Friday Silent Reading

Kacey and Orion

Friday afternoons in Room 8 may find students buddied up on carpet squares, sitting outside, and looking at photo albums, Where's Waldo type books, or just comparing books. I don't usually start this the first week of school, but it was such a beautiful afternoon, I changed my mind.
Shelby and Hailey

Summer
Trever
Wasey and Kaia
Max
Nathan and Joel
Nicole and Vanessa
Parker
Sam and Rocky
Brittany
Danny

Katy and Abby
Kobe and Spegi

Yep, it was a beautiful day to start 'Friday Silent Reading!'

Max

Here's Max. Max is a wealth of knowledge...he actually sat with me for a lot of today's Friday Silent Reading to ask me questions from .... um? I think it was a book on records. For example, he asked me, "What country drinks the most soda?" I guessed correctly. (The United States)

Max wasn't originally suppose to share his bag today... Austin J was. Yesterday, when I was reminding Room 8 of their homework and called off both the Austins' names for bag sharing, Austin J remembered he wasn't going to be at school today. Max quickly volunteered to switch days with him. Max was ready!

He loves baseball... and the bat in the picture above is actually not even his - it's Sam's...and it's lighter than Max's wooden bat.

Max also likes to draw, illustrated by this picture he shared. He also likes to collect erasers, showing us an eraser that he found on the ground. He also loves to read, especially enjoying the book called 'Gregor the Overlander.'
Now Max has been carrying around this pin... he had told me what it was, but I still wasn't sure. Max does a form of martial arts, and that's what this pin is from. When he held it up to show Room 8, he said, "I think it's a little too small for a picture, Mrs. J."

"Rats!" was my reply.

But, never fear... Max had a solution to being able to see it through the camera:
I love it! I told the class my mom would say, "That's using your head for something besides a hat rack!"

Max also had a small little blue case that he said was the carrier for his Nintendo DS games. Now, I had no earthly idea what this was. This prompted a big discussion in Room 8 on all the games these kids have. I was surprised. There are Nintendo DS, PSP, Wii, Playstation 1, 2, and 3, X Box, X Box 360, Game Cube, ... they even informed me the prices of them all.

My question was: What's the difference...and why do you pick the ones you do? Max told me the main difference was the size, the controls, and the kind of games.

Thanks, Max!

Austin V

We have two students named 'Austin' in Room 8... so I designate them as Austin V and Austin J. This is Austin V.

Austin shared his bag, starting off with some antlers. He told us he likes to hunt, actually going hunting with his grandpa on a four-wheeler. Unfortunately, they didn't get anything. These antlers are from his grandpa on a previous trip. Maybe next time, Austin! Austin told us he couldn't actually hunt until he was 12 years old.

Austin V also likes to wrestle. He just started year before last, but he loves it. Look at the medal he won!
Austin V shared some pictures of his family. I particularly liked the one of his grandma sitting in 'HER CHAIR'. He said that's what she calls it and... well, his grandpa just has to sit on the couch!

He brought a spur because he likes to ride horses. He told us he used to have a horse when he was 6 years old, but they had to sell it. He then showed us this bell and said it was for PBR. I asked him what PBR was. He just looked at me like I was a little crazy and said, "PBR!" Well, I had to explain I had no idea what PBR stood for... then he informed us it stood for Professional Bull Racing, which is something he wants to do when he grows up. After riding, he wants to go into the Marines!

These goggles were the last thing Austin V showed us. He said he wished he had taken them hunting!

Maybe he would have had another pair of antlers???

Ashley

Meet Ashley.

Ashley was our second student to share their 'bag.' Ashley started out telling us how she loves soccer... then she told us how she loves baseball...then basketball... and football. After she was finished sharing her bag, I asked Room 8 what were some things they learned about Ashley. They immediately said, 'She LOVES SPORTS!" Absolutely!

Ashley also likes to ride dirt bikes. She actually has a Suzuki 110. This picture above illustrates this love of hers.

