Welcome Fammatre and TISA students.

The purpose of the blog will be to offer opportunities for Fammatre and TISA students to learn about each other through common questions that will be asked and answered each month on the blog. By comparing the responses, students will be able to identify the differences and similarities between their school, community and country.

Let's start by introducing our schools to each other.

TISA stands for The International School of Azerbaijan. It is located in Baku. Azerbaijan is situated on the western shores of the Caspian Sea and is bordered by Georgia and Armenia to the west, Russia to the north and Iran to the south. Baku, the capital city, is situated on the Absheron Peninsula and has 2 million inhabitants. TISA has about 500 students who range in age from 2 to 18.

Miss Withers teaches fourth grade at TISA. She has 13 students in her class that come from a variety of countries.

Fammatre Charter Elementary School is in the Cambrian School District in California. It is located in San Jose which is about one hour South of San Francisco and five hours North of Los Angeles. They often call San Jose the "heart" of Silicon Valley. Fammatre has over 500 students that attend Kindergarten through Fifth grade.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Question #2 - What Do You Do At Recess?

This month we asked Fammatre 2nd graders and Ms. Withers 4th grade TISA students -

What do you do at recess?

At recess, I usually play on the jungle gym. But today I was playing in the snow! Three days ago, it snowed, and it’s still snowing even today! Yesterday, Rachel (my BFF) and I dug holes in the snow. We called them “caves.” We were working on them ALL recess. My “cave” turned out to be a jump, but I will rebuild it sometime. It was fun! I can’t wait to play in the snow again!

- TISA student

My favorite thing to do is football. What I like to do is going down the line and shooting. My second favorite thing is four square. I like doing fire balls.
- Student in Mrs. Liewer's class

My favorite thing at recess is tag. You get a person and chase them and whoever gets touched your it.
- Student in Mrs. Drach's class

My favorite thing at recess is spinning on the grass and bumping into my friends.
- Student in Mrs. Drach's class

My favorite activity at recess is soccer because you can score lots of goals. When you score goals sometime you feel happy. You can learn
- Student in Mrs. Kuljis' class

My favorite thing at recess is tether ball. You pass the ball back and forth. The ball is connected to a pole and you try to go around twice. This is a two person game.
- Student in Mrs. Drach's class

My favorite at recess is swinging and go back and forth
- Student in Mrs. Drach's class

Hi, I play four square at recess. I like to play it because it is fun
- Student in Mrs. Liewer's class

My favorite thing at recess is to walk around on the bridge because it jiggles.
- Student in Mrs. Drach's class

My favorite activity at recess is watermelon. One reason I like sitting on the slide can also in size order you can also go down faster. Watermelon is fun.
- Student in Mrs. Kuljis' class

My favorite thing at recess is soccer. It is a game. You have to get a ball into the goal.
- Student in Mrs. Drach's class

My favorite thing at recess is playing on the green thing.
- Student in Mrs. Drach's class

Hi. My name is Max. When I go outside at recess, I play football (soccer). Well, when it is sunny, I play football, but when it snows, we have snowball fights, even when we aren’t allowed to. We also make snowmen and build tunnels. But most of the time, we play football. Occasionally we get bored and play tag. We don’t play it often, but we sometimes do. When we play in the snow, before we can go back into our classroom, we have to clean the snow off so that there aren’t any floods in the classroom. Just kidding (about the floods).

- TISA student


My favorite thing at recess is the slide. We go up and go down.

- Student in Mrs. Drach's class


My favorite game to do at recess is tether ball. Tether ball is a game that has a ball and a pole. First one peron on the other side of the line hits the ball to you then you hit it back to them. You win by getting the ball all around the pole.

- Student in Mrs. Liewer's class


My favorite thing to do at recess is to climb. It is fun.

- Student in Mrs. Drach's class


My favorite thing to do at recess is play tag on the grass. That is when one person is it and tries to tag you.

- Student in Mrs. Drach's class


My favorite game to play at recess is doing flip. And a front flip and a back flip. I like it because it is fun. Finally I believe that it is fun. I really enjoy playing that game.

- Student in Mrs. Kuljis' class


My favorite thing at recess is the ropes.

- Student in Mrs. Drach's class


I like to play Four-Square.

- Student in Mrs. Liewer's class


My favorite thing at recess is soccer. You kick the ball in the goal.

- Student in Mrs. Drach's class


My favorite activity at recess is Hanger. It is where you hang for the side at the top of the slide and hang. Then someone pulls your leg backwards. It is fun.

- Student in Mrs. Kuljis' class


- My favorite thing at recess is soccer. It is played lite this - it is playe with a goalie and a player.

