My Day at Slanesville Elementary

Just this Friday, I was at Slanesville Elementary with my friends again to share what I know about West Virginia!

Slanesville Elementary is located in Hampshire County, in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia! It is only about an hour away from where I live. A very well-known teacher, Mrs. Rae McKee, used to teach reading at this school. She became the West Virginia Teacher of the Year and the National Teacher of the Year! In fact, President George H.W. Bush came to their school to meet Mrs. McKee when she won!

Hampshire County!

A special newspaper story on Mrs. McKee

At my last school visit, I only met with second graders. This time, the Sugar Maple Friends and I spoke to all of the students in the school! It was a very busy day, and I was ready to hibernate when I finished speaking to my last class, but the students were very polite and seemed to have a great day!

Talking to some third grade students!

There's Morgan the Monarch Butterfly and his friend, Monroe!

Mrs. Sponaugle is explaining that Clay the Cardinal is the state bird.

I did something kind of rotten, though. You see, Mrs. Sponaugle shows the students different places in West Virginia on her computer. Clay the Cardinal and I thought it would be funny if we put ourselves in all of the pictures! You know, so it looked like we really climbed to the top of Spruce Knob! Well, the students thought it was very funny, but I don't think Mrs. Sponaugle was expecting it. She kind of gave me "that look" when she noticed I was in every single picture. Oops.

Can you find where you live?

Thank you, Slanesville Elementary, for having the Sugar Maple Friends at your school. It was so nice to meet all of you, and I hope you check my website often to learn about the other places I visit in West Virginia and the USA.

Until next time...

My Digital Learning Day Adventure!

Oh, my, boys and girls! I am typing this as fast as my little paws can go! It has been a busy travel month for me, and I have seen so many special places and people. I know you have been patiently waiting for me to update you on my travel tales, so first I will tell you about Digital Learning Day!

We worked very hard on our presentation!

Digital Learning Day is a very special event. Schools everywhere celebrate how they use cool things, like computers, the internet, and iPads, to help their students learn. Since I am a special little bear, I went with Mrs. Sponaugle to Charleston (my second trip to the capital city!) to teach some second graders all about West Virginia!

I was so excited to run inside and meet the students!

Well, it wasn't just me that went to Charleston this time. All of my Sugar Maple Friends came with me so that the students could learn about West Virginia's other state symbols. I was very glad to have my friends with me this time, because sometimes I get lonely when it's just Mrs. Sponaugle and me. Oh, I love spending time with Mrs. Sponaugle, it's just that I miss my little friends when I'm away.

We arrived at Mary C. Snow Westside Elementary in Kanawha County on the morning of Digital Learning Day. Now since we are celebrating how to use technology (that fancy word for using things like computers, internet, and iPads) we we not only going to teach the students in this school about West Virginia. Three others second grade classrooms in West Virginia did a video conference with us, so they could learn about West Virginia, too! Those other classrooms were at Hollywood Elementary in Raleigh County, Burch Elementary in Mingo County, and Norwood Elementary in Harrison County.  Of course, Harrison Honeybee was just buzzing about getting to speak to kids in the county with his name!

Mingo County!

Raleigh County!

Kanawha County!

Harrison County!

I had so much fun teaching all of those second graders about our state! They were very excited to meet me too, I believe. The rest of the Sugar Maple Friends had a great time, too, especially teaching those kids the motions to some of our favorite landforms in West Virginia.

This is how we were able to have class with the students around the state!

Hello, everyone! Did you know there are 55 counties?

Making some mountains!

What's that you said, Hollywood Elementary?

A fun group shot with all the Sugar Maple Friends!

You can watch a little bit of our special time on Digital Learning Day by clicking on this link.

At the very end of our lesson, I gave those students at Mary C. Snow something special - a book about West Virginia! Since I am a very artistic little bear, I drew them some pictures on the inside cover of all us state symbols. I colored very neatly and made sure to only draw on the blank page inside the front cover.

The artist bear at work!

What an exciting day! This little bear is ready to meet more students in our state! In my next post, I will tell you about my day at Slanesville Elementary in Hampshire County!

Until next time...

A Few Other January Adventures

I had a couple other adventures that I had to attend as the official travel buddy to the teacher of the year. I will try to keep this short, since I have written you a lot today about the things I have been up to in January.

One thing I have learned about Mrs. Sponaugle is that lots of people want to speak to her, or want her to speak! I think that's great, because she has lots of nice things to say about the teachers and students in West Virginia! Right after we returned from the State of the State,  a reporter from a news station called WHAG called us and wanted to do an interview. I was excited, because I had just done my first interview at the capitol and knew that as long as you just stayed calm, it's no big deal. So the very nice reporter stopped by Tomahawk to interview Mrs. Sponaugle, and asked if I had anything to say.

