I hope everyone has enjoyed their summer! I know mine has certainly been busy getting ready for the new school year. This year will definitely be a little bit different though. I’m no longer teaching fourth grade and have moved up to sixth grade! I also have a new teaching partner, Ms. Girard. This will be her first year at our school and I’m very excited to work with her!
In changing grade levels, that also means changing rooms. Today was the first opportunity I had to get into my new classroom. One of my favorite parts of the room is a giant blank wall that I have. My old classroom barely had any blank wall space! I decided that instead of using cloth for a green screen next year, we’ll have our own green screen wall! Below you can find some before and after pictures as I introduce you to “The Green Monster.”
Another big change this year is the addition of Mr. Avery’s Classroom Wiki. Last year we expanded our classroom with the creation of this blog. We’ve been able to share our classwork, projects, and videos with the rest of the world. Our wiki will serve a different purpose. The wiki will be used to host videos created by both myself and students, that will be used as tutorials for different topics that we’re learning about in class. This will allow both the students and the parents to be able to watch videos at home that will help prepare each individual for different topics that we will be covering throughout the school year. I’m very excited about this new project and hopes it’s beneficial to everyone’s success this year.
We have exactly two weeks until the first day of school and even less time until Open House. I hope everyone enjoys the rest of your summer! I look forward to seeing all of you in a couple weeks!
*What was your favorite thing you did this summer?*
*What are you looking forward to most next year?*
Dear Mr. Avery,
I just read your exciting news… a new grade AND a new classroom! One thing hasn’t changed… your blog may be freshened up, but it remains totally INSPIRING! This year I am trying out “real” student blogs for the first time. I hope that my Grade 2 class is up to the challenge!
🙂 Mrs. Boekhout Classroom2Kids
Dear Mrs. Boekhout,
I love the idea of student blogs. I plan on giving a few lucky students a chance to have their own blogs later this year. We definitely have some great bloggers!
I’ve enjoyed switching grade levels this year. It’s been a nice change and I get to work with students that I’ve already worked with previously! Hope your school year is going well so far!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr. Avery,
The green wall is very awesome! I love that we get to make videos by using it!
Sincerily,
Kirstyn M.
Dear Kirstyn,
I love the green wall. I think it adds a lot of color to the room and I think it’s even better that we get to use it as a green screen! I think we’ll make a lot of great videos this year and I really look forward to sharing them on the blog!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Hi Mr. Avery!
It was a great first day of school! 🙂 I can’t wait for a great year with you, AGAIN! You are my favorite teacher of all times and will always be! See you tomorrow!
Sincerely,
Alyxandra
Dear Alyxandra,
I agree! I thought we had a great first day of school. I’m so glad I get to work with all of you again. You’re all such hard workers!
I think today’s going to be a great day too. We have some groups planned that I think all of you will really enjoy!
What was your favorite part about the first day?
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr. Avery,
I did not have a favorite part. The whole day was great! Have a great weekend and I will see you Tuesday! 😉
Sincerely,
Alyxandra
Dear Mr Avery and your new grade six class, 😎
Hi I am Haille and I am from 2KJ Australia. I used to be Mr Avery’s blogging buddy (last year for you).
This year I am looking foward to reading your posts and probably leaving comments on them too.
Over here in Australia it is the first day of spring, my favourite thing I did in winter was going to the dog beach (on a warm day).
From,
Haille. 😆
Hi Haille,
Thanks for commenting! We start school on Thursday so I know my new class will be excited to read your comment and write back!
I love spring. It is definitely my favorite season! All of the leaves on the trees start growing back, all the flowers start to bloom. For us, the snow will be melted. It’s a great season!
I look forward to following your blog! You do a great job!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr Avery,
Thank you for replying to me.
I accidently made a mistake in my comment because I said today was th first day of spring but tomorrrow is.
From,
Haille
Dear Haille,
That’s quite alright! I make mistakes all the time! I really appreciate how you came back on here to fix it though! That’s what great students do!
