Being a Tourist in Vancouver

I just came back from being a tourist in Seattle for a couple of days but I was thinking that it is fun being a tourist in Vancouver as well.  Here's a site all about our city with lots of ideas about what you and your family can do for fun.  Before I went to Seattle I went with a friend to one of my favorite places, Van Dusen Gardens and this is a picture I took.  This weekend you can celebrate the Cherry Blossom Festival there as well. To find out more about this festival just click here.  Now just to be clear this isn't a cherry tree but a rhododrendron plant.  With all the problems the Japanese have been having it's kind of nice to think about cherry blossoms as the first cherry trees  were a gift to Vancouver from Japan.

New Computers in Uganda

Nicole from Stand Tall for Education Centre in Uganda wanted you to see this picture.  Your donation plus others enabled the school to buy more computers.  If you would like to read the latest newsletter here is the link.  I found out that my friend's class at another school bought them chicks and are penpals with the children there so that is neat as well. 
Isn't it neat to know how a few bake sales can make a difference for children in another continent?

Pictures from Salt Spring Island

I have promised a couple of people some pictures from Salt Spring Island where I spent the weekend.  Salt Spring is really a pretty place.

 
It has everything from cute towns to beautiful ocean front to farmland.  You could tell it was spring because I saw some lambs as you can see

Now that it is Spring Break

We have had a busy time of it so I thought I should try to get this blog caught up!!!  We had a busy couple of days before the break. 

I think everyone had a great time with the scientists from Cardiome.  You even got to make polymers!  They also were incredibly generous!  And of course they brought some of the UBC basketball team with them and I think you had a lot of fun with the Thunderbirds.

I thought you did a great job on your Ancient Greek projects!  And of course I wasn't the only one!!!  I loved it when one of Ms. Harrison's students exclaimed, "Your class is wonderful, Ms. Kezar!"  

And of course for all the Me to We club members, it was wonderful to have a donation that now means that building a school in India is a reality.  How exciting that will be when it is built!   
And then there was the pizza party for Peer Helpers and Hall Monitors.  Thanks everyone!

This Child, Every Child

Ms. Wong and I went to a book launch this Friday.  We met the author of a book that my grade sixes studied last year, If The World Was A Village.  This book gave amazing facts about the world in a very interesting way.  It was a book that helped us understand how very lucky we are here in Canada.








The author, David Smith,who now lives in North Vancouver, has written a new book, This Child, Every Child.  It explains with illustrations of children in different parts of the world, the United Nations Rights of the Child (something else we studied in Grade Six).  It's a great book full of interesting facts and contrasts sharply the lives of children living in the developed world compared to the developing world.

He was introduced by a famous local writer and Governor-General Award winner,  who was actually his student in Grade Seven in Boston!  

But the most exciting news is that he is going to come to Trudeau!  Ms. Wong and I told him about you and the Me to We club and he is excited about coming to our school. 

You will be one of the first groups to hear about his new book, but needless to say, we have two copies of the book, and I look forward to doing a project with it. 

Ancient Greece and other excitement

Let's see!  We are moving away from Ancient Egypt onto Ancient Greece.  The clay is flying out of the stockroom and I know that there are visions of the Acropolis flying in your heads.  So many of you have read the Percy Jackson books you already have a nodding acquaintance with many of the gods and goddesses but I know you are all learning lots more about the Greeks.

I went to Greece many many years ago but I only got as far as the island of Corfu because the people decided to overthrow Greece's military government so that there were no planes and I ended up taking the ferry back to Italy rather than see all the wonderful sites I wanted to but  Corfu was one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. Here are a couple of pictures

One day I am planning to visit Greece again and I hope you are able to do so as well!

Well excitement is mounting for our Senior Boys!  Will they be the school board basketball champions?  Stay tuned!  Big game with Sexsmith at John Oliver on Monday.