Volume I No. 22

Field Trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Yiming Ye generously sent his story about his field trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium to GWN. Thanks, Yiming! Read about it in this issue. Much of GWN's support comes from its readers, like Yiming's story or Alex Zhou's book review (see about it). Thanks, GWN readers!

Please send ALL your news to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com
Also check out our cool website:
http://www.freewebs.com/gingerbreadwklynews

Table of Contents
Cover Story
New News
Debate Time
Mail Pail
Turtie's Kitchen Announcement

Debate Time

Favorite Book

What's your all-time favorite book?

What is your favorite book? From a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best, how much do you like that book? Why? Please give us a summary of that book! Send your opinions and summaries to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com

Favorite Author

Who's your favorite author?

Speaking of books, writing, and everything about it, who would your favorite author be? Why? Please also send your opinions! We'll name this week “Book Week”.

The author doesn't have to have a published book. It can be your friend! Maybe even yourself! Really think about it, it doesn't have to be Beverly Cleary or Andrew Clements. Just anyone, ANYONE! Think about it...and if it's yourself, please send your best story to GWN! We will post it on the next issue.

Book Review

By Alex Zhou

Alex Zhou wanted to share his book review with GWN and our readers. Here is a short summary of the story “Captain Underpants”:
There were two kids named George Beard and Harold Hutchins with a mean principal named Mr. Krupp. Since they hated their principal, they bought the hypno ring. They hypnotized Mr. Krupp and turned him into Captain Underpants.The principal really thought he was Captain Underpants and dressed as Captain Underpants. He jumped out the window and went out to fight for justice. Since the two boys made comic books about Captain Underpants, they wanted to make copies of their comic book. Someone named Melvin Sneedly made a PATSY 2000 which was made out of a copy machine. It was placed in the gymnasium. Melvin Sneedly told them that it turns two dimensional things into real three dimensional things. They tried using the PATSY 2000 to copy their comic book because they thought Melvin Sneedly was tricking them. The PATSY 2000 really did turn 2 dimensional things into 3 dimensional things so the things in the comic book turned into real life. There were talking toilets in the book which were evil. They were supposed to be in the detention room and weren't supposed to go out of the detention room even if they had a reason. They were found at the door of the gymnasium because they were scared of the talking toilets from the comic book and Mr. Krupp was at the door. Mr. Krupp suspended them and wanted to have a party with the teachers in the gymnasium. The talking toilets were still in the gymnasium and ate all the teachers. Then Captain Underpants came to the rescue. The talking toilets were outside so the two boys and Captain Underpants went outside. The toilets surrounded them. The two boys were scared. Captain Underpants said “Never underestimate the power of underwear!” Captain Underpants killed all the toilets. There was one left. The toilet ate Captain Underpants. The boys made a picture of machine and used the PATSY 2000. It became alive. It killed the toilet and fixed the school. Then it flew to Uranus. The two boys got to be principals of the day and for the rest of the day the children in the school got to play.
GWN also interviewed Alex about the book:

GWN: Why did you send your review about this book?
Alex: I like this book.
GWN: How much from a scale of 1 to 10?
Alex: Maybe I'll call it a 7...
GWN: Is “Captain Underpants” your favorite book? If not, what is your favorite book?
Alex: No. Pokemon or Star Wars!
GWN: Thank you for taking our interview and sending your summary!
Alex: You're welcome.
Please email your Young Author's story to GWN.

Cover Story

Field Trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium

By Yiming Ye, Forest Park Elementary, 4th grade

Did you know what happened at my field trip to Monterey Bay Aquarium? It was fun and disastrous! We had to ride on the bus for two hours! Two hole hours! on the way, we passed a cow farm! It was smelly! When we finally got there, I was relived. We got out and went to a place next to the aquarium and we ate lunch. We got in the aquarium and went to the bathroom because Larry needed to go to the bathroom! We saw fish straight away from the bathroom. Later, we noticed that sea otters were floating on the top. Everyone in our group went upstairs and started admiring them. Even the toughest boy (Jihan) was tamed by the sea otters' cuteness. When they finally tore their yes off, we went to a place where there were a lot of fish and a sea diver, and a woman dressed in red. The show was boring so we went to a dark place with some fish and an octopus. It might have been a Giant Octopus. We also saw some skeletons too. When we got out of that dark place, we went to a splash zone! There was a touching pool where you could touch a manta ray. Too bad I didn't touch it. Then we went to a class area where water went down! It was so cool! We went to another touching pool where there were star fish! But first, there was a video game called something. We went to many places which I couldn't remember. But at the end, we got one stuffed animal for free because our chaperone said that she would buy for everyone in our group! On the trip back, we played with our stuffed animals. One girl got a Giant Penguin and a boy got a long manta ray! It was so fun!

Thanks, Yiming, for sending your wonderful story to GWN! You will receive 3 GWN tickets.

Turtie's Kitchen Announcement

From the Desk of Turtie Turtle
Hi GWN Readers!
Some people said they wanted announcements to be weekly. Do YOU want them to be weekly? Of course, I can't check new recipes every single week, but I have plenty of tips. If not, there will be restaurant news or no announcement at all. Please tell Gingy your opinion! Thank you, GWN Readers!

Turtie Turtle, Owner of Turtie's Kitchen

Tips:

• ALWAYS hold the bowl you are mixing with. I remember when I broke a new bowl and spoiled my mixture. My, my Gingy was angry!
• Wear ragged, but clean, clothes while making cookies. Making cookies can sure be messy business!
• Pour ingredients over a bowl. You don't want to waste ingredients! If you DO put too much of something, it's okay, your cookies will be fine.

