Skype Singapore

We had a student whose uncle and fiance live in Singapore, Asia. We've been studying China, so we put together some questions to ask them. We Skyped them at 9 am our time, it was 10 pm their time. We learned a lot! Here are some examples of what we talked about.

1. What is school like?

School ends everyday at 4 pm and elementary students learn physics! They only have two vacations, summer is two months off and winter has one month off. 

2. What are some interesting ways of life in Singapore?

You cannot eat or drink on public transportation. Stores don't sell gum. It is so clean outside on the streets, you could eat off of it!

3. What are some of your favorite foods?

My favorite food is chicken feet! It's really delicious! It's a very popular dish in Asia. 

4. How do you celebrate the Chinese New Year?

It's a huge holiday here. It's as big as Christmas is in The U.S. I get 7 days off from work. My parents send me red envelopes filled with money (Yuan).

5. Is the pollution really that bad in Asia?

Yes, sometimes we have to wear surgical masks to go outside.

Thank you so much to Graham and Jackie for letting us chat with you. Xiexie!!

Sign up for conferences

It's time again for conferences. I'm excited to meet with all of you! I've been having loads of fun with your students and can't wait to share our experiences. Follow the link for sign ups!
https://pickatime.com/client?ven=11606279&event=285559

Happy Chinese New Year!

Today we celebrated the Chinese New Year! We learned that 2016 is the year of the monkey, and that red is a very lucky color. The Chinese celebrate their new year in some of the same ways as we do in the U.S.! Although their New Year comes at different times between January 21st and February 20th every year. 

We made red lanterns with characters written on them also! It was very exciting!

Baby Update!

Greetings from home! I wanted to let everyone know that baby Hershman has arrived, although I'm sure the first graders told you!

It was a *long* 24 hours, but Andrew Martin Hershman greeted us Friday night at 7:18pm, weighing 5lbs 15oz and 19.5" long! We came home from the hospital yesterday and are settling in quite nicely. He is named after my father, Andy, and Mr. Hershman's grandfather, Martin.  I've been sending Ms. Gould and the class pictures and updates regularly. It looks like they had a wonderful time celebrating the 100th day of school! 

Happy 100th Day!

Today we celebrated the 100th day of school with a couple of fun activities that got us thinking about what the number 100 actually means. 
They could eat 100___? (doughnuts- Kiera) 
They could share 100___?(M and Ms- Lex) 
Jump in 100___? (swimming pools-Madison) 
Students also celebrated by dressing in black and white to honor our panda mascot,  wrote about their favorite part of the day, and drew themselves as 100 year olds. It was a very exciting day regardless of the horrible weather!