Thanks Mrs. Cindy and Mrs. Susan.

Dear friends,

It is always  a pleasure to write to you friends. My names is Deo, and I am a boy. I go to school at Great Valley Children's Center.  I am enjoying using the computer we got. It is really great fun to write with a computer. Do you also like using computers? Thanks to you all for the gifts you sent us.

At school, we have decided to begin our day by reading because our teachers said that we need to learn better but this can be if we can read and understand. After reading in the morning, in the evening we are asked questions about what we read. My best subject is mathematics, because it is simple for me. I like eating matooke and fish. What do you like eating at your school? By the way, when Mrs. Susan came to our school with her friends, she left us with some food. Please send greetings to her and her friends. We are so happy about it.

Yours,

DEO. 

Dear  CHLOE,

I am so happy to write to you as well. My name is Madrine, and I am a girl. First I will say that I am very lucky  to be going to school at Great Valley because I have come to learn about you and also get friends in another part of the world. Thank you so much for writing to s as well. How is Mrs. Cindy and all other teachers? We love you all at McKay Creek Elementary School. My school is called Great Valley Children's Center. I do not know why the teachers decided to call it a Children's Center. But the teachers there are so good. Last holiday we received visitors from your school but we were so happy because they bought for us many gifts. We liked them so much.

Thank you for telling us about the EXTRA MATH, I also like mathematics so much. My teacher for mathematics is Mr. Bawalagga and I think he is the best because he makes sure that everyone understands better. He will help us to go on the website you have told us and I know it will be so much fun.

Your Uganda friend, 

Sharon.

The best School of my life.

Dear  friends in the Usa,

Thank you so much for the work done. At school we love you so much and we are so happy to work with you. I love the computer that you gave to us and most of us, especially those in primary five to seven have learnt how to write with it. We take some time to be able to find the letters but one of my friends is now very fast. Are you fast at using computers? Let me tell you about our school day; we begin school at 7:00 am, and we get a short break of 30 minutes from 10:30am to 11:00 am. At 1:00 pm we get lunch break for one hour up to 2:00 pm. We end normal classes at 4:30 pm. Sometimes we go up to 5:00 pm. At 5:00 pm, we normally begin the music and dance training up to 6:00 pm. The primary sevens and sixes always go in classes for more lessons.  Sometimes there is no electricity so we may not study. The dances are so interesting. When Mrs. Susan and Mrs. Harriet came to our school, we had some dance training. I wish you also come to our school and see the dances.

Your friend, Yvonne.       

Hi, my name is Rafah,

I am a girl. I am slender and somehow brown. My school is called Great Valley Children's Center and it is a good school. I love going to school and I am so proud of my school and my teachers. I think I have the best teachers  in the world. When I had not come to Great Valley, I never spoke to my teachers outside classes because they never liked speaking to us. But at Great Valley, you can talk to the teachers whenever you want and they are always at school until very late and when all other students have to go home. We can even play with them. Do you play with your teachers also? My teachers' names are Mrs. Florence, Miss Sarah, Mr. Bawalagga, Mr. Bosco, Mr. Kennedy and many more.

Let me tell you about my country; It is called Uganda. The capital city of Uganda is called Kampala. It is a small city but I have not been to most of the parts in Kampala. Uganda has about 35 million people but they tell us that the women are more than the males. The president of Uganda is called president Yoweri Kaguta Museni. I also know the president of USA, he is called president Barrack Hussein Obama. Uganda has got many good things like lakes, rivers, mountains and forests and animals. My favorite animal is an elephant. it is very big animal. In Uganda, we have the source of the longest river in the whole world. It is called river Nile. The source of the Nile is called lake Victoria and this is the second largest lake in the whole world. We have the high mountain of Uganda called Rwenzori. On this mountain is where there is snow in Uganda. Also there is the biggest national park in Uganda around this mountain and it is called Queen Elizabeth National game park. In the park you can go and see many animals like elephants, lions, Rhinos, Zebras and many more.

I my teacher for social studies said that the name of the park was given after the Queen of England who had visited Uganda during that time.

I will tell you more when I learn about the geography of Uganda.

your friend,

Gloria.

