Hi kids!

Right now I am sitting in an airport in New York.  I will be home later today. 

Last week I was in Jordan.  I had never been to Amman and it was huge! But I like Nablus better.

So, one day I went to Wadi Mujib.  Wadi Mujib is this really cool river by the Dead Sea in Jordan and you walk, swim, and climb up the river.  It was awesome and you get really, really wet.  Here are some pictures of Wadi Mujib.

At one point they tie you to a rope and pull you up a really big waterfall.

I will write again after I get home and put up pictures of where I live.  See you guys and keep sending me emails and messages on Facebook.

Mr. Greg

Swimming!

 Today Mr. John and I went to Battir, a small city close to Bethlehem.  We started walking around the mountains for hours.  We were very lucky when we found Ein Hawiya.  So we decided to go for a swim.

Mr. John loves the water.

The water was coming out of  a scary cave.

I would only put my feet in because it was too cold.

Read over the summer

Dear Students and Parents,

Our class has done a great job this year and I'm really proud of everyone.  This has been a great year and I'm really happy that I came back to teach at PBS.  Unfortunately, I won't be coming back to teach next year.  I'll be helping the school from America and hopefully I'll be back to visit soon.

Even though I will be gone, I want to help the students as much as I can.  All of the kids improved a lot this year and it is time for them to really get into reading.  Reading English books is the best way for them to get better with English, and it will help them a lot to be reading during the summer and at home.  If the students are often reading English books, it will help them more than anything else.

There are a few places to get English books.  There is a very good English bookstore in Ramallah called Sharbain's.  They have a lot of books, and they can also order books.  Their website should be ready in a month.

If you are traveling to Amman, there are some great bookstores there.  I have made a list of them with their phone numbers.

I understand that it is hard to find English books in Palestine, and it is also difficult to find books that are good for the students and that they will like.  Any English book would be great, but I've made a list of great books that the students might like.

If you have any questions, or ever need help from me or to help the students with anything, you can email me at petersongap1987@yahoo.com. 

I will also put up videos, stories, and be writing on the blog at least once a week during the summer.

The blog is http://greg3rdand4thgrade.blogspot.com/


Sincerely,

Greg Peterson




Where to Find Books

Sharbain's Bookshop Company ( شاربين مكتبة شركة )

Sharbain's Bookshop is a great place with very nice people.  It is at Clock Roundabout (ساعة دوار) in Ramallah and their phone number is 970-2-295-3495.

There are very nice and helpful at Sharbain's.  If you want a book, then you can ask them and they can get it for you.

Book Stores in Amman

Readers Bookshop.  Cosmo, Seventh Circle. 06-582-8488.
Prime Megastore Bookshop.  Barakeh Mall, Sweifyeh. 06-581-1204
Jabal Tareq Bookshop. Mecca Mall, Khalda. 06-551-4679
The Good Bookshop. Jabal Amman. 06-461-3939
Titles Bookshop. Abdoun. 06-592-4130.

Book Ideas

The 99
    A great comic book series by Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa about Islamic superheroes.  You can get the first one
    free and buy the others from their website.  I can also try to email you the ones I have. 
    http://www.the99.org/
Poppy by Avi
    A family of mice live on a farm and they are trying to move to a new home.
The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Catling
    A greedy boy named John Midas loves chocolate, and after finding some magic candy, everything his
    mouths touches becomes chocolate.
Bunnicula by James Howe
    In a small town there is a vampire bunny that sucks the juice out of vegetables.
The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey
    A series of books about two fourth graders and their superhero principal who is Captain
    Underpants.
Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
    A pig named Wilbur is saved from being killed, and he becomes best friends with a spider named
    Charlotte.
The BFG (The Big Friendly Giant) by Roald Dahl
    The story about a girl named Sophie and the BFG, a big friendly giant.
Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
    A fox named Mr. Fox, has to steal chickens and turkeys to feed his family, but the farmers he steals  
    from are not happy.
Matilda by Roald Dahl
    Matilda is girl with special powers, she can do things with her mind.  But she has very mean parents
    and the principal at her school is evil.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
    A series of books about a boy named Greg Heffley, who is picked on by his brother a people at
    school.
Dragonbreath by Ursula Vernon
    Danny Dragonbreath is the only dragon that goes to school with lots of other animals.
Jeremy Thatcher Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville
    Jeremy Thatcher finds a strange shop where he buys an egg.  After taking care of the egg he finds
    out that it's a dragon egg.
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
    A boy finds a poor dog, and works hard to buy it and save it from the mean
    person that owns it.   
Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
    Short stories about students at a very crazy school with very strange
    teachers.
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM
    Mrs. Frisby tries to get the help of some rats from a laboratory to save her home.

