Meet Helen Keller

By Taylor G.

(Helen and Anne Sullivan)

Helen Keller is most known for being blind and deaf, yet she was very smart and didn’t let her disabilities get in her way. She was born in the small farm town of Tuscumbia, Alabama, on June 27, 1880. When she was 19 months old, she was struck with a high fever and was extremely ill. She lost both her sight and hearing abilities. In her early life, she acted like a wild animal because nobody taught her discipline or manners. On March 3, 1887, her parents hired Anne Sullivan to teach Helen. Anne saw that Helen was very smart and a quick learner. She learned manual sign language in two weeks and soon was learning 30 words a day! In the fall of 1889, Helen went to The Perkins School for the Blind. Anne never left her side. Whenever someone talked, Anne translated for Helen. For example, if somebody said “Hello” to Helen, Anne would write it into Helen’s palm of her hand.

In 1892, Helen learned to talk! She traveled to many places and met many famous people such as Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, Woodrow Wilson, and Mark Twain. She was becoming famous herself. Helen was never afraid to do anything and never let her disabilities get in the way. She went snow sledding, horseback riding, ran into a wave at the beach, and even learned to ride a bicycle.

In 1893, she decided she wanted to go to Radcliffe College. Her father had died and people raised money for her schooling. She had to go to a few other schools to prepare for Radcliffe. One school wanted to keep her for five years and tried to trick her mom to get guardianship of her instead of Anne. The school did this because Helen was famous and they wanted the money. Anne told Helen’s mother the true story, and they left that school. In 1900, Helen and Anne went to Radcliffe College. In 1902, Helen wrote her first book called, “The Story of My Life”. In 1904, Helen was the first blind and deaf person to receive a college degree. She graduated with honors.

In her adulthood, Helen wanted to help others with disabilities. In 1905, Miss Keller started a career traveling, speaking and writing. In April of 1930, Anne became sick and couldn’t travel with Helen anymore. A woman named Polly Thompson took Anne’s place. Helen loved animals, especially dogs. In fact, the first Akita dog in the United States was sent to Helen from Japan in 1938. In January 1943, she visited disabled soldiers in the U.S. and in September 1964, President L. Johnson gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was given the title of “America’s First Lady of Courage.” She eventually visited 39 countries and met 12 U.S. presidents. She even won an Oscar for the documentary about her life called, “Helen Keller in Her Story.” On June 1, 1968, sadly, Helen Keller died in her sleep at age 87.

I think that Helen Keller taught the world if you have a disability, don’t let it get in your way!

Here is a link to the Helen Keller Kids Museum Online.

Below is a presentation of my sculpture.

What did you learn that you did not know about Helen Keller?

Please leave a comment.

Leonis Adobe Museum Trip

By Taylor G., Taylor S., Bethany, Shane F.,

Learning about your community is part of the third grade Social Studies curriculum. To learn more about the history of our community, all third graders visited the Leonis Adobe Museum.

Miguel Leonis and his Chumash bride, Espiritu, lived in the adobe.

At first, we gathered around the giant oak tree. Our docent told us this tree was over 600 years old!

All we could find under the oak, were acorn leaves and acorn caps. The squirrels have been busy!

Water was needed at the ranch. Here the docent explains about how water is pumped from the ground.

Here is one of the cowgirls working hard at the pump!

Later, a windmill was added. The wind provided the energy to pump up the water, and it was then stored in the water tank.

Water was needed to wash the clothes. Here is a photo of a washboard and wringer.

Water was also used for...bathing! The tub was small so it could be picked up and carried out to the garden. The bathwater was reused to water the plants.

Inside the house, the docent explained who lived in the house and what kind of a life they lived. We were surprised to see the kitchen floor was dirt!

Upstairs we got to see some sample adobe bricks and learned more about them. Adobe is made of mud, straw, and animal manure.

Upstairs there was a museum room with old books, musical instruments, and a journal. There were sample quill pens on the desk so we could see what people used to use for writing.

During our field trip to Leonis Adobe Museum, we made tortillas and butter.

The first step was to get yellow corn from the garden. Then we took all the corn off the cob. Next, we put the kernels in a bowl and mashed it into
a yellow corn powder.

Water was added to the corn meal to make a corn tortilla mix. Next, the workers rolled the batter into a ball and pressed it flat in the iron tortilla press. It was hard work keeping the ranch going!

At Leonis Adobe we saw goats, Texas long horns, and sheep. They used fur from the sheep for wool blankets, and the meat for food. The goats' milk was used for drinking and making cheese. The Texas long horns provided meat for food, fur for blankets, and
manure for planting.

Here is an anvil and whetstone used by the blacksmith.

A big part of life on the ranch was tending the animals. Here is one of the ranchers showing off his skills with the lasso!

Yeehaw!

We fed the animals hay. It tickled when they took the hay from our hands.

We learned that goats and sheep have rectangular pupils unlike ours which are circular.

At the Leonis Adobe Museum the girls made rag dolls. We could have a pink doll or a green doll. The docent gave us a long string and three little strings. With the short strings, we made two arms and a head. Finally, we knotted the long string to the doll so we could wear it as a necklace. During the 1880s, girls at Leonis Adobe used the wool from the sheep to make their dolls.

Back in the 1880s, Miguel and Espirtu did not have indoor bathrooms. They had to walk outside to an outhouse. That must have been a long, cold walk!

After a long day working at the adobe, we were treated to yummy corn tortillas and homemade butter! They were delicious!

The road in front of the Leonis Adobe was part of the trail that connected the 21 missions from San Diego to San Fransisco. It was called the "El Camino Real" or "King's Highway".


A great time was had by all, and much was learned about the history of Calabasas.

The End