Sana's Post

Three Random Things 

 By: Sana Pandey

Do you sometimes just have random things that pop into your head?  Things that don’t seem to be connected at first thought but then your mind keeps thinking and you realize they may not be so random after all? If it does happen, you’re just like me. Here are three random things that have just popped into my head: sea otters, friends and hands. Don’t really make much sense together right, but if you think about them, you just might see the connection.

Did you know Sea otters are the biggest member of the weasel family, and the only ones in the family who spend their time underwater? Sea otters live around ten to twelve years, but can live up to twenty-five.Sea otters are shallow and coastal water swimmers, and stick together in groups, called rafts. And, funnily enough, sea otters link paws to stay together when they are near a big wave.

Think about your friends now. You confide in your friends and help each other. You trust each other and have fun in each others company. You reach out to them in need and help them when they need you. you hold hands when crossing the road or playing together or watching a scary movie in the drive in theater. Kind of like the sea otters right? Friends are family that you choose.

Did you know there are 29 major and minor bones, at least 123 named ligaments, 34 muscles which move the fingers and thumb, 48 named nerves, 29 major joints, 3 major nerves,24 named sensory branches and 30 named arteries? All these numbers to show that hands are really special and important.  Not just for the day to day tasks of working, lifting, writing, eating but also for universal gestures of friendship and greetings. You can pretty much raise you hands to show surrender in any language of the world or offer your palm up to ask for stuff. And holding someone’s hand or squeezing it gently almost always means a sign of support or friendship. Even sea otters know that !

So you see, not so random after all. Your brain sometimes just pull together some information it may remember and you may not be able to immediately see the connections but they are there. And you can train your brain to link things to see how they are related. Kind of like Sherlock Holmes. Maybe you can use this trick to get your brain to do some fun investigations... like a detective.

Sana's Post

 Summer Break!!

By: Sana P.

     When I think of summer, I think of bright green grass and long days. I think of tank tops, flip flops, shorts, and lots of sunscreen. I think of movies and picnics in the park and eating out. I think of running through the waves of the ocean and building droopy sandcastles on the shore. I think of lazing around. I think of sunglasses and lemonade. Summer is clearly a time that everyone is waiting for, even if it’s only for the ice cream you get every other day.
Most people have a ton of plans for summer. Some people might be visiting or having over friends and family. Some people might be going for summer camps. Some people might be going for vacation. I happen to be going to New York and Washington D.C. I am also going to a summer camp called ‘Summer Express’, a camp that keeps you entertained by four classes everyday. I have chosen: rollerblading, swimming, mad science, and jewelry making! It sure is going to be a lot of fun! Are you going on vacation or to a summer camp?
The best part of summer is that it is the same for almost everyone all over the world. My parents grew up in India and they remember their summers, like mine, as being lazy, hot, and full of lemonade! What I really love about summer is that it is the only time that my parents let me have back to back play dates and sleep-overs! Although, if your parents are like mine, they probably will make you study at least one hour on a daily basis. That truly is the worst part of summer!

Now, what do you like about summer? Are you going anywhere, or do you just want to chill out? Do you think summer break is fun, or do you miss school?

Who Wants To See Venus?

By: Nick B.

      On Tuesday, there is an event happening that you have probably never seen before. Do you want to guess what it is? It’s the transit of Venus! On Tuesday, June 5, you will be able to see Venus pass in front of the sun. It will appear as a little black dot moving across the sun. Transit means to move through or across. Are you excited to see it? Because, if you aren’t, this won’t happen for another 105 years!
    Venus is second in line from the sun, after Mercury. Hopefully you already know this, because if you don’t, are you practicing the play songs?
What is interesting about Venus is that it is the hottest planet in the solar system. Why not Mercury? The reason is that Mercury has no atmosphere, so there is nothing to keep the heat in. Venus has an atmosphere, and that keeps the heat in. Ooooh, she’s hot! Venus appears very bright in the night sky because  it’s clouds reflect a lot of light. Venus can only block out a little part of the sun, so even if you can’t see it, it’s still there!
    German astronomer Johannes Kepler first predicted the Venus transit in the 17th century. That was a long time ago. He found out that close to every century, the Earth’s and Venus’s orbit lined up perfectly with the sun. Only six transits have been observed in history. Only two people were said to have seen the transit of 1639. The 1882 transit was said to be more popular. Thousands of people jammed the streets of New York City to see it. What do you think is best and safest way to view Venus as it is crossing in front of the sun? Why?