New News

Ardenwood Spelling Bee

Ardenwood Elementary School had its annual Spelling Bee on April 23rd. Unfortunately, none of our GWN readers made it through the classroom Spelling Bee, so GWN can't say much about how the spellers felt. Diane Zhou, though, went last year. “They all look just as nervous as I did last year. Some people were embarrassed just like me, scared they would spell an easy word wrong,” Diane told GWN.

This year's Spelling Bee was short compared to last year. There were only 13 rounds, and the last 2 people only went 2 rounds. Last year, there were about 10 rounds before only two people remained. The last two spellers went on for about 45 minutes! This year's spellers were still pretty good, but it was clear only the person in Diane's 6th grade side of the class, Sahil, really studied the words.

Mr. Sakamoto, the P.E. teacher, told the directions. All the spellers were to say their name, spell it for practice (good, no one spelled his/her name wrong!), say their grade, room number, and techer's name, and tell their favorite animal. Mr. Tietze, a 5th grade teacher, was the announcer who told the rules and gave the words. The judges were 2 6th grade teachers and one teacher who came back to Ardenwood. 2 people were eliminated on the first round, 2 again the second, then 3, 4, 2, 0, and 1. Everyone took a bathroom break. The remaining people were really the spellers who practiced the words at all. When the Spelling Bee resumed, 2 people went out, then 1, 1, and 2. That left two people, 4th grader Sarah (in GWN reader Emily Wang's class) and 6th grader Sahil (in Diane Zhou's 6th grade side of the class).They went on for two rounds, but on the second round, Sarah spelled a word wrong. Sahil spelled that word and the next word correctly and won! Both will get to go to the District Spelling Bee on Tuesday, May 28th at Chadbourne Elementary School.

Fever

Diane Zhou had a 2-day fever on April 21st to 22nd! How sad! She still went ice skating for 40 minutes in the morning, but she skipped school. Thanks, GWN reader Emily Wang, for the delivery! Thanks also to Chloris Li who finished the whole delivery and emailed Diane news.

Diane went back to school not feeling so good on Tuesday. She was fine, but not in great condition. Too bad she didn't get to practice pull-ups and failed for the fifth year to do a pull-up!!! Good thing you're well now, Diane!

Mail Pail

Here's all the mail GWN received this week:

Debate Time (Which Trophy?):
“Special Trophy. Everybody could get 4 trophies. A special trophy makes people feel special.” Deanna Wong, 5th grade
“I would would get a special trophy because you know it's special with your name on it.” Cynthia Yao, 5th grade
“I would rather have 4 trophies, because if you had 1, people might think you earned 1 for only 1 subject.” Susan Pham, 5th grade
“I would rather have a special trophy because it will have your name on it. 4 trophies can't really mean anything. It just means that 'someone' got these 4 trophies.” Chloris Li, 5th grade
“I'd rather get 1 special trophy with my name on it because 4 will take up space and 1 will be more special.” Emily Wang, 4th grade
“4 trophies, because the more the merrier.” Alex Zhou, 2nd grade
“I would choose 1 special trophy because people would admire one thing and it won't take up so muck space.” Yiming Ye, 4th grade
“1 special one, because people would respect it.” Nicole Tong, 5th grade
“I'd rather have a speical tropy with my name on it.” Shudong Zhou, adult

Debate Time (Update Debate):

“You shouldn't have a Shout Box on you site because people will see your answers for the debate before the issues come out.”Susan Pham, 5th grade
“GWN should not allow that. Some readers think that their own debate is sort of private until the next issue. Other website people (not GWN readers) will know how the GWN editors and readers are communicating!” Chloris Li, 5th grade
“Yes, you should use the shoutbox, because some people obviously don't have email.” Alex Zhou, 2nd grade
“Yes [you should allow the shoutbox for debate] because I don't have email.” Yiming Ye, 4th grade

Volume I No. 21

Desperation Day
Green Grass (Diane Zhou and Amanda Chang's afterschool) had their Open House on April 18th. Let's see the results of Diane and Amanda's contests in February and March!
Also see other interesting events that happened mainly on April 18th and other days this week as well . . .

New!
Turtie's Kitchen is having monthly notices (see page 7)! Remember Gingy's pet Turtie? Turtie's made up restaurant is great! And the recipes are real! Try them!

Table of Contents

Cover Story
New News
Debate Time
Mail Pail
Turtie's Kitchen Announcement

Debate Time

Which Trophy?

Would you rather have a special trophy with your name or 4 trophies?

Read about “Open House” in this issue. Would you rather have a special trophy like Diane Zhou or Amanda Chang, or would you rather have 4 trophies? Diane would have gotten 4, but her trophies got “traded” for a special one. Send your answers to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com

Special!

Special ones are...well, special! Only one person gets a special trophy. Even if you had 4 trophies, it wouldn't be special. Wouldn't one special trophy be great?

4 Trophies!

Of course you should get 4 trophies. If you display one special trophy on your shelf, other people won't know it's special. They'll just think you earned one trophy. With 4 trophies, you can easily prove that you won 4 subjects.

Contest Results
Remember the contest of making the best joke? GWN has the results now!
1^st place: Chloris Li
2^nd place: Emily Wang
3^rd place: Deanna Wong
Still a good job, everyone who participated!

Update Debate
Should GWN allow people to reply to debate on the box at the website?

GWN wants to be updated on its website! Should GWN allow people to reply to debate on the shout box at its website?

Of Course!

Of course GWN should! Some people don't have email since their parents don't allow it. If you live far away or never get to see the GWN editors, how do you send your debate replies (and earn a ticket)? Everyone has the Internet and can go on the website. GWN could always empty the shoutbox every week, so it wouldn't be a mess. The email would still be in use since stories should be sent by email.

Bad Idea...