Hi friends, Andrew and Jimmy,

how are you all? We are fine at Great Valley. Today I am also very happy. I learnt how to play games on the iPod you people gave to us. It is really very nice and we love it so much. We also got the computer and i love using it. How do you do there? I love using the iPod to multiply numbers. There is a game when I reached level 6 also. I think it is awesome using the technology to study. Thank you so much for making me happy.

Your friend in Uganda, '

Arnold.

Dear friends,

My name is Enock, I am a very small boy but i go to primary five class. Which class are you in Riley? I pray that you do well in AOKS testing. I also like reading so you should do better also. Iam always the best in my class but sometimes Bernard takes me up. I like to work hard so that I can always do better. I have a brother called Elvis. He also goes to school at Great Valley. He is older than me by two years. I think we are very lucky to have nice teachers. We have been blessed so much this year. First they brought us food from freinds in USA and then they brought us more food. We used the money that you collected to buy soya flour that is so delicious. Thanks to Mrs. Cindy's class. I love using the computer so much. I will be good at computer because it took me few days to be able to type on it.

I was using the iPod you sent us to do math multiplication but I think it helped us so much. We also do DIVISIBILITY TESTS but they are tricky. My teacher is fast at it. Let me teach you a way of testing for division of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10 .

All numbers ending with 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 are directly divisible by 2. Eg, 9990, 6892, 45678, ......

For 3, you find the sum of the individual digits that form that number and when it gives you a multiple of 3, then the number is divisible by 3. E.g, 7344 (7+3+4+4 = 18), since 18 is a multiple of three, then the whole number (7344)is divisible by three. But a number like 7345(7+3+4+5= 19), but 19 is not a multiple of 3 so the whole number (7345)is not divisible by 3.

For number 2999999912 is divisible by 4 because the last two digits form a multiple of 4. A number is divisible by 5 if it ends with 0 and 5 e.g 45000, 9999995.

For a number to be divisible by six, it must be divisible by 2 and 3 at the same time.

For 10, the number must be ending with 0.

I truly like mathematics and I want to be a great mathematician and I love helping my friends.What is your favorite subject at school?

Yours Enock.

Dear USA friends and Mrs. Cindy.

Hello friends,
How are you over there? In Kampala, it is still very hot. Is it hot in USA also? We think there will be rain in March. Do you have snow now? In Uganda we never get snow, but I really like it.
My favorite food is matooke. What is yours? In class, my favorite subject is English. In the morning, we also begin with reading so as to get better marks in comprehensions. We then switch to other subjects like mathematics. Mathematics is a little harder for me but my for mathematics is called mr. Bawalagga, he is really hard working and he encourages me so much. Even when you fail the number, he never discourages you in any way. Do you also have good teachers? I hope they are so good too.
Yours,

Natasha.

The beloved Altrusans and McKay Creek Friends.

Dear friends, Mitchel and Hazen,

How are you all at Mckay Creek? We are fine and so happy about our friendship. Thank you so much for our gifts you sent us. Mrs. Susan came to our school and I saw her. I was training music and dance when she came. For me I sleep at school all the time. Where do you sleep? Thank you so much for telling me about what you do at school.

Let me also tell you about what we do at school; we begin school by reading a few comprehensions and then the teacher can ask you a few questions. These days we are reading the books you sent us. Thanks to Mrs. Cindy and all of you. Then after reading, we do mathematics, but other classes can begin with other subjects like English. In math, we really do many things; we no longer do multiplication but is automatic in other parts of mathematics. We do square and square roots of numbers like 1, 4, 9, 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81, 100, 121, 144, 169, 196, and many. These days we have been reviewing decimal fractions like ; expressing 0.12121212.... as common fractions. It has been interesting for me.

We have also done construction and representing information on the pie - charts. Do you do such things? We really have a lot of things in math. May be I can give you a question and when you solve it, it will be good; Solve for the value of x: 2(3x- 4) = 4(x + 4), my answer is 12. This is my most interesting parts in mathematics.

Your friend,

Madrine.

