Whew, have I been busy!  Fifth grade is really something. 

We have this giant binder with most of our subject books in it.  We get to grade our own tests sometimes, and we have a lot more independence, but that also means we have to be more responsible too.

I have this great teacher, Miss P.  She's very, very cool. 

Miss P. is in her twenties, which is kind of young for a teacher, but it has its advantages.  She tells us really great stories about when she was in school and growing up with her family. 

Miss P. is a lot like us because she hates to be bored, and wants learning to be fun.  We are so lucky to have a teacher like her. 

And if all that wasn't enough, in addtion to being a Peer Mediator, I also volunteered to work in the Main Office. 

I am so busy, but I love it! 

More stuff coming soon, thanks for being patient with me.

Well, this is it. The last holiday before school starts… and I can't wait! Two of my very best friends, Sydney and Lizzie (Elizabeth) are in my class:

• Sydney is my very first best friend, we met when I was 2 & 1/2 years old.
• Elizabeth and I have been in the same class every year since Kindergarten.

They're part of the crew who'll help me decide what's hot and what's not, sort of my GirlsTech advisory board. This should be a really good year! We're fifth-graders now, and I'm also a Peer Mediator (more about that another time). My Dad is working on the back-end (code and scripting that make everything work) of GirlsTech.com, and I've been writing articles to post as soon as it's all running correctly. So stay tuned… and check back often, :-). All for now, Lauren, Chief Tech Girl

It’s the last full week before school starts and I've had a lot of fun this summer.  I am at my South home with my Dad and my sister Khadija (technically she's my step-sister, but love wins over technical stuff any day, :-) is coming down at the end of the week.  She's going to stay for three days and nights, and we're hoping it’s sunny and pretty while she's here. 

Khadija is coming tonight and I can’t wait!

So now she's here, it's raining like mad, and we're making posters for our rooms. When we finish that we are going to play “SORRY” (the Birthday Edition).

Wow, Khadija won both times and this was her first time playing SORRY. She left my Dad and I all over the board!

It’s the next day, and it’s still gray and raining outside.  We were going to the beach today but we're headed to the book store instead.  The book store was really crowded, Khadija bought "Art Geeks and Prom Queens" and a magazine, I just got a magazine.

The next day was also gray and gloomy, not raining but cold, so it was books, Game Boy, and Tamagotchis to the rescue… instead of being bored and having nothing to do. I played the Lizzie McGuire 3 game and read "The Clique, Invasion of the Boy Snatchers" while Khadija played Sims2 and read "Art Geeks and Prom Queens."

We also played Monopoly during the day and SORRY again that night… and she won again!

It was her last day here and I was going back to my North Home with her.   That morning we had to wake her up, but she wouldn’t get out of bed… so we deflated the air mattress she was sleeping on (an Aero bed) and she finally got up… cracking up laughing all the way out of bed!  

It was a pretty good last week before school starts!