The Bronx

New York City has five boroughs or divisions. Manhattan is the smallest borough, but also the most known and center of New York City. Because Manhattan is an island, you can take a boat all the way around it. The Bronx is across the Harlem River from Manhattan. It is the only borough on the mainland. In other words, it is not an island or part of an island. Queens, across the East River from the Bronx, is the largest of the five boroughs. Queens is part of an island that is 118 miles long. That is why it is called Long Island. Brooklyn is just south of Queens and is also part of Long island. Staten Island is across New York Bay to the west of Brooklyn.

No matter where do you live in New York City, you are never far from a river, a bay, or even the ocean. Thanks to our harbor, NYC became an important port. In fact, it is the largest port in the United States.

The Algonquians, a Native American tribe, were the first people to live in NYC. In the Algonquian language Manahatta (now Manhattan) means “island of the hills”. Since then, many immigrants have populated NYC. In 1639 the colonist Jonas Bronk bought 500 acres of land from the Algonquians. Known as “Bronck’s Land”, it was later called the Bronx.

Until the late 1800s, the Bronx was an area of farms and villages. In the 1940s, immigrants moved to the suburbs. Today, the Bronx is home to many Hispanic people and it probably hosts them more than any other borough.

In the 1970s, the Bronx experienced poverty, run-down buildings, and increased crime. Nowadays, the Bronx has been made better by the work of community and church groups.

On November 4, 1989, New Yorkers made an historic decision. They gave African-American, Hispanics, Asians, and other ethnic groups a better chance to elect council members from their districts.

In 1997 the Bronx was named a winner of the All-American City Award. This award is given each year by the National Civic League to ten communities that have worked hard to solve their problems.

Our Team

Hello!

My name is Juana Barroso and I am 14 years old. I am in 9th grade and my favorite subject is Social Studies. I have been reading about your city and it seems to be a nice place to live. Here in the Bronx we have many nice places to go too. My favorite places to visit are The Botanical Garden, The Bronx Zoo and St. Mary’s Park.

Hi everyone.
My name is Ana Barroso. I am 12 years old and I am in 6th grade. My favorite subject is Math. I live in the Bronx, but I am from Mexico. I love to play soccer and I dedicate a lot of time to be a better player. I like the Garden Mosaics activities because they remind me of my country.

Hello. My name is Orlando Velez and I am 11 years old and I like playing football. I go to Abraham house for help. The teachers help me with my work. I am in 7th grade. They give me hard work at school, but it is worth it because it helps me learn new things. That is why I still attend to to the Community Garden activities. We have many things to do that help us to improve our community.

Hello

My name is Jhenny Jimenez. I am 11 years old and I go to St. Jerome school. I am in the 5th grade. My birthday is in June 08th. My favorite subject is Math, and my favorite hobbies are swimming and playing basketball. I was in a public school before entering into St. Jerome school. I got a scholarship that helped me go to St. Jerome.

Hi!

My name is Pablo Velez. I am 10 years old. My birthday is in August 15th. I go to St. Luke School. There are 7 people in my family plus me is 8, and if I count my parents we are ten. I am in 5th grade. My favorite sport is Olympic wrestling. I hope to be on a team when I grow up.

Hello. My name is Mariano Velez. I am 10 years old and I am in fourth grade. My favorite sport is basketball. My birthday is on October 14th. Some people think I am Chinese but I am Mexican. My school is St. Luke. It is a great school. I live in the Bronx. The Bronx is in New York. There are many great parks in New York and I enjoy going to play there.

Our Garden Mosaics activities

Dear friends,

Hello! In this message we want to tell you about our Garden Mosaics activities. By the time we have explored the garden, which is situated near our school. We were interested in this garden, because it was founded by a teacher of our gymnasium. It is a very small and terrific garden. You will see its photos in our future messages.

There are a lot of parks in our town: Lagerny garden, University grove, State garden, Michailovskaya grove, Buff garden, and others. We have total about 45 gardens and parks in our town. Every person in our town can relax there and enjoy fresh air and natural beauty.

Many inhabitants of Tomsk have private garden sites out of town, on which they grow vegetables: potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers and others. Near our gymnasium there is a park, which is called “White Lake”(we will tell you about it next week). It is one of the most favorite places of inhabitants of Tomsk, in which there are a lot of trees, bushes and beds of flowers. The park is situated around the lake.

We are interested to learn a lot of interesting things about our gardens and environment through Neighborhood Exploration, Gardener Story, and Community Garden Inventory – which we are planning to conduct these weeks.

We hope to hear from you soon!

Neonila, Yuliya, Artem, Yura

Information about Tomsk

In this message we would like to tell you about our beautiful city.

Tomsk is an old Siberian town. It is situated on the bank of the river Tom, in West Siberia. Tomsk got its name of the river on which it stands. In the Ket language the Tom means “main river”, “big river” or “the centre of life”. The name has also another translation: “Tom” means “dark”. Haven’t you noticed that deep water always seems dark? “Dark” means “clean, mountainous”.
In the winter of 1604, from the banks of the “Dark river”, the chief of Eushtin Tatars, Toyan, arrived in Moscow and addressed the Russian tsar, Boris Godunov, with a request to defend his tribe from the enemy. Therefore, in September of 1604 by the order of Boris Godunov Russian soldiers began to build a fortress intended to defend Russian borders at the highest place, on Voskresenskaya Mountain. So, Tomsk was founded.

