plays, you’ll find the enchanted neighborhood, Of Christopher's childhood days. A donkey named Eeyore is his friend, And Kanga, and little Roo. There's Rabbit, and Piglet, and there's Owl, But most of all Winnie-the-Pooh. Winnie-the-Pooh, Winnie-the-Pooh, Tubby little cubby all stuffed with fluff. He's Winnie-the-Pooh. Winnie-the-Pooh. Willy, nilly, silly, old bear.

Some of the cast was Sterling Holloway as Winnie the pooh, John Fiedler as Piglet, Jon Walsey as Chistopher Robin, Paul Winchell as Tigger, Hal Smith as owl, Ralph Wright as Eeyore, Junius Matthews as Rabbit, Barbara Luddy as Kanga, and Clint Howard as Roo.


An episode is “Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day”. It was published in 1968 December 20th and was very popular. The running time for the Blustery Day is 25 minutes. The episode was directed by: Wolfgang Reitherman and produced by: Walt Disney.

Resources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Pooh
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063819/
http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/pooh.htm
http://www.just-pooh.com/milne.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._A._Milne#1903_to_1925
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._A._Milne

Flapper Style

By Shelby S. and Emily P.

Who- All the women in the 1920’s that had the fashion of short hair and really short dresses and skirts were called flappers. Their attitude was characterized by stark truthfulness, fast living, and sexual behavior.


What- At first, the dresses only rose and got shorter by a little bit, but by 1925 to 1927 a flapper’s skirt fell just below the knee (ohhh). The Gibson Girl, who prided herself on her long, beautiful, lush hair, was shocked when the flapper cut hers off. The short haircut was called the “bob” which was later replaced by an even shorter haircut, the “shingle” or “Eton” cut.

When- The 1920s is when everything started. Skirts got shorter and so did everyone’s hair. In 1925, the dresses became the shortest in the entire decade.

Where- Fashions were very easy to come by. You could go to a women’s clothing store and get all the newest things. Wow, some things have really changed, eh?


Why- Women were learning how to be more independent and were getting a lot more freedom. Where freedom is, fun follows. The women of the 1920s started to wear shorter dresses, cutting their hair shorter, and drinking more. It was time for women to have more say in things and more opportunities to have freedom and fun, and that’s exactly what they got.

How- The way women dressed in the 20s was representative of their new-found freedom. Also it was a very fun and sexy style, which was the way they acted in that time. Even though women advanced somewhat in the work force, they were still major sex symbols: the way they dressed and their new hair styles were ways of showing this.


Resources:
http://history1900s.about.com/od/1920s/a/flappers_2.htm
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0EWp_HzyluIfbCK28xqrgFMcvTO49AO44hSFmqIZ3eyE29D_N82koMueFgnxRc-1judDovhxcleVlVPmiacEQdcjlPQPNbJKqQi5N6miFyk7VHNXVqbC0SMm7Y93QWp2GFmX9nbb40Ww/s400/Flapper.jpg\
http://www.dress4fun.net/images/Gangsters%20and%20Flappers/Flapper%27s.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1920s_in_fashion