Sam

Do you want to hear something amazing? See this dolphin structure? Look closely...

Ok, guess what?I'll tell you because I bet you'll NEVER guess... ready? Sam MADE THIS SCULPTURE! Yep, that's correct, he made it with his grandpa! I am totally impressed. I would have been worried if I'd been at school... worried that something would happen to it. But, unfortunately for me, I wasn't at school the day Sam shared his bag either. RATS!
Mrs. L wrote that Sam shared about his cat with 6 toes! My son and daughter-in-law also have a 6-toed cat. I'm thinking this picture above is of the cat? It's a bit hard for me to tell from this photo of the photo. Does that make sense?

Now this next photo looks like a baseball to me, but Mrs. L didn't write anything about baseball. Sam, do you like baseball?
Mrs. L wrote that Sam brought pictures of a lighthouse in Maryland that he went to. She also made a list... I'm not sure if it was pictures? Here's the list:
* a hole he dug in the sand
* sand crabs
* great grandma & uncle
* pretty sunset
* cat with 6 toes
This photo... well, I certainly know what that is! It's a stuffed dog. Should I assume that Sam likes dogs? Do you have a dog, Sam?

Sam also likes to reads and his favorite book is Bones. His favorite CD is "Everybody Duck."
He also brought a shell because he likes to collect them. Along with the shell, he brought a geode. Sam also brought a soccer trophy, and a sea turtle key chain from the Monterey Aquarium!

It sure sounds like Sam shared some interesting things! I wish I had seen his bag!

Rocky

Look at this reader! This is Rocky...who LOVES to read. He brought the book, Beyond Spiderwick Chronicles to talk about his love of reading.

This next picture...well, I'm not sure what it is. Unfortunately, I wasn't at school to hear Rocky share his back. He shared the same day as Parker. I'm thinking it's some kind of card he collects? Rocky, I need you to write in the comments what this is. I'm curious!
I KNOW what this next picture is. It's LEGOS! Rocky told us how he has lots of legos. He obviously likes legos and the Lego Club Magazine.
See this picture below? I have no idea what Rocky is sharing, but you can see how Room 8ers like to sit on the stool and put the items they've shared up on the overhead projector.
Mrs. L wrote that Rocky brought a stuffed dog and told Room 8 how he likes dogs. Um? I wonder if he has a dog... a real dog? Do you, Rocky?

I wish I had been there for your bag!

Parker

Meet Parker.

Unfortunately for me, I wasn't at school the day Parker shared his bag. I asked Mrs. L., who taught for me, to take pictures and to take notes on what was shared.

It looks to me like this picture is Parker sharing his soccer medal. He likes soccer and football. He also brought his football jersey to share how he plays football.

Parker also likes to play Pok-e-mon. He brought a Pokemon dragon to illustrate this.Parker has told me about his trip to Disneyland this summer. He loved it and brought this button to show us. He got the button at Disneyland. He also brought some pictures of him on some of the rides.
Parker told us that his mom is a firefighter... and he also brought a toy fire truck!

He told us he likes to read and his favorite book is called Beast Quest.
Last but not least, is Parker's dog. He brought pictures of it to share with us too. I wish I knew what the dogs name was.... Parker, if you read this, would you leave your dog's name in the comments?
Thank you to Mrs. L for these great pictures and notes about Parker!

Orion

You may be wondering what this is. Well, you could ask Orion, but since he's probably not with you, you can just keep reading.

This is a small part of Orion's GODZILLA collection. I have to admit, this is a first for me. I've never known anyone with a Godzilla collection. He has over 100 Godzillas and only brought a few to share. He also brought a photo of a few... like I said, he has over 100! Orion started this collection when he was 6 years old.

Orion brought a photograph of his family. The only problem was that Connor, his brother, wasn't in it. That's because Connor was taking the picture!

Orion loves to read. He brought his book, Heat, that is his favorite book. Orion also told us about his cat, Tiga. Apparently he has a broken tail. He's caught his tail on fire twice...and each time has not even known it was on fire. Orion said, "He's perfectly normal except for his tail!"

Orion told us his favorite animal is a frog. He brought this glass frog to illustrate.He also brought an 'i Turtle'. It lights up (but you can't put your iPod in it)... but he told us he brought it because the turtle is his 2nd favorite animal.

This next picture is a bird...and it makes noises. Orion demonstrated the noises for us... He brought the bird because birds are his 3rd favorite animal.
Orion also shared a little jar of sand. The sand is from Moonstone Beach which is where his sister got married. He also brought a shell he found.