Hello Mason and friends in USA,

We are fine here at Great Valley but it is hot and dusty. I have developed flu because of the dust but I will be fine. How are you over there? Thank you so much for being our lovely friends. We are enjoying this computer and I love it so much. Typing has been so hard for some beginners but they are also good. Let me also tell you about what we do in mathematics. First of all, we do different things in our different classes. I am in primary five and we have been rounding off numbers to the nearest tens, hundreds, thousands, tenths, hundredths and thousands. I have enjoyed the topic so much. We also do the addition of up to 5 digits and also multiplication of up to 5 digits. I think mathematics is my favorite. I also like writing comprehensions in English.

Yours,

 Kisabagire Bernard.

Hi USA friends. I have just learned the full form of USA when I asked my teach. It is United States of America. Uganda has no short form when we write it. How are all of you at McKay Creek Elementary School? Thank you for telling us about you. I love being at school because I feel so happy when I am there with my friends. My teacher is Mr. Bawalagga and Mr. Kennedy. I have other teachers though but some do not teach me. My English teacher is called Mr. Bosco and the Science teacher is Robert. They are really good and I understand them so clearly because they are so friendly. In English, we are studying about comprehension writing and official letter writing. What are you doing in you class?

Your friend in Uganda,

Eva.

Hi my friend, Connor,

I have loved to read your letters. My name is Nakato and I am a girl. My name is for the twins and so i am. My twin sister is called Babirye and they are traditional names. The first born of the twins is called Babirye is it is a girl and then the second is Nakato is it is a girl. If the twins are boys, then the first is called Wasswa and the second born is Kato. Kato and Nakato mean the young one. I really can tell you a long story  about twins. The twin mother in my language is called Nalongo which means the mother of two and the twin father is called Salongo. In my family, we have two pairs of twins. My teacher told me that you also ever had a president who has twins and that he is called President George Walker Bush. Do you know about him? So in my language, we can call him Salongo George Walker Bush. Do you have any twins in your class?

your friend in Uganda,

NAKATO  (Twin sister to Babirye)

Hello friends, Connor and Phillip Star.

I believe your are both really very stars.  In my free time, I read books,

the books I read can be the story books you sent us or even our notes we write in our classes. Our classes have black boards on which our teachers write using white chalk and so we copy the notes from there. During our free time, we read those notes to remind ourselves what we studied. Do you write notes in books. They also write exercises on the black boards and we also transfer them in our exercise books and after answering them, we hand in for marking. My teacher for math always gives us a lot of work and the best he gives a gift like sweets in most cases. My sister Nakato is better than me in mathematics but I am better than her in social studies and sometimes English.

your friend,

Babirye (Twin sister of Nakato)

The best moments we get at school.

Dear Summer,

It is Deborah, a Ugandan friend. Our teachers have decided to we form groups in which we read stories each morning and late evening so that we can become better at reading and understanding the context in passages. We are now using the books that you and Mrs. Cindy sent us. They are so good and we are learning a lot from them. The computer is also doing us a lot of good. 

yours, Deborah.

Dear Aubrey,

Your name is so good!! I hope you are so well now at school. I am doing fine here at Great Valley. We good a lot of presents from your side and we were so happy. I am learning how to write better on a computer though I am still slow, but at least trying to be accurate.

Every morning, before the normal learning lessons begin, we also get in groups of five, get the story books we got from USA at your school and read them. In the next morning, we are also asked questions and meaning of certain vocabularies. We have learned a lot of things since we began writing to each other. I pray that God makes us meet each other one day. I was so happy to see the visitors that came to our school last January. You talked about National Geographic and out teacher says that he will go on it and tells us about it. I love to dance and when Mrs. Susan came to our school, she found us training in dances. I wish you also come and see the dances. I am in primary six now. I  am enjoying the mathematics and playing netball.

From Nulu, your Ugandan friend.

Hi Andrew,

This is your friend, Ronald,

I am so glad that I have learned typing on a computer. It is really very interesting to write on a computer. Thanks to you all that made us made. We decided that every morning and then in the evening, we read the books that you people gave us, there are very interesting stories and they are helping us learn new vocabularies. At school we use only English because it is the official language in Uganda. Let me tell you a little about Uganda. Uganda is found in East African part of Africa. It is a small country but very beautiful. Many years back, Uganda was colonized by England and this is why we speak English. And because Uganda has many tribes, there is no national language yet so English is widely used in Uganda.