Why should you allow it? The email address would be a waste and GWN is just for fun; for now, everyone who reads GWN and doesn't have email lives near the editors, so there is no need to use the shoutbox and make a mess. Half of the time, GWN readers write their stories on paper, so the email account is just used to send announcements, that's all. No, don't use the shoutbox!

Cover Story

Desperation Day

It all started at 3:30 pm that day of April 18th. Class was about to start until Ms. Qian said that we were free that day! Diane Zhou, Amanda Chang, and Nicole Tong were playing a game where you name words in a subject. No saying "Ummm" and the limit is 10 seconds. Ms. Qian went to pick up trophies, and in awhile, Diane and Amanda mischievously decided to look for the results. They were so eager to know them! Well, the tired out Ms. Qian shouted at them. Diane and Amanda went back to the classroom ashamed. Well, they recalled what happened and decided Ms. Qian was plain tired. She never yelled at them before.
Open House time was nearing. Ms. Qian prepared the girls' clothes, so good news for everyone except Diane and Nicole. They were acting as boys in their dance! They waited for their moms to come, but they didn't show up before the kids had to go sit in their places. Open House wasn't starting until 30 minutes later, but still, they were desperate. Amanda didn't have the proper shoes and her mom didn't show up either! "My brother was smart to bring his own things," she sighed. "Mine too," Diane agreed. Nicole just waited and waited with Diane and Amanda. Diane's mom was the first to appear, right before the show started. Amanda's parents came with nothing in hand! How unlucky! Amanda's mom had to go home and get Amanda's things! Nicole's mom came and she got ready. Amanda was very desperate, because the show had started.
Looking at the bright side of things, Amanda's old friend, Joycelyn, was back for Open House! Awhile ago, Amanda said, "This Open House would have been totally disastrous without Joycelyn here!" Diane, Amanda, and Nicole's dance was last, which gave them plenty of time. Diane was very happy for her brother, Alex, because he finally won one (actually two) first place trophies! He tied first in math and won Chinese character recognition!
Finally, after a looong time, Amanda's mom came back with Amanda's things. They actually still had to wait about a half hour, since there were also dances from a professional school and Kung Fu moves. Between the shows were the times when the awards were given out. New desperation topic: How come the teachers never announced the winners for the Intermediate students? Amanda and Diane thought it was sooooo not fair.
The Intermediate students' dance was up! They had a "romantic" where they had a dance with a boy. Don't call it disgusting, because it wasn't their fault! Well, when Diane and Amanda went to starting position, Amanda whispered excitedly, "Look! There's a special trophy with my own name on it!" Diane answered, "Cool! Now we have a special trophy. But is there one with my name?" The music had started, so Amanda replied a quick, "Yes, and..." The dance went well, and Diane and Amanda were chattering the way back.
Finally, the last award was announced. Amanda won two trophies, one for second place penmanship and the other special trophy. It looked the same as the other trophies, but the words were different, and of course, there was her name there. She was the "teacher's pet", but she really deserved it for her second place wins where she competed with her friend, Diane. Diane won first for Intermediate math, Chinese character recognition, and story writing (Amanda won second for those). But she didn't win 3 trophies, neither did Amanda. Also for Diane being the Green Grass translator, editor, and typist, and the "teacher's pet" too, as everyone called her also, Diane "traded" the three trophies for one special and unique trophy with her name and the design made of metal. Diane and Amanda went off with glory.
For the last desperation story, when everyone went back to the classrooms for pizza, no one delivered! They still had to go out and get their own pizza, which was NOT what the teachers said. For a few moments, the girls (and everyone else) were desperate. Well, all in all, it was a great day for everyone! Except for Gingy, because Diane forgot to bring her!!! Oh well...

Turtie's Kitchen Announcement

From the desk of Turtie Turtle
Hi!

I'm Turtie, owner of Tutie's Kitchen and the pet of Gingy. This is an announcement from Turtie's Kitchen, and my owner helped me spread the news with Gingerbread Weekly News. An announcement will be sent every month, so watch out! My announcements will include tips for making cookies. I use them for my own little cookie shop! Check out the great tips and recipes every month.

Turtie Turtle, Owner of Turtie's Kitchen

Tips of the Month:

• Always wash your hands first! When I started making cookies, I was too lazy to wash my hands. Gingy and I got stomach aches after eating the delicious and contaminated cookies!
• Do not stop to do something else while making cookies; you may forget about them, go back to it with everything messed up, or have dirty hands and ruin the cookies. Concentrate on doing what you do!
• Once the timer rings for finished cookies, turn the oven off immediately. Otherwise...burnt cookies!

This month's special cookie recipe will be...let's start with simple chocolate chip cookies! Turtie notes that this is not a really difficult cookie to make, but it still takes several practices. Difficulty rating:
1.5 out of 5 rating from Turtie's notes. See the recipe next and try it out yourself! Enjoy the cookies if you try them!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients (for 2¼ cups flour):

• ½ cup white sugar (mild sweetness, add more or less by pinches)
• 1 cup brown sugar (mild sweetness, add more or less by pinches)
• ¾ teaspoon salt (mild saltiness, add more or less by pinches)
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoon vanilla (add tiny amounts for more taste)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• any chocolate/candy to add to cookie dough

Instructions:

1. Have all ingredients prepared. Be sure to get measuring spoons and cups.
   

2. Melt the butter and crack the eggs. Beat the eggs until smooth yellow. Butter should be perfectly fluid.

3. Mix all ingredients together. Use something to stir until the mixture is smooth. Make sure there are very rare white “bumps”; those are bumps of flour. The mixture should be stiff. If you really can't move it anymore, or want very (and it's really “very”) soft cookies, add some milk. If it looks too pale, add vanilla or brown sugar. Add more flour if the dough looks very liquid-ish.

