I got my cameras going and as the helicopter got closer to us (it was flying straight above the van) you could see soldiers sitting in it with their legs hanging out watching for any trouble. Next security vehicles came swarming in, and they were quickly followed by the astronauts. We all stated cheering and yelling.



Then their van stopped for a few minutes. Next it turned around and went back. The NASA person standing next to me had gotten a text message on her phone just before that and she showed it to me. It said that NASA engineers had discovered a problem with a heater that keeps the rocket fuel from freezing in space. Next we heard that they couldn't fix the problem right away and the space shuttle would NOT launch today.

We were all disappointed. Many people around me let out loud "OH NO's!" and others asked what was going on. You could see all the reporters and TV crews begin to scramble to get the story out.
So in the span of just a minute we all went from being excited and cheering and anticipating, to deep disappointment that this incredible experience was not going to happen today. We have since found out that it will be at least 3 days before it launches. Maybe it will launch on Wednesday when we launch our balloon!

Things can happen that disappoint us. Sometimes that disappointment can make us angry, frustrated and even fearful. But in my experience that disappointment often changes later. Things happen and we get to do what we missed later. Or because we couldn't get that or do that we get to do something else instead. Think about a time that you were disappointed about something you couldn't get or do, but later things worked out or you got over it. Write about a time that you were disappointed. Tell what you were disappointed about and what happened afterwards. 

I am disappointed, but I get to come back to school on Monday and work with you to launch a balloon into near space. That makes my disappoint much easier to take. I'll post photos I took of the helicopter and Astrovan and more. And I will probably blog here some more today.

Mr. Crosby

Also, I am still uploading photos and video clips to Flickr, so look at those when you get done with your writing. Channel 4 interviewed me this morning over my phone because the internet here was not working well, and I mentioned you were writing things I was sending you. If I can still get on the internet later, I will definitely post new things here. I did get a good picture of the spider they are sending up (they brought it back for us to look at - yeah!!!), and I will put that up on Flickr when I can.

Bye for now!

When the Endeavour Space Shuttle goes to space it will visit the International Space Station. Learn about the ISS here. Cut and paste important sentences out of the text and then re-write in your own words. andquot;See you here Thursday from andquot;The Cape!andquot;

Sorry I'm late! I tried my best. If you visit our Flickr site you will see photos I took today i Mrs. Parisi's class. Then write about the photo below! See you Monday!

Mr. Crosby

Click on the link below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36362146@N02/5497990010/

You are about to board a train. Where would you like these tracks to take you? Think of a place you'd like to go and tell the story getting there on the train!

Fifth-grade Practice Prompt #2:andnbsp;It's always a pleasure to give and receive gifts. Sometimes the gift is a present. Sometimes the gift is something someone does for you or someone else. What is the best gift you have ever given or received? Tell about a time you gave or received a gift and why that gift was important to you.

Update 5/30/2010 -andnbsp;This is about how high the balloon went when it popped:andnbsp;107,096 Feet ORandnbsp;1,285,152 Inches ORandnbsp;35,698.667 Yards ORandnbsp;20.283333 Miles OR

3,264,286.1 Centimeters ORandnbsp;32,642.861 Meters ORandnbsp;32.642861 Kilometers

UPDATE 5/24/2010 - WE FOUND OUT TODAY THAT A LARGER BALLOON WILL BE USED, SO OUR HIGH HOPES SHOULD GO OVER 100,000 FEET (30,500 METERS) - thats almost 20 miles high!

We have andldquo;High Hopesandrdquo; for our school, community and the world. We also are part of a project to send a high altitude balloon that will include a andldquo;payloadandrdquo; we get to build with a camera that will snap a photo every 5 seconds for the over 2 hours it will take to float up to over 80,000 feet. That is over 15 miles! We will also monitor temperature and other readings.

We thought it would be cool to include our andldquo;High Hopesandrdquo; as part of the payload so they really will be andldquo;High Hopes!andrdquo; It turns out we have room to include everyones' andldquo;High Hopesandrdquo; and we want to include YOUR andldquo;High Hopesandrdquo; too!

Just before we launch our balloon on May 27, 2010, we will copy all the comments you leave on this post with your own andldquo;High Hopesandrdquo; to a CD or DVD and send them up with ours. That way your andldquo;High Hopesandrdquo; will actually be raised up really, really high too!

We are doing other activities too. We are learning about lighter than air balloons, air pressure, the atmosphere and more. We have already written blog posts on this blog that include videos we produced about the science involved in balloon flight. In addition we have a wiki page we are designing to share our learning and news about our project. Here is a link. We also have photos from our classroom learning and will include photos from the balloon flight on our class Flickr page.

