One day, our teacher asked the class to color in some rainbow worksheets individually. Then he gave each student one colored marker. Yes, just one! We waited and waited but no more markers were coming. Then we felt confused. We grew frustrated. We turned outraged! We felt insulted, too! "We can't color a rainbow with only one color!" ''This is kindergarten work!" There were other complaints and shouts that I wouldn't quote here. Suddenly, Burton Wu, a classmate known for his problem-solving skills, beamed and whispered excitedly: "Perhaps, Mr. Wen wants us to work TOGETHER, combining the different colors we have!" Like a wildfire, the realization spread and we all got busy. We learned a powerful lesson that day.

In many ways, our country is like a rainbow. It takes many colors to make a rainbow complete and beautiful; it takes all kinds of people to make our nation great.

Asian Americans have brought ideas, dreams, and skills to enrich our country. They helped build the railroads. They improved our fishing, agriculture, and mining industries. So many of their traditions have become part of our culture, too. Some are obvious: street fairs in Chinatown and lion dances are very much parts of our lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

African Americans enriched our nation with their hard work, their intelligence, and even their lives. Martin Luther King Jr. gave an influential speech as well as his life to inspire us. Garret Morgan invented the traffic light and Walter Sammons created the comb. What would our lives be like if we didn't have the traffic light or a comb?

Hispanic Americans' contributions are countless. A lot of my friends want piñatas for their birthday parties every year. Various Hispanic customs make our lives so rich and festive. Our country is also more equal and fair thanks to leaders such as Cesar Chavez.

Caucasian Americans have nurtured our country ever since it started as colonies. Great leaders such as John Smith, Paul Revere, and George Washington led us in our fight for independence and freedom. They created the Constitution which guarantees liberty and justice for all. It's the very best in the world!

My school is called Sheridan Elementary. It is a great place to learn, to play, and to grow. Like a rainbow with different colors, this great school has diversity with students and teachers from around the world. Mr.Wen came from China and Ms. A was from Vietnam. Our principal Ms. Khalique's father was Bangladesh and Mr. Cavali's parents came from Italy. My father is Caucasian and my mother Asian. My best friends are like a rainbow too: Burton and Va are Asian, while Kian and Marshae are African American. On the other hand, Javier and Zena are Hispanic American. I can go on and on, but I think you've got the picture.

I am glad that America is nation of immigrants, great like our school and beautiful like a rainbow.

When I lived back in Africa, my area was very diseased with westnile in mosquitoes and there were alligators in the swamps. I only lived in a small hut with my father. I only live with my father because my mother died when I was only 5,and when I was 7 my big sister was bitten by a mosquito with westnile and my father couldn't afford any medicine to cure it. I would only eat three times a week. My father had a job that only paid two dollars a day. I only had one pair of clothes to wear. I drink from a river near my house. Eyeryday I would pray to god at night asking him to take away all the westnile in my area and all the alligators by my hut. My neighbor told me that my mother and sister are looking after me everyday. Everyday I would wonder if I would join them the next day, up in heaven. My father told me that America is letting in any race, from any country to live in America. I wasn't very happy, from the fact that my father only gets paid two dollars a day. Although I would still pray to God asking to give my father a better pay. One day God answered my prayers and my father got promoted to boss and gets a better pay. Then I remembered that America would let us in. The next day my father came home and brought with him two new pairs of clothes and told me that I could eat every -day of the week now. The only thing that was bad, was that the mosquitoes were laying larva and lots of it. My life started turning even worse then it was before. My father said it would only be one more month till we might be able to move to. America. One week .later the mosquito larva was hatching into mosquitoes. My area was the most dangerous in the continent. My father told me that we are going to move tomorrow. It was moving day and we traveled by plane. It took only one day to get to America. The day we got there we had to find a condo to live in. The room we found was only twenty dollars a month and had a TV; The next day my dad tried to find a school for me to go to. When I was waiting I fumed on the TV, it took me three hours to find out how to use it. When I found out how to use it, I saw on the news that were I lived, fifty people died from westnile. I saw that my neighbor had died that day. I thought of how thankful I was that America accepts immigrants. My life could have been over. America was the only country that would take us in. From that day on I was so glad that America took us in.

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