Me And Flat Stanly

This Saturday I went to Tess's birthday party. When I

came in Tess didn't recognize me. The food was really good. Then my mom took a picture of me and Tess with flat stanly. I had a great time.

Suhani!

Science Madness!

On Wednesday, Jan. 27, we went to Mr. Ruhter's middle school science lab. Mr. Ruhter is a true Mad Scientist! First we were greeted by his mama gerbil and her 3 babies. They were so cute. Then he brought out the lovebird. Did you know that lovebirds have one partner for life? Now when we entered the science lab, the real fun began. Every time Mr. Ruhter said, "Hey!" Everyone screamed, "SCIENCE IS FUN!" and he said HEY a lot!!! Then our 6th grade partners showed us some really cool experiments. First we made a red liquid turn yellow and then cold to hot just by adding baking soda and salt. Next, Mr. Ruhter mixed dry ice with colored liquid and they all changed colors and exploded. In one of them, Mr. Ruhter covered the top with a lab glove and it started to grow. Then he bit one finger off and it started "bleeding" bubbles. It was awesome! We also had a tea party. But we couldn't drink the tea of course. Mr. Ruhter said that in the lab we can't drink anything. It was soooo much fun! Thank you, Mr. Ruhter for inviting up to your lab. We loved it!!

Check out some more pictures!

Tess in Australia

Hi everyone, I was in Australia for Christmas and New Year.

For the first time we had sunshine and sand when Santa came instead of snow and snowmen!

I was able to see kangaroos and koalas and the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House.

We visited the Sydney Fish Market and had fresh mussels every day.

My favourite desert was Swirlie Ice Yoghurts with raspberry sauce and strawberries.

Delicious but you have to be very careful eating it because if you eat to quickly you can get a 'Brain freeze'!

Tess

Festival of Stories

Reading Makes Me Feel Good!

The Festival of Stories had its first great week. All the first grade classes are focusing on different authors. We have been reading books by Tomie dePaola. Some of his characters are Strega Nona, The Barkers and Tomie himself when he was a little boy. The books are wonderful and soon we will choose our favorite one. Next Tuesday, we are going to go to three other classes and learn a bit about other authors. When the other students come to our class, Ms. Analu will read the book we choose as our favorite. We think they will love it too.

Also this week, we shared our favorite books and talked about our favorite characters. We had poetry breaks and we also started reading the books running for the Big Splash Award.

Today was the best day of all! It was our Pajama Day! We all wore our pajamas to school. Some of us also brought our blankies, flashlights and stuffed animals. In the morning, we made tents and turned all the lights off. We gathered in small groups under our tents and read books together with our flashlights. It was so much fun!

Then we went to the Elementary Theater to watch four performances by the Middle School Students from the Theater Club. They were amazing!! The skits were super fun and they even interacted with us. We did not want it to end.

At the end of the day, our reading buddies came to our class and we read more books by Tomie dePaola with them. It was fun!!

I bet next week will be just as fun!!

Meet Maddi!

I can't believe it has been two weeks since we've been back from the holidays. We have been so busy sharing our holiday adventures, getting back into our routines, and much more. We will let you know about it all in the next few posts, but first we want to start by introducing you to our new student.

Meet Maddi!

Maddi's full name is Madison Olschner. Maddi just moved to Singapore from North Carolina in the USA. Maddi has the most amazing smile and great sense of humor. She quickly learned our class routines and is a joy to have around. Maddi loves to share things with others and she has shown us some super tricks! Maddi's parents are Kerry and Deric Olschner and she has a 3 year old sister named Lauren. Welcome to our class, Maddi!!

Aman's 7th birthday

I celebrated my 7th birthday with all my friends. We had an amazing race, between the blue and red teams, and we had to do many things, like solve puzzles, fish for clues, pass the hoop, and finally, a tug of war. My blue team won. I also got birthday bumps for the first time in my life. Thank you to all my friends for making it so wonderful. Aman

Oscar's trip to New Zealand

Dear class,

My family and I went to NZ this winter break. I heard it is summer time in NZ now, but I felt chilly. NZ is beautiful, the sky is blue, the mountain top is white with snow, and a water is crystal clear. I saw many many sheep and cows along the way.

The highlights of this trip are our overnight boat ride in Doubtful Sound, hikes to the glaciers and gold panning at Shanty town.

During the Doubtful sounds cruise, I saw many beautiful water falls, dolphins and seals. At night, my brother and I shared our own bed room, it was cool. I ate everything at the meals.

I hiked to see Fox Glaciers and Franz Josef Glaciers. It was amazing to see the glaciers and I was fascinated by the rocks that glaciers carried over. The rocks are beautiful, and contained many beautiful colors. I heard that the glaciers shrink one meter per day.