We want to thank teachers and students from The University of Nevada, Reno, for supporting and helping us with this project.

So if you or your class would like to participate, just leave your andldquo;High Hopesandrdquo; in the comments on this blog post. We will do the rest.

Leave your comment in a form something like this:

I live in (Your City and Country) and my andquot;High Hopesandquot; for my school, community and the world are andhellip;

Teachers note - it you'd rather have your students write more than this ... say an essay or whatever feel free to do so - if they can post it as a comment we are open to that!

So click the comment link on this blog post and send us your andldquo;High Hopesandrdquo; right away!

Here are some samples of our own andldquo;High Hopesandrdquo; to give you some examples:

I live in Sparks, Nevada, USA and my High Hope for the world is to keep the world safe and a better place to live.

I live in Sparks, Nevada and my High Hope for the world is education for the kids that don't have a school to learn in.



I live in Sparks, Nevada and my andquot;High Hopesandquot; for the world include all people to stop violence and live in peace. But my Highest Hope for the world is to stop hunger and give people food.

I live in Sparks, Nevada, and My andquot;High Hopesandquot; for school include graduating high school and working hard to improve my grades. But my Highest Hope for school is to graduate college and get a good job that I like.

I live in Sparks, Nevada, and my andquot;High Hopesandquot; for my community include police because they keep us safe, hospitals because they can heal and fix the injuried and schools so we can graduate school.

I live in Sparks, Nevada and my High Hope for the world is ending homelessness because it's kind of sad that someone has no roof over their head.

Next, say something positive about what they wrote or the picture that might accompany the post, like, andquot;I like how you described your cat. I have one too.andquot;

Then ask them a question like: andquot;My cat is white, what color is your cat?andquot;

Edit it and post it to their site.

Have fun and MAKE THEIR DAY!

Leave it fairly simple like that,andnbsp;after-all they are 1st graders.

andnbsp;

Winners name here

Congratulations! You are my blog post of the week award winner!

I have been looking for great student blog posts all week. I found several good ones, but I decided yours was the best!

_____________________________________

The reason I chose this post was andhellip;

I also liked andhellip;

My favorite part of this post is andhellip;

I really liked how you andhellip;

__________________________________________

Again, congratulations for being my winner this week!

andnbsp;

Your first name andnbsp;

Like we talked about the other day, we have already come so far in our writing, posting to our blogs, knowing how to get to certain things through our wiki. Seeing these older students being able to do what WE want to be able to do is very exciting! I'm really looking forward to how our learning will change!andnbsp;

Be good, work hard, I'll see you Monday!

Mr. Crosby

Tell what you did for the 4th of July, OR tell about a movie you've seen or would like to see, OR write about something going on in the news (like Iran or Michael Jackson or anything else). Even write about a post you think others should write about and then comment on each other's.andnbsp;

Bye for now!

andldquo;My Blog post of the week of 2-20-09andrdquo;

During our class discussion about what andquot;well writtenandquot; means, you said: Uses proper English and punctuation, good spelling (at least), explains well and describes well, shows doesn't tell (as much as possible).

Then on Friday we will each revisit those posts to select our post of the week. Once selected we will post a comment on that person's post explaining to them that this is your winner and ALL the reasons why.andnbsp;

andnbsp;

andnbsp;

Remember, andquot;show don't tellandquot; and have fun!

andnbsp;

andnbsp;

andnbsp;

Now your job is to write a post expressing your concerns to the presidential candidates. Explain what each of your important issues are, why they are important to you and why they should be important to the next president.

andnbsp;

Be persuasive enough and maybe you'll have some influence on the decisions the next president makes!

andnbsp;

educationletters08

andnbsp;

andnbsp;

AS ALWAYS! - Proofread, edit, revise ... when you're sure ... post it.

andnbsp;

andnbsp;

When I woke up this morning and looked outside I noticed that there is a park and people were walking and excersizing and playing badminton there. If I get a chance I will put a photo or 2 on our Flickr page so you can see it. Here is your writing assignment for today.

Being in a place you are not familiar with can be kind of scary. You don't know people and customs and who you can talk to. Many of you have been a new student in school or have moved to a new place. Maybe, like Mr. Crosby you have gone on a trip to somewhere you don't know. Write about a time you were in an unfamiliar place or a new place, what was it like? What was scary? What was different? What happened?andnbsp;

I've got to go. They need me to go some where. I'll try to write again soon!!!

Mr. Crosby

andnbsp;

andnbsp;

andnbsp;

andnbsp;