Sammy's Post

Synesthesia

 By: Sammy L.

    One day, my mom and dad started laughing and called me over. “What?” I asked. They showed me one post on Facebook that looked something like this: “7H15 M3554G3 53RV35 7O PR0V3 H0W 0UR M1ND5 C4N D0 4M4Z1NG 7H1NG5! 1MPR3551V3 7H1NG5! 1N 7H3 B3G1NN1NG 17 WA5 H4RD BU7 N0W, 0N 7H15 LIN3 Y0UR M1ND 1S R34D1NG 17 4U70M471C4LLY W17H 0U7 3V3N 7H1NK1NG 4B0U7 17,B3 PROUD! 0NLY C3R741N P30PL3 C4N R3AD 7H15.” I read it and my dad and mom clapped. “We couldn’t do it!” my mom said. I was intrigued and did some reasearch. I found out it is called Synesthesia, and that how it works is that one person might have a sensory muscle which is activated, and leads to automatic motion or abilities. They said that if you can read this, you have a strong mind.

Have you ever experienced this sensation? What was it like, and what did it make you do? By the way, if you can read this, type it with your comment. No cheating!:)

It's a Boy!

Mrs. Dominguez is having a baby and it is a BOY! The baby is doing a lot of kicking right now (as you can see by the big leg he's showing in the picture) and seems like he will have a lot of energy when he finally arrives in September. The hard part now is trying to figure out a name for this cute, little bundle of joy. Do you have any ideas? Mr. Dominguez and I are looking for both a first and middle name to go along with Dominguez. If you have any ideas of good boy names, leave a comment and who knows, we might choose that one! Leave two names that go together, if you can think of two, one for the first name and one for the middle name. My little niece thinks we should name him "muffin". I love her, but I think we can do a little better than that. Come on guys, help me out!! :0)

Summer is Coming!

By Edward

 Summer is coming closer and closer! There are lots of things you can do during the break: having fun in the pool, going on vacation, sleeping in, playing video games, and many more things. I will go on vacation to europe this summer instead of playing video games and sleeping in. I will get to see the London Eye and the Eiffel Tower. I’m also going to see many other cities during the days I’m off. After that, I have a lot of math tutoring I need to attend 3 times a week! Even though I have that much math tutoring, that math tutor makes math fun. After that, the new year of school begins! What are you going to do during the summer? What do you think what the next schol year will be like? Do you think it will be good or bad? Why?

Grow!
 By Edward

   Grow is a series of very challenging games. They include Grow Nano, Grow RPG, Grow Island, Grow Valley, Grow Tower, Grow Cube, The Life Ark, and the original, GROW. You start off with with someone or something that is completely plain. On the bottom bar, there are many different items. You randomly pick each one and each one of those makes the plain thing more decorated, make it have life, or to help someone. After you pick them all, the the bar will flip over for what level each one got to. Your goal is to get each one of those items to get to max. There are only 1 combination to get all the items max. Each one also has a  secret ending called UFO. UFO is very different from the original ending. If you don’t use the walkthrough, you can spend hours trying to solve just one Grow game! If you ever played a Grow game, which one is your favorite? Why or why not? If you never played a Grow games, Do you think you would like to try one?