Since the middle of the last century Tomsk has been called “Siberian Athens” as Lunacharsky first put it. Indeed, Tomsk is the centre of culture and education of Siberia.
Tomsk is often called a Students’ Town. It is really right. Tomsk University, the first in Siberia, was founded in 1880. There are now seven higher educational establishments in Tomsk: State University, the Polytechnic University, the Medical Academy, the University of Civil Engineering, and the University of Automated Control System and Radioelectronics.
There are over thirty technical colleges. They say that every eighth person in Tomsk is a student. In the streets of Tomsk you can see many young people. The students in Tomsk have everything at their disposal: comfortable hostels, sport palaces and clubs; libraries, labs, and well-equipped workshops. In the evening they may have a good time in the cafes, cinemas, theatres. The students are proud of their “Alma-Matter” and after graduating from the Institute they often come back to Tomsk to meet their teachers, and friends, or to have a walk along Tomsk streets and to say “Thank you” to their teachers and universities. It’s a wonderful tradition.

Tomsk is proud of its wooden houses with their “wooden laces”. In Krasnoarmeiskaya, Gagarin, Shishkov streets one can see a wonderful fairy-tale. You will see wonderful wooden palaces with numerous cupolas, windows, and balconies richly decorated with traditional Russian woodwork, so-called “wooden laces”. Tomsk is famous for its wooden architecture. All these wooden wonders were made by unknown Russian masters. They worked from early morning till late night, but they lived under very difficult conditions. They did not leave their names for us but left these masterpieces for us to admire. Now all these monuments are under state protection and are being carefully restored so people will be able to admire them for centuries to come.

Let us know if you have any questions about our city.

Our information

Our dear friends,

We would like to tell you some information about team. Our team consists of students from different student groups (9^th – 10^th grades) who are interested to learn more about environment and cultures in different countries. You will find information about each of us below.

My name is Artem Mironov. I’m 14. I’m a pupil. I live in Tomsk. I study at Gymnasium #24 in class 9b. My hobby is swimming, drawing and skiing.

My name is Zhenya Chemodanova. I’m a pupil. I live in Tomsk I study at Gymnasium #24 in class 9b. My hobby is swimming, theatre, musik

Yulia Ogurtsova
Hallo! My name is Yulia, but you can call me Julie. I play the piano and the guitar. My favourite subjects are English and History. I love them =)). My favorite band is “Grim Twins”. If you saw “Russian Winter Festival” in London you could see them. Waiting for your answer! =)))

Neonila Khismatullina
My name is Neonila. My hobby is bead knithing. In my childhood I used to play the piano. My favourite subjects are English and Chemistry. To tell the truth, I love pets and at home I’ve got 2 lizards.

Gleb Arv’e
My name is Gleb. My hobby is tourism (yachting). My favourite subjects are Chemistry and Geography. My great-grand father was the leader of the group of geologists who found the first oil in Siberia.

Natasha Shepeleva
My name is Natasha. I am 14. My hobby is drawing and playing guitar. I have no favorite subject. I like reading and pets. Konitchi wa to peoples who like anime.

Olga Kabanova
My name is Olga. I am 14. My hobby is dancing and watching movies. I like reading.

Anastasia Lazareva.
My name is Anastasia. I’m 14 years old. I like literature. I read a lot of books and write poems and stories. I’m interested in computers, Internet and web-design.
I have a cat. His name is Simba.
I study at Benedict school twice a week, where I study professional English.
And I’m also interested in Japanese culture.
My best friend is Galina Vesnina.

Galina Vesnina.
My name is Galina. I’m 14 years old.
I study in the 9th form. I have different hobbies: reading, playing the violin, painting, writing poems.
I am interested in ecology. I like Russian rock music.
My best friend is Anastasia Lazareva.

My name is Gashkova Olga. I am 14 years. I live in Tomsk , I study in 24 grammar schools. I like to draw (I studied at art school) .I like to listen to music. I have the aquarium and my favourite cat, and so I the most usual child with my mentality.

My name Jura. I love sport, games and TV. I fond of Break dance. I love hip- hop and R’n’B music. For example, 50 cent, x-zibit and others. But I have some strangers. When I feel me bad I like to listen same groups as Bon Jovi and Scorpions to relax. My favorite subjects are Mathematic, and English.
My name is Artem. I play guitar. I go in for sports. I found of Break dance too. I love rock music. For example, Bon Jovi and others. My favourite subjects are Engish and Russian.

We are waiting for your message about your team. Please feel free to ask us any questions!

Your Siberian friends.

Greetings from The Bronx

Hello everyone!
My name is Milagros Alegre and I am a Counselor in an After School Program located in the South Bronx, New York City. Our organization, Abraham House, hosts grades Pre-K to 12th from a primarily latino community. This is an integrated Program that focuses both on academic and non-academic life skills. These skills include environmental awareness, the arts, wellness and spirituality. By taking a more holistic approach we further develop the capacity to succeed with our children and our community.

Educators' message

GARDEN MOSAICS
TEACHERS-PARTICIPANTS’ NEWSLETTER

We are the teachers from Russia. We live and work in Tomsk. Tomsk is a beautiful ancient Siberian city. We teach different subjects at Tomsk gymnasium #24. There are a lot of talented students who do research in ecology and take part in nature conservation projects.

Let us introduce ourselves:
Nadezda Usova – a teacher of chemistry and ecology
Tatyana Konovalova – a teacher of biology
Margarita Soldatenko – a teacher of English
We would be glad to share our experience, learn a lot of new things and meet new friends!