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
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(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
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