4. Use a tray and cover it with foil. It's a good idea to add non-stick spray on the foil. Shape the dough into any shape you want to. Make sure the shapes are no more than 1 centimeter thick, otherwise you will have over-cooked cookies on the outside! Add the decorations as you like.

5. Bake on 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 10 minutes. You should check up on the cookies every 3 minutes. They will be ready if you poke them and see the cookie texture.

New News

3rd Grader Almost Kidnapped

(...False Alarm...)

A third grader was almost kidnapped on April 18th during recess at Ardenwood Elementary! According to the principal's announcement to the whole school, the boy was smart to scream his head off so the kidnapper put him down. Some students passed the story that the same story happened at Warwick Elementary. GWN wants everyone to be safe, so PLEASE walk home with your friends or family.
Diane Zhou's class along with some other Intermediate classes were out for extra recess on that Friday afternoon. The teachers were urgently getting the students back to class. Diane knew something was wrong, but really? Something stolen? Probably not that dangerous...but 3 minutes later, the principal announced the scary incident. Please be very, very careful!
False alarm! On April 20th, Diane's mom received an email from the child's parents. It said that the child ran away himself and “didn't know the gravity of running away from school.” The false alarm notice also came at school on Monday, April 21st. Don't scare people like that and still be safe please!

Meet David Schwartz

Another event on April 18th! Diane Zhou got to meet an author named David Schwartz. Actually, the whole school met him, but Diane and other Honorable Mention students from the Young Author's contest got to eat lunch with Mr. Schwartz!
Mr. Schwartz says that he gets his ideas from wondering. He says “wondering is wonderful.” He loved big numbers and told a story about how he made a nuisance to his first and second grade teachers. He would ask if he had a million hairs on his head or how many blades of grass there was outside. He also said he had never planned to be an author; he wasn't exactly a great writer by nature. He wrote 50 books.
David Schwartz had many careers before being an author. He was a road painter, builder, teacher, veterinarian assistant, and more before writing. His first book went to 18 publishing companies before it was able to be published! “If you don't succeed the first time, try try again,” he told us. The first 17 companies, he said, probably thought his books weren't the right type. The 18th company found Mr. Schwartz's first book very unique so they wanted to publish it. The other 17 publishers were probably looking for something the same style as before. It's amazing he actually continued to “try try again”!

Dear GWN Readers,

There will now be monthly notices from “Turtie's Kitchen”, which is a made up shop from Turtie. They will be attached to your GWN issues. Read the tips and try out the great recipes. They are real from Diane Zhou!

Gingerbread Weekly News

We hope you joined the efforts of saving resources on Earth Day, Tuesday, April 22nd. Even not on Earth Day, pick up trash and save resources! If you missed Earth Day, do it today!

Mail Pail

Here's all the mail GWN received this week:

Debate Time (Which Field Trip/Vacation?):
“I'd rather go on a vacation because there's no homework, school work, I can bring my DS, I don't have to wake up too early, you can go to different places, and there would be NO SCIENCE LAB.” Emily Wang, 4th grade
“I would like to go to the Tech Museum because it seems really fun!” Cynthia Yao, 5th grade
“The mission, since I never went there before.” Alex Zhou, 2nd grade
“I would go to Florida because I never went there before.” Susan Pham, 5th grade
“I would choose vacation because you get more fun than boring field trips. You could also live in hotels and eat in restaurants.” Yiming Ye, 4th grade
“I would want to go to Florida because we never went there.” Vicky Sun, 5th grade

Debate Time (GWN Ticket Deal):

“I think its a great idea!” Susan Pham, 5th grade
“How many tickets will a Dole cost? I think 1 ticket should also be worth 5 pieces of candy (example: Skitters). It doesn't have to be "5" pieces but it can be like "3". Will I be able to sell my treats for tickets? Sometimes I might have something good for lunch or any sort of prizes. Can I trade with you?” With concern, Chloris Li, 5th grade, Friend of Ardenwood Elementary School

Volume I No. 20

Field Trip Day
Practically EVERYONE went on field trips on Monday, April 7th. Let's see where everyone went and what they did at their fun (or maybe boring) field trips! Send your stories too!

Extra News!
There's some extra news: Amanda Chang's trip to Florida! Read Florida Fun (and Disasters too...) in this extended issue! Enjoy!

Table of Contents

Cover Story
New News
Extra News
Debate Time
Mail Pail

Debate Time

Which Field Trip/Vacation?

Which vacation/field trip in this issue would you want to go to the most? You better read all the stories first before you decide. They will totally change your minds! Please send your answers to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com

Please do not reply to debate on the website! Comments only there! Please email or write on paper. Thank you!
Contests are still going on. Please send in by April 20th (Sunday)! Prizes are listed here:
Prizes:
1^st place – certificate and 2 pencils
2^nd place – certificate and 1 pencil
3^rd place – certificate
Good luck everyone (and great job, those who already submitted some work for the contests)!
Reminder: The contests are –
Joke/Comic Contest: Make the best joke or comic!
Martin Luther King report: Send in the best report about MLK!

GWN Tickets

GWN has a new deal, GWN tickets! All GWN readers can earn GWN tickets for participating in contests and answering to debate. Sending a story earns 3 tickets. 1st place earns 4 tickets, 2nd place 3, 3rd place 2, and everyone who participates 1. Those who answer to debate earn one per debate answered. Please tell GWN if you like this new deal. Email to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com

What do you use tickets for? These are the deals so far...
5 tickets: one Rice Crispy treat
1 ticket: two chips, any kind
Ask Diane Zhou for other deals. Send to GWN's email address.