Jeremy's Post

Summer Vacation
By: Jeremy

     As the school year ends, everyone’s excited about one thing: summer. This year, the last day of school is on June 26, and summer vacation ends at August 13. This year for the 47-day break, I am going to visit my relatives at Taiwan, like I do every year.
     Three days after summer vacation begins, I will go on a flight to Taiwan, where I will stay for many weeks. Last year, my family went to other countries for about 10 days, then went to Taiwan to see our relatives for many weeks. There were many fun things I did there. The day we arrived at Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, the thermometer said the temperature was 33° Celsius(91°F). Then, we traveled to really sultry places. We went around the country in some high-speed train. When we arrived at another city, I saw how high the temperature was, and I was glad that we lived in California so that the weather wasn’t that extraordinary at home. Its normal temperature in summer there was 40° C or 110° F. Don’t ask me how the residents lived there. The only comfortable place was the hotel. I finally know why air conditioning costs that much now.
   90 degrees seemed comfortable after we came back to Taipei. After visiting other parts of the country, I attended several go lessons and one competition. I earned $500 Taiwan money, or about $16 US.
    After coming back from a 1-month trip, I finally came home, but only for a few days. My dad drove me to Santa Barbara for the annual US Go Congress. Even though the Congress only lasted one week and the Taiwan trip lasted a month, I thought, and still do think, of the Go Congress as the main highlight that year. Each morning when I woke up, I had to get to the campus (UCSB) by about 8:45. At 9:00 every morning, the biggest competition in the US, the US Open, would be played with one round a day, with a break day in the middle. I won 3 games and lost 3 in the competition, and got 7th place in my division. The games took a really long time. Some of the better players needed to think more, and even got a lunch break. They took about 5 hours to play a game. In the afternoon, there would usually be a few tournaments. The events usually started at either 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, or 7:00pm. There would also be teaching games with pros and many youth tournaments.

     Last year’s summer vacation was really fun for me. This year, I plan to go to Taiwan just three days after the last day of school. I will not be back home until August 1st, and on August 4th I will go to Go Congress. The plane back will be on August 12th, so I’ll probably be really tired for the first day of school, which is just a day after I come back. Basically, I only get about five and a half days to rest at home, so that might be a little too much for me. I hope to be fine on the first day of school and win a few prizes at Go Congress. What are you going to do for summer, and what do you hope to do?

Jasmin's Post

Summer Vacation
 By: JasminW.

  

About one more week until summer vacation! Are you excited? I am. My cousins are coming from Shanghai, China on June 29th to visit us. I didn’t see them in a long time. After that, we will go on a 7-day cruise to Mexico . The boat’s name is Carnival Splendor. Before I went on a cruise to Alaska when I was 6 years old, but I don’t remember a lot about it. I’m hoping this time will refresh my memories. I’m super excited!

     After the cruise, we plan to go to southern California for about a week. We are going to see San Diego, for places like the US Midway Aircraft Carrier, Zoo and Safari Park. We also plan to go to Los Angeles city for sightseeing. I’m not sure where exactly we’re going to, but it must be a fun trip. For the rest of our vacation, I’m just hanging out with my cousins, sleeping, eating, reading, etc. Some people think it is unfair that we get less than 6 weeks of summer vacation. But I think it is fair because our breaks make up for it. Do you think it is fair and why? What are you going to do for summer vacation? Are you going anywhere special?

Harry Potter

By: Krisha M.

 
The legendary Harry Potter was born in the arms of Lily Potter, wife of James Potter, all of whom had attended or were attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The school was run by Albus Dumbledore who was an old man with long silver hair and blue eyes. The school’s students were divided into four houses Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw. Harry soon got his turn to wear the “Sorting Hat” that placed him in Gryffindor with Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley. Harry’s teachers were Professor Snape for Potions, Professor sprout for Herbology, Professor McGonagall for Transfiguration, Professor Hagrid for Care of Magical Creatures, Professor Binns for History of Magic, Professor Flitwick for Charms, Professor Trelawney for Divination, and for any injuries Madam Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing.
During, Harry’s first year he met malicious Draco Malfoy, a rude boy who Harry hated. Harry lost his temper when he was first learning to fly a broom because of Malfoy. Harry zoomed pass McGonagall’s window. She rushed outside and told Harry to come out of the air that instant and took him to see Gryffindor Quidditch captain Oliver Wood as a new seeker. Harry had no idea what Quidditch was until Wood told him. This is how Harry understood it, there are four balls, two of which are bludgers, one , the quaffle, and finally the Golden Snitch. The bludgers would try to hit players of their broom to guide them there were two beaters Fred and George Weasley who hit the bludgers with bats. The quaffle were shot into three hoops by chasers Alicia, Katie, and Angelina. To block the quaffle was keeper and captain Oliver Wood. And finally the Golden Snitch, this ball had wings, and was a ball that flew so quick it looked like a golden blur it was Harry’s job to catch the snitch which meant the end of the game.
Do you like Harry Potter? Why or why not?

