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I’m making a lot of progress in school. First of all, I am typing this post correctly! I learned this from sites reccomended by the lovely Ms. Steiner, who also reminds me constantly! I also know factor rainbows. Just ask Mrs. Rekemeyer how! She has a very good way of teaching math. Mrs. Rekemeyer waits for you but not too long. That’s how she makes sure you’re listening AND learning. We watched a very good video about pioneer trains. Miss Walsh is a biggie on games. She has good social studies games. Mrs. Gablaski has REALLY fun games that 7th graders play, not only 5th! In reading we are learning about nonfiction text features, which I learned about in 2nd, 3rd, AND 4th grade but I like Miss Walsh’s techniques QUITE a bit. I like most things in school.

School is  NOT meant to be the least bit fun! It isn’t to be not fun, either. It’s to learn, academically, socially, artistically, physically, and emotionally, and to improve your thinking skills, too. And thinking of thinking skills, school IS supposed to be fun. It is fun if you try your best to be responsible and be cheerful. But work comes first. That brings you back to being responsible. If you are responsible your teachers will be proud of you. They will give you good grades and recess will be enjoyable. You can choose the ending: 1) Being responsible about your work or 2) Being unresponsible about it. Here’s what happens if you choose 1: You have a great recess, laughing with your friends and swinging from a branch. You aren’t worried about getting bad grades because you won’t get them. Just happy. If you chose 2, this may be what happened: You are trying so hard to have fun and forget your bad grades, but you feel a terrible feeling inside. Your friends are laughing and happy. You are worried. Another scenario could be that you don’t care, but on the inside you don’t like that. Only good can come from being responsible. I learned that lesson the hard way. The message is very clear: Try hard to remember and don’t forget!

Today was my third day of middle school. It’s fun there, but a lot of work. In the morning, I go to computer class with Ms. Steiner. I have my very own computer. I know most of the things she’s teaching us because my dad is an engineer. Then I go to Academic Encounters to learn about social studies: my favorite. And Ms. Gablaski is very nice, too. Then, I go back to my homeroom or Miss Walsh’s for normal social studies, reading, math, or science. We haven’t much of that yet, I mean of actually learning those things and not spending the time getting organized or meeting new people. But you can never have a friend too many, or be too organized, so I like that. And I can’t wait to learn new things also. Then we have one more subject and then lunch. Lunch isn’t very fun at the No Nuts Table,  but if you have a friend as good as mine (thanks, Grace) you never should worry about being bored and alone. On Day 3 only you have BCO. I’m in chorus with Grace, Katey, Marie and Trishina who are all very nice. But otherwise it’s one main subject and then the next and then homework writing and then I can giggle all the way home with Alana and sometimes Emma. I like it there at middle school. It’s fun but there’s also a lot of work.

Well yes, it’s the end. But the end of summer is actually the beginning! Of school! Ha! Sadly this is the last of My Summer Vacation Parts. (Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh). Goodbye! This truly was a good summer.

All summer I know you’ve been reading what I did, and there’s only one sliver of a part left, and you’ve been looking at summer photos. But summer’s almost over and I really wish that I wasn’t going to start a whole new chunk of school. Because I’m the oldest kid in the family so no one else knows exactly what I should expect. It z-o-o-m-e-d by way too fast. I can still remember exactly how I felt at the beginning of fourth grade. I was all too excited and thinking, “I can’t wait to end fourth grade so I can go right to middle school! But a year’s so LONG…” and I wasn’t right. A year is just too short. I was only thinking about the “good stuff”, lockers, moving around, plays, and all that. And now I think only of the bad things. Not of the other stuff. But a year isn’t that long, and still I totally changed my mind. I think that if you’re starting middle school in a year, once that year goes by, you have to think of what you thought last year about middle school. You absolutely should prepare for the worst (unprepared= not ready in a harder time), not expect the best (you’ll be very upset if it’s anything less. I learned this the hard way.) and remember what you thought was so great a year ago, and just take things as they come, but still be prepared. I’m going to try this.

The summer’s been a good one and we all have had our rest.

We’ve tried so hard to earn our fun so we could remember it all.

But now we need to review our math facts so that we’ll all pass our tests.

We’ve swam a lot and grown so much that now I’m very tall.

In school I will be happy to seek out all my friends.

Summer is the season for us all to travel and see relatives I really have missed.

Even though there’s two days left I really do have proof that the summer’ll never end.

SCHOOL STARTS IN TWO DAYS!

This summer I will always remember as the hottest and one of the best. Part 4 was fun. I know I’ll remember some things about it. I’ll remember making my mom’s video. My sisters and I could laugh ourselves into stardom! We played a lot of old-time-y stuff, like American Girl dolls and Little House on the Prairie. I’ll remember being sweaty, dressed in long dresses, petticoats, and stockings, and bonnets on 90-degree days! When I can’t remember summer in the winter, I’ll try to look back and remember running with Katherine on my back trying to catch Caroline in the nice cold pool. It will be easy to remember the only pink polka-dotted changing room I’ve ever seen, and finding school shoes in three minutes. I don’t think I could forget the tickle in my throat in Dr. Rhein’s office, or trying on zillions of pairs of glasses, only to find the beautiful one I tried first was the one I bought! But don’t think summer’s over yet. I’ll have plenty of memories to share.

It’s easy to make pioneer sock dolls and a two story cabin. All you need is a sock for each doll, two cardboard boxes, lace or ribbon, large piece of fabric, scissors, scotch tape, packing tape, and craft supplies. First, decorate the sock. Use ribbon as sashes and lace as undertrimmings for girls. If you chose to use glue put the dolls in a safe place to dry. MAKE A TWO STORY PIONEER CABIN. Get the larger of the boxes. Make sure you can fit most of your dolls inside. Tape the four flaps by their sides. Then cut lots of windows big enough to fit one doll’s head. Cut one door large enough for one doll to fit through. Cut a window sized hole through the top flap. Now make the second story with a smaller box. Completely cut out a very large portion of the bottom of the box. You can put a doll through the hole and if you cut a bigger window right by the hole, your doll can peek through up there! Make pioneer furniture out of the scraps, and make hats and shawls out of the fabric. Congratulations! Now you can make a pioneer puppet show or just play with your sock dolls. And don’t forget that you can also use your own great ideas for your sock dolls, house, and acessories.

In case you’ve noticed, the old of this was only about one song, “Donkey Party”. This is just about playing the keyboard in general. Here are some interesting facts about pianos:

_ In colonial times, the piano was not yet invented so colonists played a similar instrument called a spinet. One of the most popular songs was the “Minuet” danced to at the beginning of parties.

_ A keyboard is not the same as a piano. I figured this out recently. A piano’s keys are tiny hammers you can press on and they will tap strings to make noise. A keyboard’s keys are powered by electricity instead of old-fashioned vibration.

_ Note D is always the second white key in a group of only two black keys.

_ If you’re to play piano with the right hand, there’s a Treble Clef at the beginning of the music. But if it’s the left hand you should play, you should find a Bass Clef.

_ Aunt Laura learned to play her piano when she was only four years old!

I like to play my keyboard.

I enjoy having fun at the JCC. There are many things to do there. My sisters and I llike to play a game there. Either me or Caroline pulls each other and Katherine on a pink noodle. We like to do it really fast, so that the others will fall off. If the other people do fall off, the oldest rider takes Katherine on her back and runs to catch the puller. Then it goes on and on. You should try it.