Cover Story

Field Trip Day

March 7th, 2008 was a real field trip day! 2nd graders in Ardenwood Elementary went to the Tech Museum (like everyone's been there but Alex Zhou still finds it fun). 4th graders in the same school went to Mission San Juan Bautista (remember last year on GWN's first issue, Gingy and Diane Zhou went to the same place? A year goes so fast!) and 5th graders went to the Fremont Symphony Orchestra. 5th graders in Forest Park, 3rd graders in Eastin Delaine, and some other schools also went to the Symphony. Some GWN readers generously shared their experiences with GWN:

The Field Trip To the Tech Museum

By Alex Zhou, 2nd grade Ardenwood Elementary

On Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 the 2nd graders from Ardenwood Elementary school went on a field trip to the Tech Museum. The bus left at 9 am and arrived at 9:45 am. Alex's class was split into about 7 groups with 2 to 3 students in each group. My group had 2 students. They visited the Mr. Potato Head display, the earthquake simulator, a computer game, and a machine that tells you how much dust you have on your self. Mr. Potato Head display could detect blocks in spaces with a light sensor in its head. We tried placing blocks , but it didn't work. The earthquake simulator was fun. It was almost like a real one! I liked the computer game too. In this game you can fly and you try to land, sometimes you end up falling on your stomach. When you make computer chips, you can't have dust on it. The machine that can measure dust is only the size of a laptop. We had lunch at 11:30. I had a sandwich for lunch. I also had a bag of green, sour grapes. Going to the Tech Museum was fun!

Field Trip to Mission San Juan Bautista

By Emily Wang, 4th grade Ardenwood Elementary

Last Tuesday, the fourth graders went to San Juan Bautista. In the Plaza Hotel, there were roosters making a racket. It was hecka loud. There was also a two-story outhouse. In the stables, there weren't any horses, just old time cars. There was an old limousine. It was red. Behind that was a blacksmithing place. There were some things that were interesting. Somewhere near there was an old firetruck pulled by men with buckets of water. Then we ate lunch. After that, we went into the mission church. There was a statue of Father Junipero Serra. He built the first mission in San Diego. In the church, there were mountain lion paw prints, a hurdy-gurdy and California Indians' graves. A hurdy-gurdy is an instrumnet. Then I got some rocks and some ice cream and got on the bus.
On the bus, we played pictochat with both buses. There were about 20 people playing pictochat. Then everyone changed their DSs's names to weird names like crayoon, xopapa, yomama, rain (which was Tara), and sunsshine. Then “rain” asked sunsshine to marry her and sunsshine said yes! Sunsshine was probably Kayla. Someone even changed their name to FUC'_' and Ms. Hall caught them, but nothing happened, they just changed their name. THE END

Boring-ish Field Trip to the Fremont Symphony

By Diane Zhou, 5th grade Ardenwood Elementary

That same day as everyone else went on field trips, I went to the boring symphony. It took a long time...They played the winners' song from the “Young Composers' Contest” and some other nice songs. It was great, but just too long. I asked for others' opinions and they all said the same. I did see some friends though. Amanda went after me, though I didn't see her. I saw Katherine Chen, a girl from my afterschool. Amanda [Chang] told me after school, “I saw Alice too!” Alice is another girl from my afterschool. So many people went and made it pretty interesting. Gingy says it was boring, so does Turtie. “But it was nice to hear music,” Gingy told GWN.

Extra News

Florida Fun (and Disasters too...)

