Archive for the 'General' Category

Letters to the President Elect

Published on November 6, 2008 in General and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

The class has been studying the amendments in Law class with Dr. Stecher. Yesterday, the day after the election, Dr. Stecher invited the children to write to President-elect Obama, Joseph Biden, or another official from one of the three branches of government about their favorite amendment. Here are their moving efforts to our soon-to-be new president. (These were first drafts, from the heart, so please excuse spelling and other such errors.)

Welcome, Edinger House 08-09!

Published on September 4, 2008 in General. 0 Comments

Hello Everyone!  In a few more days we will all be coming together in Room 909 for an exciting new school year.

I met some of you last year as you were on our buddy house and I’m looking forward to meeting the rest of you too.

I’ve already been in school getting everything ready for you.  The room looks spic-and-span and all ready for you to put your personal stamp on it.   We’ve got books, dictionaries, pencils, ladybugs, planbooks and more all waiting for you!

On Monday you will come to school a little later than usual and we will dive in! At the end of the day, a little earlier than usual, your parents can come to the classroom to see it (and you can show them around) to pick you up.  Then on Tuesday, you will start and end your school day the same as everyone else.

See you soon!

Your Final Blog Post of the Year

Published on June 10, 2008 in General. 0 Comments
Dear Edinger House,
At the very beginning of the year I gave each of you a composition book and a letter from me. In it I explained that we would be writing letters back and forth to each other in that journal and here was your first one from me. You all wrote me back — wonderful letters telling me about your summers, about the sort of learners you are, books you liked, and so on. For the next few months we continued to write back and forth. You wrote about books you were reading. who you thought was the hero of Charlotte’s Web, what you would take with you if you had to emigrate, and more.
Then, in January, you switched over to blogs. You have done so many posts including:

  • one summarizing your oral history book.
  • a review of the MS play, “The Tempest.”
  • a joint post with your third grade buddy about their New Orleans project.
  • a response to my (as yet unpublished) story about Margru and the Amistad.
  • your wonderful Amistad poems (and collages).
  • your Cinderella story.
  • your podcast from Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!
  • posts on Plimoth Plantation and your Pilgrim Project.
  • an article about our study of forced immigration.
  • your Mourt’s Relation drawing.
  • your All About Alice series of posts.
  • book (and occasional movie) reviews.
  • a post on The Wizard of Oz.

You did a lot that was truly amazing! Your blog replaced those composition books as a place to write about books and learning, a place to see what your classmates thought about things, a place to publish stories, and to write so much about so many things. It has been great!

And so for your final post of this year I want you to think through what doing the blog meant to you. What did you learn from doing it? What did you like? What did you not like? What were your favorite parts of doing a blog? Would you like to do another blog next year? If so, what would you like it to be? (Ms. Nickles and I are thinking about perhaps doing one as a MS club next year involving school news.)

Thanks for being super bloggers this year!

Ms. Edinger

Be Sure…

Published on January 28, 2008 in General. 0 Comments

to read the comments for your posts. Ms. Nickles and I have been commenting on all published posts. Sometimes we have questions and suggestions for you so be sure to read them!

Welcome, Edinger House 07-08!

Published on September 2, 2007 in General. 0 Comments

I am SO looking forward to meeting you very soon! I hope you all are enjoying the last few days before you return to school.

I’m already busy getting things all ready. Right now I’m washing the pillow covers and thinking about what I want to do the first day back. I’ll read aloud some fun books, take you on a brief tour of the Middle School, start you on a few fun activities, give you your planbook (and go over how to use it), and lead you through lunch and playstreet. By the end of the day I bet you’ll already feel much more relaxed and at home in Edinger House.

Now here is the big question — will there be homework? Well, I do expect you to begin reading 30 minutes (or more) every week night and writing the pages read in your planbook. Your math teacher may also give you some homewor, but not much. Not to worry.

See you soon!