How many kids have an action figure of their dad? Well, Orion does. Room 8 was totally impressed. I know Orion's dad - Thomas, and sure enough, from where I was standing, it definitely looked like Thomas. After all the questioning, Orion told us it was from Burger King.
For his last piece, Orion shared a San Francisco Giants baseball. He LOVES baseball... and loves the GIANTS. Orion told us - and some Room 8ers confirmed - that he was the best pitcher AND the best first baseman in the league this past year!

Oh boy... I think I'm already excited for baseball season!

Nicole

Meet Nicole! Nicole started off telling us about her family and showing us some photos. You can see her and her twin sister, Ashley (who is also in Room 8) in this one. She had some pictures of them at Alcatraz and also some with their friend, Brittany (a former Room 8er) at an American Idol concert in Sacramento! Now THAT would be fun!

Nicole also likes to play soccer. She's on a D-3 team and actually has 2 tournaments coming up. She brought her jersey to show us. We found out a lot of Room 8ers are on soccer teams!
Now since we're talking about soccer, you may think this trophy is from soccer...but it's not. It's from dance. Yep, Nicole is a dancer. She's taken jazz for 5 years and tap for 3 years. Unfortunately, she didn't demonstrate her dancing for us. RATS!
Nicole loves music and likes to listen to it on her iPod. She has an iPod Shuffle. Room 8 was talking about battery life...and Nicole told us her iPod battery will hold a charge for 2 weeks! Mrs. J was impressed with that!
We learned that Nicole loves jewelry, especially bracelets. She brought one made from Puka shells. Their friend, Brittany, gave it to her. She got it in Hawaii. She had another bracelet from Hawaii too! She had another bracelet from her grandma. She also brought a charm bracelet. She was telling us how you can put things on it that you like.

Nicole also brought a beautiful necklace. It had a green stone. She told us the stone was called a peridot...and it's the birthstone for August, which is her birthday month.

It was fun learning about Nicole!

Mrs. T

Mrs. T is definitely a proud Mom! She started her bag by showing us a picture of her family. Besides being a great mom, she's wonderful with Room 8ers! Mrs. T worked with me last year and I was desperately hoping we would work together this year!
Don't get scared...this is Mrs. T. Her son, Talin, likes to become different characters. For example, some days he is Buzz Lightyear...or maybe he'll be Batman. Mrs. T told us that Batman is Talin's most common character. He also likes to be Optimus Prime. That's the mask Mrs. T has on.
Mrs. T also loves to read to her children. This is one of her favorite books.
Mrs. T also brought a flashlight. They like to go camping and every camper needs a flashlight! They have a camp trailer. Doesn't that sound like fun?

I thought I took a picture of Mrs. T with 'Silky Baby'. It used to be her stufed animal, but now it belongs to her daughter, Kylee. (I hope I spelled that correctly!) Kylee is 5 years old and in kindergarten and just loves school. She has also just learned to ride her bike without training wheels! Ridng their bikes together is Mrs. T's family's favorite activity to do together.

We are so fortunate to have Mrs. T with us this year!

Nathan

Nathan was very excited to share his bag with us. He started by showing us his baby tiger, Eragon. He said he really liked it, and has always wanted a baby tiger. This was a gift from his grandma. He likes to put it on his shoulder because, as Nathan said, "It's a comfy place to sit!"
Next was Sophira. (I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly.) Nathan said she was a character in the book Eragon. He brought her because she's cute and likes to play with baby Tiger.
Now, this box holds Nathan's Pok-e-mon cards. I know absolutely nothing about them except that they have names I cannot pronounce. Nathan showed us a few. He said his favorite was Rayquaza. His next favorite is Kabutops and his VERY, VERY FAVORITE is Vulpix. I decided I better take a picture of this!Nathan also brought a Pok-e-mon toy to share.

He really likes stuffed animals...also bringing a baby Leopard named Lucy.

Then as he reached in his bag, he said, "Don't get freaked out!" Look what he pulled out:

It's a TARANTULA LEG! We did have a few Room 8er's get freaked out. Luckily, Nathan informed us it wasn't real...but that it only felt real.

Nathan also brought what was called "A Pet Tornado." Uh? I had NO idea what this was. It was awesome. It was a plastic/glass (not sure) box with water or something inside. Nathan spun it around and around and then, sure enough, there was a genuine looking tornado inside.

It made me want to watch The Wizard of Oz!

We definitely learned a lot about Nathan!

Moriah..."with an o"

Moriah has had to remind me a couple of times that she is Moriah with an 'o'. I have had Mariah's before in Room 8, but they've spelled it with an 'a'. So I have made a couple of spelling errors! So sorry, MOriah!