PARTY TOMORROW

We have our party tomorrow.  Bring food and put it on my desk in the teacher's room in the morning.

Bring Books Back

If you have any English reading and library books, you need to bring them back to school this week.

The Last Week

We have a party on Thursday.  Bring food and drinks.  It will be a lot of fun.  We will play games, eat, and watch a movie.

Also I told the students today that I won't be back next year.  It has been a great year and I really loved teaching this class.  I will be writing on the blog for the summer and I have some reading for the students that I will give them later in the week.

You can keep on practicing the spelling words.  We will have a quick spelling test on Thursday and then we will have our party.

Writing

We edited and rewrote our essays today.  Some students need to finish it tonight.

If anyone want to have the fifth Spiderwick Chronicles book to read of the summer, they need to bring 10 shekels into class this week.  It's a really good book and it's good to keep on reading during the summer.

Keep on studying the spelling.

We are almost finished

Things for this week.

Some students must finish chapter 5 tonight.

If students want to read the fifth Spiderwick Chronicles book over the summer, I need ten shekels by Thursday.  I will have the books made this weekend and give them out next week.

We have new spelling and vocabulary words the students need to study.

There is a waterfight on Thursday and students need to bring at least two water bottles.

Monday, May 7th

We are reading Chapter 4 of the Spiderwick Chronicles.  It is a difficult chapter and we will be working on it tomorrow.

We also started writing in class today.

We have a spelling test and vocabulary test on Thursday.

Week have another short week but a lot to do.

Today we started reading Chapter 2 of the Spider wick Chronicles, reviewed the past tense and asking questions with the past tense, and talked about our new spelling words.

Here are our plans for the week:

Monday
Read and finish Chapter 2 of the Spiderwick Chronicles
Rewrite our essays from last week
review the past tense and the words did and didn't

Tuesday - No School
practice spelling and vocabulary


Wednesday
Read and start Chapter 3 of the Spiderwick Chronicles
review the past tense, did, and didn't
review vocabulary and spelling

Thrusday
Read and finish Chapter 3 of the Spiderwick Chronicles
Spelling and vocabulary test.

Thank you everybody.

I wanted to thank my students and everyone who helped to make my birthday great.  Thank you so much.  We spent the half the class eating cake and enjoying the sun outside.  It was a good day.

We also started our new Spiderwick Chronicles book, The Ironwood Tree, today.  I'm really excited and this book will be a lot of fun.  Students can read chapter one at home and we will be working on it in class on Thursday. 

Keep on studying the spelling for the spelling test.

We have a test tomorrow!

We rewrote our essays from last week, practiced similes and prepared for our test tomorrow.

Here are our plans for the week:

Monday (tomorrow) - Vocabulary and Spiderwick Chronicles Test.  We will start the essay for this week and work on using gerunds.

Tuesday - Reading, gerunds, and competition

Wednesday -science, and rewrite papers

Thursday - spelling test, gerunds, vocabulary game, and reading

We got a lot done today.

We did writing, reading, review vocabulary and sentence structure.

The students need to keep reading at home.

Tomorrow we will read chapter 7 and review spelling.

We will also start a science experiment tomorrow.

We have a lot to do this week.

Students need to study the spelling and vocabualry flashcards. They must bring the flashcards to school everyday.

Here are our plans for the week.