No matter when spring starts, I still love it! Spring doesn’t start until March for us! It will soon be fall here. That will start in September. All the leaves will change to pretty colors, then eventually they’ll die and fall off. The leaves won’t grow back until next spring! I think it’s funny how our seasons are opposite of one another! When you have summer, we have winter. When you have spring, we have fall!
What’s your favorite holiday?
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Hello Mr Avery,
Well done, you will have fun indeed with a new classroom and with new students. But you will miss you old students very much.
Good Luck.
Kind Regards,
Jessica from year5rc
Hi Jessica,
I will definitely miss my old students! The great thing about changing grade levels is that I will get to work with them again next year though!
I’m very excited about a new classroom and new students this year though. It’s going to be a lot of fun!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr Avery’s class,
I am looking forward to making new friends at my new school. Your blog looks really good. I hope you’re enjoying your holidays!
Keep blogging.
From,
Pippa
Dear Pippa,
I’m glad you think the blogs looks good! I enjoyed my summer holidays but I’m excited to be going back to school!
I’m sure you’ll make lots of new friends at your new school! Good luck!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr Avery’s Class,
I can’t wait until you and your class are back. Your blog is fantastic. My favourite thing I did in my last holidays was see my friends. I am looking forward to going to Canberra in Year 6 next year.
Your new classroom looks very nice. Hope you have a great two weeks more of holidays.
Keep blogging!
Kind regards,
Georgia
Dear Georgia,
I can’t wait to be back too! Our summer holiday is so long. I’m very anxious to get back into the classroom.
I’m glad you got to see your friends during your last holiday! It’s always great to get to spend time with them.
Thank you for your compliment about the new classroom. I love our new green wall. It was kind of scary standing on the ladder to get all the way up to the top though!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Hi Mr Avery,
At year5rc we are so glad that you are back from the holidays!
I hope that you settle into your new classroom very well and that the new year brings you more great blog ideas and you can make it even better, if that is even physically possible, since it is already so good right now! How do you spend your holidays changing classrooms?!
GreenZebra
(http://greenzebra.edublogs.org/)
@ Green Zebra
That’s a very interesting name! How did you come up with that? I’m guessing you really like zebras?
It’s been a lot of work changing classrooms but it’s been fun! I like moving into a new room and trying to figure out how I want to set it up.
I’ll have to check out your blog! Thanks for commenting!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Hi Mr. Avery,
I am a student from Year5rc. It’s great to know that your back. Year5rc has loved your blog and is so happy to find that you are back from the holidays. Amazingly, I found out you are going to be a year6 teacher. I also love how you have changed the classroom into this fun and pretty classroom. Not many teachers do that. Surely your new student will love to have you as their teacher or maybe you will be the best teacher they ever had. Year 4 would miss you as well. They must also be excited because they may have you as there teacher in year 6. I Hope you have so much fun this year.
Mika
Dear Mika,
I did change what I”m going to be teaching! I’m very excited about it. I think it’s always great to change it up a little bit. It’s also great because I’ve taught these students before. I think it will be fun to teach these students again!
I’m glad you like the classroom! I still have some work left to do on it but it’s almost done!
I look forward to visiting your blog throughout the year and hearing more from you!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr. Avery,
Our class is so happy that you’re back in blogging. We can’t wait until your new class finds out about your blog. Also, last year we made sure that we were keeping up on what you were talking about. Good luck with blogging and your new class and classroom. I am sure that this year you will have a good time teaching.
Happy blogging,
Colette
Dear Colette,
I’m so happy to be back blogging! I’m really excited to be sharing it with a new group of students!
I look forward to visiting your blog and learning from you this year as well!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Hey everybody!
I’m Yuri and I’m from Australia but some of my relatives live in America. I like how you made a few changes to your blog. It looks awesome. Where about in America is your school? I’ve been to California and Hawaii.
Please reply soon!
Yuri
P.S How was your summer holiday?
Dear Yuri,
I’m glad you like the changes we’ve made to the blog!
We’re in Massachusetts. That’s on the opposite side of the United States from California and Hawaii. If we drove there it would probably take about a week! I think it’s great you’ve been to those places. I would love to visit Australia!