Moriah brought some photographs to share with us. She showed us a photo of her half-brother in Colorado who is getting a cell phone! We also Grandma Debbie and Grandpa David. There was a photo of her family at a wedding when Moriah was the flower girl... and another family photo with Brendan, a former Room 8er!

Moriah brought one of her stuffed animals since she likes to collect them! She also likes to take pictures, as you can see from this picture below. We pretended to take a picture of each other. I actually did take a photo, but Moriah didn't have any film.
Moriah also likes to swim. She brought her swim cap to show us. She doesn't always like to wear it. She told us when she doesn't, sometimes her hair will turn GREEN! Sometimes her mom will put cream rinse on her hair to help it not turn colors. She told us that even though you wear a swim cap, it doesn't keep your hair completely dry.
Moriah took her swim cap out to show us, but here it is in the bag. It's a silver cap!

The last thing Moriah talked about was erasers. She brought one of a monkey because it was cute...and funny!

Austin J

Austin J... not to be confused with Austin V. I often confuse their papers when they forget to write their last name's initial. Their writing looks very similar!

Austin is one I have known for a couple of years, not very well, but I knew him because of his older brother and former Room 8er, Nate.

Austin loves to ride motorcycles. He actually has a scar on his side from 'road rash'. He said he was doing a wheely down the road from the track...it was misty outside...and he and his motorcycle slid about 30 feet. Oh my gosh! He also told us he likes to do doughnuts and even has a big mark in the driveway from doing one on his Suzuki 110.
Austin also loves baseball. He brought one of his 'game balls' - now this was NOT for a homerun, no, it was for a BLACK EYE! Apparently he got hit in the eye...OUCH! As he showed us the ball, I remember thinking, "A black baseball?" but Austin quickly let us know that his "5 year old sister just HAD to color it!"

Austin also brought 2 crystals from his Uncle Steve and Aunt Illea. (Is that spelled correctly?) They live in Alaska but are getting ready to move to South Dakota. That's where they met, but now they're moving back to South Dakota. Uncle Steve is in the Air Force. (We find out all kinds of information during bag-sharing!)

Austin also brought a shell. He said it was the first shell he ever found. He was 3 years old and was walking on the beach with his grandpa. They walked 4 miles. He also found some sand dollars, but figured they were too fragile to bring in the bag.

Austin also brought and modeled his FOOTBALL jersey. He told us he LOOOOVEEEEESSSS to play football. He's #60 and has been playing for 2 years.

At the top of this post is Austin with his 'Wiki-tiki' mask. I had to put that first so it would be the first thing to see on Austin's post...I love it! This mask was a present from his dad...when his dad went to Hawaii.

At least Austin didn't get one of those shirts that says, "My dad went to Hawaii and all I got was this lousy T-shirt." ... or maybe he did?

Wesley

Before school started, one of my up-and-coming students came in to meet me and check out Room 8. He told me his friend, Wesley, was in our class.

"No, there's no Wesley in our class," I answered.

Fast forward to the first day of school. 'Michael' is sitting at his desk. I had put name tags on all the desks so they would know where their seat was AND to help me learn their names quicker. At one point in the day, 'Michael' points to his name tag and said,

"Does THIS mean I have to go by Michael?"

"Isn't that your name?" I asked.

At that point, some Room 8ers informed me his name WAS Michael, but NO ONE calls him that. Everyone calls him Wesley.

So, then I knew...

I've learned a lot more about Michael Wesley since that day, and today Room 8ers learned even more. We found out he loves football - although most people already knew it. He is actually on the same team with Austin J, who also shared his bag today.
As you can see from this picture, Wesley also loves baseball. He brought his baseball trophy with his HOMERUN BASEBALL.... yes siree, and it's not just any ole homerun, it's a GRAND SLAM homerun. I could tell there were some Room 8ers who were....well, not at all impressed with this revelation. So...I asked, "How many of you don't know what a GRAND SLAM is?" My, oh my, there was probably 1/3 or 1/2 of the class who didn't know. Time for a little baseball learning to take place. Some of our boys were thrilled to explain. I believe it was Orion...maybe Kacey...who wanted to know if this was an over-the-fence GRAND SLAM homerun or an in-the-park. It was an in-the-park!

Wesley also brought a deck of cards, telling us he likes to play WAR! His mom also works at a casino. He also brought a....well, it was like a little frame that had an Indian head penny on one side and another penny made in the same year Wesley was born, on the other side.
This last picture is a 50 cent piece coin. Wesley told us it was "in pretty good condition." It's special to Wesley because his grandpa gave it to him. Someone asked Wesley, "How much could you sell it for?"