- Student in Mrs. Drach's class


Normally, I would play next to the hill, but since it is snowing, I play where there is a lot of snow. I play with Summer. We are trying to build a wolf pen out of snow. It was soooo cool because where we were building, there was a snow war! Nobody stepped in our den, though. That was good for us. P.S. Quick story: I made Mr. Nick laugh when I was kind of running and I fell in the deep snow, almost landing on my face. It was fun!

- TISA student


In recess I play football it is really fun because you could shoot the ball in the goal and you could go through people. But the bad thing is that other people could side tackle you.

- Student in Mrs. Liewer's class


My favorite thing at recess is playing games with my friends.

- Student in Mrs. Drach's class


My favorite thing to do that recess is to play soccer. One reason I like soccer is because you can plan it with your friends. Another reason I like it is because you can make lots of goals. The final reason I like to play soccer is because you can dribble the ball with your feet. I really enjoy playing soccer with my friends.

- Student in Mrs. Kuljis' class


My favorite thing at recess is soccer. It is played with a goalie and a player.

- Student in Mrs. Drach's class


Hi! What's your number in your class? Min is 12 just like our room number! Also with is your room number like what room are you in? We have two recesses. One for snack and one for lunch. Me, Abby, Brianna, and Elia chase Blake, Dominic, Glenn and Isiah for all recesses!
- Student in Mrs. Liewer's class


My favorite thing at recess is to climb the spider web because you can climb to the top.

- Student in Mrs. Drach's class


My favorite activity at recess is thinking about Halo reach. One reason I like it is because it has cool characters. Another reason I like it is you can pick things up. One last reason I like it is it has cool vehicles. I really like Halo.

- Student in Mrs. Kuljis' class


My favorite thing to do at recess is to do the monkeybars. You put your hand on one metal and one on the other.

-Student in Mrs. Drach's class


I like to do at recess is play tether ball. This is how you play tether ball. You stand on each side and you push the ball back and forth and who ever gets the ball around the pole.

- Student in Mrs. Liewer's class


In Mrs. Ramirez's class - they like to:

Play soccer - 5 students

Play structure - 2 students

Four square - 3 students

Wall ball - 4 students

Running - 3 students

Imaginary games - 6 students

Tether ball - 2 students


My favorite thing at recess is climbing a red rope.

- Student in Mrs. Drach's class


It is snowing while we are in school. When we go to recess, we have snowball fights, even though we are not allowed! Then after a few minutes of that, I also slide down the hills, which we also aren’t allowed to do! My friends and I sometimes put our stomachs on the board and go down face first! After sliding, we can’t feel our feet, arms, and legs because we are frozen!

- TISA student


My favorite thing to do at recess is soccer.

- Student in Mrs. Drach's class


My favorite activity at recess is Wizards and Ninjas. One reason I like Wizards and Ninjas is because you can pretend you are warriors. Then the next reason I like Wizards and Ninjas is because you can imagine you have magical powers. Finally, you can pretend you have an awesome magic wands. I like this game because it is awesome!!

- Student in Mrs. Kuljis' class


My favorite thing at recess is four square. How you play it is like this. First you get a bouncy ball and pass it to an other person and that person hits it to someone else and you add some words like peace that mean pass it to an other person. There are words that mean pass it to the same person until the end.

- Student in Mrs. Drach's class


My favorite game at lunch and recess is soccer.

- Student in Mrs. Liewer's class


My favorite activity is spying. First you pick someone to spy on. Next, you run around the person. Finally, you hide and start spying on the person. I like spying!

- Student in Mrs. Kuljis' class


My favorite thing to do at recess is to climb the spider web. The spider web is metal with ropes.

- Student in Mrs. Drach's class


My favorite thing to do at recess is tether ball. Tether ball is a game with a ball hooked to a pole you hit the ball back and forth and to win you get the ball all around the pole.

- Student in Mrs. Liewer's class


My favorite thing at recess is soccer because you have to try to kick the ball into a goal.

- Student in Mrs. Drach's class


My favorite activity is playing Witches and Warlocks. How you play is you pretend your a witch and if you are a boy you are a warlock. You have these powers and your in war. That is how you play Witches and Warlocks. It is very fun.

- Student in Mrs. Kuljis' class


My favorite thing at recess is spinning. You spin in circles with your eyes open.

- Student in Mrs. Drach's class


My favorite game to play at recess is football. I like football because I get a lot of goals and I like doing moves.

- Student in Mrs. Liewer's class


My favorite thing at recess is soccer. You kick the ball from the inside of the foot.

