One day my class (Room 3) went on a field trip to the planetarium at the SBNHM. After we went to the planetarium my dad was a driver, so he showed my class the dioramas he made at the SBNHM. He told us about working with a group of people. He worked with scientists and artists mostly. He showed us how he made the dioramas. Then we drove back to the classroom.
By Isabella

Sideway Stories from Wayside School was a wonderful book for Room 3, but not for the teacher though. It is a book where the teachers are mean to the kids in the story and are very rude. Here is an example. A kid does something bad and the teacher turns that kid into an apple. But after that, the yard duty comes in and eats the apple, which is really Mr. Dorf the teacher. The book tells about the new teacher, Mr. Jules, and every student in the class. I would recommend Sideways Stories from Wayside School. It is a series.
In Winn Dixie, there is a girl and she found a dog in a grocery store near her house. It is really a great book. Next, her mom left her and the girl was only 10 years old, and she asked her dad to tell her ten things for each year she was alive. Number 1 was: she burned everything, even water. Number 2 was: she loved you dearly. Number 3 was: she hated being a preacher's wife. Number 4 was: she made everybody laugh at all of her jokes. Number 5 was: she had blonde hair. Number 6 was: she loved dogs and cats and living things. She loved animals and plants. Number 7: she loved to read. Number 8 was: she was nice to everybody. Number 9 was: she loved to drink. Number 10 was: she was exactly like you. Those were the 10 things. It is a great story. I would recommend it. Oh, I forgot to tell you that the dog is afraid of thunderstorms. This is how the dog got its name Winn Dixie- because she found him in the grocery store named Winn Dixie.
By Katie and Stevie

When we had Fraction Action, we went to all the 2nd grade classes and did a different thing on fractions. First we went to Mrs. Busby's, then Mrs. Parker's, and after that, Mrs. Sullivan's. In Mrs. Busby's room we did Fraction Flags. In Mrs. Parker's room, we did Fraction Sundaes. In Mrs. Sullivan's we did Fraction Bars. It was a great learning.
By Kelsey

Mrs. Seigel-Boettner has a ladybug collection. It was started when kids gave her little ladybug trinkets. She has ladybugs everywhere. She even has them on her bike, which she rides to school. Her collection includes plush, ceramics, plastic trinkets and notebooks.
By Kelly

The wheat started out as a little tiny, tiny seed. It turned into big stalks of wheat. After the wheat turned gold-brown, it was time to harvest it. A while later, some kids from another school came and taught us how to thresh the wheat. That is where you put the wheat in clean pillowcases and hit it with a stick called a threshing stick.
By Grace

Every Monday morning when you walk into Room 3, there will be about 20 tan books. They are our Monday journals. When we come back from the weekend, we get out journals and write about our weekend. We usually use one journal. When you get your journal back on Monday, you will have a letter from Mrs. S. -B. and she will ask you a few questions.
By Julia

I am going to tell you about our amazing famous people reports in Room 3. First we found out what person we were doing. After we picked our famous people, we started writing our rough draft note cards. Once we got to our final draft, we started typing, at SSR and Computers. We also did a drawing on Kid Pix Deluxe 3 in the computer lab, so I did a picture of Kobe Bryant. Once we finished our typing and our picture, they were ready to go on the wall, so Mrs. S-B pasted them up on the wall so everyone could look at our reports.
By Spencer

Mrs. Hauer shares the love of reading and books with all the students at Vieja Valley. Every week, we visit the library and Mrs. Hauer reads us a book. Then we go check out three books and the second graders get to check out two books. Mrs. Hauer helped Room 3 students find their endangered animal books and their famous people books. Mrs. Hauer also helps Mrs. Seigel-Boettner find books. When Mrs. S-B asked Mrs. Hauer if she could find some books on wheat, eggs, and potatoes, Mrs. Hauer found them. Mrs. Hauer is retiring this year so we all wrote her letters. She really liked it.
By Emerson

