What Happened Today? August 31st

Today's event happened 126 years ago.

On August 31, 1886, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Charleston, SC. The earthquake was felt as far as Boston and Chicago and over 100 people were killed. This was the largest recorded earthquake in the history of the southeastern United States.

Do you remember the earthquake we felt in Winston-Salem just before school started last year?

What Happened Today? August 30th

Today's event happened 45 years ago.

On August 30, 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the first African-American confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice. A judge on the Supreme Court is appointed by the President and remains a judge until they retire or die. Thurgood Marshall was on the Supreme Court for 24 years and then retired for health reasons.

Posts on Mrs. Staton's SuperStars may include links to external websites. Links to external sites are not under the editing control of the author of Mrs. Staton's SuperStars. Please ask that children use adult supervision when visiting websites outside of this blog, especially YouTube. While there are many great videos, please considering the ability for the public to post and comment on videos on YouTube.

What Happened Today? August 29th

Today's event happened 7 years ago.

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall near New Orleans, Louisiana as a Category 4 storm. Hurricane Katrina was the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States, killing 1300 people and causing $150 billion in damages.

Click here to see satellite images of the storm and pictures of the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.

Posts on Mrs. Staton's SuperStars may include links to external websites. Links to external sites are not under the editing control of the author of Mrs. Staton's SuperStars. Please ask that children use adult supervision when visiting websites outside of this blog, especially YouTube. While there are many great videos, please considering the ability for the public to post and comment on videos on YouTube.

What Happened Today? August 28th

Today's event happened 49 years ago.

On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his famous “I Have A Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. One of the famous quotes from his speech is this—“ I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

What do you think Dr. King meant by that statement? 

What Happened Today? August 27th

I am going to post an interesting event that happened in history for every day we are in school. I hope we can also add this to our morning announcements each day as well.  If possible, I will also include a link for more information or a picture.  Enjoy!

Today's event happened 129 years ago.

On August 27, 1883, in the island country of Indonesia, a volcano named Krakatau (pronounced like "crack-a-toe") erupted. Its explosion was heard 3,000 miles away and 36,000 people died. Indonesia has over 130 volcanoes, the most of any country in the world.  This volcano has erupted as recently as 2011.

Click here to see images of what this volcano looks like as it erupts.

Posts on Mrs. Staton's SuperStars may include links to external websites. Links to external sites are not under the editing control of the author of Mrs. Staton's SuperStars. Please ask that children use adult supervision when visiting websites outside of this blog, especially YouTube. While there are many great videos, please considering the ability for the public to post and comment on videos on YouTube.

Do you have all your school supplies?

The first day of school is 2 days away.  Do you have all your supplies?

Click here for the 5th grade list....remember I have a 3-ring binder for you.

See you on Monday!

Open House

I was so excited that EVERY SINGLE FAMILY came to Open House last night.  I am so looking forward to getting to know my new students and families as the year progresses.  Please save my blog's website as a favorite, because I will be updating this frequently, with posts about what our class is doing at South Fork.  You could also become a "follower" and the blog will send you a message when I have added a new post.

Feel free to leave a comment on any post. Just click on the word comment and it will take you to a new page. If you respond as "anonymous", please add your name at the end of the comment so I will know who wrote me.  You can also respond as "name", and it will allow you to put your name there.

Looking forward to the new school year and all it has to offer! I think we are in for a great 5th grade year!

It's the right day to be Left!

Today is Left-Hander's Day, a day to celebrate those who use their left hand.

Only about 8-15% of people are born left handed.  But don't think you are alone. Here are some famous people who are left handed.

• Baseball Great Babe Ruth
• Basketball star Larry Bird
• Actor Jim Carrey
• Actress Julia Roberts
• Actress Angelina Jolie
• Musician Jimmi Hendrix
• Prince William of England
• Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon
• Matt Groening, creator of the cartoon show The Simpsons
• Artist Leonardo da Vinci
• Musicians Mozart and Beethoven
• Scientist Albert Einstein

Several Presidents were left handed: Harry Truman, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush (father), Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama.

