PenPals

Dear Mr. Darson's Class, Thanks for the class picture. When we get ours taken, we will send you one also. Here are some answers to your questions.

It doesn't always snow, but the snow comes every once in awhile. It especially comes between December and March. Our playground is a regular size playground in America. Sadly, we don't know the dimensions, but after it stops snowing we could go out and measure it for you!

What you call "college" we call middle school. We are only in school 7 hours and 45 minutes. What grade is your highschool?

Our class gets 2 different recesses, one 20 minute recess and one 15 minute recess in the afternoon. On Wednesdays we get out one hour and 35 minutes earlier at 2:10PM for teachers to have planning time together.

Tag is where you have a person who goes around chasing people and tries to touch them. After they are touched, they become the person who is "it". Kickball is where you're on a baseball field, but you use a ball that looks like a basketball only softer to kick. The first person up kicks the ball and runs to first base as fast as he/she can go.

Now we have some more questions for you.

Do you have a holiday about your history like our Thanksgiving? What do you like to eat? Because you live in France, do you eat french fries and french toast? Where do students eat their lunch - in the classroom or in a cafeteria? Do you use wooden or mechanical pencils at school? Do you have classes for kids who are gifted and talented? In class, do students use binders to hold all of their important papers? Do you have marker boards and/or a Promethean Board? Does your country have states like the United States does? We have 50 to learn about! Does your school have kids from other countries in your class? If so, what countries?

We are out for Christmas Break from December 23 - January 6th. When is your break?

We want to wish all of you Happy Holidays! Sincerely, Mrs. Fulka's 5th Grade Class

Dear Mrs Fulka's class,

The population of Saint-Beauzire is about 2000 people.

« CM1 » means « Cours Moyen 1ère année » (« Middle Class, 1st year ») and « CM2 » means « Cours Moyen 2ème année » (« Middle Class, 2nd year »).

We are in school for 7 hours and 45 minutes a day. We start at 8:45 AM and we finish at 4:30 PM. We can go to a day care center until 6:30 PM.

« Collège » comes from the Latin word « collegium » which means « gathering ». For us, it's the name of our « middle school » ; our after highschool education is called « université ».

We listen to the same kinds of music as you, except country music.

Can you explain what tag, kickball, mushball and tackle football are ?

We don't celebrate Thanksgiving but we have read a text about it. Did you all eat turkey ? Was there a parade in your town ? Did you see the president with the turkey on TV ? Do you know what the turkey becomes after the pardon ? How long is your Thanksgiving holiday ? We saw your video, thank you. How long did it snow ? You have a large recess field. Do you know its dimensions ? How long is recess time for you ? We have 30 minutes a day.

Hope to year from you soon,

Mr. Darson's class

Dear Mr. Darson's Class, It's very exciting to be pen pals with you guys. Our school, Ivy Stockwell Elementary, is in a little town called Berthoud that is located in the state of Colorado. Our country, the U.S.A. is in North America. We have 31 students in our class, not including our teacher. We have a few questions to ask you:

How many kids are in your class? What town is your school located in? What do kids do for fun in your town? What is the name of your school and what grades attend there? What sports do kids play at your school?

We hope you'll write back to us soon, Sincerely, Mrs. Fulka's 5th grade class

Lori Fulka 5th Grade Teacher Ivy Stockwell Elementary School 970-613-6138 fulkal@thompson.k12.co.us Children are our future.

Dear Mrs Fulka's class,

We like being your pen pals very much too ! We are going to answer your questions. There are 25 students in our class : 6 students in "CM1" (4th grade) and 19 students in "CM2" (5th grade). Our school is located in Saint-Beauzire, a little town in the center of France, near a big city called Clermont-Ferrand. To have fun, we can go to the "city-stade" where we play soccer (we call it football), basketball, handball, table tennis... We also play "pétanque" : we must throw a small heavy metallic bowl and try to reach a very small bowl. The name of our school is "Ecole publique de Saint-Beauzire". In our school, kids are 3 to 11 years old. Next year, the 5th grade students will go to junior high school (we call it "collège"). Is it the same for you ? In our school, during PE, we play golf, rugby, tennis, hanball, soccer, badminton, hockey, and we practice athletics, archery, gymnastics and climbing. We also have questions for you : Who is Ivy Stockwell ? What do kids do for fun in your town ? What sports do kids play at your school ? Do you wear uniforms in your school ? (We don't.) What is your measurement system ? We use metric system.

See you soon, Mr Darson's class