Dear fifth graders,
Can't believe I will be back in Massachusetts tomorrow! The cold will certainly be a shock. But it's always good to be home. I miss you all.
Last night I went to San Francisco's Chinatown. They have a large community of Chinese Americans here. The architecture is very cool and there are a lot of shops and restaurants.

I had a nice last day today. I went to the conference this morning. I feel so lucky to have come here-I learned so much and talked to people from all over the world. I feel lucky to have been able to talk to the scientific community about the importance of science for elementary students- and that kids love science and are great student scientists!
This afternoon I went to a couple of art museums. Here I am with a very famous statue.

 Then on to the California Academy of Sciences- where the Aquarium is. It was beautiful. They have a big rainforest exhibit with butterflies, birds, and lots of those colorful frogs.They had a "green" roof  you can go up on. It was very cool.

 Finally a walk to the Japanese Tea
Garden for a cup of tea.

I am looking forward to seeing all of you. Have a great weekend- play outdoors!
Ms. Bennett

Hi 5B and 5C,
A nice sunny day today in San Francisco! Nice for me and the sea lions!

My presentation went well; it was a little scary up there. Everyone laughed at my jokes- that is the most important thing!

The convention center is named after George Moscone, a former mayor of San Francisco. He worked hard for equal rights for all - including gay people. He was assassinated by another politician.It was very tragic.

I keep forgetting it is Christmas time- the weather is warm and flowers are blooming. I did see the Christmas tree at Union Square- They were working on the lights. Maybe I'll try to fit in a little shopping!

Love ya-  Ms. Bennett

Greetings Mars Researchers!
I had a really exciting day here in San Francisco! I went to a presentation by one of the scientists working on the Mars Rover project. He told us all about the exploration of the rim of the Endeavour crater. Some of the rocks show definite signs that there was water in that area- probably in the form of hot springs or steam vents from below the surface. It was so cool. How do you think they know that a rock may have been exposed to water?
You can read all about it at this website- http://thesop.org/story/20121205/nasa-opportunity-rover-robot-completes-walkabout-on-mars-crater-rim.html

It was a bit rainy and foggy, but I did walk down to Fisherman's Wharf , a famous San Francisco landmark.

There are all these sea lions that hang out on the docks. They were very funny, pushing each other off and honking at each other.
You can also see Alcatraz Island, the famous prison.

It looked spooky in the fog! After this I thought the appropriate place to have lunch was....

I really enjoyed reading your comments. San Francisco is a little farther than 1000 miles!
I'll leave you with one more famous SF landmark- Cable Cars!

I'll write more tomorrow- Miss you all!
Ms. Bennett

Sunday in San Francisco

Hi fifth graders!
Hard to believe I'm so far away from all of you! I had a fun first day- walked a lot!!
It was really rainy this morning- then the sun came out. It was a beautiful 65 degrees.

I checked into the conference. The conference center is really big. It is actually three buildings.
The name is the Moscone center- I'll tell you more about that later.
Then I walked to the ferry building down by the San Francisco Bay. It is beautiful. They set up an ice skating rink for the holidays. It was funny to see a skating rink surrounded by palm trees!

People were selling things and there were street musicians. It was very festive.

Have a Happy Monday and I miss you all. It is only 8:30 PM here but it is 11:30 in Massachusetts- way past my bedtime!

your friend,  Ms. B