Naren's Post

The New World of Smart Stuff
By Naren

When you think of smart gadgets, you mostly think of smart phones? You think smart phones will be the only smart gadget? Nope!!!
Later this year, more smart stuff will start to get common. It might be done by the companies who made the iPhone, Droid, and Nokia Touch. They can use their built- in GPS, compass, the camera, and internet to find the latest news, information, and places of interest. The idea could show constellations. The view might look like this:
In 2009 smart phones were widely used. This year smart eyewear is starting to get used. It costs $600 though. In 2015 smart contact lenses will be used. It is only a matter of time before the technology expands to really cool stuff.
But if you could design cool invention, what would it be?

Niraj's Post

Tornadoes!   

By: Niraj

   

  On April 27, 2011 five southern states were hit by one of the worst tornadoes in the history of the United States.  The five badly damaged states were Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, and Mississipi. The tornadoes ripped through the states leaving a path of destruction, debris, and damage. The death toll has been estimated to be more than 280! (For more information about this go to www.weather.com)

  I recently saw an IMAX trailer of a movie "Tornado Alley". In this they showed how some scientists are trying to understand tornadoes better by going into an actual tornado! It was really thrilling to watch!!

 I wonder what can be done to reduce the damage caused by tornadoes. What do you think people can do?

Jamie's Post

April Fools’!

By: Jamie

    As you know, April Fools’ has already passed. But we still might want to share what we did!
    When everyone arrived on Friday, did you remember how the board looked? It was full of homework! That was because Julie, Rohan K., and I helped write them.
    Also, as an April Fools’ trick, I wrote a note full of spelling mistakes and the wrong words  (like “eye” instead of “I”) excusing me from homework club.
    At Chinese school, my brother and his friends, put the whiteboard eraser behind the clock. Then they changed the time to one hour forward. Later, one of the girls called the teacher and then didn’t say anything while the phone was on even if the teacher said,” Hello, hello, hello?”. To them, it was even more funny since the girl put the phone on speaker phone.
    What did you do on April 1st? Was it especially funny? Or did you get in trouble?

Rohan R.'s Post

My Weekend Trip
by Rohan R.

    Over the weekend, My family and friends went to Lake Tahoe. My mom bought sleds for us so we parked at the side of the road near the Bear Valley Ski Resort, and went sledding on a nearby hill.  We had a fun time sledding down the hill, and once, I accidentally did three somersaults coming down. Also, the view of the mountains from there was fabulous.
After that, we went to a river which had many rapids. Then we went to our cabin in the Dorrington Lodge, to eat dinner and sleep for the night. After dinner, my friend and I played Monopoly and Uno, for a long time.
The next day, we went to the town of Murphy to visit Mercer Caverns. The stairs, we walked on, in the cavern were very steep, and there were many awesome sites, with stalactites and stalagmites, that the tour guide showed us. There were many low hanging limestone formations which we had to duck so as not to touch the rocks. Our guide said that if we touched a part of the cavern, that part would die, and not continue growing. Finally, we reached the end of the cavern, and we exited it. Then we went to a restaurant to eat lunch, and after that we left for home. What fun thing have you done on the weekends?

30 minutes away

We just crossed the Sunol grade and are 30 min. away. Our ETA at school is about 8:35/ 8:40. Groups 2&3 are about 5 min. ahead of us. See you soon!

Leaving Sacramento

DVD in? Check. Full stomach of starches? Check. Sleeping kids the whole way home?....fingers crossed! :0) I'll update when we are over the Sunol grade, about 30 min. away. See you soon!

Very tempting....

So hard not to jump in!

So hot!!!

Ok, now we're feeling the heat! Our stop to Sutter's fort was interesting, but we cut it a little short. It was our only outside visit today and happened to be in the middle of the afternoon. We peeked in some of the rooms to see what life was life for the blacksmith, cooks, basket weavers, coopers and guards. Life was very different and seemed very hard, especially on hot days like this. We waved goodbye to Sutter's fort and anxiously greeted our air conditioned bus! We are headed to Old Town for a stroll through some old historic buildings on our way to the highly anticipated Italian dinner. The kids are looking a little old and tired. This seems like a marathon day for them. I have a feeling after this pasta dinner there will surely be some snoring on the way home!! By the way, our tourguide, Beth, is outstanding!!!

At the capital building

We are fully enjoying this gorgeous weather by having a picnic on the capital lawn. We've worked up a good appetite and I can't even describe to you how fast these lunches disappeared! We slowly made our way inside the capital and took a picture in front of the Governor's office, visited the assembly room, and learned a bit about our previous governors and their workplace. The heat is kicking in now- definitely feels like 90! We are now on our way across the street to the History Museum, a welcomed air-conditioned building! Kids are doing great and being such good listeners to their tour guide. She is so impressed with the history they already know!!

First stop...

The Railroad Museum! Students had a great informational session with their tour guide where they learned about the Big 4 founders, the golden spike, and the struggles of creating the railroad system back then. Now they are off to wander about the museum going in and out of the railroad cars and drooling over shiny, golden spikes!

On Our Way!

We've got all the excited kids, chaperones, and teachers on our way to our state capital. Things went so smoothly this morning getting all the students here on time and loaded up on the buses. Once we hit the freeway we put the DVD in the player and the bus immediately became silent. I think I've even heard some snoring already! Sacramento here we come!!

Book Discussions

Decided to get into groups this morning to not only read, but to discuss their thinking and to introduce new vocabulary. Some great, lively discussions! They are doing such great job understanding this book and picking up on all the funny parts.