Cleaning the River
by Tyler

The Nashua people used to own a beautiful river called the Nashua River. The English started to trade with them then after a while they claimed it as their land. They forced the Indians off their land. After a while the English started to invent stuff. The leftover stuff was dumped into the river. They didn't even think about it. The water turned different colors and started to stink. Then the people worked for the Common Good to stop this and made it beautiful again.

I think they worked for the common good because they wanted a clean river not a sewer. Everyone worked together to make the Nashua River clean again. They tested the water to see what was wrong. When they found out they put up signs that said, "No more Pollution"

Common Good
by Mariah

This story relates to the Common Good because the river was nice and clean and then it was filled with plastic, dye and fiber. The polluted river stunk. The people remembered a clean river so they sent jars of water to the factories and made them stop polluting. The river is nice again now. You can see the fish, birds and pebbles shining in the water again.

Common Good is great! We read how the river got pollutted. We made a timeline to show how it happened. People wanted to clean it. When they finally got it clean again people could fish, kayak and see the pebbles on the bottom. That's how they worked for the Common Good. ...Sean

People started to protest at factories. They wanted to save the fishing and hunting and have the ducks, fish, deer, moose, geese, beavers, and birds come back. ...Randy

The Nashua River was called the river with the pebbled bottom. The indiap people lived there for a long time. They did not pollute the river. When the other people came and polluted the river the indian man cried. Then people knew they had to stop polluting. They did stop polluting. Now everybody is happy that the river is clean again. ...Austin C.

When they poured pulp in the rive it made the river orange. When they cleaned the river they stopped pouring in pulp. When they stopped pouring stuff in the river it got clean. ...Adrian

Well, people saved a river. It had been an old beautiful river but people hardly knew it used to be beautiful. So many people and factories were just dumping pulp, die and fiber in the river. Then two people decided what to do. They wrote things and people joined to help. They ended up saving the river. ...Zac

The pollution was caused by the pulp clogging up the river so it ran slowly. People signed petitions and sent letters to stop pollution .They protested to politicians and showed them jars of dirty water. I think the people started to work for the Common Good by cleaning up the river. ...Lisa

This story relates to the Common Good because the people worked together to clean the river. ...Tanner

The Nashua river was polluted. The story relates to the Common Good because people were trying to work together to clean it for everybody. In the end of the story it was clean and nobody could dump garbage in it. I bet they're glad they got it cleaned! ...Cody

I think the people worked for the Common Good because everyone worked together to stop pollution. When Oweana and Marion had that dream, they knew they must stop pollution. They worked for the Common Good by telling everyone the history of the river and getting people to protest pollution. Everyone agreed that the factories should stop dumping . They all worked togeth and saved the river that now runs wild. ...Lindsay

There are many ways to work for the Common Good. It took many people to stop pollution. Together they stopped the problems. ...Mikayla

Cleaning the River
Jaylee

In the beginning the Native people took care of the river and then the white people trashed it. The reason the people polluted the river is they cared for their factories more than they cared for the river. They just did whatever they w3anted to. Then it was so polluted it started to stink,. It stunk so no one wanted to go by it to admire the river. They had to clean it it was so dirty. They cleaned it and the water was clean. There was still pollution in the air but the water is fine now.

In addition to studying the Nashua River Clean-up and reading A River Ran Wild, the fourth and fifth grade students wrote about the book The Lorax.

Common Good Cleaning the River
Alicia

At the beginning the water was clear. But then they put all kinds of chemicals in the water. And it changed the color of the river. Soon fishes and other water animals couldn't even go in the water.

Then the people did something for the Common Good. They put up signs. They made laws. They stopped putting chemicals in the river. They made the river clear again. Everybody was glad.

• Putting the Once-ler on Trial

• Letters to the Once-ler