Wesley's answer, "I'm NOT!"

End of discussion!

Kobe

I first met Kobe when he was a little first grader. He was in the class Room 8 was buddies with. I was hoping he would come to Room 8 when he was a fourth grader...and here he is!

Kobe told us he loves sports...all sports... He brought a baseball to show us. You can see from this picture that he absolutely does love baseball! He also likes to collect sports cards, well, actually 'sports stuff.' His brother gave him most of his cards, but Kobe started collecting sports cards himself when he was 3 years old. He actually has a Kobe Bryant card, but he couldn't find it so he brought his Paul Pierce card instead. For those of you, like me, who don't know - Paul Pierce plays for the Celtics.

Kobe also likes to fish. On August 12, 2007, he caught a shark! He told us it was about 6.5 or 7 feet long! Here's a picture of the picture he brought from that day:
Kobe also likes dogs. He has a dog named 'Grizzly'. He had a picture of Grizzly as a puppy, but said now he's grown up and evil. Evil? Austin J said Grizzly was VICIOUS! Um? I didn't get a very good impression of Grizzly.

Well, he has another dog - Buddy. We didn't hear much about Buddy, except that Max also has a dog named Buddy.

One thing I had been hearing from Kobe over these first two weeks of school is how he loves Guitar Hero... He talks about it a lot... So I wasn't surprised when he had a Guitar Hero game in his bag. However, he didn't have one game, he had 5! He talked about the different games and how long it had taken him to 'beat' it. His favorite is #3, Legends of Rock.
Kobe also collects cars. He brought a little yellow Pontiac Firebird to show us. He said if it was real, it would probably go 160 mph. His favorite kind of car, which he plans on getting, is a Shelby GT 500. He told us it was like a 'muscle car'. His brother has a car now... and Kobe told us he had made some changes to it so it would also go 160 mph. The mom in me told Kobe to stay out of the car. He just grinned...and said it was fun!

Katy

We learned a lot about Katy today. She started sharing her 'bag' by pulling out this shoe. Now it's no ordinary 'run outside and play' type of shoe, no, it's a shoe for jazz! (Katy, do you know how much your teacher loves jazz?) Katy loves to dance. She told us she has taken ballet for 4 years and jazz/hip hop for 2.

Katy also likes puppies. Her favorite kind of dog is a Skipper Key (I have no idea if I'm spelling that correctly because I have never heard of a Skipper Key!) Katy doesn't have one of these dogs, but she loves them anyway. Moriah chimed in and told us these dogs used to be on English boats and were used to catch mice. She thinks...

Katy also told us she collects Swarovski crystal. She illustrated by carefully unwrapping this beautiful butterfly. I was a little nervous as she was showing it...afraid she would drop and break it. But she didn't! Whew!

Katy also enjoys listening to music. She brought her Ipod Nano to illustrate this. She said she thought her Nano had 8 GB...and that it would hold 2000 songs and 7000 pictures! She even showed her teacher how to play games on it.

Katy also collects stuffed animals. She brought a hippo Webkinz (something else her teacher had NEVER heard of!). Apparently you can go online and "do things with them."

Pottery is another love of Katy's. In a pottery class (Max was also in this class), she made an ocarina. She played a couple of notes for us.
I think all of us, especially me, learned a lot from Katy as she shared her bag.

Kaia

Kaia...what a well rounded young lady she is! Kaia shared so many different things about herself..and all of them were represented by something in her bag.

We'll start with this first picture that I love... her goggles. Kaia told us how she likes to swim. "Put them on, Kaia!" Room 8 requested. I think they knew it would be a great blog shot!

Kaia also shared this paint set. Oh...this was definitely blogworthy! She told us how she loves to not only paint, but also draw. She also had a pencil in her bag because she also likes to write. I'm looking forward to seeing some of her work.This book is about a girl saving a homeless cat. Kaia told us how she loves to read.
Kaia, like some other Room 8ers, likes to collect things. She told us about collecting stickers and liking to put them on things. She also brought a stuffed animal to show how she likes and collects them. She also brought a shell she found since she also collects them!

This little doll is from Kaia's grandma. She (her grandma) went to Japan and brought this back for Kaia. Kaia told us how she loves it when people bring her things like this.
Kaia also likes to play games, particularly Battleship, and to make things - like jewelry.

The last thing Kaia pulled out was this calculator. She said she loved math...or that's what I thought she said. When I repeated it, someone in Room 8 corrected me and said Kaia "LIKED" math. Oops. I asked Kaia if she LIKED or LOVED math...she said, both were a little bit true.

We enjoyed hearing all about Kaia!