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?