Holiday Wishes

We hope that all our S.O.L.A.R. students have a safe and joyous holiday!
We'll see everyone back in the new year.

2012 is full of possibilities.

Love,

Mrs. Shall, Mrs. O'Leary, Miss Lipsky, and Miss Russell

Winter Celebration

Celebration was the name of the game on Friday as we embarked on our winter holiday. In the Shall Russell homeroom that celebration meant a visit to the Media Center for holiday song and a story book by Auntie Claus. When we returned to the classroom, students learned how to Elf Yourself and then pulled out the laptops to create their own funny holiday rendition.  Laughter filled the room. The children wrapped their parent's presents and then a pizza lunch bunch party with holiday movie rounded out our morning. In the afternoon, we got the best treat of all, an afternoon holiday party planned and implemented by some of our awesome parents! Our centers included creating our own snowman cupcakes, making a snowman decoration, and participating in a fun game. Students were hilarious as they drew a snowman on a paper plate on their heads without looking and then playing roll the snowball. They had us all in stitches.

We hope every child had as much fun as we did celebrating and sharing time together, because we know that these are the memories children cherish forever.

Holiday Time = Fun Technology Time!

As the holidays quickly approach it's time to enjoy each other's company and have a little fun. On Friday, the Russell/Shall homerooms will learn how to "Elf Yourself." This is a fun and easy activity that the other homerooms can do over the winter break (with your parent's permission of course!) Do you ever wonder what your teachers do after school? Take a look at the video below to see what they've been up to.

What do you think about our moves? Let us know by leaving a comment! :)

Amazing Facts about Anne Mazer

Hi my name is Armani and I am going to be letting you get an inside scoop on Anne Mazer a good author that writes Abby Hayes series.
Just before you start I want to let you know that this is going to be the best news about this creative author!
First, what I want to tell you about her is that she was born in Schenectady New York and you know what is kinda shocking is that she says she really was not planning on being an author.
Did you know that Anne Mazer had two children in Paris? Well it is true. Anne studied French language and literature at Sorbonne in Paris. Also she admits sometimes she would sneak out of school to go out to the library to read.
Did you know it took her seven years to publish her first book? That is 100% right that it took her that long. Her first book she made was Watch Me. Anne Mazer is a full time professional writer. Anne took the book, writing yoga , by Bruce Black on a field trip to her stepsons college graduation. And the last but not least Anne Mazer and Ellen Potter joined together to create a guide book for young writers called Spilling Ink.

Babysitter's Book Review!

Hey, Ashley here, guest blogger, I want to write about the Baby Sitters club because it has a lot of description and is funny. The books have great endings and you get hooked in to the book with a great beginning. Ann M. Martin, the author, lives in New York City, and her books are based on some parts of her family.

The first Babysitters Club book I read was a Little Sister book called Karen’s New Puppy. It was about a little girl named Karen Brewer an she has a cute puppy and her name is Midgie and she loves to play outside. So one day she strolled outside and then ……. She went missing and they searched the whole house but they did not find her!

I would give it five stars because it has a lot of mystery and description and surprise and puts you in a lot of suspense. They are great books and I hope you would love reading them!

Nidhi's Happy Adventure in India

Hi my name is Nidhi. I am a guest blogger. I am Going to talk about India Today.

India is a country in south Asia.It is the 7th largest country by geographical area,the second most populated country with over1.2 billion people,and most populated democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indien ocean on the south,the aribien sea on the south east,and the bay of Bengal on the south east,it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west.In the Indian ocean in india is the vicinity of sri lanka and the Maldives. Owned by and bought under the British, East India company from the early 18 century and administered dierecturly by the United Kingdom from the mid 19th century. India became an Independent nation in 1947 after a struggle for independence which has marked by non-violence and led by Mahathama Ghandi.
Did you know that New Deli is India’s national capitol like ours is Washington D.C?Here is more facts of india.
-The population of india is 1,166,079,217 people
-the coventual name of india is Republic of india
-the location of all over india is southern asia,bording,the arabian and Bay of Bengal,between Burma and Pakistan
-the chief of the state(president) is Preasident pratiba Patel the head of the state is prime minister Mohmamhand Singh.

Did you know that there is a beautiful Taj Mahal in Agra? This is some facts about it.
-The year it was made by is 1631 it was completed in 1653 it took 22 years to make it .
-It was made by the king shah jahan it was dedicated to Mumtaz Mahal the begum or wife of shah jahan.
-It was made in Agra
-the building type is Islamic tomb the artiureis,magal.
-the Archicture is ustad Ambad lanuri.The cost of construction is 32 crore ruppes
-there was 20,000 workers the hiolights is 1 of the 7 wonders In the world.
-The timing to go there is sunrise to sunset Friday is closed the fee is 750 dollars for given tourists 510 dollars for other countries and no entry for children under 15 years of age

This fantastic country leads us to a national anthem .Here it goes:

Jhana Gana Mana Avi nak a ya jai a he bharat baavi dhata Jai a he Jai a he jaia jaia jaia he.

This is how we stand up ,we salute like a soldier.Avjo meaning come back next time . good bye.

Dan Greenburg

Hi, It’s Caden here, guest blogger. I decided to talk about Dan Greenburg because he writes funny, yet science fictional and educational book series with great endings. Dan Greenburg is the author of 72 books, translated into 20 languages in 24 different countries , including 5 children book series:
-THE ZACK FILES
-SECRETS OF DRIPPING FANG
-WEIRD PLANET
-MAXIMUM BOY
-and new series CLAWS
(No more book series.)

Here are some more facts about Dan Greenburg:
Greenburg was born on June 20, 1936 in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Dan is currently 75 years old
Greenburg has known as a humorist, a novelist, a journalist, a screenwriter, and a playwright.
Dan currently lives in Westchester county, NY.
Greenburg went to University of Illinois for college and got his B.F.A.in 1958 there but got his M.F.A. from U.C.L.A. in 1960.
Greenburg was raised to be an artist like his father, he studied design at the University of Illinois.
In up to 3 presentations a day, Greenburg gets students, especially happy readers, excited about books-about writing them as well as reading them.
That was my report on Dan Greenburg, bye! 