By GWN Writer Amanda Chang

On Saturday night (March 22) at around 8:30, Diane's dad and Alex sent us to the Oakland airport. We met with Sara's family and Kelvin's family. We arrived in Atlanta, Georgia at about 6:30 am (Eastern Time). Then, we flew to West palm Beach, Florida. When we arrived, my dad and Sara's dad went to pick up our rental car. The car was a twelve seater so two seats were empty. We drove for a while and we stopped at Checkers for lunch. I ordered a hot dog and it turned out to have mustard and ketchup on it as well. Yuck! We ate in the car because it was raining outside and Checkers only had seats outside. We started driving again and drove across a seven-mile bridge to get to Key West.
We arrived at our hotel, The Southernmost Hotel at about 6:30 pm. We then changed into our short sleeves and short pants, which we would never have done at home. Our hotel is at the end of Key West and we had to walk to the other end of Key West to see the sunset at the sunset celebration in Mallory Square. It was a tiring walk. We watched a few shows there but since it was a cloudy day, there was no sunset. :-( We ate a restaurant called Mangoes and I ordered pasta with Alfredo sauce. There was even a Easter bunny walking around greeting people. Remember? It's Easter! we had vanilla ice cream for dessert, but it tasted like strawberry ice cream so I didn't eat it. the next day, we went on the Old Town Trolley Tour. Our tour guide's name was David and he was really funny. We went halfway and stopped at Mallory Square for lunch. I ordered conch fritters sine it's Key West's special. When we were going to continue our tour, we went on the wrong trolley! The trolley we went on took us to some cruise that we didn't even pay for! We had to take a conch tour train back to the conch tour train's home. We got to sit in the first two rows since we were the only ones on the train!! We then went to the Shipwreck Historeum. There were many exhibits of what pirates found on shipwrecks. We climbed a 65-foot tower and saw a bell that pirates rung whenever there was a shipwreck. We rang it for fun as well. Then, we went to the Key West Aquarium. We fed fish, saw sharks, held crabs, and much, much more. I also got to taste Key Lime Pie (Key West's special). It's sour and it melts. Sara liked it, but I thought it was just plain ok. We then went on the right trolley tour and had the rest of the tour. After the tour, we went to Ripley's Believe It or Not museum. There were many cool exhibits. There also was a tunnel that made you feel like it was moving bit it was actually the outside that was moving. It was really fun. At first, I was totally freaked out because I thought we were going to go upside down! We ate dinner at Red Fish, Blue Fish and I ordered macaroni and cheese. At 9:00 pm, we went to a ghost tour. We walked around Key West and the guide told us really freaky stories. And whenever someone shouted, "Boo!" or something like that, we would yell back, “You're doomed!” for some reason. The next day, we ate at the Southernmost Cafe, which was next to the beach. Then, we went to the Hemingway House, which was owned by Ernest Hemingway and his third wife, Pauline. He owned many cats and had 6 wives. He died by suiciding. Then we went the Little Truman White House. It was a small white built by President Harry S. Truman sine he liked Key West so much. Then, we went to Mallory Square to buy souvenirs. After buying souvenirs, we saw a "magic" show. We also got to see the sunset. It was sooo pretty. We ate dinner at Fogarty's and I ordered macaroni and cheese, again! :-) The next day, we went to Southernmost Point to take pictures. Southernmost Point is only 90 miles from Cuba, another country. Cuba is even closer than Miami! We ate at the Southernmost Cafe again.
Then we drove off to Miami. We stopped in the middle for a glass-bottom boat tour. In the beginning, I went outside and water was splashing us everywhere. Sara's mom didn't let her go out and Kelvin was seasick. :-(
Then, the boat stopped at the coral reef and started going really slow. The glass at the bottom now showed many creatures and plants. I became seasick so I slept through the whole thing. During the rest of our drive to Miami, an accident happened. We bumped into another car! The other car's whole front was in pieces and our wheel was broken. The police came and settled matters and we got our wheel fixed. That took about one and a half hour. We arrived at our hotel, the Sea View hotel at about 9:30pm. We checked in and ate at Carpaccio. Sara and I were ignoring each other because we had a little tiny argument. Hehe.
We made up, of course. Later we found out that our hotel room had only one bed and we needed two since 4 people couldn't sleep on only one bed. We didn't want to leave it though. It was a mini-suite room with a kitchen and stuff like that. Our new room was waay smaller but it was ok, I guess. The next day, we went on a airboat in the Gator Park. On the airboat, we see live alligators, turtles, birds, and other wildlife. In the middle of the tour, we had to put earplugs on and we were going to go really fast so it would be really loud. Then, we watched a "show" performed by Dan. I even got to hold, really hold, an alligator. It was really heavy. After that, we went on a city tour, which I slept through so there's not much to say about it. Sorry! After that, we went on a two-decker boat for a tour of Star Island. All the houses on the island are humongous and are owned by really rich people, such as Shaquille O' Neal! I'm not kidding. We are at Carpaccio... again! The next day, I was a little bit sick. I was coughing and my throat hurt real badly. We went to Cocowalk, a famous shopping center. Then, we went to Viscayla, which was owned by a rich person. It was sort of like the Hemingway House. Then, we went to the Miami beach. Sara's mom bought us matching swimsuits. We played in the waves and looked for seashells. We found 14 in all except Sara found most of them. We ate at a restaurant in our hotel.
The next day, we drove to West Palm Beach. In the middle, we stopped at Lion Country, a drive-through zoo. We saw many different kind of animals like monkeys, lions, birds, etc. We stayed at Holiday Inn for the night. The next day, we went to the airport at 5:00 am!!! We arrived at Dallas, Texas at about 1:00pm.
We got on the flight to Oakland. And guess what? It was delayed! Then, they made us change airplanes but in the end, the flight was just canceled. We had to stay in Holiday Inn (for free). We also got airline vouchers that let us have meals free. We didn't even have our luggage with us! Sara's parents had friends in Dallas so they stayed there for the night. The worst part was that we didn't have our pajamas to sleep in! Kelvin left earlier the next day. Sara's parent's friend showed us around Dallas. We went to this park with lots of bulls, ate lunch at a delicious rib place, went to a playground with a tire swing, and showed us all the huge and beautiful houses. We then went to the airport and found out that our plane will be delayed, which only gave us 5 minutes to catch our connecting flight! As soon as we got off the plane, the dads, who got the front seats ran to the next flight and told them to wait for a while. Luckily, we caught the plane and came home safely on Monday night at 10:00. But our luggage was not so lucky. We had to pick it up on Tuesday night at the Oakland airport.

What an interesting (and weird) vacation! Send your vacation stories to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com

New News

Spider Scare

“Ahhhh! Oh my god, Diane! There's a spider on your eyelash!” A tiny spider was hanging on Diane Zhou's eyelash, dangling in front of her eyes. That was at lunch one day in school. Diane violently shook the spider off and it went around, on everyone. GWN interviewed the people who experienced the “Spider Scare”.

GWN: Was the experience scary? Rate it from 1 to 10.
Chloris Li (C): It was annoying. I hated it when it walked on my pants! Rating:6.
Deanna Wong (D): It was scary and funny! Rating:7
Emily Wang (E): It was actually creepy... and funny. 4
Cynthia Yao (CY): I thought it was scary! 7
Nicole Sun (N): Kind of ... maybe 4.
Vicky Sun (V): Yes. I'd rate it 7.
Diane Zhou (DZ): Scary, freaky...and funny too! It went on my eyelash! So I'd rate it a 7 or 8.
Do you wish you could have a “replay” of that experience?
C: Only the part when it was on Diane's eyelash.
N: Maybe...I don't care.
CY: Of course! It was funny when Diane found out the spider was on her eyelash.
E: Yeah, Duh. It was hecka funny!
D: Yes, it was very funny.
V: I don't know. I don't really care.
DZ: Not on my eyelash part! But yes, the rest of it “playing” spider, I'd want a replay.
Did the spider touch you?
C: Yes on my pants and my shoes. I don't know about my food though.
V: The spider didn't touch me, but Cynthia put it on my jacket.
N: No, I moved to a different area.
E: No, but I got it on a nacho chip.
D: No, I ran away.
CY: No, it didn't touch me, but it touched Vicky's jacket!
DZ: Of course! On my eyelash...hanging...so maybe it didn't touch me but it used something to touch me.
GWN: Thank you all for taking our interview!