My summer holiday was great. It was very busy! Do you wish you had a long holiday like us or would you rather a lot of shorter holidays like you have?
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr. Avery,
I am very excited to get back to school. I have had a great summer. I have been hanging out with friends and went to Canobie Lake Park. It was really fun. I went on all the roller coasters, even the new one, Untamed. It is scary at first because you go straight up and then drop down but it only lasts about 30 seconds and was really smooth so it was great.
That is funny that Mr. Girard retired and now Mrs. Girard is working here. I can’t wait to see all my friends and teachers again.
Sincerely,
Ben W.
Dear Ben,
I’m glad you’re excited to go back! I am too. This summer has gone by really fast though!
I haven’t been to Canobie Lake Park in a long time! It’s probably a lot different from last time I was there. It’s probably a lot different now. I love amusement parks though. I could go on roller coasters all day! Universal Studios Island of Adventure is my favorite because it has some amazing roller coasters.
I think it’s funny that we lost one Girard and gained another too! I think everyone is really going to like her. She’s very nice.
Enjoy the rest of your summer!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Hi Mr Avery,
I have seen your blog mentioned on quite a few sites I have visited recently and I can see why. It certainly has a great feel and look to it. I will definitely be adding it to my blogroll.
What has really caught my attention however is your new wiki and the really informative videos both you and your colleagues have added. Luckily for me, I have found them just in time as I am presenting some PD at my school tomorrow on using ICT in Numeracy and I will be highlighting the fantastic work of your students.
Many thanks for sharing such a fantastic resource.
I’m sure the new school year will be as exciting for you as ever.
Regards,
Gary
Hi Mr. Phipps,
I’m glad you stumbled across our blog! There are so many amazing ones out there and we feel so fortunate to have been mentioned on any of them!
We’re really looking to expand the wiki this year and use it as a tool in both learning new math concepts as well as sharing them with others. We really appreciate you sharing it with colleagues. Please feel free to tell them that if they decide to make any videos, they’re more than welcome to add them!
We hope you come back to visit again!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr. Avery,
I enjoyed seeing your photos of the “Green Monster!” It looks like it was a big project! I look forward to viewing lots of videos in the upcoming school year!
I enjoyed meeting you in person a couple weeks ago. You always have many ideas to share! I had a wonderful vacation in New England, and had a really special time out on my cousin’s lobster boat. I made a movie of the highlights and posted it on our blog.
I hope you have a great start to your new school year and grade! Your students are very lucky to have you as their teacher.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Hembree
PS. Your photos gave me an idea to photograph my new library space when I get back as it tranforms from a pile of boxes to a new temporary library space.
Mrs. Hembree,
I agree. I loved meeting you as well! I know my students from last year will be very excited when I have a chance to tell them that we got to meet.
I know you’re probably in for a lot of work getting your temporary library ready for the upcoming school year! I’ll be looking forward to seeing what you’re able to do with the place!
I hope you enjoyed your trip back home. It’s definitely such a great area with so many great places to visit. I need to make sure I don’t take that for granted and get around to some of the historical sites more often!
I look forward to connecting a new group of students with your blog this year!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr Avery
New-look blog, new-look wiki, new-look class, but the same great teacher!
I’m looking forward to reading about the learning your students are doing as the year goes by.
Maybe you need one more item by the green wall – a directors chair!
Have a great start to the year.
from Mrs McKenzie
Hi Mrs. McKenzie!
It’s great to hear from you. We haven’t gotten an opportunity to talk much as we’ve been on our summer break. I look forward to connecting a new class with yours this year though!
I love the idea of a director’s chair! I know the students would love to have one in class whenever they direct one of our videos!
Thanks for the visit!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Aloha Mr. Avery,
Best wishes for another great year! I love the new look of your wiki and I know your students will love the green screen. Looking forward to following you throughout the year.
A hoi hou,
Mrs. Jacobs
Mrs. Jacobs,
It’s great to hear from you! I hope life is going well out on Hawaii. That’s certainly a place I wish that I could be right now!
