| Our Community ~ Arlington, MA, USA | |
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Arlington, Massachusetts is a suburban community, a town just outside of Boston, our state capital. It is divided into what is known as "East Arlington" which is quite flat and "The Heights" (where our school is located) which is extremely hilly. As in most communities, development has been a serious threat to both trees and wildlife. We lost several of our own beautiful 75 year old oak trees in the rebuild of our school. Wildlife found in our area includes squirrels, raccoons, skunks, rabbits, bats, and a number of birds, including hawks. Arlington has individual homes, multi-family dwellings, apartment buildings, and condominiums. Most of us live in individual homes, with some in multi-family dwellings and apartments. People in our town have a wide range of occupations, from laborers to doctors, attorneys, and teachers. We have a skating rink close to our school, and the Boys' and Girls' Club has a large swimming pool. We have an auxiliary hospital in town, but for full services people must travel to a surrounding community. The closest airport is Logan in Boston. Our town has many special qualities, as does every town, but we have the special privilege of being the birthplace of Uncle Sam - one of the symbols of our country. Uncle Sam was a real person named Samuel Wilson and he was born on September 13, 1766. He was eight years old when Paul Revere rode by on his famous "Midnight Ride." His birthplace home was torn down some years back, but was replaced by a beautiful statue of him. It is found in the center of our town. That is the first photo you see above. To learn about Uncle Sam and other Arlington notables, click here. Arlington is quite old and full of history. During the Revolutionary War, it was known as “Menotomy.” The second photo, above right, is the Jason Russell House. Owned and operated by the Arlington Historical Society, it is a place where many school children learn about our town’s history. Take a virtual tour of the Jason Russell House.
The photo of the Native American statue is known as the “Menotomy Indian Hunter” and is Arlington’s icon. It was created by a famous sculptor in this area, Cyrus Dallin. You can learn more about him and his work here.  Peirce Elementary - Our School There are approximately 230 K-5 students in our school, with two classes at each grade level. We have 18 children in our class this year, 10 boys and 8 girls. Most of us walk or come by car to school, but two of us take a school bus each day from Boston. The last photo above is one of the second floor hallway (where our classroom is located) in our three year old school. We had quite an odyssey! Four and a half years ago our students, teachers, and staff had to move out and separate into two host schools while Peirce School was demolished :-( and rebuilt. Over the December holidays of 2002 we had to pack up and move back to our new school. It's great to have a new school, but there are still many features we miss from our old one. You can learn more about Peirce School here. Well, that's a bit about our community. We are enjoying learning about yours! Ms. Jacoby and Class To learn more about our class, see our class website: Window to Our World To learn more about our town, see Town Mouse, Town Mouse You'll not only learn about Arlington, but about a special collaborative project with which we were involved. To learn more about our state, try these links: Kids' Zone Lots of fun and interactive ways to learn about our state! Printable Massachusetts Map and Quiz Printable Massachusetts State Flag to Color Printable New England Map/Quiz |