Mrs. Wootton is a kind person. She has been a helper at Mrs. S-B's class for a long time. Mrs. Wootton always helps with: penny stories, animal reports, famous person books, hanging our butterflies and more. Mrs. Wootton plays "pinch and a punch" with our class. The game is about the first of the month. The person who says it first wins. When the 3rd grade goes somewhere and 2nd grade can't go, Mrs. Wootton goes with the 3rd graders while Mrs. S-B stays with the 2nd graders. Mrs. Wootton and Mrs. S-B have been friends for a really long time. In our class, she helps mostly with the 3rd graders, but she helps the 2nd graders, too. Mrs. Wootton has brown short hair. When you meet her, you will never forget her because she is so generous and helpful. What I am going to miss about Mrs. Wootton is all the kindness she has in her heart.
By Jackie

Mrs. Seigel-Boettner is very generous, kind, helpful, respectful, honest, and cooperative. She loves to have fun. She is a great teacher. Mrs. Seigel-Boettner teaches second and third grade. I am in the third grade and have been with Mrs. S.B. for two years. On the first day of third grade, I was very shy. When I walked in the room and looked around, well what do you know? I saw the same teacher that taught me the year before. I asked if she was going to teach me again and she sure was!
By Jasmine

Every week we have computers with Mr. Stevens. We work with eMacs, which is a type of computer. We can go to Kid Picks, the Internet, a Hyperstudio stack, or anything else. We can type reports, stories, and print stuff out about what you are doing. We learn how to animate, make sound, make backgrounds, stickers, and more. If we need help we just raise our hand and Mr. Stevens will come and figure the problem out.
My favorite program is Kid Pix Deluxe 3 because you can draw stuff, animate it, and add sound to it. You can also make backgrounds and stickers too. I hope you will enjoy computers as much as I do.
By Clay

In music, we have a really cool teacher named Mr. Smith. We are always singing all sorts of songs that are really cool. We do recorder and a little while back we did the Spring Sing! I had so much fun in music.
By Aidan

When we were just about to find out who we had for Big Buddies, everyone wondered who they were going to get. It turned out that I got Annie. The next day, Friday, in our letters home, I wrote about Big Buddies and let me tell you, I did not leave out one bit! I will now tell you about big Buddies on this letter too. On our first Big Buddy meeting we tried to see how many things we had in common by writing our name in a circle so it looked like two circles with our names in them. In the middle was a circle for the things we both had in common. The things that I do go under my name, and the things that she does go under her name. It wasn't only the first meeting, it was my favorite!
By Hannah

On May 24, 2005, we had an authors' tea. I read my story and everybody was saying it was interesting. My story was 2 pages long and it took 50 minutes long. When we ere ding our stories my friend wrote 4 pages and he had good writing and good spelling too. That person was Spencer and my other friend had good writing too and that person is Clay.
By Ivan

Desks, desks,
We look inside.
All we see is
Papers aside.
Erasers on the left,
Paints on the right.
Hannah has letters in her desk,
Clay likes to make a mess.
But my desk is the best,
Because that's where I express.
By Sam

At the playground you can play handball, champs, prisoner ball, jump rope, soccer, dodge ball, nation ball, doctor and spy, baseball, and kickball. My favorite games are champs and soccer. At the playground, I see people make up games. I am good at nation ball. When it's raining we can't go to recess. I used to play four square. There have been lots of accidents on the playground. At the playground there is sand, black top, and field. Almost every game includes running. At the playground, we see hawks.
By Nicholas

When we started the animal reports, first we wrote Description, Habitat, Living Habits, and Endangered on cards. Then we started to write the animal reports on a piece of paper, not a card. My description was two pages and the rest were one page. We did dioramas of the animals we did our report on. First, we got a picture of its habitat. Then we tried to find something similar to the plants in the picture.
By Angelica

