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They waited under a blackening crimson sky, their breath, plumes of ghostly white. The crescent moon was blazing like fire as the sunset faded away into ebony night. Twelve shadowy figures in a dark, desolate world of heat, death, and decay. All were motionless as traveling spirits stopping to find their way. What were these enigmas in the dead of the night? Were they friend or foe? Would they cause shock and fright? It was a pack of desert coyotes looking to see if there were any threats! Other than sensing me, they hadn't found a single one yet.

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Top 30 things for girls to know
By the seventh grade girls in
Mr. Poremba's class, blocks 3-6

1. Do not get the McShakers from McDonalds.
2. Do not use FX Extreme Blue hair dye.
3. Skechers shoes fall apart very easily.
4. Break dancing is not cool.
5. Talking like your education stopped when you were in 3rd grade is not cool.
6. 2day relationships are not relationships.
7. Turning bulimic over a guy is not cool.
8. Making people feel bad for you is a pathetic excuse for wanting attention.
9. Talking in the 3rd person is not right.
10. There is no point of calling someone on your cell phone in the middle of a movie.
11. Wendy's salads are very good.
12. L'Oreal is a very good hair dye.
13. Any sport shoes are good.
14. Any dancing but break dancing is cool.
15. Talking your age is appropriate.
16. Over 2 months is a relationship.
17. Being just your self is fine.
18. We are women not "chicks."
19. A guy butting into girl's conversations is just wrong.
20. Prank calling is not cool, remember almost everyone has caller ID.
21. Calling girls names is not cool.
22. Hitting a girl is not cool.
23. Hitting ON a girl is not cool.
24. Wheelie backpacks are not cool.
25. Talking to someone and not looking at them is rude.
26. Saying something that has nothing to do what we're talking about is not cool.
27. Running for student council is a popularity contest.
28. Bringing your CD player to the movies is not cool.
29. Wearing pink lipstick and blue eye shadow is not cool.
30. Biting your nails is gross.
Last word
"If you hate some one, walk a mile in their shoes. Then you will be a mile away from them AND have their shoes."

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Sixth and seventh graders' Washington fun
A journal of the recent field trip
By Joanna M.

Seeing the flag fly high at the White House and the sun rise over the horizon making the city shine a beautiful gold may seem like a dream, but to many Peacock students it was a reality.

Coming to school on May 15, 2002 may have seemed like an ordinary day to many students. But to sixth grader Carina Mariottini, and sixth grade social studies teacher Mrs. Kabat, it was the first step to Washington DC!
At 12:15 teachers, parents, and students all came to say their farewells.
The bus that took us to the airport was what you may call a luxury bus because of the TVs, bathroom, and tables it featured. The bus drove us to O'Hare where flight #618 awaited us.

The two hour flight was full of excitement and amazement. The plane had phones, reclining seats, and tons of TVs and the radio. Now if the plane was this comfortable, we couldn't wait to see the hotel.
At the airport, we were greeted by a guide and a surprise. We all thought that the first stop would be the hotel, but boy were we wrong. Instead of going to the hotel we went to the last place we would have thought of, the mall.

That's right, the mall, I couldn't believe it either at first. We ate there and like always we shopped. To many kids, this seemed the best part of the tour so far.

After that we went to visit some memorials like the Lincoln, Nurse, and Veteran's Wall, and we also saw part of the Pentagon. "I liked all the memorials except the Lincoln because there were too many steps" commented Carina M.

After four hours of sightseeing, we finally went to our hotel, The Embassy Suites. Everything was very nice and classy, the only problem was that at night our doors were taped shut and there were security guards outside in the halls.

Talk about being safe, some people just go overboard with things like that. Well, since everybody was so excited they went to bed late, and when I mean late I mean 5 o'clock in the morning late.

The next day we got a wake up call at 6 in the morning (and I feel sorry for the people who fell asleep at 5AM). After a quick breakfast we headed sightseeing again. Our first stop was to see the Illinois Senators debating the O'Hare question.

Their discussion lasted for about an hour. We also got pictures with the Senators and hurried out because of a tight schedule.

Our next stop was something that excited us all; the White House. We were lucky to get in, and to tell the truth it helps a lot when the secretary at the White House used to go to Peacock!

We got to see most of the rooms in the White House and each one had its own story.

After the White House, we went to the Smithsonian Institute, where we ate lunch. Some people had enough time to look at the exhibits, which by the way were pretty cool.

The next sightseeing stop was at the National Cathedral where we learned a little bit of its history. Also, a lot of people were very impressed with the cathedral's stain glass windows.

The next place we went was the Holocaust Museum. When I asked people what they thought about it, everyone pretty much said "It was sad..."

We were supposed to go to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing but for some reason they didn't have us signed up so we ended up hanging around stores (this wasn't part of the schedule if you wanted to know).
After an hour or so, we headed for our next destination, the "Unknown Soldier's" grave. The walk that we took was about a mile hike. And I thought we didn't have to do the mile for gym.

When we got to the top, we saw the grave and the Changing of the Guards. "The Changing of the Guards was really cool and it must have taken years to learn all those moves" Carina said when we were leaving.
After eating dinner and seeing more memorials, we went back to the hotel where we got to swim and go into the hot tub. Everybody loved this part of the day, and who can blame them.

Well the day was tiring and let's say it didn't bother most people since they again didn't go to bed till 4 in the morning, when will they ever learn.

May 17 had to be our "most exciting day." The first thing that we did was to take a picture of everyone in front of the Capital.

Then we went to the National Archives where we saw lots of statues of presidents and other important people. That visit, like all of our visits, lasted about an hour or so.

Later, we went to Union Station, the Museum of Natural History, and the Smithsonian again. After the Smithsonian we had to walk to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing better known as the Mint.

Later on, about four hours later, we took a one hour and forty minute ride to dinner, and right from there, we took another three hour ride to historic colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.

The hotel that we stayed at seemed nice at first, but think again. The rooms were small and some of them smelled. But the next day was our last so we tried to make the night a good one, notice that I said tried, not did.

Saturday was our last day. Our first stop was at the Colonial Museum, or at least that's what I think it was called. Anyway, it was an outdoor museum that had all the old buildings and people dressed up and got into character.

The tour was really nice, that is if you like lots of rain and wind. After that tour we went on another one, except this one was at Jamestown.

At Jamestown, we saw the first three ships that came here to America, and we also saw a fort.

"It was really interesting, and a lot of the buildings looked as if the were from My Brother Sam Is Dead" ( that's the book Mrs. Kabat's common time class is reading) commented Carina.

The ships and fort were our last historic sights. We got to the airport around 5 p.m. The almost two hour flight seemed longer than usual.

When we finally got home, everybody was excited. Trust me, when you have to put your CD player on full blast and can still barely hear because of the noise, it pretty much just tells you right away that everybody is excited.

So there you have it folks. I've written about everything (or almost everything) that we did while we were away in Washington DC. We enjoyed the trip and I hope you enjoyed the report.

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America
By Stephanie U.

America, America
forever the flag may wave,
your colors bring a sign of hope,
that our soldiers help to save.
America, America
we fear no evil men.
For danger is no stranger,
and freedom for all men.
America, America
watch over Mr. Bush,
see that he will not lose hope,
give him a little push.

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