We definitely have a few new things we’re trying this year. I’m sure there will be some trial and error with it, but I think that overall, our new additions will be successful! I look forward to connecting with you this year!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
The new look blog is bright and welcoming for the children. I hope to be able to see posts from time to time.
Here in Australia, winter is coming to an end. Our mid-year break is only two weeks in length. The children will next have a break at the end of September.
While I no longer teach full time, I do check out and comment on blogs. I’ve bookmarked your site and hope to check from time to time or when I see tweets.
Ross Mannell (teacher)
Australia
Mr. Mannell,
Thank you for visiting our blog! It’s always great to have international visitors. We have a few classes in Australia that we follow and connect with. It’s great to add another teacher to that list!
I look forward to hearing from you throughout the year!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
I came across your blog awhile back and subscribed to it. Can’t wait to follow you through the year and hopefully get some technology tips! We’re scared of technology at our little K-12 country school! 🙂
I teach 6th grade Reading/Language Arts.
Shannon
http://6thgradescottforesmanreadingstreetresources.wordpress.com/
Mrs. Clark,
I’ll definitely be taking a look at your blog. It will be great to connect with some other sixth grade classes throughout the year as most of our blogging buddies at this point are younger grade levels.
Any questions you have about any technology we use throughout the year, feel free to ask!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
You look like you are all set for Grade 6. I think your students will be thrilled with the new Green Screen & Wiki.
When I was in school my favorite teacher of all time (4th grade of course), moved to 6th grade the year I was in 6th…..I ended up having her for those 2 wonderful, exciting years. She was the person that inspired me to become a teacher.
I’m sure you will be having some students you had in fourth grade who will probably feel the same!
Good luck!
Mrs. Carroll,
I’m definitely very excited to be working with this group of students for a second time! It’s a great group of kids and I know we’ll have a wonderful year together.
I wish you luck in the upcoming school year! Looking forward to connecting with you throughout the year!
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr Avery,
Unlike you and Mrs Yollis in the USA, we have been busy working away while you’ve had your summer holidays. My class, 2KM and 2KJ is really looking forward to meeting your new sixth grade students!
I just love the look of your new blog and the wiki will be a great addition to the blog. You are an expert with green screens and I am determined to have a go at using this tool sometime soon!
I hope Ms Girard enjoys her time at your school and I wonder if she might get into blogging too.
I hope all of your new students had a wonderful summer and I look forward to reading about what they got up to.
Best wishes,
Mrs M☀rris
Mrs. Morris,
All of you have definitely been busy at work. I’ve enjoyed catching up on your blog over the course of the summer.
I hope to use our wiki more with screencasts this year, providing students with tutorials of topics we’ve covered that they can watch at home to reinforce concepts. I think using Jing in class will provide a lot of great opportunities to share concepts with students as well as to check for understanding.
I’m determined to make sure my new teaching partner gets into blogging. I haven’t met her yet but I will definitely be pushing for it!
Looking forward to a new year of blogging with you.
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery
Dear Mr. Avery,
I love the new blog template, the wiki, and the incredible green wall! Did you paint it? Not only will you always be ready, but it is also a great visual reminder of the possibilities! Love it!
Yes, summer is coming to an end. We start school one week from today. I’ve been in my classroom a few times, but I have a lot of work to do before we start!
I had a wonderful summer filled with sunshine, swimming, and aloha! As you know, for my birthday I went on a special trip to Hawaii. One of the best parts about it was getting to swim with sea turtles! They were so big, yet incredible gentle. Watching them maneuver around and “fly” through the water was magnificent!
Looking forward to following you and your new class this year!
Your friend,
Mrs. Y♥llis
California
Dear Mrs. Yollis,
I only ruined one pair of shorts in the process! It turned out to be a much larger task than I thought it would be and still have one more coat of paint to put on it but I know it will be great for the new year!
It looked like you had an incredible birthday adventure. I know my students from last year will be so excited to visit those posts when I tell them about it.
Good luck getting ready for next week! Those students will be very lucky to have you.
Sincerely,
Mr. Avery