Mr. Chris Holm's Website

Hi students,

It’s been good to see you all again this week! I’ve missed you, and am looking forward to being with you next week too.

I know now that I won’t be able to meet individually with each of the rest of you on Friday — there’s just not enough time! So, if you want to meet with me on Friday, let your teacher know so that you can make an order. If you don’t get to see me today, don’t worry, because I can still meet with you next week and going forward too — it’s just that we’ll need to work around the school schedule while I’m teaching.

There is always the chance that the doctors might want to call me in on Friday, so if you don’t see me at all, that’s the reason why.

Not everyone will see this, so please spread the word if you read this. Thanks!

Hi Students,

You all did really well at your dance last night! I was so proud of you, the way you worked together and entertained the audience. I know that some of you didn’t care much for your dance, but you did really well. It’s a testimony to the 6th grade that Danny G. had you start and end the concert. I know he did that because he wanted the evening to start and finish strongly, which it did. Congratulations to you all!

Here is a link to some pictures I took of you dancing.

A few pictures of the Pumas practicing have now been added.

Hello students,

I went up to Adelante this afternoon to put away the Halloween decorations and had a nice conversation with Maestras Rita and Lisa. (If you saw me, you saw that I was walking slowly and had to sit down a lot.) They filled me in on how everyone was doing, and their plans for moving talking people around to new seats this week. The room looked well cared for, and I especially want to thank the janitors and gardeners for keeping things looking great! The recyclers have some work to do though.

I got an email back from the people who own the Yosemite web cams. They said they were going to be down for awhile yet, and didn’t know when they would be working. So…. Starting tomorrow, I’m going to have you start recording the water levels in the Merced River at Pohono bridge in Yosemite Valley. This tells how much water is running in the river, including all of the water from Yosemite Falls, Bridelveil Fall, and the Tenaya Creek. It will be fun to watch how fast the water rises after a storm. It’s measured in CFS, Cubic Feet of water per Second. One cubic foot contains about 7.5 gallons. One gallon of water weighs 8.3 pounds. About how much does one cubic foot of water weigh?

I’ve spent a lot of my time reading when I haven’t been napping or walking around the neighborhood. I’ve put in a bunch of new online book reviews for you. For November, your book requirement is any book at your level (check with the teacher first!). You can use the Lexile numbers as a basic guide (click on the “What the Lexile numbers mean” tab at the bottom), or just see if there’s a book in the online database that you’ve read, look at its Lexile number, and go up or down from there if that book was too easy or hard for you.

Don’t forget that you can sort the database so that it’s meaningful to you. Just hover your cursor over the lettered column at the top that you want to sort by (example: by author, by Lexile number, or by Reviewer), click on the arrow that appears, and select choice “Sort Sheet A-Z” from the popdown menu that appears.

I’ve decided to now pay $50 per online book review in order to encourage more people to write reviews. If you have not yet been paid for doing a review, you are now eligible for the new amount. Be sure to put the Lexile in to get the full $50 (or prove to the teacher the book has no Lexile number!).

We now have 307 book reviews in the database. Let’s get some more in there from this year’s class!

Hi Students,

Thank you for your well-wishes on this site, and for relaying your wishes and questions through my wife and others.

I am continuing to make good progress from the surgery. I’m hardly taking any pain medicine now, and I’m not sleeping very much during the day. Yesterday I was able to take two 15-minute walks around my neighborhood, which is the most that I’ve done yet! I plan to go walking again in a few minutes.

I still get tired easily, and am not well enough to come back to teach yet. It will still be a few more weeks. I’m also not driving yet, which is OK with me because I do get tired so easily. If I were to go on a shopping trip or something, I’d probably have to sit down and rest in the middle of it!

I should be well enough to come out to see your dance next week, so I’m definitely looking forward to that. I’ll see you then.

PS – Don’t forget to have your parents set your clocks back 1 hour (“Fall Back”) on Saturday night. If the webcam ever starts working again, you will take temp readings at 9AM and 1PM starting next week.

Hello students!

I was released from the hospital on Friday night, and am now at home recovering from my big surgery. I have some big incisions with staples in my belly, and it hurts me to move, laugh, or cough.

I have been spending my days reading and taking naps. I move from the bed to my easy chair and spend most of the time in those two locations. I am able to walk and get up. This afternoon I had my biggest walk yet and walked around the block with my daughter Susannah. I was very tired after that walk and had to rest.

I am still weak, but getting better every day. I take pain medicine for my pain, but have been taking less of it today. I have been able to eat solid food since Friday, and have been enjoying my small meals. I had two small enchiladas on Saturday!

I am not thinking about school, and it will be several weeks before I come back to work. But, I have been thinking about you, and hope you are all doing well! Leave me a comment if you read this.