Hi kids!

Right now I am sitting in an airport in New York.  I will be home later today. 

Last week I was in Jordan.  I had never been to Amman and it was huge! But I like Nablus better.

So, one day I went to Wadi Mujib.  Wadi Mujib is this really cool river by the Dead Sea in Jordan and you walk, swim, and climb up the river.  It was awesome and you get really, really wet.  Here are some pictures of Wadi Mujib.

At one point they tie you to a rope and pull you up a really big waterfall.

I will write again after I get home and put up pictures of where I live.  See you guys and keep sending me emails and messages on Facebook.

Mr. Greg

Swimming!

 Today Mr. John and I went to Battir, a small city close to Bethlehem.  We started walking around the mountains for hours.  We were very lucky when we found Ein Hawiya.  So we decided to go for a swim.

Mr. John loves the water.

The water was coming out of  a scary cave.

I would only put my feet in because it was too cold.

Read over the summer

Dear Students and Parents,

Our class has done a great job this year and I'm really proud of everyone.  This has been a great year and I'm really happy that I came back to teach at PBS.  Unfortunately, I won't be coming back to teach next year.  I'll be helping the school from America and hopefully I'll be back to visit soon.

Even though I will be gone, I want to help the students as much as I can.  All of the kids improved a lot this year and it is time for them to really get into reading.  Reading English books is the best way for them to get better with English, and it will help them a lot to be reading during the summer and at home.  If the students are often reading English books, it will help them more than anything else.

There are a few places to get English books.  There is a very good English bookstore in Ramallah called Sharbain's.  They have a lot of books, and they can also order books.  Their website should be ready in a month.

If you are traveling to Amman, there are some great bookstores there.  I have made a list of them with their phone numbers.

I understand that it is hard to find English books in Palestine, and it is also difficult to find books that are good for the students and that they will like.  Any English book would be great, but I've made a list of great books that the students might like.

If you have any questions, or ever need help from me or to help the students with anything, you can email me at petersongap1987@yahoo.com. 

I will also put up videos, stories, and be writing on the blog at least once a week during the summer.

The blog is http://greg3rdand4thgrade.blogspot.com/


Sincerely,

Greg Peterson




Where to Find Books

Sharbain's Bookshop Company ( شاربين مكتبة شركة )

Sharbain's Bookshop is a great place with very nice people.  It is at Clock Roundabout (ساعة دوار) in Ramallah and their phone number is 970-2-295-3495.

There are very nice and helpful at Sharbain's.  If you want a book, then you can ask them and they can get it for you.

Book Stores in Amman

Readers Bookshop.  Cosmo, Seventh Circle. 06-582-8488.
Prime Megastore Bookshop.  Barakeh Mall, Sweifyeh. 06-581-1204
Jabal Tareq Bookshop. Mecca Mall, Khalda. 06-551-4679
The Good Bookshop. Jabal Amman. 06-461-3939
Titles Bookshop. Abdoun. 06-592-4130.

Book Ideas

The 99
    A great comic book series by Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa about Islamic superheroes.  You can get the first one
    free and buy the others from their website.  I can also try to email you the ones I have. 
    http://www.the99.org/
Poppy by Avi
    A family of mice live on a farm and they are trying to move to a new home.
The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Catling
    A greedy boy named John Midas loves chocolate, and after finding some magic candy, everything his
    mouths touches becomes chocolate.
Bunnicula by James Howe
    In a small town there is a vampire bunny that sucks the juice out of vegetables.
The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey
    A series of books about two fourth graders and their superhero principal who is Captain
    Underpants.
Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
    A pig named Wilbur is saved from being killed, and he becomes best friends with a spider named
    Charlotte.
The BFG (The Big Friendly Giant) by Roald Dahl
    The story about a girl named Sophie and the BFG, a big friendly giant.
Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl
    A fox named Mr. Fox, has to steal chickens and turkeys to feed his family, but the farmers he steals  
    from are not happy.
Matilda by Roald Dahl
    Matilda is girl with special powers, she can do things with her mind.  But she has very mean parents
    and the principal at her school is evil.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
    A series of books about a boy named Greg Heffley, who is picked on by his brother a people at
    school.
Dragonbreath by Ursula Vernon
    Danny Dragonbreath is the only dragon that goes to school with lots of other animals.
Jeremy Thatcher Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville
    Jeremy Thatcher finds a strange shop where he buys an egg.  After taking care of the egg he finds
    out that it's a dragon egg.
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
    A boy finds a poor dog, and works hard to buy it and save it from the mean
    person that owns it.   
Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
    Short stories about students at a very crazy school with very strange
    teachers.
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM
    Mrs. Frisby tries to get the help of some rats from a laboratory to save her home.

PARTY TOMORROW

We have our party tomorrow.  Bring food and put it on my desk in the teacher's room in the morning.

Bring Books Back

If you have any English reading and library books, you need to bring them back to school this week.

The Last Week

We have a party on Thursday.  Bring food and drinks.  It will be a lot of fun.  We will play games, eat, and watch a movie.

Also I told the students today that I won't be back next year.  It has been a great year and I really loved teaching this class.  I will be writing on the blog for the summer and I have some reading for the students that I will give them later in the week.

You can keep on practicing the spelling words.  We will have a quick spelling test on Thursday and then we will have our party.

Writing

We edited and rewrote our essays today.  Some students need to finish it tonight.

If anyone want to have the fifth Spiderwick Chronicles book to read of the summer, they need to bring 10 shekels into class this week.  It's a really good book and it's good to keep on reading during the summer.

Keep on studying the spelling.