Independence Day 2013 - "Fourth of July"

This Thursday is the birthday of the United States of America: Independence Day - or as most people call it, "The Fourth of July," or even, sometimes, just "The Fourth."

There will be no school on this day.

Also, there will be no school on Friday, the 5th of July.  The 5th of July is not a holiday.  But the school will be closed so everyone can have a four-day-weekend (and because many people might not come to school on this day). 

It is a Federal Holiday and all schools, banks and post offices will be closed.

Americans have many traditions for this day. Picnics, games, fireworks, sparklers, parades, and hanging the American flag in front of home or business.

ESL students will enjoy some of them Wednesday, July 3rd. Come and find out what the teachers have planned for you! :-)

Here is a good list of things to do in the Bay Area on the Fourth of July - parades, fireworks, and celebrations. 

Here is information about the celebration in Foster City.

And here is information about the celebration in Redwood City.

Sometimes, in the Bay Area, especially in the summer if it is hot in the Central Valley, we have fog.

Here is a website where you can check the weather. 

The Bay Area has many "micro-climates."  That means the weather can be very different all around the Bay Area.  It might hot in one place and ten miles away, it might be cold.   Check the weather.

Do you know the famous Mark Twain quote? "The coldest winter I ever spent was the summer I spent in San Francisco." Fog and summer - those two things go together around here.

For more information about Independence Day, here is the blogpost about the Fourth of July from 2011.

We have many good things to celebrate in this country. 

We have many resources, many freedoms, and a democracy.

This year, we used our freedom of speech and our democracy to speak up about Adult Education.

We wrote letters and emails.  We visited the capitol and talked to legislators.  We held rallies.  We made videos.  We used all kinds of ways to speak up.  The Governor and the Legislature listened.  And we saved Adult Education.

Democracy is sometimes big and messy and complicated.  And sometimes people don't understand how to use it or they forget to use it.

But it's a great thing.  It gives us a way to speak up for what we want.  It gives us choices.

It's not perfect because we're not perfect.  Democracy is "demos" (people) and "cracy" (rule).

When the people rule, things are messy and exciting!

We have to share power.  That's not easy!

But it's a lot better than giving just one person or one group power.

And that's really what we're celebrating on this day: 

The power of the people - not the king.

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!

Have a safe and fun holiday.  Maybe a little messy and exciting, too.  :-)