Mrs. Becker’s Student Blog

Currently Obama has sent more troops to Afghanistan. By next summer he plans to send 30,000 additional U.S.A. troops. This conflict is eight years old. Right now there are 69,000 troops at war. By next summer the will be 99,000 total troops in Afghanistan. By this Christmas we will have spent 30 billion dollars for all the new troops sent for the first year only! Obama then concluded his speech by talking about a three month long war strategy review. Hopefully we will win!!!

Who do you think will win the war?

By: Sydney and Andres

2008 was a terrible year for our economy. The stock market went down 38.5% ,which is the largest decrease in 30 years ! Also in that 30 years the stock market has only gone down four times . Many people are feeling much better about the economy . The government has put a lot of money into the stock market .Some other good things are that the stock market is up 22% . With all that said , all is still not well . With unemployment rate is at an recent all time high in October , of almost ten percent . Clearly there are a lot of people who are experiencing very hard times. With Thanksgiving around the corner we should all be very thankful for what we have . For every ten families you know on average are unemployed. During this holiday season , you should think about this .

What can you do to help these families ?

By: Emily and Collin

Refrences : wikipedia.org/wiki/s&p_500 Google CNN

The World Cup is the biggest event in soccer. Right now we are going to tell you some information about the World Cup 2010.

The Fifa World Cup 2010 is going to be in South Africa. The official mascot of the World Cup is Zakumi. Zakumi stands for South Africa and kumi, which means ten.

The most recent World Cup was in 2006 and Italy won first place and France won second. The World Cup happens every four years, thats why we have it in 2010,not this year. In South Africa, there are a total of ten stadiums.

Whats your favorite sport?

Sources: www.fifa.com, www.somsoccer.com

Written by : Aidan H. and Grace S.

Just recently someone attacked Fort Hood, Texas. Fort Hood is located just north of Austin and it is a  military base. The suspect killed 13 people and injured 30. It was really unfortunate because the soldiers staying there were going to return to war soon. Police think that Nidel Malik killed the soldiers because he was on campus and  he said he was stressed to his friend. Nidel was an army major and it was suprising that he did it.

The 2007 picture provided by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences shows Nidal Malik Hasan when he entered the program for his Disaster and Military Psychiatry Fellowship. Authorities said he went on the killing spree at Fort Hood, Texas which left 13 people dead. (AP Photo/Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences)
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Why would Nidel Malik shoot his fellow soldiers?

By Margaret M. and Michael A.

Resources: ABC news, newspaper, and Sunday Morning

Boy Missing: Wichita Falls, Texas
Evan Trembly, 15 is missing. He has been missing for three
weeks now. He is one of many Amber Alerts. If you see him or any other Amber Alerts please contact
authorities or he could be missing for the rest of his life.
Amber Alerts are right now very high so please help the thousands of mothers and fathers recover from their grief and help find their children

What would you do if it were you?

Summary by Ryan

Info and picture by Sarah

Picture from  HelpfindEvanTrembley@yahoocom

The movie A Christmas Carol is coming out on November 6th 2009. It runs for about 96minutes.

The movie is about an old man who hates Christmas. He encounters the ghost of his dead business

partner. Then he finds some Christmas spirit in the end.The main characters are Scrooge and the three ghosts

of Christmas.The setting of the story is in a small village and it is near Christmas time.

by: Lucy Z. & Matthew B.

Swine flu germs up close.

A popular subject at school that everyone is talking about is swine flu.But is it as serious as it seems? Well for older people above the ages of 25 it is not. This is because the virus is a young people sickness. How do you prevent your self from getting this sickness? Well as, probably everyone knows wash your hands.Also when someone coughs the particles travel in the air and get you sick from a radius of 10 feet away. One more way to prevent this virus is to get the vaccine . About 40% of people do not get the vaccine because they think it is not safe . 60% decide to get the vaccine .

Do you think the swine flu is a threat?

By: Collin D. and Emily K.

Refrences: CNN , 60 Minutes, and urg.york.ac.uk

Congrats, 5th graders!  You’ve made it to Mrs. Becker’s blog!  Take a look around.  You will find many interesting things here.  This is the first post of the 09-10 school year.  Soon you will be using this site to leave comments or posts you wrote.  Check it out!

I had the great fortune to travel to Italy this summer with a good friend.  We spent one week there, and we visited the cities of Florence, Rome, and the Cinque Terra (5 tiny cities nestled closely together along the Western coast).  It was beautiful!  There is incredible art in Florence, incredible history in Rome, and incredible beauty in Cinque Terra.  Here are a few pictures!

This first picture is of the Florence skyline.  THe large domed building is the Duomo, a historic church and art museum.

The next picture is of David, one of the most famous sculptures ever created.  It was made by Michelangelo.

In Rome, I saw St. Peter’s Basilica, the Colosseum and ate some good food.  I love pizza!

While I visited the Cinque Terra, I relaxed, went hiking and kayaked.  What did you do this summer?