Monday
Reading Chapter 7 of the Spiderwick Chronicles
Planning and writing our essays

Tuesday
Reading Chapter 7 of the Spiderwick Chronicles
Similes and Metaphors
Review Spelling and Vocabulary

Wednesday
Editing and rewriting papers
Science: Making a Food Garden

Thursday
Competition
Spelling Test
Review spelling and vocabulary
Review Spiderwick Chronicles

Thursday April 12th

We finished writing today and we practice our sentence drills.

In class we did a science experiment today about fat. We used different food like water, milk, apples, and potatoes, and saw how much oil and fat they have.

Everyone needs to be finished with chapter 6 of the Spiderwick Chronicles by Sunday.

We finished the competition

We finished our competition and the Copycats (Adam and Beesan) won. The Mad Bulls (Lilia and Mona), Ninja Aliens (Taleb and Omar A.) and Bieber Fever (Maya and Shayma) also did very well. I'm happy with how everyone did and we will do another competition soon.


We wrote in class today and read the Spiderwick Chronicles.

Students need to be reading at home from their library books and some of the students have spelling homework they have to give me on Thursday.

I'll see you tomorrow.

We will have English tomorrow.

I've had a great weekend. I hiked 45 kilometers this weekend, from Awarta to At-Taybeh.

Tomorrow I will ask you what I did this weekend to see who is reading the blog

The Hokey Pokey

We are still reading chapters 3 and 4 of the Spiderwick Chronicles this week.

The students have homework tonight. They need to finish the if conditional sheet. We will go over it tomorrow and practice saying conditional sentences.

Students need to keep reading at home.

Students, don't ever forget that the verb to be changes into is, am, are, was, and were.

Monday, April 2nd

We worked on writing today. The students finished writing their essays and then exchanged them with a another person in class to correct them. I will go over them today and tomorrow. They will rewrite them in class on Wednesday.

We also continued reading Chapter 3 of the Spiderwick Chronicles.

Everyday in class this week we are practicing saying sentences correctly. We will be doing this the rest of the year. This week the focus is on don't/doesn't and a/an. We are going to have a competition on Thursday. Students will be in teams of two. Each team will have 30 seconds to say as many correct sentences as they can from the cards. The team that has the most will win.

Not a good day.

Reading

Students should be reading 20 minutes a day, five days a week home. They can use the books we have at the library and they can also reread the Spiderwick Chronicles.

Many students did not read for March. They are now reading in zero break everyday.

Writing

The students have writing homework today. They need to fill out the essay planning sheet. We will go over and work on them tomorrow before they write their essays. If you have any questions about the writing post on the comments of this blog and I will answer them tonight.

Finish Chapters 1 and 2.

Everyone has to finish chapters 1 & 2 of the Spiderwick Chronicles by Sunday. If you are finished, read it again.

You must read 20 minutes a day, five days a week.

Bring your reading calendars to class on Sunday.

Consonants and Vowels

There are five vowels: A, E, I, O, U.

All the other letters are consonants.

Test and drama tomorrow

We have a spelling and vocabulary test tomorrow and we will film part of the drama.

We Have Our Drama Tomorrow

We will be filming our drama tomorrow. These people need to be ready:
Kareem, M.S., Ameed, Taleb, Ward, Lyana, Shahed, Maya, Amelia, Masoud, and Omar A.

Go over your lines.

We did writing today. Some students need to finish their writing for tomorrow.


Students need to work on spelling, vocabulary, and storytelling. This week students need to tell me about one thing that can make the school better.

A very busy week.

We have a lot to do this week.

We started Chapter 1 of the next Spiderwick Book, Lucinda's Secret. The students should be rereading Chapter 1 at home.

We have new spelling and new vocabulary. The tests for both will be on Thursday. Study them.

The storytelling: Tell me about one thing that would make the school better? Why?

Students should be reading 20 minutes a day, 5 times a week.

Some student still have extra work they need to do. It will be done this week at home.

Extra writing: Ali, Lyana, Omar A., Shayma, Maya, Fitian, and Masoud

Extra storytelling: Amelia, Omar A., Masoud, Lyana, Lilia, and Shahed

Dramas!

We had our spelling test today and then we started filming the dramas.

We still have to do some more filing next week.

Students with extra work need to do it this weekend be ready on Sunday.

