The Time I Showed Courage

There have been a few times in my life when I have needed courage.  Learning how to swim was one of those times. When I was four years old I went to California. The hotel where I stayed, had a huge pool. I didn't know how to swim yet so I spent my time there learning with little swim tubes around my arms.  One day, I swam across the pool with the tubes on.  I felt really proud of myself.  Then some kid my age said, "I can swim across without floaters."  I got so upset because I thought everyone swam that way. I kept practicing over and over again but still not without my floaters.


 A few days later when I was swimming, that kid was there again. "Gosh you still can't swim without floaters?" I got so angry at him. " No I can swim without them if you didn't know." This made him jealous. "Prove it then." He said. I got really nervous. It was a deep pool but a small length. All of a sudden I felt better. "I can do this no worries." I whispered to myself. "Go." He shouted. I was off swimming like crazy to the other side. He was following behind me. The kid struggled to keep in front yet he moved slowly. I knew that sense we were just starting to swim maybe it was okay. I realized that the floaters made me better at swimming and sense he didn't that affected his swimming skills. During the middle I stopped and looked behind. He had given up the race. " Hey girl you win." I had beat him and that made me proud.

This example shows courage because I realized that I could do it and overcame my fears. The boy had been mean to me which made me want to prove to him that I could do it.

What do artifacts tell us about the lives of early humans?

Artifacts tell us many different things about early humans.  Early humans loved art.  They carved things into stone and painted on walls. These images depict their everyday lives and these art pieces were used in their spiritual rituals as well.

The first painting is called  Cave Painting of Animals. This painting has lots of  animals on it such as horses and bison. Whoever painted this could have used it to honor spirits. He or she also could have used it to capture the magical powers of certain animals.

Another painting is called Cave Painting of Shapes and Hand Prints. This was found in Argentina. The hand prints are very tiny because the early humans were also very tiny. The hand prints could have been the artist's way of signing their picture.  It also could have been used for rituals.

The third artifact I really enjoyed is called Clay Sculptures.  It had two cracked buffalo standing next to a rock with sort of a blue glow in the background.  These sculptures could have belonged to a certain clan.  They also could have been used for ceremonies held deep inside the cave.

By examining the artifacts, we can all learn a little bit more about the early humans and all the painting and sculptures they made.  We can take a peek into the day to day lives of these early humans and see what they held sacred by seeing what they may have used in their rituals.