In addition to all this, she likes to skateboard. She wants to learn how to do a kick flip. Ashley also collects sports cards. She talked about going to a 49ers game when they played the Philadelphia Eagles. That sounds fun!

Another thing Ashley enjoys is playing her PSP, but she told us her mom only lets her play it after she does her homework... YEAH MOM! (Mrs. J's feelings!)
Ashley also shared her Puka bead necklace. We had a debate about how you spell Puka...some thought it was Pooka... but then the majority decided it was Puka. Regardless, it's a great necklace and we enjoyed seeing it and hearing all about Ashley!

Abby

We started our student 'bag' presentations today. Abby went first and set a high standard! We learned so much about her, including how comfortable she is to talk in front of a group... and do it so well!Abby loves to collect CARS! I don't know if she told us exactly how many she has, but she has a LOT! She brought a couple of her cars to share. You can see this beautiful red convertible in the picture below.Abby also loves cats. She brought a stuffed animal to illustrate how she loves cats, in particular her cat who is 19 years old. There was some debate in Room 8 about how old that would be in 'human years.'Abby told us about her family, including her relatives in Colorado. She has a cousin named Andrea who is 22 years old and is either as tall as Abby or almost. Pretty amazing!

Soccer is Abby's favorite sport. She also loves to bead, read, draw, and absolutely loves her DVD of Monk. Her family is watching season 3.

We definitely enjoyed learning more about Abby!

Learning about the equator

What imaginary line divides the earth into the northern and southern hemispheres?
Wesley knows...
You could ask Shane... he would tell you...
or even Summer. Look how hard she's concentrating.
Trever was sitting back, observing the work he had just done.
If you really want to know the name of this imaginary line, just ask Vanessa...
Wasey is a great listener, so you could also ask her...
Nathan was hard at work coloring the land in the northern hemisphere...
Nicole could tell you what the word 'hemisphere' means...
or if she had a momentary lapse in memory, I bet Orion could tell you.
Rocky was careful to spell 'hemisphere' correctly on his paper.
Sam was being careful to do exactly what the directions said...
Joel didn't want to make any mistakes on his first geography paper.
Of course, Kacey didn't want to make any errors either.
Kaia could spell the name of this imaginary line...
Actually, I bet Katy could spell it too.
Marseya was so very careful...
Abby just loved learning something new. Look at that smile!
Austin J had no time for a smile for his blogging teacher, no siree, he was hard at work!
Austin V was also thinking pretty hard.
Look at Danny! See the intense look of concentration on his face?
Hailey doesn't have that intense look, but she is showing how much fun she is having learning all about that line called the....

EQUATOR!

Meet Ms. V

Meet Ms. V!

Ms. V is our student teacher for the fall semester. In this photo, she's reading a letter to us. I also wrote a letter to the class and read it to them. Using this model, the students are now writing a letter to me telling about their summer, their favorites, their family, and their feelings about 4th grade.

Today, Ms. V shared her 'bag.' You will be reading about each student here at Room-8-News as they share their bags. We learned that she likes tomatoes...and tries to eat one every day. A lot of her family is also from San Diego. She loves stuffed animals, collecting books, stamping... and much more.
In this photo, Ms. V is telling us how she loves books, and likes to collect them.

Welcome to Room 8, Ms. V!

Meet Caryn

Caryn... all of Room 8 will come to absolutely adore her, I am sure!

Caryn is a former Room 8er, as was her sister before her, Chanel. This year, Caryn is a SENIOR in high school - which I can hardly believe! - and she is taking a class called 'Elementary Aide.'
What this means, is that for her 4th period class, I am her teacher. However, what she does, is drive to our school and work in Room 8. I've had a lot of 'Elementary Aides' through the years, and it is such a bonus to everyone. I'm sure Caryn will love it...and Room 8 will love it... and I will be so very grateful and also absolutely love it!

Meet Caryn!