So this is how it goes. We do 5 days of school. On Friday, we write something about the week. We do letters home to our mom or dad, or both at the same time. So we talk about Monday, Then Tuesday and how great a week you had. Then we do a signoff. Sometimes we do sincerely, or from. On holidays we do different signoffs. Then we do green binders. We put other things in our green binders other than our letters home.
By Jesse

I am going to tell you about the fun games, and the cool prizes at Raise the Roof. At the beginning of Raise the Roof, people say a 5-minute pledge. After the pledge we had as much fun as we wanted. I like to play a game that is called Tug-o-War. It's a good suggestion.
After we had 30 minutes of fun, we went in the cafeteria to put our tickets in for prizes. There are prizes like floats, and video games and all sorts of cool things. I've never won something in Raise the Roof, but you can I bet.
A few weeks after Raise the Roof, Ms. La Corte sang some songs on a horse. On one song, the horse pooped and everyone laughed at it, even me. Have a happy year!
By Spencer

At school, the second graders organized a swap meet. I bought more than I sold. I sold about 5 things. I bought about 10 things. I bought a plane, an electric memory game, a cup cake, and some Yu-gi-oh cards. Mrs. Busby was the Swap Meet Queen. I got the plane from Ivan, the Yu-gi-oh cards from Sam S. and the cupcakes from Nicky C. I also got the memory game from Nicky. A lot of stuff was tempting, but I did not have enough money. I went in with 3 dollars and came out with 4. The third graders only got to buy things. I am glad I get to buy things next year. I already lost all of them except the memory game. I had lots of fun.
By Nicholas

Lunch, lunch, lunch, come on!
Stop doing math, the bell has rung.
Put away those books, we have only an hour of it.
Put away those pencils, oh not, we've run out of it!
Hooray, it's Friday.
School's almost out.
We have pizza for lunch,
That's something to cheer about.
When the meal is done,
We go out for some fun.
Play in the sand,
Listen to rock and roll bands.
Clay likes to play.
Chase likes to race.
In the garden, Grace likes to taste.
Jasmine jumps for joy.
Kelly likes jelly,
Hannah plays the piano.
Jackie can be whacky.
Nicholas likes to tickle us,

And Sam I am!
By Sam

Vieja Valley Joyous Jumpers is our school jump rope team. Our coach's name is Coach Caroline. On Tuesdays and Thursdays she helps us learn new tricks. When our team has performances, groups of kids do routines together. The team usually performs at schools. Caroline sells jump ropes for three dollars each.
By Kelly

Every day after lunch, we have SSR. Some people take AR tests. If you read a book with a blue dot, you can take an AR test. Some people partner read. If you want to partner read, you get a partner and the same book and find a quiet spot in the garden. When you are done, if it was a blue dot book, you could take an AR test.
By Stevie

Once in Room 3, we went to an assembly about Cub Scouts. We raised the American flag. I raised the flag last. Cub Scouts is a group that picks up trash and it is sort of a camp thing where you tie knots and climb rocks. Then we led the salute. We did bridging and the honest test and our fire ceremony. We always have dessert there. The uniform is cool. That's what I remember about Cub Scouts.
By Aidan

My mom drove Danny and I to school and I could not believe my eyes. Colored hair everywhere-purple, red, yellow and green! My friends looked like they were from another planet. We all laughed together as we made fun of each other's hair. There was a contest for the craziest hair of all in our class. It was really, really fun. Our winners were Hannah and Nicky. Mrs. Seigel-Boettner was a leprechaun with Ms. Geritz. Other teachers were really crazy and wild. The teachers that got first place were Mrs. S-B, Ms. Geritz and Mr. Carter. They each got $50.00 because they won 1st place. It was fun. Wild Hair Day is on of my favorite days of the year because everyone laughs and has fun and is crazy and wild at the same time on the same day and same place.
By Katie