Do you have many tribes in USA and is there any other language that you speak other than English?

Yours,

Ronald.

Hello Kendall,

I am so glad that we are now sharing through the computer that we got. It is so amazing using a computer. I must say thank you so much for the generous hearts you have given us. I am so glad indeed. How are you doing at school? At our school, we are learning reading in the morning, and then after that we do the normal lessons. During the day, we study many other things. In mathematics, we are learning about application of fractions. They are really very tricky questions but I am getting used to them. My mathematics teacher is called Mr. Bawalagga Yaledi, sometimes we call him Tom John. He is the best teacher I have ever got. He is so funny and friendly.

Dear friends at McKay Creek Elementary School. This school sounds so cool. We are happy to be writing to each other. My name is Sarah and I am a slender girl. I like to go to Great Valley because I have many friends there. My teachers are so great and very loving. We read in the morning and then study after. We are studying mathematics, Science, writing, English and social studies. I love mathematics and writing. My math teacher is Mr. Bawalagga Yaledi and my writing teacher is teacher Robert.

Thank you a lot for being such great friends.

By Daphne.

Dear Ashley,

Thank you so much for telling us a story about Bradley and Mrs. Ebble. I am learning a lot out of this story. We also read books, and I am very happy that you and Mrs. Cindy sent us books to read. I am so excited that I am part of the children writing on our shared blog. I also read a story sometime back; this story was about two girls, one who was well disciplined and another was not. The disciplined girl(named Kyomuhendo) had lost her mother and then was staying with a step mum. The step mum never wanted her real daughter (Cinderella) to do even a single piece of work at home. Kyomuhendo grew up being over worked but while learning do different work. She was so well behaved however. One day she went to collect water from the well and there she found a very old woman. The old woman asked her(Kyomuhendo) to give her some water to drink. What happened? Kyomuhendo did not have a cup to put in water so she picked a leaf of a yam and gave the old woman water. The old woman appreciated so much and said to the young girl; you will get all that you will ask for in your life. Whenever the girl fell hungry, she could only speak, "I want food "and food was there. I want a cake, and a cake was there. I want soda, and soda was there. Then her step mum told her real daughter, Cinderella, also go to the well and get blessings from the old woman. She ran down the well. at the well was an old woman. Give me some water, the old woman said. There was no cup however, so the young girl was only splashing the water onto the old woman. The old woman became very angry and said to the girl. "You will only get opposite of what you ask for. So whenever a girl could ask for water, blood could come, ask for food, soil could come. So the mother was so bitter about what had happened and stopped mistreating Kyomuhendo. What do I learn from this story? I learn to respect old people, I also learn to help people in need, I learn not to mistreat other friends and also to love one another.

This book is very interesting to me and I love to read it so much. I also like reading other books but they are in local language.

I will tell you another story when I read more.

Your friends,

Resty and Rose.

Hi friends,

My mane is Denise and i am a girl. How are you doing over there. We have been practicing reading comprehensions in our class.  We read many passages also and then we are asked questions. We also study mathematics and English. My favorite subject is mathematics and science. I have just done beginning of term examination and got 89% in mathematics. It was my best done subject. I like others still. My friends are good and they are: Rose, Aisha, Nivea, Eva and Rogers.

They send you greetings. Thank you so much for writing to us. Also thank you for sending for us gifts. We liked them so much. The computer we got is so good and we are enjoying typing on it. I am hoping to become great at computer because it is so interesting. I am learning how to change colors of the words on the computer.

In mathematics, we are learning fractions and in science, we learn about human skeleton. What are you learning about in your class?

Yours,

Denise.

Hello my friend, Mitchel, your name is so good. My name is Nakazzi Nulu, I am a small girl. I am in Primary six now. My school is called Great Valley Children's Center. I was so happy to get a visitor from your school. I know one day you will also come and we meet each other. At school, I like to study mathematics, English, science and social studies. Reading is very interesting to me and I always read the books you gave us. Thank you so much for those beautiful gifts. In the evening, we train in netball and music. I am in both music and netball. We have won many trophies of netball.