My Fishing Experience
by Courtney

“Okay guys we should probably head back,” my dad said. “Awww!” we all said. While we were on the boat heading back to the dock, I started to think about the day. This was my second time fishing. My sister, Lauren, had caught two fish right at the beginning of the day. Even though we were fishing for trout, Lauren had caught a bass. Johnny, my brother, was next. He caught two fish also. It seemed like I would never catch a fish, but then, finally, I caught my first fish! It was exciting, but I just wanted to
catch one more before we left the lake. Suddenly I felt a jolt on my rod! I said “Dad, I think I got a fish!” I started to reel the fish in. When I got it closer to the boat, Johnny said, “This one’s huge! Let’s make sure we don’t lose this one too!” (Earlier in the day, Lauren hooked a monster trout. When she got it close to the boat, before we netted it, her line broke and the fish swam away.) When he caught a glimpse of the fish, Johnny exclaimed, “This one looks even bigger than the fish that Lauren lost!” My dad warned, “You need to be careful because your little reel wasn’t made for such a big fish.” I felt it trying to dive down to the bottom of the lake. To tire it out, I let some line out so the fish could dive, and then I started to reel it back in. When I finally got it close to the boat, I saw how big it really was. My brother grabbed the net to get the fish into the boat. Unfortunately, our net was about half the size we needed for this fish. He reached so far to net the fish that Johnny almost fell out of the boat! When we finally got the fish into the boat, everybody was ecstatic! It was flopping all around while my dad was trying to take the hook out of its mouth. On the way back to the dock, I sat beside the stringer of fish, that was hanging from the side of the boat. My day turned out to be fantastic and that night my fish fed six people! Have you ever caught a fish? What was it like? If you haven’t, would you like to? Why or why not?
 

Me with all of the fish. (On the stringer.)

Me with the fish I caught.

April Fools’ Day
Celebration

By: Morgan

Hi, have you ever wondered why we do pranks on April Fools' Day? Well, it is because in the 16th century, France celebrated the New Year just like we do today, except they partied on April 1st. In 1562, Pope Gregory changed the calendar to the one we use today and from then on, the New Year began on January 1st. Lots of people didn't know about the new calendar, or they ignored the new calendar and kept celebrating on April 1st. So everyone else called them April’s fools and played tricks on them. In different countries, they do different jokes. For example, kids in Italy and France traditionally tack paper fish on each other's back as a trick and shout out “April fish!” To let the other person know that they have just been pranked.
 
This year, for April Fools’ Day, I just showed a math trick to my family and friends, which I hope I can show everyone. I was hoping to also find out what you did on April Fools’ Day. So tell me, what did you do for April Fools’ Day?


The iPad is Here!

By: Naren

It is here. The latest iPad has come, equipped with a lot more features than its cousins, the iPad and iPad 2, do.

The retina display in this new iPad is unbelievable. Brighter and clearer than any other iPad, iPhone, or iPod. The iPad is noticeably more clear than both the iPad (1st generation) and the iPad 2.

The iPad 2 was a pioneer in the whole camera-on-the-iPad thing and it wasn’t the best camera Apple created. The new iPad is a lot better thanks to the better lenses and the 5 mega-pixels, which creates more clarity in every picture. The picture of the flower to your right was taken by the new iPad. It is very clear.

The new iPad’s Internet is super fast. Faster than my computer! It is all thanks to the new 4G LTE, which enhances the Internet to go at lightning fast speeds.


Some other improvements are Dictation and the ten-hour battery. Dictation is for people who would rather talk than type. If they just say what they what they want to type, Dictation will type it for them. Even though the new iPad has better retina display, which would usually consume lots of battery power, the iPad still has 10 hours worth of battery.

There is no doubt that the iPad is very brilliant. If you could design at least one new feature for the next iPad, what would it or they be?

