Can you guess where this picture was taken?  If you said a McDonald’s you are correct!  This picture was taken at a McDonald’s in Belgium when I was there in 2003.  They had many of the same things on the menu that you would see here.  Instead of the Dollar Menu, they had the Euro Menu.  There were some things on those menus that were unusual like a fruit cup, a salmon sandwich, a ground lamb sandwich.  Each country tends to have things that are more popular in that country, a well as your typical 1/4 Pounder, McNuggets, etc.

I don’t know what it is about this picture but I get such a laugh out of it every time I see it!  This is the Stravinsky Fountain in Paris, near the Centre Pompidou.  The fountain is full of silly sculptures but this one is my favorite.  It seems so inappropriate in a classy city like Paris that someone would create a sculpture of lips and have water coming out of them like they’re giving someone the raspberry.  Do a little research on Le Centre Pompidou here http://www.junior.centrepompidou.fr/ and see what you can find out.  It’s a fascinating place from the outside of the building to the things are on display inside. 

For those who want to do some extra credit and make some powerpoint projects, this might be something good to research!

I’m sorry to say that 6th grade students are not invited on the Québec City trip.  This is a 7th and 8th grade trip.  It gives you something to look forward to next year!  I’m so happy to hear the positive comments from students who went last year.  I know they loved it but seeing it in print means a lot to me!

Some students turned in work that they say they worked on together, and the answers were identical.  The papers were math related and they had to do the math to solve a puzzle at the end.  THese students not only had the same correct answers but they also had the same incorrect answer.  People don’t usually make the same computation errors when solving basic math problems, so it is obvious that one student did the work and the other just copied, not realizing the answers were wrong.  Why do you think this bothers me?  What do you think about this?

Melun is the town in France where Madame Boyle, French teacher at DY, will spend the school year teaching English!  This is a picture I found of the center of Melun at Christmas time.  It looks very pretty!  Madame Boyle is enjoying herself but she spends a lot of time working on work for her classes.

  Québec City, here we come!!! This is a picture of the border between Vermont and Canada- where we enter Québec.  Our trip for 2010 was approved tonight by the school committee.  The brief details are:  Memorial Day weekend:  May 27, 28, 29 30 2010.  Open to 7th and 8th grade French students at Mattacheese and Wixon.  Details will be given at an information meeting at Wixon on Monday, September 14th.  Stay tuned for details!

I can’t believe it’s already time to go back to school, but it is!  Tomorrow, mardi, is our first day back.  This year, I am in a new classroom in a completely different part of the building.  That will take some getting used to!  A  lot of teachers had to change rooms and I’ve seen a few accidentally go back to the wrong room after they’ve been in the office.  It will be interesting!

I am excited about the start of the year because it’s always fun to see everyone after the summer.  And I LOVE to meet the new 6th grade students that I will have!  We have some new students in 7th and 8th grade so that will add a little something to my classes as well.

We plan to go to Québec City again in May and on Wednesday we will present the trip to the school committee.  They usually have no problem approving it, so I am sure we will pass with flying colors and will be off and running to get that trip going right away.  Stay tuned!

Wherever you are, I hope your school year starts off well and that you are full of positive thoughts for the first weeks of school!

P.S.  I’ve almost reached 4000 visitors to my blog!!!!!