The Tree is here! Each year, the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree brings thousands and thousands of tourists to New York City. This year's Norway spruce tree comes from Wallkill, NY, and stands 72 ft. tall. Called "Shelby" by the people where the tree has stood for many years, the 2018 tree will be decorated with 50,000 lights and crowned with a 900 pound Swarovski crystal star. The official lighting is November 28th. After the holiday season is over, the tree will be donated to Habitat for Humanity where the wood will be used to build homes. The Rockefeller Center tree has been a tradition since 1931.During the Great Depression, workers were constructing Rockefeller Center and decorated a tree, on Christmas Eve.

This year, 2018, Diwali or Deepavali, begins on November 6th and lasts for 5 days. It's a happy time of year and is the biggest holiday in the country of India. Practiced mainly by people of the Hindu faith, many other people enjoy taking part in the festive holiday season, too. During the holiday, there will be gift giving, lighting lamps(Dipa lamps) special sweet treats including Laddus(sweet wheat balls with nuts and fruits inside) and Karanjis (flour fried dumplings with coconut and sugar), praying, getting together with family and friends and fireworks to help welcome the new year. Deepawali means "festival of lights". Learn more about Diwali: Diwali

Marine Archeologists have discovered what is being called the world's oldest intact shipwreck ever found. The Greek trading ship dates back to about 400BC and was discovered in the Black Sea. Coils of rope were still found on the ship! Scientists say that there is little oxygen located at the depth the ship was located. Without oxygen, the ship didn't deterioration. The ship will remain where it was found so that future generations, with more advances in technology, can study the ship, too.

Photograph from Yahoo.com

There has been 88 constellations, or patterns of stars, in the sky, until now. NASA scientists, wanting to celebrate the discoveries made by the Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope, have mapped out 21 new star patterns. Unlike the 88 known constellations in the sky, you can't see these new constellations without using the powerful telescope. However, NASA has a new interactive website where you can go and see some of the new constellations including the Hulk, a obelisk(think Washington Monument), Godzilla, the Colosseum and the Eiffel Tower. Click here:New Gama-ray ConstellationsClick here to see the 88 constellations that you CAN see in the night sky(depending on which hemisphere you live).Constellations

Illustration from NASA

An asteroid recently got some visitors. The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency landed several robots onto the surface of an asteroid in an historic achievement. It is the first time that this has been done. The asteroid, Ryugu, which is about 180 million miles away from the Earth, has little gravity so the moving robots hopped around, traveling about 49 ft. with each movement. During their short life span(about 17 hours), the robots collected data and beamed it back to earth. It is hoped that the data collected will help scientist learn more about asteroids.

PAST NEWS STORIES

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"The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to compromise."FDR "If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest."(Ben Franklin) "You must be the change you want to see in the world."(Mahatma Gandhi) "School is a building that has four walls-with tomorrow inside."(Lon Watters) "We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we make."(Senator Ted Kennedy) "The purpose of life is a life of purpose." (Robert Byrne)
Special thanks to EducationWorld for letting me use this image of my "alter ego" as Mrs. "Waffenschmidt!

About Gail:

I have retired from teaching after 33 1/2 years in the classroom. Of that time, I taught Grade 6 Social Studies teacher for 31 1/2 years.I earned my BA in early secondary education with a concentration in social studies from SUNY Oneonta, New York, and my MST in social studies education from Binghamton University in New York. In 1988, I was awarded the Outstanding Elementary Social Studies Classroom Teacher of the Year Award from the New York State Council for the Social Studies. Additionally, in 1988, I was also awarded the Outstanding Elementary Social Studies Teacher of the Year Award by the National Council for the Social Studies. I am the author of 8 books for teachers and over 30 books for children(Purple Turtle Series by Aadarsh Publishing). In 2019, my new series of three books, "Odd History" will be published by Red Chair Press.

My work has appeared in most children's publications including:
Appleseeds,Scholastic's Super Science,Scholastic's Science World,Highlights for Children,Jack and Jill,National Geographic World, Ranger Rick, Cobblestone, Faces, Muse Magazine,Contact Kids, US Kids,Action Magazine(Scholastic),Girls' Life,Boys' Life,American Girl, Instructor,Creative Classroom,Middle Years,Time for Kids,Scholastic News,Scholastic News Zone, Time for Kids , Ask Magazine, Dig,Calliope, Cobblestone, FACES, Studies Weekly, Glo Adventurer, and more.

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