Events:

• Young Author's Celebration: April 18th Ardenwood Elementary School's Young Author's celebration is on April 18th. Hope you did well on your story!
• Green Grass Open House: April 18th Green Grass's (Diane and Amanda's afterschool) Open House date is on April 18th too! Results for many contests will be out. Hope Diane Zhou and Amanda Chang did super well!
• STAR Testing: April 28th STAR testing for everyone 2nd to 6th graders starts on April 28th. The countdown begins! GWN hopes everyone will do well. Study, study, study!

Mail Pail

Here's all the mail GWN received this week:

Debate Time (Movie or NUMMI?):
“I would rather go to the NUMMI [plant]. You will actually 'see' how cars are made. LUCKY! I got A average and couldn't go!” Chloris Li, 5th Grade
“I would want to go to the NUMMI [plant]. I like going on field trips . You get to miss class. You actually get to go somewhere else than school.” Deanna Wong, 5th grade
“Movies, because it is loud and noisy at NUMMI.”Nicole Sun, 5th grade
“NUMMI, because I never went there and I want to know what it looks like.” Vicky Sun, 5th grade
“Movies, because you rarely watch movies in class and you get to go to NUMMI whenever you want to.” Emily Wang, 4th grade
“Going to a field trip is much better! Students get a chance to learn about things. If they sit and watch TV, their eyes will start to ache.” Cynthia Yao, 5th grade

Contest (Guess the PinYin):
“ni kuai ba ta fang zai bing xiang li re yi re!” Olivia Li, 4th grade
“ni kuai ba ta fang zai bing xiang li re yi re!” Nicole Tong, 5th grade
“ni kuai ba ta fang ja bing xiang li re i re” Chloris Li, 5th grade

(Great guess, Chloris! You're Cantonese and that's really close!)
Correct Answer: ni kuai ba ta fang zai bing xiang li re yi re!
Congratulations Olivia and Nicole! Perfect! Still passing, Chloris (over 70%)! You will all receive 2 GWN tickets, Chinese masters!

Volume I No. 19

Lucky Trip to NUMMI!
Diane Zhou earned a lucky trip to NUMMI! Why lucky? See about it in this issue. Have you been to NUMMI? Compare (and maybe share) your experiences. Also send other news to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com

Table of Contents
Cover Story
New News
Debate Time
Mail Pail

Debate Time

Movie or NUMMI?

Would you rather watch movies in class or go on a field trip to NUMMI? Diane Zhou went to a fun and learning trip to NUMMI and enjoyed a lot, while her friends enjoyed watching movies all day in the classroom (see story on the Cover Story). Which would you rather have, movies or NUMMI? Maybe you should read about NUMMI first! It could change your mind. Please send you answers to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com

Please do not reply to debate on the website! Comments only there! Please email or write on paper. Thank you!
Also, please enter GWN's contest! Two contests this week: Best April Fool's comic/joke wins! and best report on Martin Luther King's life. Good luck to all!
Prizes:
1^st place – certificate and 2 pencils
2^nd place – certificate and 1 pencil
3^rd place – certificate

Cover Story

Lucky Trip to NUMMI!

On Thursday, April 3rd, lucky Diane Zhou got to go to NUMMI (New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.) for a field trip! Why lucky? Diane's class had 8 5th graders with “A” as their average grade. Those people were in the raffle, and 5 people were chosen. After 4 were drawn, Diane was so sure she wouldn't be picked. 6th graders in the same class (Diane is in a combination class) kept saying Diane was going to be picked, and sure enough, she did get picked! She felt so lucky.

Diane and the other 4 students (including GWN reader Nicole Sun) went to NUMMI with another 5th grade class by bus. Diane, of course, brought her beloved Gingy, who brought her pet Turtie. At NUMMI, tour guides introduced everything. Diane couldn't remember everything she learned! This is what she remembered: “There are four main words for NUMMI (all Japanese names): Jidoku – a process of something , forgot what it was; Kaizen – continuous improvement; Mudu – waste of time, energy, and things; and Kandan – process of eliminating waste. The four main processes to making a car: stamping – making the shape of all the metal pieces; painting – paint the pieces; melding – forgot, something to do with heating up; and assembling – putting the pieces together. The guide said getting a job at NUMMI isn't too hard and is a great job. At first when they asked who wanted to work there, some kids raised their hands. Then they explained that if you work at NUMMI, you get a free car (of course you return it when you quit the job) and a free tank of gas every week! Plus free medical insurance (I think)! They asked the question again and everyone raised their hands. They also one main thing to get the job is reliability. They check your high school attendance records, and if there are too many tardies, no job for you! Being there at 6 means being there at 6 in the morning, not 6ish.
“We went on a tour bus into the factory. We had to wear goggles for safety reasons. The guides said the goggles were ugly because when they were well-made before, people took them home as souvenirs and NUMMI was running out of goggles. Now there are ugly goggles. The workplace was like a mini city; there were streets, one lane on a side, and even stop signs! I thought NUMMI was just a big building full with machines and people work at NUMMI just to make sure the machines were doing the right thing. But no, there were many workers working there. The guide said over 5500 employees (plus many many robots too, from Japan) work at NUMMI. The robots knew exactly what to do. Not everything a car is made of is made from NUMMI; pieces come from other places around the globe too. Everyone cheered when harmless sparks came out of carving metal. We saw how everything was done, and in about an hour and a half around the place, the tour ended. I could never tell where I was! NUMMI is so big.”