Discovery on Antarctica

By: Nick

     20 years of drilling. Drill drill drill. Finally! Recently, Russian researchers have found a lake on Antarctica. Lake Vostok is the largest lake of Antarctica, 50 miles wide and 160 miles long. That is huge! It is similar to Lake Ontario, near New York. American and British researchers have drilled other lakes too, but they are smaller and younger.

     Scientists around the world are eager about this discovery of the lake. They are waiting for water samples to test. They want to see if there is any possibility of life in that dark, cold lake. There might be bacteria, thriving in the unknown. Who knows? Nobody so far. The bacteria could be similar or the same as the bacteria on the ocean floor. " The more we learn about life, the more we learn about its ability to grow and survive and do well in environments that we formerly thought were too inhospitable." That's what one of NASA's senior scientists, David Morrison, said.

     Drilling Lake Vostok has made it easier and a lot more possible to test new and different technologies. Those technologies could also be used to test similar parts of the solar system. "Conditions in lakes in Antarctica are the closest we can get to those where scientists expect to find extraterrestrial life." said Valery Lukin, the head of Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. Researchers believe that the conditions of the lake are close to those found under an ice crust on Mars, Jupiter's moon Europa, and on a moon of the planet Saturn. The study of Lake Vostok will help scientists determine which part of space to research next.  Do you think that there is a possibility of life that has a complex mind like us? Why or why not?

My Quarter Collection
By: Jessie

        Do you ever collect quarters? Well I do. I started by having a lot of different state quarters, about 40 because my dad has quite a bit of change in a little bag. We decided to start by buying one of those maps where you can insert a carved out hole for every different state you have. We also have the territory quarters. The territory quarters that I have are Northern Mariana Islands, Americans Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S Virgin Islands.

Now that I am finished with the state quarters, I am now working on the new kind of quarters the national parks quarters. I only have a couple of national park quarters. It will probably take a while to finish that collection because only a few come out each year. When finally all of them come out, it will be 2021. Are you interested in collecting quarters? Why or why not?

Risks and Inventions

By: Shivani

Thomas Edison and his invention of the light bulb.

 Last summer, I saw a band performance on my way to a game. I was amazed to see how well these young students performed together. In my mind, I thought I could never perform as well as them. This year, when I had the opportunity to sign-up for my school band, I decided to take the risk and try to learn a new instrument. Though at first I could not play a single note, I practiced every week and guess what!! I played a trio in my first performance.
What is a risk? I was surprised to read that one of the definitions of risk is “Threats and Opportunities”. I thought risks were only threats as a result of uncertain and unknown elements that could cause failures and areas to avoid. We normally neglect the opportunities and inventions aspect that may be hidden in the risks. Just imagine how the world would be like if nobody took risks due to the fear of failures. Do you think great inventions like the Iphone, Ipad, satellites, or even basic sources of necessities or luxuries like light, heat, road vehicles, airbuses and ships would have been possible without taking the risk to research and invent something new? The society mocked Steve Jobs when he introduced the $400 worth I-phone in a market when phones were available for free. He still took the risk and introduced his product into the market.We all are aware of the successful results. Did you know that Michael Jordan, the baseball rookie was knocked down in his first game with the Chicago Bulls? He finally became a favorite basketball player and led the team to win the Olympics. Thomas A Edison failed 6,000 times before finding the right filament for his light bulb. Isn’t that an amazing outcome of taking the risk to venture into an area that was unknown to mankind before these inventions were made?
There is a quote by Thomas Edison that said, “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” Failures and risks can lead to great things because of trying again. If you believe in what you do, have the courage to take a risk, accept and learn from the failures, and try again, then you are bound to succeed. The learning is in the journey and not in the end result. The journey gives us the exposure to new experiences to help us make better decisions and eventually gives birth to newer inventions. Are you willing to take the risk to try something new in spite of the possibility of failing initially? Just like I tried to learn the clarinet, please share one new area that you will risk to try this year.