- Student in Mrs. Drach's class


At recess, I play in the snow with Muna, Elizabeth, Sophia, and Gita. We have snowball fights and we make snow angels. When recess is over, we are wet and cold. We are happy to have inside time.

- TISA Student


My favorite activity at recess is Map Go Around. First, you have to jump to each land. Yellow is the sun so you have to jump if your on it. Pink is go backwards two steps. Orange is kick once. The magic timer is a thing that looks like a timer. Next, if you push it nobody can tag you. You can go to California. It is a big white place. Paris is a big green place and it is not connected to pink, orange, and yellow. There is a dock and it is a little blue place and medium blue is base. Finally, at dock you can go to California or Paris. It is a great game!

- Student in Mrs. Kuljis' class


My favorite thing at recess is playing on a green thing that you can climb up on three sides. I sometimes use it as monkeybars.

- Student in Mrs. Drach's class


My favorite thing at recess is to climb the spider web and tag.

- Student in Mrs. Drach's class

Sunday, January 8, 2012

What are you doing over winter break - Part 3

Hey! What's up? I am going to Dubai for the holiday. If you go there, you will see the biggest shopping mall and the biggest tower. In the mall, there are aquariums, shops, cinemas, and money exchange places. There is also a part that connects to the elevators so you can go up to the world's tallest tower. It is as tall as two football pitches. Dubai is a land of sand. That means it's a desert. To live there would be hard because the temperature is hot. But we can swim in the water and go to the mall.
- TISA Student

I am going to Arizona to see my mom's side of the family. We stay there for Christmas. For New Years Eve my cousins and my family have a big tournament. We compete in different video games. We usually play the Wii which is a gaming system where you can play different games with a controller. I usually win the bowling game. I always stay up for New Years Eve.
- Fammatre student in Ms. Smith's class

Over winter break I will mostly stay home. My aunt, uncle and cousins will be coming over. My aunt and uncle recently had a baby, so hopefully they will come over to. My big sister is going to Disneyland, lucky, but that means I get to open a present from her two days early.
- Fammatre student in Ms. Foy's class

Over winter break, I'll be on the computer, having a Christmas party, playing with my cousins and just hanging out with my family. My family includes me, my sister, my mom and my dad.
- Fammatre student in Ms. Foy's class

Over winter break, I plan to go skiing and sledding for about a week with my dad's friend because my mom doesn't like the skiing place because it's too crowded and my brother is too young. For the rest of the break, I'm going to be hanging out with my friends and family. My family includes my younger sister and brother, and my mom and dad. We will probably go somewhere local and have a feast on Christmas.
- Fammatre student in Ms. Foy's class

Over the vacation I'm going to my best friend who moved to San Diego. I am also going to play video games on the T.V. and my computer. I usually wake up at 6:00am to open presents.
- Fammatre student in Ms. Foy's class

In Mr. Bovone's class:
- 1 brother from the military will be home for Christmas
- 1 is video chatting with their nephew in the Philippine Hospital
- 1 will be helping mom move
- 1 student is going paintball shooting
- 1 student is going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium
- 1 student is visiting new cousins in Oklahoma

I am going to Berlin, Germany. I get to see my mom and play games with her. I am also going to go to Legoland and Sea Life. I will also go to a huge mall! I will probably also watch TV and play X-Box 360 and PS3. We will come back on January 7th. I am going to be at home for a day and then I will go back to school.
- TISA student

I am staying home and celebrating Christmas. Maybe without my mom because my grandma has had tongue surgery, and she has to take care of her.
- Fammatre student in Ms. Smith's class

Over winter break, I am going to my Grammy and Papa's house, for Christmas. We are going to go to chruch on Christmas Eve with my Grammy, Papa, mom, dad, brother, sister, Aunt, Uncle, my two cousins, and my dog will also be with us. On Christmas, we open all of our presents, then have breakfast. Then, at dinner, we have a huge meal! We might go to Disneyland, Legoland, or SeaWorld, while we are in San Diego. It will be lots of fun!
- Fammatre student in Ms. Foy's class

Over winter break I will just stay home and relax and I will try to guess what I got for my birthday (12/17/11) and Christmas. I hope to spend some time with all of my animals: a bird, cat, 2 dogs and all my family.
- Fammatre student in Ms. Foy's class

On winter break were going to decorate our house and on Christmas Eve were going open the presents that our grandparents gave us.
- Fammatre student in Ms. Foy's class