Sounds like NUMMI is enjoyable, even though you don't really do anything. Nicole Sun told GWN, “It wasn't all that fun, but at least I got to waste class time!” For Diane, it was a very lucky chance for her to learn about cars and NUMMI. “I could never imagine what NUMMI was. My parents always said they would bring me [to NUMMI]...someday...but that 'someday' never came. I'm so lucky to be picked [in the raffle].” On Gingy's opinion, “NUMMI is so cool! I want to go again. So does my pet Turtie!” They all thought NUMMI was fun, despite all the noise there. Back in the classroom, Diane's friends were saying how lucky Diane was, but all the same, the class only did a little work and got to watch a movie about NUMMI and the movie “Runaway Ralph” so not too bad either.

New News

April Fool's Day!

It was April Fool's Day on April 1st. Did you get tricked? Turtie, Gingy's present and pet, made a comic about Gingy and himself (you might see it on the website). It was about Gingy taking Turtie on a walk. It started raining so Gingy was mushed while Turtie just hid in his shell. When Turtie saw his owner all soggy, he said, “Oh no! I'll help you!” Turtie put Gingy in an oven, but in pay, Turtie was to be Gingy's owner... Haha! That was Turtie's joke to Gingy. Gingy was mad and laughing at the same time. Send a comic strip or joke to GWN! Contest: best/funniest comic or joke wins! Please send by April 21st. See prizes at Debate Time (page 2).
Diane Zhou's “joketive” teacher tried making April Fool's jokes but the 6th graders knew him too well. Would you ever think a strict teacher could make a joke? At Diane Zhou and Amanda Chang's writing class, the teacher was explaining what grades count for what fraction of the whole grade. One student was gone for 2 months and asked “So since I wasn't here, do I have an F?” The teacher gloomily replied yes and the student said “Oh man...!” Then the teacher laughed, “It's April Fool's Day!” GWN hopes everyone had a laughy April Fool's!
This didn't happen on April Fool's, but one day, Diane was drinking soy milk. She said it was too cold, so her mom said, “你快把它放冰箱里热一热！” That means, “Hurry up and put it in the refrigerator to warm it up!” How weird! Diane's mom later told GWN, “I was having a tiring day, so I guess my mind didn't work well.” Send your guess of the Chinese words in pinyin to GWN.

MLK Assassination Day

Did you know that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4th? The radio was talking about it all day that day. Diane Zhou thinks of “4” as an “unlucky number”. “It's just something I like going with, but I know it's not true. Now it seems like there's proof; a special and honored black man died on the bad luck day, 4/4!” Diane told GWN. Anyways, GWN wants you to think about Dr. King and what he did for us. Another contest: best report about the day Martin Luther King died (and true!).

Test Result Correction

GWN got Grace Ching's test results incorrect several weeks ago! Sorry Grace. Grace got good in sight reading and excellent in technique for CM piano testing. Congratulations still, Grace!

(GWN Note)

Dear GWN readers,

Please inform GWN of any mistakes GWN made, like forgetting to put your opinion, stories, etc. in the issues. Also send news to GWN if you have any interesting events! GWN appreciates your support!

Thank you,

Gingerbread Weekly News

Mail Pail

Debate Time (Teach About Holidays):
“I think that schools should teach students about different holidays. It is not like you are trying to change someone's religion or something, it is just telling them about different things other people do.” Chloris Li, 5th Grade
“I think schools should teach students about the holidays since that way, they get a chance to learn about the holidays and know how to celebrate them.” Cynthia Yao, 5th grade
“I think they should when the holiday is near, not like three years before the holiday.” Brigitte Gong, 5th grade

Debate Time (Tired while Fun?):
“In my opinion, I think it is worth it being tired to get up that peak. You would want to have this record in your life diary. It is a precious thing to do what other people can't do. Don't you think so?” Chloris Li, 5th Grade
“Of course it's not worth it. It was just a waste of time! You could have been at home relaxing.” Cynthia Yao, 5th grade
“I think it was worth it, if the view was good. If not, oh well. =)” Brigitte Gong, 5th grade

(Chloris Li generously sent a note to Diane!)

Congratulations! 98% is really good! Does CM stand for California Music or something else? RSM is mine. It stand for Royal Schools of Music. It is from England. There are only 8 grades and it is really hard. This year, I am doing theory. I will be going to Eastbay State for the testing. It is a state college. Anyways, congratulations still. Nice score!

Comments From GWN's Website
(Visit the website too! http://www.freewebs.com/gingerbreadwklynews)
“This new website is totally cool! It has issues on it every week (almost)! There can also have videos downloaded to it. You can put almost anything! GWN should keep on doing it!” Chloris Li, 5th Grade
“I like the website. It's a really good idea and I like going online even though I can't go on the computer every day.” Cynthia Yao, 5th grade
“I love the website.” Glenn Shaw, 5th grade

(From the Guestbook at the Website)
(See other comments and cool things at the website too!)
“:-) Hi...I'm signing the Guestbook.....what a wonderful website you have!” Tiffany Chen, 7th grade
“Great job to Diane for creating such a nice website!:-)” Amanda Chang, 5th grade
“Cool! I think this blog is a good idea.” Cynthia Yao, 5th grade
“Hi! This is a nice blog, finally<_> You finally have a blog.” Andy Wang, 7th grade
“Gingerbread Weekly News is really cool! I hope the editors will keep on doing this.” Chloris Li, 5th grade
“I love GWN! It rocks!” Nicole Tong, 5th grade

(Ratings...)
“A very nice website!” Amanda Chang, 5 star rating!!!
“Hi, nice blog, you should make it show the correct time someone typed it in.” Emily Wang, 5th grade, 4 star rating
“This site is really cool! I wish this will last forever!” Chloris Li, 5 star rating!!!