Tuesday, January 20, 2009

President Obama's Inauguration

Today in Mrs. Yollis' class we watched Barack Obama's historic inauguration. We followed the ceremony on T.V. and on the U. S. links on Mrs. Yollis' Website.

Here are some of the comments and observations from the students...

Lexi: I cheered when President Obama came out!

Clementine: I loved when he said "...still river of peace..." in his speech.

Matthew: I liked the transforming schools part because some school aren't really as great as others, and he said he would transform that.

Emily: I liked when he said, "Yes, we can." It makes me feel like we can accomplish a lot of things.

Shane J: I liked when he said, "we can do and we will do," because whatever you want to do...you can do it, if you put your mind to it.

Bethany: I liked when he said "We the people..." because it made me feel like we have plenty of freedom.

Kyle: When he said "still water of peace..." it made my mind open.

James: When he said, "Starting today, we must pick ourselves up..." means that we can do things that we have never done before.

Shane F: When he said, "Yes we can." That felt very strong and powerful and it made me think that if you try, you can do it.

Taylor G: I liked when he said, "...challenges will be met," because it made me feel stronger.

Behyan: I like when he said "timeless words" when he was talking about George Washington.

Sean: When he said, "We are all free." I liked that because some African-Americans used to not be free, and now everyone is free.

Garrison: I loved his inauguration speech because it was really heart-soaring.

Jonah: I enjoyed when he said "...for the world has changed and we must change with it."

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We read about President Obama in our Weekly Reader.

Mrs. Levenson brought in a coloring sheet with the oath and the flag on it.

After the ceremony, the class wrote letters to President Obama. Many included advice for the President and quotes they enjoyed from his speech.

We invite people to leave comments about the Inauguration! Tell us about what you liked or learned!

For example, Sean taught us that Obama automatically became President at 12:00, even if he wasn't sworn in. That happened!

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In the comment section, Bethany shared great information about the five flags that were hanging in front of the Capitol. Here is a link to an interactive site where you can see the flags and stars for yourself!

Navigate through the site to the Capitol hot spot:
The Capitol

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The class was talking about how many people attended the ceremony. Here are some satellite photos. Can you see the people gathered around the giant T.V. screens?

Does anyone know how many people attended the event?


  1. I love that the class got so much out of the Inauguration. What a great current event. Our children learned about Hope, Dreams, passion, hard work, freedom and much more. Thanks as always-Glen

  2. Dear Students,

    I thought that your comments about President Obama's speech were incredible. I appreciated how well you listened to the words and phrases and shared how they made you feel. It was a very important day for our country. I am so proud of all of you for paying such careful attention to this important moment in history.

    Mrs. Harding

  3. Dear Class,

    I loved watching the inauguration and I figured out something and here it is ...

    Did you know the 5 flags in front of the United States Capitol represent older flags, and they also represent how many states we had at different times? Like the 13 starred flag came from way back when our nation only had 13 states, and the 21 starred flag stands for when our nation only had 21 states. We have the 50 starred flag now because OUR NATION HAS 50 STATES!

    Bethany :-]

  4. Dear Bethany,

    Thank you for sharing your knowledge about the five flags that were hanging in front of the Capitol. I was wondering about those flags, too!

    Great addition, Bethany!

    Mrs. Yollis

  5. Dear Room 12,

    You never cease to amaze me! I am
    extremely impressed with your interest and enthusiasm about President Obama's Inauguration. I think he would be very proud to know that you not only listened, but really heard the meaning behind his words.

    Bethany, thank you! I took pictures of the flags because I thought they were such a beautiful sight. Now, the pictures have a very special meaning.

    Did you all hear that President Obama took the Oath of the President again today? Why do you think he did this? I wonder if it has ever been done before?

    I'd love to hear your thoughts.

    Mrs. Levenson

  6. Dear Class,
    Obama did the oath again because Chief Justice Roberts stumbled on the oath for him.

    The Congress said that Obama was still President even though the Chief Justice messed up. They did it just to get it right.

    Your classmates,
    Clementine and Lexi

  7. Dear Class,
    We found out why President Obama is so fond of Illinois and chose the flag with 21 stars. Illinois is important because Barack Obama was a senator in that state.

    Lexi and James

  8. Allie and I have visited your Blog together! This is awesome. You have made our day! This blog is a great addition to your class. And Allie is really missing third grade....

    The Inauguration is truly a historic event and it's great to know that you are talking about it in your class.

    Thank you for inviting me to share your Blog.

  9. Hello Mrs. Yollis and class! I love this website. I really enjoyed reading all of the student comments about the inauguration - everyone was paying such close attention! Mrs. Yollis seems like a fabulous teacher, you are all so lucky! Can't wait to see what you do next...

    Cindi, Mrs. Yollis' college roommate :)

  10. I think that it is so cool that you all wrote letters to President Obama!
    Mrs. Yollis'
    niece from
    Yerba Buena :)

  11. Dear Class,
    I'm alike to president Obama because his dad is from Africa and mine is too!

  12. Dear Mrs. Yollis,

    I remember sending the letter to the president, and then he sent us a letter too. That was a fun day.

    Sean from last year


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:-) Mrs. Yollis