Here I am telling Bejoy Joseph all about my time in Charleston!

Unfortunately, my answers were edited out of the evening news. It was still fun to talk to Mr. Joseph and meet the students in Mrs. Sponaugle's math class. I bet she misses those kids.

Remember when I told you that Mrs. Sponaugle gets to speak to a lot of people. Well, one group of people she has been speaking to in Berkeley County is the Rotary Clubs. Those are people in the community that work together to do good things for others. I went with her when she spoke at the Morning and Noon Rotary Clubs, and I think the people liked what she had to say. One thing I like about Rotarians is that they have a special "Four-Way Test" they recite before all of their meetings. I like it because it's something that I think everyone should remember about treating others.

The Four-Way Test!

Excuse me, is the mic still on? I think we need to sing "The West Virginia Hills" before we leave!

Thank you for listening to our speech!

See, I told you I would keep this post short! You are now all caught up on what Berkeley has been up to since my journey began! I bet I will have lots to tell you about my February adventures, so please stay tuned!

Until next time...

A Visit to Arizona

Well, not only did I make my first official trip to Charleston, but I also flew to a place called Scottsdale with Mrs. Sponaugle in January. She was there to meet the other state teachers of the year and learn how to represent West Virginia's teachers well this year.

This is where Arizona is on a map of the USA!

The flag of Arizona

Scottsdale is a city in the state of Arizona. I was excited to visit somewhere outside of West Virginia, so I looked up some facts to share with my friends. Here are the most interesting things I learned:
- Arizona is in the Southwest region of the United States.
- It borders another country, Mexico!
- Arizona has a desert climate and is very warm and dry most of the year. There are places in Arizona that get snow, though!
- The capital of Arizona is Phoenix, and Scottsdale is very close to it!
- The Grand Canyon in Arizona is one of the seven natural wonders of the world!

Once we got to the hotel, I found a really great book that taught me more about Arizona! I love to read, because I always learn new things!

Once I learned all of this, I was even more excited! It was also my first time on a plane. I got into a little bit of trouble on the way there, though. You see, I was thought it was so neat that we were up in the sky traveling, that I climbed out of my seat and sat on the arm rest so I could see the clouds and the wing of the airplane. Well, you aren't supposed to sit like that, especially when the "seat belts" light is on. Oops - I learned my lesson. I did feel like I could have reached out and touched the clouds though, if I could have figured out how to get that window open. I think that may have landed me in more trouble.

Uh oh! Caught out of my seat during turbulence (when the plane ride is really bumpy)!

Reading up on how to be a good passenger.

Finally we landed in Arizona! The first thing I noticed was that the trees were much different than the ones in West Virginia. Palm trees have very tall trunks with scaly bark, with only a few spiky leaves at the top. That's a big change from my pine and sugar maple trees back home. I bet no bees live in them to make honey.

A "selfie" with some palm trees!

More palm trees - aren't they interesting looking?

While Mrs. Sponaugle was in her meetings, I did some exploring in Scottsdale. Don't worry; I always asked for directions and looked both ways before I crossed the street...and I was very, very careful with the camera! I learned so much to share with you. First of all, the weather felt like springtime, and the flowers were blooming like they would be in April and May! There are also these very interesting plants that grow here called cacti. Some of them have flat, thick leaves, others are round, and some are very tall like trees. They all have these funny spikes on them. I really wanted to touch one - and I almost did! - but then I thought about how bad it might hurt my paws.

I was so happy to stop and smell the flowers!

See, these are cacti...

...and this is one giant cactus!

Right before I made a better choice!

Hey, those aren't golden delicious apples!

The mountains - I must tell you about the mountains! They look very different from the ones in West Virginia. Since Arizona is mostly desert, they are very rocky and look red and dry. You have to watch your step for loose rocks and cacti along the way!

The red mountains of Papago State Park!

Camelback Mountain

Meanwhile, Mrs. Sponaugle was hard at work. I think she had fun, too, learning new things and meeting the other teachers. They came from all over the United States, and teach all kinds of subjects! She met another 5th grade teacher from Hawaii, a history teacher from Nevada, a math teacher from Alabama, a music teacher from Oklahoma...oh, my, and so many more that my little bear head can't keep straight. I wonder if the music teacher can sing "The West Virginia Hills?"

Can you find Mrs. Sponaugle in this picture?