P.E. rotations happen every Tuesday and Thursday from 10:00- 10:15 on the field and blacktop. The rotations are taught by the teachers. The groups all have a color. Then each teacher has a color of which group they have. Every two weeks the teachers switch activities. Before every P.E. rotation we stretch and run two laps around the field and blacktop area. Some of the most common activities are jump rope, basketball, nation ball and capture the flag.
My favorite P.E. rotation is nation ball. You play like this. Each team has equal teams with one ball on each side. The object of the game is to hit every one on your opponent's side of the court. If you get hit, then you have to go to your opponent's end on the court out-of-bounds line . Anyone can play the game and it's an exciting game. That is how you play nation ball. I hope you enjoy P.E. rotations.
By Clay

In art we usually sketch out what we are going to do before we paint or color it. One of the festivals that we have done is Empty Bowls. I went to the festival and I thought it was great. First you go and pick out a bowl and then you get soup in it, eat it, and then go play.
In art, many different projects are done. My personal favorites are the bird, the fruit bowls, and the clay endangered animals.
By Grace

My Room 3 friends are Krista, Julia, Kelly, Kelsey, Jackie, Stevie, Katie, Isabella, Angelica and Grace. Five of them are 3rd graders and five of them are 2nd graders. Krista, was in Mrs. Seigel-Boettner's class for two years. On her second year, she left Room 3 to travel around the world.
I have known Julia since kindergarten, and I am in 3rd gade so I have known her for four years. We are great friends. Kelly, the same story as Julia.
Isabella is funny, caring, fun to be with, and a great friend. Grace is funny, caring, fun to be with, and a great friend.
I have known Kelsey since preschool. We went to the same preschool called Starr King.
Jackie, I have known since first grade. We are best friends. Stevie, I have known since she moved to second grade. I like being her friend because she is very funny.
Katie, I like being friends with her because she is very funny and when our teacher asks us to pair up, Katie always wants to be with me. Angelica came to our school in January.
By Jasmine

Before winter 2004, my class had a pancake feed. In winter break, one of our best students would leave Vieja Valley. All of the cooks were dads! There were waffles, pancakes, pizza, muffins, melons, strawberries, maple syrup and even grapes. For drinks we had grape juice and cranberry juice. There were moms, except only the dads were cooking. Most of us wore Santa hats. Jacke, Stevie, and I sat next to each other. It was my favorite pancake feed ever! Krista is the one who would leave Vieja Valley to go on vacation. So that day we said bye to Krista.
By Isabella

What's that noise? Oh, that's our morning poem bell. I'll be talking to you about our morning poems. Well, every morning when we hear that bell, someone, like a student or a parent (possibly a teacher) will read a poem . Any kind of poem: A funny poem, a sad poem, a weird poem, an unreal poem, a welcoming poem, an unwelcoming poem, a nasty poem, an interesting poem, a scary poem, and much, much more. In Room 3, you can listen to poems and just rest and stop thinking. It is a great way to start your day. Sometimes you can even learn things like about nature and about feelings and more. On the calendar next to the front door, you can pick a date to read a poem. Anybody can sign up to read a poem. Even relatives can read a poem. Well, that's my morning poem page.
By Chase

In Room 3, we had monarch butterflies. We had four monarch butterflies, but we gave Mrs. Luft's class one and we gave Mrs. Geier one monarch butterfly. We let the ones we had go free. I think the other classes let them go. It was hard to get the monarchs out of the jar and Mrs. Woolf had to get a stick to get the monarchs out of the jar. We saw one come out of its chrysalis. Some people saw two come out of their chrysalises.
By Angelica

Penny stories are stories of your life. They go through when you were born to the year it is now. In the front of your penny story it will have a silhouette of your head and it says your name penny story. You also get to find pennies of every year you have been alive. Every page tells what you did that year, and then you draw picture. Usually penny stories are brown and gold. Mrs. S-B will probably read you the story of the 100 penny box. That gave her the idea of penny stories. Maybe she will give you a little gold bag for your pennies. Every year you add a penny on your birthday. I hope you have fun with penny stories. If you don't like to write, well, after you are finished with your penny story, you will like to write a lot. When you are done with your penny stories, they will turn into a book at Open House your parents and people will read your penny story that you made. Thanks for listening to me, and have fun!
By Jackie