Extra writing work: Taleb, Safa, Masoud, Shayma, Ali, Lyana, Maya, Mona, and Tareq


Extra storytelling work: Maya, Lilia, Amelia, Shahed, Lyana, Masoud, and Omar A.

Simon (Omar A.), Thimbletack (Shayma), and Jared (Amelia)

The Troll (Rifaat)

The Goblins (Mohammed, Kareem, and Ameed)

Mom (Safa), Simon (Lilia), Mallory (Mona), and Jared (Tareq)

More Dramas and there, their, and they're

We are still working on the Spiderwick drama. These people need to bring in things by Wednesday.

Omar Fitian - cat
Ali - book and sticks
Beesan - jacket
Rifaat - funny hat
Adam - green and dirty clothes
Kareem - green clothes


We also worked with the words its, it's, there, their, and they're.


Some students have extra writing homework:

Taleb, Safa, Masoud, Shayma, Ali, Lyana, Maya, Mona, and Tareq.

Give me your essays by Wednesday or next Sunday.

Some students have extra speaking homework:

Amelia, Omar A., Shahed, Lyana, Masoud, Lilia, and Maya.

Practice your speaking and be ready by next Sunday. If you have any questions I will help you before or after school and on the break.

Here is a game.

I found this game for doesn't and don't

http://www.grammar.cl/Games/Dont_Doesnt.htm

Dramas and Reading

Dramas

We are practicing our Spiderwick drama everyday. We will film it on Wednesday. Memorize your lines. Make sure you know what to do. If you told me you will bring things in, bring stuff tomorrow.

We still need clothes for the goblins and troll, vampire teeth, crazy clothes for Thimbletack, clothes for mom, and sticks.

Reading

Student need to read at least 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week. They can read more and I want them to read more. When they are finished reading their parents have to sign their name on the day they read. No cheating.

Read at home!

Students you should be reading at home everyday. Listen to your moms and dads, or you will make me mad.

When you are reading and find words you don't know you can use these dictionaries to help you. Just type in the word.

This website is a great online dictionary.

http://kids.yahoo.com/reference/dictionary/english

Spiderwick Dramas

We finished rewriting our essays this week. I will check them this week.

We practiced our Spiderwick dramas this week. The students had a lot of great ideas today and they need to start bringing stuff into class tomorrow.

This is what students said they will bring in.

sword - Rifaat, Ameed, and Omar A.
cat - Ameed and Rifaat.
fire - Shayma (done)
three sticks - Lyana
big book - Ali
wig - Taleb, Maya, Ward, Shayma, Omar A.
hats - Maya, Amad, Omar, Ali
green clothes - Adam, Masoud, Kareem
vampire teeth - Rifaat
jacket - Beesan

We will talk more about what we need tomorrow.

We have a spelling test tomorrow.

We talked about it today. Can you tell me why people grow square watermelons?

Our New Dramas

We've started our Spiderwick dramas. This week and next we will practice and memorize them. Next week we will get props and costumes, and act.

We also did some speaking exercise today. Next week the students will have a speaking test.

Study the spelling for Thursday.

Writing

If students did not finish their writing today they have to do it tonight.

Study the spelling.

Work on the song. This one is hard.

We will work on our Spiderwick Dramas tomorrow.

Mmmbop by Hanson

A lot of new stuff today.

We have a lot of new stuff this week. We are starting to work on our Spiderwick Dramas. Tomorrow we will write them and then we will practice and memorize them. Next week we will perform in and start the next book.

There are new spelling words.

Get ready for your storytelling this week. Only one person went today. That is not good.

Finishing the Spiderwick Chronicles and Speaking

We finished the Spiderwick Chronicles: The Seeing Stone. If students didn't finish it they need to do that this weekend. All students need to bring the book to school next week. We will be using it.


We have a spelling test tomorrow.

Students need to be working on their fruit and vegetable projects for next week. The can make poster to bring to class and have pictures. They must talk for 45 seconds about why we should eat their fruit or vegetable.

Writing Day

We are working on Chapter 7 of the Spiderwick Chronicles.

Today students wrote about what they would do if they were older. I will edit the papers and we will rewrite them on Wednesday.