I had a very nice time in Arizona, although I was glad to come home to West Virginia (even if it is much more snowy and chilly). I wonder how different the other 50 states are from the Mountain State. I know I will get to visit Washington, D.C., Alabama, and New Jersey this year - what other states should I add to my travels? Oh, don't worry, no matter how far I roam this year, I'll always come back home to West Virginia. You all are just too important to me!

See you later, from the Arizona Canal!

Until next time...

My First Trip to Charleston

Hello friends! I have gotten a little behind on my writing, I know. It's very hard for bears to get motivated to write in the winter, because we are supposed to be hibernating! Sometimes I just get so, so sleepy, and then, I just go right to sleep on the keyboard in the middle of my blog post! This snowy weather just makes me want to curl up in a cave of blankets.

But I must tell you about my January adventures, starting with my very first trip to Charleston, the capital of West Virginia!

It was a very long trip from Martinsburg, but I got my shut-eye in along the way. We went to Charleston for something called the State of the State address. That is when all of the people who make the laws for West Virginia (the state senators and delegates) get together, and the governor (he is the gentleman who is in charge of the government in our state) gives a special speech on what he wants to accomplish this year. It was also special because he was going to recognize Mrs. Sponaugle during his speech!

In the purse I go, to my first appearance in Charleston!

I felt very excited and knew I had to be on my very best little black bear behavior. I also hoped my fur looked neat and straight for all the cameras that would be taking pictures.

When I saw our capitol building for the first time, I couldn't believe my eyes! It was so beautiful, like a palace! The dome (top) of the building is covered in something called gold guild, and the capitol is made of marble from all over the country and world! There are also sparkly chandeliers hanging from the ceiling that are as dazzling as the sun!

That's the capitol...brrr it was cold that night!

This chandelier weighs 4,000 pounds and lights as well as 15,000 candles!

Here I am in the Delegates Chamber, waiting for the State of the State to start! 

Well, we got seated and waited patiently for the State of the State address (that's another word for speech, by the way) to begin. When Governor Tomblin started speaking about Mrs. Sponaugle, she stood up and everyone in the entire chamber started clapping! It sounded like thunder! For a minute, I thought it was thunder, because I felt some raindrops under my eyes. Then I realized they were just my own little black bear tears, because I felt so proud of Mrs. Sponaugle.

Here I am with Mrs. Sponaugle and her husband after the speech. 

We walked over to the Senate Chamber, just to take a peek. That chandelier is made of 10,000 pieces of rock crystal! Whoa!

After the address, we met a lot of people who told Mrs. Sponaugle congratulations. We shook hands (and paws) with many of the senators and delegates. Then we met a very special person. His name is Woody Wilson, and he is a Medal of Honor recipient. He was a soldier in World War II, and fought in a very important battle called Iwo Jima. I felt  honored to meet him. He gave us a special coin to remember him and all of the people who protect our country.

Here I am with Mrs. Sponaugle and Woody Wilson. That's a state of the late Senator Robert Bryd, who did a lot of special things for the people in our state.

The coin from Woody Wilson.

I was very tired by the time we were back in the hotel room. I went right to sleep.

Zzzzzzzz...

The next morning, we had to get up early to go back to the capitol! This was because Mrs. Sponaugle was going to give a speech herself, and some very nice people were going to give her money and a car to use because she is the teacher of the year. There were so many cameras and people in that little room, but Mrs. Sponaugle seemed very calm, calmer than me! I was glad that I wasn't the one who had to say something. It did make me feel special when Mrs. Sponaugle mentioned me in her speech and how we were going to help kids learn about our state and country. But I still stayed quiet, because I wasn't sure how I felt about all those cameras.

She really kept her cool up there. Those flowers on her dress make me think of rhododendrons (and spring)! The gentleman standing beside her is Governor Earl Ray Tomblin. 

Then we went outside, and all the camera people took pictures of the car and asked Mrs. Sponaugle questions. Suddenly someone said, "Hey, where's Berkeley?! Let's get some pictures with Berkeley!"

I was going to let Mrs. Sponaugle have this moment to herself, but she insisted that I be a part of this special attention, too. The flash bulbs made me squint, and all I could do was nod my head when a reporter asked if I was excited to travel with the teacher of the year, but you know what? I kind of liked it! I felt very special, like a movie star or a president - or a teacher. Because teachers are as important as movie stars and presidents, you know.

Hello, everyone! I'm Berkeley!

These are the nice people who gave Mrs. Sponaugle her awards.

Then it was off to sign a few papers and head home. I was super sleepy after all of this fun, so I buckled up and took a nap in the back seat, and dreamed about my next adventure.

See you soon!

 Until next time...