Niraj's Post

Super Bowl XLVI

                                               By: Niraj

Did you watch the latest Super Bowl? It was one of the best I have seen. I was rooting for the Giants because they won in 2008 and I wanted them to win again. The New York Giants beat the New England Patriots 21-17 because of a touchdown by Ahmad Bradshaw with just one minute left. The Patriots threw a Hail Mary Pass to Aaron Hernandez with just five seconds left but the pass was deflected away disappointing thousands of Patriots fans. Here is a table to show how much each team scored in each quarter.
                                    Quarter
                             1       2        3         4            Final Score

Giants Score:       9        0        6         6                  21
 
Patriots Score:     0       10      7          0                  17

Did you watch the Super Bowl? If you did, which team were you voting for and why? Where you happy with the result?

Rohan I.'s Post

 The Spectacular Miami Heat

by: Rohan I.

As you guys all know, the Miami Heat are my favorite basketball team. Despite losing in the N.B.A (National basketball Association) Finals to win a championship, this team still has a very strong offense and defense.

 To make the Heat’s championship hopes higher, they acquired 2 time NBA All-Defensive second team guard, Shane Battier. Shane Battier is not only good at defense, his three point shooting from the right and left corner is remarkable. Making it into the All-Defensive team is really hard only the best defenders in the N.B.A can make it on the team. Unfortunately, Shane Battier made it to the second team, but that is still good. Each of the teams are made up of 5 people. So, in all, only 10 people out of the so many people in the NBA can make it onto this team. Your probably thinking, “Well, how do they even get selected onto the team?” These players get selected onto the team by the 30 head-coaches around the league. Each of the head-coaches will vote for one person who they think should be on the All-Defensive team. However, the coaches can’t vote for a person on their team. Whichever 10 people get voted the most, they get into the All-Defensive team. The 5 people with the most votes will go to the first team. The other five go onto the second team. If there is a tie in votes for fifth place, the first team will simply grow to six people on one team and five on the other.

Over the off-season, the Heat also got a point guard named Norris Cole. This young man has sparked up the Heat organization. He is a great ball handler and three point shooter. With Shane Battier and Norris Cole pleading to shoot the three ball at any time, the Heat are much more of a threat outside the perimeter. Even though Heat’s starting center, Zydrunas Ilgauskas has announced his retirement, they still have Joel Anthony. This year, the Heat have a healthy Udonis Haslem to get rebounds and block shots. With this nasty center and power forward, the Heat can increase there offensive and defensive rebounds.

Another sharpshooter is back in the line-up. That man’s name is Mike Miller. His three point shots are a beauty. The Miami Heat have so many threats now including the big three, Lebron James, Chris Bosh, and Dwyane Wade. LeBron James is having another great season scoring 27.4  points per game, 8.10 rebounds, and 6.8 assists per game. LeBron’s field goal percentage has gone up rapidly. By shooting more high-percentage shots, LeBron’s field goal percentage is 0.547%. That is really good. LeBron’s three point average 0.413% and his free-throw average is 773%. Chris Bosh is also having a monster season. Without D-Wade in the line-up at the start of the season, Bosh has stepped it up. Bosh is averaging 18.4 points per game, 8.30 rebounds, and 2.0 assists. Chris Bosh is a great threat inside the paint and outside. If you guard him too close, he’ll post up. If you guard his too far, he’ll use his shooting ability and shoot. Same with LeBron and Wade. Wade has been playing a okay season. His injuries have brought down his athleticism levels. Now Wade has recovered and is playing at the prime of his career scoring 22.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 4.8 assists.

The Heat are having a great season so far now that they have D-Wade back in the line up. Just recently they beat the New York Knicks, Jeremy Lin’s team, 102- 88. Now the Heat are 27-7  counting the win over the Knicks. With all these weapons around the court, the Heat are a sure playoff contenders. What is your favorite basketball team and basketball player?  I am pretty sure you guys know mine, LeBron James. If you don’t like basketball, what is your favorite sport and what is your favorite athlete?

