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!

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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