My husband, my father-in-law, and my uncle are left handed.

Are you left handed? Is someone in your family left handed?

Then today is all about you!

Cloud Pic of the Day--August 9th

Another beautiful summer sunset!

I just love how the sunlight is reflecting off these clouds. The picture just doesn't show how amazing this sunset truly was!

Have you been watching the Olympics?

One of the most exciting things to happen this summer have been the Olympics.  We've been watching a little bit of the action every day.  We watched the Opening Ceremonies to see how London would welcome the world to the games.  We've also been watching some of the high-profiled events, like the swimming races, gymnastics, diving, and beach volleyball. I even saw a few events I didn't know much about like archery and trampolines! I didn't even know jumping on a trampoline was an Olympic event, but apparently it is! So far the USA has won 63 medals (29 Gold, 15 Silver, and 19 Bronze)

Some of my favorite moments so far were watching the Ladies Gymnastics get the team gold medal, and seeing Gabby Douglas win the Individual All-Around gold medal (also for gymnastics). I enjoyed watching Michael Phelps become the most decorated medalist....22 medals overall, 18 were gold!

Have you and your family been watching the Olympics?

What's been your favorite part so far?

Cloud Pic of the Day--August 6th

My family and I were coming home from the fire station tonight and I could see that some storm clouds were brewing. I caught this picture from our driveway.

Pretty intense, but strangely enough, we barely got any rain, thunder, or lightning from this storm!

Cloud Pic of the Day--August 5th

Today is Sunday, and I always get up first so I can get cleaned up and start getting my family ready to go to church. Today, though I had to get up a little earlier so I could cook something to take to church for our special Breakfast Day.  I was letting our dog Dixie out into the backyard for her morning stroll and I noticed the sky looked pretty. From our backyard, it's hard to see clearly for all the trees, so I went quickly to the front yard and saw this.  What a beautiful morning sunrise!

Now would be a great time for a trip to the zoo!!

I just saw on our local news website that the NC Zoo has a new member! A female gorilla gave birth to a baby just this morning!  This is an exciting time for the zoo. The last time a baby gorilla was born, I was in 5th grade....1989!!  That was 23 years ago!  And another female gorilla is due to have a baby in November.

Want to see what this little cutie looks like?  Then click here!

Posts on Mrs. Staton's SuperStars may include links to external websites. Links to external sites are not under the editing control of the author of Mrs. Staton's SuperStars. Please ask that children use adult supervision when visiting websites outside of this blog, especially YouTube. While there are many great videos, please considering the ability for the public to post and comment on videos on YouTube.

Cloud Pic of the Day--August 3rd

Tonight we had to go out to the store. As I was loading my boys into the truck, I noticed this huge wall of clouds in the sky. It seemed as though these clouds covered almost the entire sky. I couldn't even get them all in the picture. I've never seen clouds look quite like this before. It was absolutely beautiful!

School Starts Soon!

It's already August.....hard to believe!  It seems as though it was yesterday that I was saying goodbye to my students that I had taught for two years.  Now I'm looking forward to a new group of 5th graders.  Our time together will begin on August 27th....only 24 days.  All the teachers will come back to work on August 20th.

This weekend is the annual tax-free weekend in NC, so this might be a good time to do some back-to-school shopping for clothes and supplies.

Click here to see our school system's generic supply list.

Click here to see what is considered "tax free".

If you are like me and don't care to get mixed up in the crazy crowds of shoppers, you can wait until Open House to get the supply list from me. Many stores have good sales other than this weekend as the start of school approaches. There are a few things on the generic list that I do not use in my classroom.  According to the district's web page, Elementary School Open House will be August 23rd from 5:30pm - 7:30 pm.

Cloud Pic of the Day--August 2nd

I didn't get a picture of the clouds yesterday. I was too busy celebrating with my husband for his birthday.

I did get a picture of the clouds today, just as the sun was peeking out.