Kelly's Post

Zoo Tycoon 2
By Kelly

Recently, I’ve gotten hooked on an awesome computer game called Zoo Tycoon 2. The purpose of the game is to create a five-star zoo that your guests and animals enjoy. The things I like most about this game are the freedom to create whatever kind of zoo you want, the realism in the animation and characteristics of the animals, and the challenge. In this game, you can buy lots of things including a variety of animals, animal shelters, food, and toys. To satisfy the guests, you can buy benches, tables, food carts, restaurants, trash cans, playground equipment, fountains, statues, and a whole lot more. Along with that, you can purchase employees such as maintenance workers, zoo keepers, and educators, and natural things like flowers, trees, and rocks.
Even though this game seems learning-free, there is an educational value. While creating your exhibits, you learn a lot about biomes, and when managing your zoo, you learn good money management.
 It sounds quite easy, but really, if you don’t manage your zoo carefully, many things could go wrong. For example, animals can hunt each other and even attack guests! Also, animals can escape from their exhibits if the walls are too low. One of the biggest obstacles is the picky guests, especially when they are ungrateful about your zoo.
 Unfortunately, this game comes on a disk, so you have to pay to play it, but I still think it is worth the purchase. Well, I think we’ve heard enough about my favorite game, so what is your favorite video or computer game? What do you like most about it?

This is an image of part of my zoo. It shows some exhibits, tables, bathrooms, animals, guests, workers, and a few other things. As you can see, I have a four-star zoo, it is the zoo’s second year, I currently have $8,995, and guests love my zoo.

Manali's Post

My Telugu Play

By: Manali

Do you know Akbar? He was a very famous emperor in India There are  tons of stories about him and Birbal, his Minister, and, I am not exaggerating there are actually tons of stories about him. Birbal is a very smart person and sometimes even  Akbar would get jealous and try to embarrass him in front of everybody but, Birbal always outdid him.

My favorite story is when the king wanted to embarrass Birbal so he gave all the ministers an egg except Birbal because he was not present at that time. Then when Birbal came the king told everyone to find a egg at the royal pond, secretly the king told all the people he had given the egg  to give the eggs back as if they found it so that's what they did while Birbal was still trying to find an egg. Birbal couldn't find any eggs. Then he realized the king was playing a trick on him so he went to the court room crowing like a cock. The king asked him to stop making that annoying sound and to show him the egg. Birbal smiled and said that only hens could produce eggs and that he was a cock and he couldn't produce eggs. Everybody laughed then Akbar knew Birbal can't be tricked easily.

Okay, now I think your wondering why I am talking about Akbar and Birbal. I'm telling you because I go to a Telugu language class. Telugu is my mother tongue. Manabadi, my Telugu’s school's name, is celebrating its anniversary on February 4th.

Me and my best friend in my class, wondered "What are we going to do on the day of the anniversary?" Then the teacher suggested "Maybe we can do a dance." Then soon a lot of parents started sharing their ideas with the teacher then at the end the teacher said that we are going to do a play about Akbar and Birbal. The teacher told the parents he would email the story and the characters each student will be playing.

That week my dad got the email. When I saw what role I was going to play I got very excited because in one of the scenes I got to play Akbar!

I practiced every Saturday with my class and I started to improve a lot. Now we are practicing more frequently because the play is this Saturday!

I am really excited and I hope my scene will stand out the most because I have been practicing for such a long time. I just hope I don’t look bad because I have to dress up like a man with lots of jewelry. I just hope I do good. Do you have any performances coming up?  Do you think you will do good?

First Impressions
By Courtney

          My dad just told me that we are going to get a new car tonight, a 1967 Mustang! He told me that it was coming late at night, so I would have to wait to see it in the morning. I had to go to bed, but I was planning to stay up until it came and run downstairs to see it. I crawled into my bed, but next thing I knew my dad was telling me to wake up and get ready for school. “Aw, I didn’t stay up,” I thought. I quickly got dressed and went downstairs to see our new car. Before I opened the door, I imagined a beautiful shiny new car. I opened the garage door and I saw this old, ugly, maroon colored car that was full of spider webs. I pretended that it was the nicest car in the world because my dad was really excited and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

            Soon, my dad started working on it every weekend. He took out the engine, built a new one, and put it back in the car. He changed almost every part in the car! Soon it was painted a shiny dark blue color and getting new wheels and tires. Now it was looking better and better!
After three years of hard work, my dad is finally finished! It is now the most fun car to ride in because it is loud, I can sit in the front seat because it has no airbags, and I can plug my IPod in and listen to all my favorite music. Now, the car is even more than I ever dreamed it would be! Have you ever had a bad first impression of something that later turned out to be great?