We went to Shantytown on the west coast, where I got on board on steam train and saw a town from the

19th century. I went inside an old jail and an old toilet. It is funny to see how old people lived in old days. I tried panning for gold. I would say it is difficult to get a gold out of the pan, but I did

salvage the gold. I will bring it to the next show and tell.

Sincerely,

Oscar

The Animals

My new neighborhood has many animal visitors. I will tell you about them. 1. A troop of monkeys that once got a banana from our kitchen. 2. A wild, roaming dog that howls SO loudly. 3. A soft kitten which is NOT wild but is skinny enough to fit through everyone's gate.
4. Many,many birds, I will tell you my favourite ones. A red bird that has a little crown and a blue bird with white spots.
Look at the visitors.
Sincerely,
Jada

Christmas in Australia, by Declan

I had lots of fun in Australia.  First we stayed in Sydney.  We went on a ferry to a secret island where we played on a playground.   We also hiked to an old fort that protected the harbor in old-fashioned times.  Santa found us in our hotel room, and we had lots of toys in our stockings.  

Then we went up into the Blue Mountains and went to Nina and Lloyd's house.  I liked eating lemon bread and playing at their house with "tiny Louie".  I also liked going on a hike that took us into the clouds!    One day we went to Mudgee and I dove off the small board at the pool, and then some older boys told me how to dive off the high dive, and I did.  It was about 20 feet high and it felt awesome!!!

Next we found a camping spot and made marshmallows!  It rained a lot and we almost got flooded, but our tent was strong and holded up.  My Dad and I went on a hike to a cave, while my mom and brothers were on the old Zigzag Railway train.  When we were camping at another site in Dharug National Park, we made a big campfire and roasted more marshmallows.  My Dad got bitten by Jack Jumper ants, and my brother Aran got a leech on his toe.  When we poured salt on it, it curled up and walked away, and Aran started laughing!

At the end of our trip, I played cricket with my friends on the coast and we went to a beach with gigantic waves.  My mum and I had a good swim.   On the plane home I played "Invasion," which is a game where you have to protect the earth from aliens.  

I had a good time in Australia, and I want to go back soon! 

G'day mates - Declan

A trip to Japan and about 2 places. By Jonathan

This holidays I went to Japan. And my best place was Disneyland. My favourite thing was playing race car. My dad was helping me press the button below and I was driving the race car. My next favourite place was Tokyo Tower. I like it when we can go on the elevator and see out side at the window. I also like it when you go up, when you walk you can see some windows below you. I had a great holiday.

My Trip to New Zealand by Eva

When I went to NZ, I got to go in a helicopter. It took us to a mountain. It was so cool. I tried to make a snow angel, but the snow was too cold. I also got to go on a boat that took us on a bus and that took us on a big boat. That big boat we went in was little inside. I got to sleep with my mom. In the morning, we had to go. We went on a ski lift. Then we did the luge. After that it was our last day there. So we went home and in the morning we left on the airplane.

Carmen's Christmas vacation

Hi Class,

This Christmas I went to Georgia and the Bahamas. One day I made a sand castle with a moat, as you can see in the picture. I took a walk every day on the beach. We didn't get to go snorkeling!!! I was really sad. But my mom said we can practice here in my pool until we go back. It was a bummer I didn't get to go snorkeling, but it was fun at the Bahamas, to go with my grandparents and my family. I collected many, many shells and I made a mobile out of wood and a clam and a starfish and shells and hung it from a tree in a special place.

I also saw my friends in Georgia when we were home. I had a very, very great time. My favorite part of my vacation was seeing my whole family and having joy and gifts and happiness.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Cheers, Carmen

What I did in Philippines

So many things we did back home... Christmas, New Year, 2 Weddings, vacation in Cebu and had an early birthday party ! It was so much fun to see all my grand parents and cousins. There were lots of gifts, did sleepovers at my cousin's place and eat yummy filipino food !!!

I even got a henna tatoo in Cebu, it was a anchor with a rose on it. We stayed in Shangrila and I went on a jetski. It was fun but I got really scared because my mom went too fast ! I can not breath and can not see much because of the water gets in to my eyes... had to go back to the beach after 5 minutes!

On both weddings, I was a flower girl... I had to wear a puffy dress, little make up, curl my hair and walk with Roxy and a little girl. I was so scared that Roxy will run around and I need to chase her, like I always do at home.

It was really cool !

Cheers,

Raine

Awesome Braids

On my vacation I went to the beach in Mexico. I got braids done in my hair. The lady at the beach did the braids super fast. My friend Sajni also got braids done. I almost had all of my hair braided but the back couldn't be braided. I had pink, purple, and white beads in my hair. When I got to America, we tried to take them out. They were really hard to take out. My hair was poofy when we had finished taking all the braids out. I had a great time with my braids on and my poofy hair.

Suhani