Konichiwa (Hello),
We are fourth graders from Sollars Elementary School in Misawa, Japan. We live on an American Air Force Base. Most of the parents here are in the Air Force or Navy. Misawa is located on the northern tip of main island of Honshu, in Japan. We live in the land of Poke’mon. There are 24 students in our class. It is winter here and there is snow on the ground. We have had 104 inches of snow so far. Our average is 120 inches. But, winter is not over. Math is our favorite subject, with Language Arts not far behind.
Some of our best friends are Japanese. We like to have exchange visits with the local Japanese class. They come at Christmastime and we visit them in the spring, when we can go fishing. Most of us like to eat sushi, raw fish wrapped in rice and seaweed, the local food.
Hello from Mrs. Johnstone's Grade 2/3 class at Mission Hill Elementary in Vernon, BC, Canada. We really had fun writing our chapter but it was very hard imagining that today was 1000 years ago! 12 of us are in Grade 3 and 11 in Grade 2. We have 14 boys and 9 girls. Most of the Grade 3's were in this class as Grade 2's so this is their second Pass-It-On story and they sure got everyone else excited about this project.
It is winter here right now and we are all busy sledding and skiing. We have a super mountain for skiing only 30 minutes from here. We all hope the ground hog was right though and that spring will be coming soon. We are getting tired of winter coats and boots. We love swimming and playing in the 3 lakes that surround our city.
We have learned a lot about the world from our friends. We discovered that have a lot of differences such as climate and languages but the best thing is that most of the things we do are the same no matter where we live.
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We are sixth-graders from Joensuu University Practice School at Joensuu. Our class teacher is called Elina Mäntylä and our English teacher is Anna-Maija Hänninen. In the photo we sent you can see her sitting at her desk. The teacher trainee is teaching us Finnish. Our hobbies are skating, golf, tennis, badminton, ice-hockey, running, reading, riding, karate, swimming, sports and roller-skating. We'll have sports holiday next week. Some of us will go slope-skiing to Lapland. The weather here at the moment is wet and snowy. It was funny to work with the chain story project. Everyone of us wrote one or two sentences for the chapter. Laura Järvinen drew the picture about the twins.
Miss Haynes' first grade class has 20 students (the picture has 21, but one moved). We have 12 girls and 8 boys. Everyone enjoys learning to read and we are practicing, practicing, and practicing. We want to be the best readers ever and we know that that takes practice...at home and at school. We are having a computer fair on Tuesday to show our tooth project with our Hawaiian keypals in Pearl City. We will also be telling our parents about our upcoming "Pass It Along Story". We have had a very strange winter so far. Usually it is cold with snow. This year we have had a little cold weather (in the teens and 20's) and very little snow (only about 1-2 inches so far). We are very disappointed. We want snow! Maybe we will get it in February or March. Miss Haynes doesn't want it to kill the tulips in the spring, though.
There are 23 students in our class. We have a class aide, Mrs. Forbes. Our class pet is Mr. T, a box turtle. Our favorite subjects are math, reading, writing, social studies, science, physical education, art, and Spanish, well maybe not in that order. Studies of: magnetism, electricity, water, reading the novel Sign of the Beaver, and field trips to pioneer days and Tall Stacks (seeing the steamboats on the Ohio River) are highlights of this year.
Cincinnati is an interesting place to live. One of the trademarks is Skyline Chili. It is eaten with noodles, onions, and cheese. The University of Cincinnati has a great basketball team, the Bearcats. The Paul Brown stadium is under construction and will be the home of the Bengals football team. The Reds baseball team just got Ken Griffey Jr. and the city is thrilled! Many students enjoy playing soccer, basketball, football, baseball, and tennis.
The state of Ohio became a state in 1803. Our state flag is a unique shape. The buckeye is our state tree. Lots of Ohioains cheer on the Ohio State Buckeyes. The National Hockey League is getting a new team, the Blue Jackets, in Columbus, Ohio. Our area has some nice shopping malls and outlet/discount shopping areas. The amusement parks of Kings Island, Cedar Point, and several water parks keep us looking forward to summer vacation.
Hi from Juneau, Alaska,
We are fourth graders at Auke Bay School, (rhymes with “talk”). You can find us on the map in Southeast Alaska at 58°23' N latitude, 134°38' W longitude. Our climate is warm and wet because of the influence of the Japanese current. We get a lot of rain but we have some nice days too. Juneau is located on the mainland but the only way to get here is by plane or boat. That’s because there are mountains and ice fields behind us. Many people don’t realize that you can’t drive to and from Juneau. But you can drive around Juneau! You can go about 50 miles north and about 15 miles south. There are about 30,000 people in Juneau. It is the capital of Alaska, so many people work for the government. Others work in tourism, some in fishing or mining. Juneau is a very popular tourist destination. Many cruise ships visit our town each year. Visitors come to see our glacier, the scenery and to fish and hike.
There is a lot to do in Juneau. We can play sports, go hiking and fishing. We have a ski area, Eaglecrest and a swimming pool. We spend a lot of time out of doors. Our school is one of 6 K-5 schools in Juneau, and we are one of 3 fourth grades at Auke Bay. We are a looping class, which means we stay together for 4th and 5th grade.
We are enjoying getting to know you and working with you on our internet story.
Mrs. Becky Seagrave and her 4th grade class.