Chinese New Year 
by Kleo

It is a special day for Chinese on Jan. 22nd. That date is Chinese New Year. Some families put up red signs to keep away bad spirits, and there is a story to come along with it:
    Every year, a monster will wake up to eat: people. One day, the monster was waking, and an old couple were losing hope to live. A young boy insisted that he would protect them, but they dismissed it.The boy found out that the monster only feared loud noises and the color red, so he covered their house with red paper.The monster came, and the couple was terrified, but the monster was as well. He saw the red paper, and he heard the loud crackle of the fire the boy was making. He ran away, to scared to come out of his home again.
                What to you think of this story? Do think it is true?

My New Puppy
By: Ryan

One of my Christmas presents was a Shih Tzu mix puppy. The other breed is a Lhasa Apso. The puppy was bred by a breeder named Kelly. It started when I was taking the SCAT test to maybe get into a summer school taught at Stanford by the school John Hopkins. When I was done testing, my mom told me my aunt had bought one of the female puppies. My mom wanted to see it, so we went to her house. When she saw it, she thought it was really cute, so she wanted to go buy one from the breeder. When we got there, there was much to choose from. There were 5 puppies. (three were already bought, including my aunt. In all, there were three male and the 5 female. (Extra Credit: Find both ratios for these two numbers and write them in all three forms, and the fractions for both of the numbers.) I picked the only male left, which was black and white, and was ginormous and much bigger than all the others. It cost $300.( Extra question: If any of you have a dog, how much did it cost to buy it?)

When it came home it was really afraid to walk on anything, and during the night, he kept whining because the breeder sleeps with her dogs, so he doesn’t like being in a cage. But right now, after a few weeks, he knows when to sleep and is now almost potty trained, but is mischievous and likes to bites things. Shoes, shoelaces, clothes, paper, leaves, tanbark, towels, hands, feet, and anything that looks appealing to him. If you already have a dog(s), or another pet(s), do you like it(them) and would you get another once he passes away? If you don’t have a dog, would you want one? If not, what pet would you want? Also try to do the extra questions!!!  

Rohan R.'s Post

Resolutions for the New Year
by Rohan R.

    Welcome to 2012!!! I bet you have many resolutions that you are wanting to accomplish, well here are some of mine.
My first one is to get better at soccer and basketball. To do that, I am going to try to practice three times every week. My second resolution is to advance to the state finals in Destination Imagination (DI). To achieve that, I’m going to work hard with my team. My final resolution is to do a better job in school.
Well those are my resolutions. Now that you have seen them, I bet you got a clear understanding of what you want.
New Year's Eve has always been a time for looking back to the past, and more importantly, looking forward to the coming year. It's a time to reflect on the changes we want to make and to try to follow them.

The top resolutions for the new year are:

1. To spend more time with family and friends.
2. Get fit by doing your exercise regularly
3. Quit smoking
4. Enjoy life more
5. Don’t drink alcohol
6. Get out of debt
7. Learn something new
8. Help others
9. Get organized


Okay, so some of them aren’t meant for you to accomplish like to quit smoking and to stop drinking alcohol because you anyways aren’t allowed to smoke or drink, but for the rest of them, you can still use them as a resolution. Now that I think about it, what are your resolutions? How will you achieve them? These are the things that I will be waiting to see.

Aayush's Post

New Year's

By: Aayush

New years must have been fun with your family and friends. you might have been in the state or not. You could have been in a different city, but you were able to experience new years of 2012. What I did in New years was watch the ball drop with my family and later go to sleep. You all may have done something different. Oh yes and talking about New years its time to get those New years resolutions or as I would call them goals for the year. You may want goals like doing your homework on time or studying some more, but in the end you just want to reach your goal. Also a new year means new things like new technology or more new science has been discovered. Soon even the way we live might change! In all the year of 2012 might change or stay the same and we may get to experience even more. So what did you do on New Year's Eve and was it fun?