Hi! I am going to tell you about my trip to NY! Even though I've never been there, I'm still going to tell you what I think it would be like. I heard that NY is really big! So there's probably aa LOT of fast-food restaurants there. That's where we'll be eating. It's going to be really cold there. I'd be really lucky if Mom would take me ice-skating. I'd love to go to some musuems, especially history ones. My mom will definitely take me there, for sure! Last time we travelled to Washington, D.C., we saw an awesome musical about Frankenstein! So I hope there will be something like that.
- TISA student

I'm going to play with my friends and spend time with my family. Maybe read or go outside and play games and play board games to relax.
- Fammatre student in Ms. Smith's class

Over winter break, I plan to go to Christmas In The Park. My family and I will decorate our Christmas tree. On Christmas Eve, I will go to my grandmother's house to open family presents. On Christmas Day, I will have a funeral for the two Power Rangers that my brother and I smashed with a hockey stick and a mallet. Then we will go to my aunt's house to have brunch and celebrate my cousin's 9th birthday.
- Fammatre student in Ms. Foy's class

Over winter break, I plan to stay home with my family and help take care of my little sister. On Christmas Eve, I'm going to my grandma's. On Christmas Day, I'm going to my other Grandma's. I can't wait to watch the ball drop on New Years!
- Fammatre student in Ms. Foy's class

On my holiday, my grandparents will come for Christmas. They will come on an airplane because they're coming from Massachusetts. On Christmas Eve we will be so excited! It will be hard to sleep. My grandparents will sleep in my bed and I might sleep on the blow-up mattress. (My bed is bigger than my mom's). On Christmas morning, we will first open Gifts to Selt (They are handmade gifts or promises). Then, we read Gifts to Christ. (They are promises). After that we go downstairs singing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and look in the stockings. We open presents after that. Last by not least, we eat breakfast. It will be so fun!
- TISA student

I'm going sledding for 3 days or 2 weeks.
- Fammatre student in Ms. Smith's class

What I will be doing over vacation is I will be having a Christmas party with my family. I will watch the crystal ball drop on T.V., and I will make all the noise I can on New Years at midnight
- Fammatre student in Ms. Foy's class

I am going to New York to visit grandparents and go to Lake Tahoe with friends to snowboard and sled
- Fammatre student in Ms. Foy's class

I'm going to Disneyland.
- Fammatre student in Ms. Smith's class

I am going to play in Egypt. I will stay in my family's house and watch TV, play on the computer and play football. I will play on my PS2 and on my iPad. I will play fighting games, racing games and farming games. We will go out to eat in restaurants. We might also go to the zoo. We can go to the pyramids and ride camels. When we are there, we can go inside the pyramids. In Egypt, we can see dead people!
- TISA student

I am going to eat tamales all the time
- Fammatre student in Ms. Smith's class

Over winter break my mom and I plan to go Christmas shopping for the family's wishlists. Then on Christmas, we will go to my aunt's house to celebrate Christmas and get more presents. I will also wait for Santa Clause and write him a note.
- Fammatre student in Ms. Foy's class

Over Winter break my family and I are going to Disneyworld for about 3 or 4 days then we are going on a 4 day cruise to Nasa and then to a Disney private island Castawaycays.
- Fammatre student in Ms. Foy's class

Over winter break my mom wants to go to a movie and go to a concert. After that I am going to stay at home. Then I am going to a hotel. We might go skiing.
- Fammatre student in Ms. Foy's class

Biking, playing video games
- Fammatre student in Ms. Smith's class

Over winter break I will go to Arnold, CA. I will only do this for one week I do not have anything planned. Maybe I will just sit and relax. I could teach my family how to play the card game I amde up Pyramid.
- Fammatre student in Ms. Foy's class

Over winter break, I may go to Christmas In The Park. Also, I will first go to my grandma's house and meet with my cousins, and my aunts on my mom's side in Redwood City. Then go with my mom, Dad, and my brother Danny to Morgan Hill to see my grandparents on my dad's side and socialize with my cousins, Aunts, Uncles and Family Friends. We all first eat and then do Secret Santa's and open presents. Usually my brother and I wake up at 6:00am to see what Santa left us over the night but before I check my sock I get my dog, Tanner, up and show her her doggy treats she usually gets in her stocking.
- Fammatre student in Ms. Foy's class

Over winter break, I plan to rest, play DS and do a family tradition. I go to my aunts house Christmas Eve and go to my other uncles house Christmas morning.
- Fammatre student in Ms. Foy's class

On 18 December we will fly to Norway. Then we will drive to our best friend's house because we don't have a house there anymore. After that, we will go to another friend's house. We will celebrate Christmas on 24 December. My family and I will have a good Christmas in Norway.
- TISA student