Tomorrow we will read, work on commas, and have a speaking competition.

Study the spelling and work on you fruit and vegetable storytelling for next week.

We have a short week and a lot to do.

We talked in class today about chapters 5 and 6 of the Spiderwick Chronicles. We will be reading and talking about chapter 7 this week.

We talked about our dramas and students continued to talk about their favorite sport in class.

Students have also started a new storytelling project. Next week, they have to talk to the class about a fruit or vegetable and why the class should eat it. They can talk to people, use books, or the internet to find out about it. They should also bring something into class like a poster, picture, or the fruit or vegetable. They must speak for 45 seconds without reading.
They can talk about:
the nutrients
why it is healthy for you
how it tastes
what you can do with it (how to cook it)

End of the Week?

If we have class tomorrow, we will have our spelling test and finish the storytelling.

If we don't, we will do everything next Sunday.

If you didn't finish chapters 5 and 6 of the Spiderwick Chronicles, do it by Sunday.

If you did finish it, read chapters 5 and 6 again. We are doing chapter 7 next week.

We did a lot today

I read with Shayma, Fitian, Kareem, Ward, and Rifaat.

Students finished writing their essays and we will edit them tomorrow.

We also worked on speaking drills today and the students did a good job with them. We will do them every week and go faster and faster.

Students also talked about sports in class today and did a great job.

Writing

Today the students are writing about why is is bad to be a kid. If they didn't finish it they will work on it tomorrow in class.

Also we have storytelling tomorrow. This week students are talking about a sport, any sport. They have to talk for at least 30 seconds and can bring things into class.

What is a galaxy?

This question came up today.

A galaxy is a big group of stars and planets..... not chocolate.

This is a picture of the Milky Way Galaxy.





It is very big and our sun a is a very, very, very small light in the galaxy.

New Week, New Song

Today I read with Mona, Ameed, Adam, Amelia, and Omar A.

We are reading Chapter 5 in the Spiderwick Chronicles this week.

Today we worked with consonant-vowel-consonant and why some words are like swimming and running.

This week's storytelling is about a sport. Students must talk for 30 second to 2 minutes about any sport. They can things in to show the class when they are talking; balls, pictures, clothes, anything.


Here is the video for our new song, Drops of Jupiter

Reading and Verbs

Today I read with Shayma, Maya, Kareem, Omar, Ward and Rifaat.

This week we are reading chapters 3 and 4 in of the Spiderwick Chronicles. If students are not finished they need to finish the chapters this weekend and give me their answers on Sunday. All students should read chapters 3 and 4 again. There are a lot of difficult words and I want them to understand the story very well.

We have a spelling test tomorrow. Students need to study the spelling and vocabulary.

Writing All Day

I read with Taleb, Lyana, Shahed, and Beesan.

We wrote in class today. Students wrote essays about what makes them happy. I will red them tonight and then we will rewrite them on Thursday.

There is a spelling test on Thursday and students need to practice for the storytelling.

This week students need to tell me a story when something funny happened.

We have a short week.

There was no school yesterday and there might not be school tomorrow.

Today I read with Mona, Adam, Amelia, and Ameed.

We worked on commas today and read from our Spiderwick books. We are reading chapter 3 in class. It is good for students to also read the chapter at home.

This week's storytelling is tell me a story when something funny happened.

Science and rewriting.

Today I read with Lilia, Tareq, Mohammed, Ali, Safa, and Narmeen.

In science we read about nutrition, energy and carbohydrates.

Things to remember:
We get a lot of energy from carbohydrates.
Carbohydrates help us move our muscles and our bodies grow.
There are two kinds of carbohydrates: simple and complex.
Complex carbohydrates are better because they give you energy for a longer
time.

Students worked on editing their papers.

There is a spelling and vocabulary test tomorrow.

Students can reread chapters one and two of the Spiderwick Chronicles.

Writing Day

Today I read with Beesan, Lyana, Shahed, Masoud, and Taleb.

We wrote in class today. If students didn't finish the writing, they have to finish it tonight and give it to me tomorrow so I can edit it. We will rewrite the papers on Wednesday.

