LOL

We are thankful for

I especially thank my brother because he teaches me a lot of things. I thank my parents for helping me when I need and of course I thank my friends.
Thank you for all Aryan
I thank the friends and family I have
Thanks for my family, friends and best friends. I’m so proud because I can trust them and when I need, they help me. Thanks for everything, and the most important thing is that I’m HAPPY.
Thanks for the support they always give me, because when I need they are always by my side
I'm thankful for the friends I have
Thanks for helping me when I need
I'm thankful for being who I am and for my family and my friends
Thanks for the friends and family I have
I thank for the friends I have
I thank for all my friends and for my family
I thank all my friends
Thanks for the friends and family
I thank my friends forever
I thank my best friends. I also thank my sweet family
I would like to thank my family and friends for the support
I thank the friends and the family
Thanks Lord for all that you have given me in my life: my family, my friends and my conscience to make good decisions
Thanks for helping me and my parents
Thanks for the best friends I have
Thanks for everything
Thanks for everything
Thanks for the friends I have
I'm thankful for who I am and for my family and my friends
I thank the friends and family I have
I thank my friends forever
I thank the friends and family I have

902

Thanksgiving - a short history

In the United States, Thanksgiving began with the Pilgrims who settled around Plymouth in December of 1620. During the winter of 1620-21 they suffered many privations. Food and supplies were scarce and disease ran rampant in the region. Nearly half the population died.

At the harvest of 1621 there was a feast. However, 1622 the results were fairly poor. The settlers were beginning to starve again. The Governor at the time, William Bradford, was quick to recognize the problem. So every family was assigned a parcel of land according to the proportion of their number...It made all hands very industrious, so that much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been...and gave far better satisfaction.

Thankful for the re-institution of private property and the plenty which it provided, the Pilgrims invited their Indian benefactors in 1623 to a three-day celebration. More than 80 "Indians" came to enjoy the festivities. They brought venison, wild turkey and other victuals. There was much singing, rejoicing and even sermons.

The first Thanksgiving in Plymouth was not meant to be an annual event. Even so, it became a custom in many New England Colonies. During the Revolutionary war Thanksgiving Days were proclaimed to celebrate victory in battle or survival in the face of adversity. After the war and the founding of the government under the U.S. Constitution, George Washington, as President, proclaimed a day of thanks.

Proclaiming a day of thanks became popular. There was no official national day, but individual states, cities and towns began to pick out a particular day every year, usually in the autumn. The state of New York was the first to do this in 1830. By the time of the Civil War thanksgiving had become a popular public event. In 1863 and 1864 President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a "day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father."

It was at this point that the last Thursday in November became fixed in the minds of Americans as a day for giving thanks, at least until 1939 when President Roosevelt moved it up a week to make a longer Christmas season for the retail industry. Some people did not like the break with tradition and various localities refused to comply. Finally, Congress intervened and changed the holiday permanently to the "4th Thursday in November". It has been celebrated on this day ever since.

http://www.holidaycook.com/thanksgiving-history.shtml

NO!

We think that the technology doesn't hamper communication, it helps communication. For example, when we need to talk and we can't meet with each other we talk through the computer or on the phone.
When we have an emergency we have to call to another person.
Today we usually use the phone, IM and MSN to talk.
Thanks to social networks, we can know the customs, cultures and everything related to a person who lives across the world, and better, we are able to talk directly with her! Knowing the culture of other countries only makes us a more cultivated and refined person in relation to various subjects, and also to be able to speak plenty of foreign languages.

Andreia Correia nº 3
Beatriz Oliveira nº 5
Joana Gomes nº 11
Magda Rodrigues nº 17
Sara Araújo nº 25

Daniela's Favourite Actor!

My favourite actor is Zac Efron.
He’s twenty-two years old.
He was born on October 18th, 1987 in California, U.S.A.
He enjoys playing basketball, skating, surfing…

He also likes to be with his friends and his girlfriend, Vanessa.
I like him because he’s such a good actor and…he’s so cute!

He has got brown, wavy short hair and blue eyes. He’s tall and slim because he goes to the gym everyday!
I think he’s a great actor and a good friend.
I love him!


Daniela Nogueira, 702

About technology

We think that technology is great because we can do lots of things at the same time, for example, talk with a virtual friend while listening to music. These little things happen because we have technology. With technology ours lives’ are easier but sometimes they aren’t more interesting.
Before, when people received a postcard, it was a something cool but now receiving an email is very trivial. It does mean that technology takes out some magic of our lives.
Besides, we learn a lot with technology, for example we know much about science or cells because of the new technologies.
Technology, as all things, has a positive and a negative side. However the most important, in our opinion, is that the technology improves our life quality.

Juliana, Francisca, Beatriz Bacelar, Raquel and Ana Paula; class 902.

Ana Margarida from class 902 sent

Are we disconnected?

Nowadays young people use the new technologies a lot. But does this deprive us to be face to face with our real friends and other people?
We think that all the new technologies are very helpful. They are useful in doing school work, research, talking with our friends when we are away from them, creating new ways to enjoy being with our friends, etc.
Some people think that we, teenagers, are addicted to computers and all that technological stuff, but we disagree with them. We think that we won’t use technologies instead of being with our real friends, if we can. We will only use them if we need because they can provide us many things, but it is not our priority.
As you can see, new technologies are becoming very popular thanks to their utility and that can be good for us, if we don’t use them too much.

Diogo, nº10; Fábio, nº11; Miguel, nº21; Ruben, nº24 - 901

André wrote...

July 2009

Hi Bárbara!
In the last letter I forgot to tell you something.
The great news is that last summer I went into Paredes de Coura Festival with Margarida. It was difficult to convince her but when I told her that Franz Ferdinand were going to act, she immediately changed her mind.
We stayed there for four days, and during that time we only thought in one thing: music!
The best moment, was when Franz Ferdinand played “Ulysses” and “This Fire”, our favorite songs. It was something out of the world!
Other bands like Oasis, The Gift, and so many more also played at the festival, but the audience’s behavior wasn’t as bad as we were expecting.
There were no strange events, thank god! The only strange moment was seeing Margarida sleeping! Oh my god! How loud she snored!
I loved it; I really hope you’ve also enjoyed seeing Alice Cooper at Switzerland!
Music rules!

I hope to hear from you soon,
All the best,
André


André Pedrosa, nº5, 901

Project - Protest Songs