We got eighteen eggs this year. Only 10 hatched. One was black and nine were golden. The oldest one flaps a lot.
Three eggs were dark tan and the rest were tan. Eight did not hatch.
They're in a blue, green, purple and yellow box. Windows are cut in every side.
They're really fluffy.
By Kelsey

One day I woke up and it was Halloween at school! When I got to school, everyone was psyched to see everyone's costumes. I was, too.
First we got on our costumes. Then we did pictures. Everyone was scary except some people were funny and just normal
I was a ghost. Clay was a Grim Reaper. Julia was the Statue of Liberty. Spencer was a skeleton with green bones. Everyone else was scary.
Then it was the parade, the best part. That is where everyone in the school went to the schoolyard and they shared their costumes. Everyone in the school walked around the schoolyard.

By Jesse

On Friday, May 20, we went to the zoo. We needed to find more then ten animals and me and Spencer, Hannah, Julia found more then eleven animals. After we went to find animals, it was one hour later. We went to a grassy area and we got to eat our lunches that we brought to the zoo. I brought pasta with cheese. After that, we went to a hill and we rolled down a hill. When we were done, we went back to look for more animals but the grass was itchy. After we rolled down the hill, Hannah's dad picked us up and we ate candy. But we needed to do a race. Spencer and me tied and we got another candy and I still won.

This year, we have had some amazing people in our classroom. We have had two visitors that work in the government. One of them was Lois Capps. (The other was Mayor Marty Blum.) The reason Lois Capps came is that I wrote to her and sent Flat Stanley along with the letter.
I'm going to tell you about Flat Stanley. The second graders read the first Flat Stanly book and then Mrs. S.-B. thought that we should do Flat Stanley. We did do it. Mrs. S.-B. thought that we should write to people in government.
Mrs. S.-B. cut out names of people in the government and put pieces of paper in a tin box. Then we picked who we were going to write to. There were a lot of people to write to. Here are some of the people we wrote: the president, people in the senate, the mayor and more.
We colored our Flat Stanleys and then we wrote the letter. We sent the Flat Stanleys off in the mail.
When I got the letter from Lois Capps, it said that she wanted to come and visit. She came to our classroom and we asked her some questions. It was great to have Lois Capps visit.
By Emerson

At our school, we have several gardens. We have two gardens in particular that Room 3 helps a lot in. One is called the pizza garden and the other is the ABC garden. We call one the pizza garden because at the end of the year we are going to make a pizza out of it. On the outside, there is wheat growing to make the crust. On the inside, there is all kind of different things. We have cucumbers, strawberries, carrots, parsley and more.
In the ABC garden, there are barrels that are alphabetized. In each barrel, there is a letter. Then different people or classes adopt a barrel and plant something that starts with the letter of the barrel. For example, in the S barrel you could plant strawberries.
Every Wednesday, we have Garden Club. All the lower grades can eat in the garden and after have the choice to stay and garden or go and play on the playground.
After people start to leave, two people go on the compost duty. We have a compost bin where you can put orange peels or a little leftover fruit or vegetables.
By Julia

On Valentine's Day, we had a big feast with heart shaped pizza and red crust. There was a lot of fruit, too. Then we got started on our really fun Valentine packets. The day before Valentine's Day, we made our bags with red, purple, pink and white with a paper bags. After math, we went our to recess. We all couldn't help thinking about when we put in our Valentines. It was also really hard for us because we had most of the Valentine bags up and some people had to finish them. Then we put in our Valentines. We also did a lot of Valentines packets. At the end of the day, we got to open our bags and eat all of our candy and food. It was really fun and exciting.
By Hannah

Vieja Valley School

Santa Barbara, CA 93110