Here is our song, Ghost Riders in the Sky by Johnny Cash

Our New Book

Today I read with Mona, Omar A., Adam, Amelia, and Ameed.

We started our next book, The Spiderwick Chronicles: The Seeing Stone. The students have started chapter 1 and we'll also read chapter 2 this week. Students that don't finish the chapters in class will read them over the weekend.

We also learned how to use commas. This week we are working on commas in a series.

We have a spelling test on Thursday.

There is also a vocabulary test on Thursday. I will give you the words tomorrow.

We are also going to start Storytelling again. This week students need to tell a story about their break.

Here is a video of our new song.

Tests today

We finished a lot in class.

The students had a spelling test and test about the Spiderwick Chronicles.

These students did a great job on the spelling test: Shayma, Ali, Beesan, Masoud, Ameed, and Safa.

Students also finished writing their essays. They did a great job with them. I will give them back on Sunday.

Goblins need to finish Chapter 3 of Charlotte's Web by Sunday.

Don't forget.

Bring your Spiderwick books tomorrow.

Wednesday February 8

We have a spelling test tomorrow.

Students need to remember their papers for school everyday.

Rewriting today and test tomorrow

I read with Lilia, Ali, Tareq, Mohammed, Safa, and Narmeen.

We went over the vocabulary for the test tomorrow.

I gave the students their essays back and we worked on editing and rewriting them today. Most of the students will be working on them tomorrow too.

Tonight study the story, spelling and vocabulary. We have our tests tomorrow.

After that we will finish rewriting our essays and then practice our dramas for next week.

A Full Day

I read with Rifaat, Fitian, Ward, Shayma, Maya, and Kareem.

We did a lot of the little things today.

We reviewed and talked about the homework from last night.

We also worked on speaking and using the past tense.

The students have homework tonight and tests on Thursday.

Writing today

I read with Beesan, Masoud, Taleb, Lyana, and Shahed.

We worked on writing and students wrote essays about what makes them angry. I am going to edit the papers and we are going to rewrite them again on Wednesday.

The students have a spelling, vocabulary, and reading test on Thursday.

Our Next Song

Here is the music for our next song, The Harder They Come.

Back to School Today!

It was our first day back and I'm glad to see the students again. Today was a slow day but we got some stuff done.

We talked about the book the Spiderwick Chronicles. Most of the students liked it a lot and we are going to read the next one soon. If students haven't finished the book they need to keep on reading it. We will have a test next Thursday about the book. Students need to also study the vocabulary for the book.

Today we wrote about the book and students that didn't finish the writing in class have homework. They need to bring their writing back to school tomorrow.

We have new spelling words and spelling test next Thursday.

We have an easy day tomorrow and then we start a lot of new things next week.

Wdnesday , January 11

We read in class today and studied our spelling words. Not much else. Tomorrow I will give the students their homework over the break.

The Last Week

We're almost finished for the semester. We will spend most of the time in class reading and reviewing spelling and vocabulary. Groups will also perform the drama Chicken Little this week.


Today I read with Omar A., Amelia, Ameed, and Adam.

There is no homework this week.

There will be homework over the break.

Writing and Jokes

Today I read with Rifaat, Ward, Shayma, Maya, Kareem, and Fitian.

We wrote a lot today. The students wrote essay about what they would do if they were a teacher. The students are doing a great job with the writing.

Students did a great job with the jokes today and more students will go tomorrow.

We have a short week but a lot to do.

Today I read with Taleb, Lyana, Shahed, Amelia, Omar, Adam, Beesan, Masoud and Ameed.

We started a new drama today, Chicken Little. The students need to practice it and next week they will perform it in class.

We have a spelling test on Thursday. Only 10 words this week:
closer, everywhere, phone, chicken, writer, carrots, cries, lying, seventeen,
welcome

This week students are telling jokes for storytelling. Student have to tell either one long joke or three short jokes. They can't read their jokes to the class. This is speaking, not reading.

Storytelling tomorrow: Tareq, Mohammed, Fitian, Shyama, Maya, Narmeen, Lilia, and Taleb

Goblins have to finish their reading work from today.