FOR ALIZEA (Look! I remembered!)

So last Friday, a very excited Alizea came up to me before the bell rang to start the school day. Do you know what she asked me? She asked me if I have ever been so excited about a trip that I couldn't get to sleep! The answer is YES!!! Once I was going to visit my sister in San Francisco and I was taking my daughter to visit her for the very first time. Lara was only 5 months old. I was excited and nervous about the trip. I hardly slept! Boy was I tired the next day.

So have YOU ever been so excited about a trip that you couldn't get to sleep? If so, tell me about it!

HERE'S A SHOUT-OUT TO THE KIDS ACROSS THE HALL

I just want to give a great big shout-out to all of the kids across the hall from my room! You are wonderful, wonderful students! I know you all worked super hard on that PSSA. Aren't you glad it's over? I can't believe that I have 2 more weeks of testing.

I have to test the 5th graders in writing, and then the 4th graders in Science.

Yikes! Do you think we'll EVER get back to our schedule? I certainly hope so...

So the school year's coming to an end soon. What has been your most favorite thing about the year so far? AND, what did you like the least? Can't wait to hear your answers!

CHECK THIS OUT!

OH MY GOODNESS!!!! Hoops and YoYo created a new manners lesson using one of my homeroom's ideas! We made two movies to send to them on manners, and the very first one had the right and wrong way to raise your hand! You can check out OUR manners movie by clicking here XX . Then you can click on this link to see Hoops and Yoyo's.

Tell me what you think! I think it's VERY VERY cool ; )

Your Opinion, Please

So the past few weeks, my fourth and fifth grade Extended Day students have been comparing various folk tales. We read Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters and The Rough-Face Girl. The fifth graders also read the traditional story Cinderella. We created "T" Charts and what the 5th graders called "Double T" Charts to take notes as we read. Both groups did a great job of analyzing the information. They learned that if you write information about one character you must include similar information about the other character. You should check out the wall outside of my room to see their great work!

While I like all three stories, one is my favorite. I'm not going to tell you which one. You can try to guess which one I like best- but you must tell me WHY you think that. I was also wondering which story YOU liked best and why.

SNOW!

Goodness, where has the time gone? I can't believe I haven't posted since the holidays! Must be all of that preparation for the PSSA keeping me busy.

We had yesterday off because of a huge snowstorm over the weekend. This is a picture looking across the back yards of my house during the storm on Saturday. We got 28.5 inches. Did any of you go out and shovel, sled, have a snow ball fight or make snow forts? Can you believe that we're supposed to have another storm tonight? What did you do during the snow day? What will you do tomorrow if we have another day off? All I seem to be doing is EATING! Yikes!

Happy Holidays!

Hi out there! Anyone online? What are you all doing over this wonderful week off? My daughter is home from Pittsburgh for 4 more days, so we're going to do some fun "Mother/Daughter" things. Right now we're sitting in our living room doing techie stuff. (Are you surprised?) We both have our blogs up and are busy posting. (Lara says "HI!" by the way.) So what are we going to do? Not sure yet. We might go to Longwood Gardens for a visit. Have you ever been there? I've only been once, and that was a very very very long time ago. It's supposed to be quite beautiful at holiday time.

What else am I going to do? I want to put a fire in my fireplace and curl up with my new books. I got 4 new ones to read! (I get so excited about books!) I also want to get back into my yoga and running. (I took about a week off to get a lot of my schoolwork done- for report cards, student special reports, planning all of those exciting class lessons, and of course holiday preparation- I made my friends their gifts this year.) Don't want to get lazy and gain TOO much weight from all of the cookies and holiday goodies ; )

Well, if you're out there reading, drop a comment to let me know what you're doing. Hope you are all safe and happy!

xxoo,

Ms. Becker

p.s. The picture is of a Jizo. Jizo is a special protector of children.

Speaking of food, it's THANKSGIVING!

Giving Thanks. There's something to ponder. Do you know the history of Thanksgiving- like, the real deal? Check out this site to watch a movie and learn interesting things about this special "All American" holiday! THANKSGIVING STORY

Now, wasn't that interesting? What did you learn? Why were they thankful? Why are YOU thankful? Or what are you thankful for?