Volume II No. 1

Open House

Ardenwood Elementary had its Open House on May 13th. Read about Diane and Alex Zhou, and Cynthia Yao's stories about what they did that day. Send news about your school's Open House to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com

This is the first issue of Volume II! Enjoy it! Look forward to reading about GWN's history next week!

Please tell GWN if you would like to stop receiving paper copies or receive copies by email. We would like to save paper. Thanks!

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

Debate Time

El Niño This Year?

Do you think this is the El Niño year?

There's been weird weather here in the Bay Area this year. Do YOU think it's the El Niño year this year? You don't have to be an expert or anything, GWN just wants your guess.

It's been unusually hot so early this year, over 100 degrees! There has been rarely any rainfall in April, while Los Angeles has quite a lot of rain. Si Chuan, China had an earthquake, also rare. (Please help them by donating to organizations or to companies who will help.) It's also been a long time since the El Niño in 1997. What do you think: El Niño or Global Warming?

Hot Weather

It has been crazily hot these days, over one hundred degrees! How did you spend your days?
At Ardenwood School, Diane Zhou and Chloris Li still wanted to run around and play Hot Lava Monster, but their friends didn't. Deanna Wong said that Hot Lava "reminds me of the weather being very hot." That was when Diane made up the game "Cold Ice Monster". It's mostly the same as Hot Lava Monster, but the person who is "It" can't step on shadows and people who aren't "It" can ONLY step on shadow.

GWN encourages you to always wear sunblock, take a nice bath everyday, and still stay active. Don't become lazy, just be active in a cool area instead of playing video games inside all the time. If it isn't too hot (like in the mornings and nights), open the windows for some fresh air instead of using air conditioners all the time. Stay cool and stay active this summer!

Cover Story

Open House!

On GWN's anniversary (May 13th), Ardenwood Elementary School had its Open House! Let's see the stories of three people who go to Ardenwood:

Diane and Alex Zhou's Stories, 5th and 2nd grade

For Diane and Alex Zhou, it was just like any other year. First, their mom bought an Ardenwood dragon t-shirt for each of them. Then they visited Alex's classroom (Room 16) which was filled with dinosaur-related things. Diane's dad joined soon, and they went on to Diane's classroom (Room 31).

Her classroom had skeletons. On Diane's desk were her human body project, reading and math work, and her history project. Her parents talked with Mr. Gracey, the teacher. He praised GWN. Yay!
Everyone visited the classrooms of the grade they were going to be next next year. They also visited the computer lab (where Diane was praised) and science lab. It was 8 o'clock when they went home!

Cynthia Yao's Story, 5th grade

When Vanessa, my mom, and I got to the school for open house, it was already 7:10. After browsing the book fair, we went to Vanessa's classroom, which is the same classroom as Alex Zhou's, Room 16. We looked at the dinosaur stuff, such as fossils, drawings, and the dinosaur report. After that, we went to my classroom (Room 33). My desk had a paper port folio (a suitcase) Which held all my things from the past. As my mom talked to Mrs. Brightwell, the teacher, I showed Vanessa around the room and all the history arts, math projects, and Language reports. After my mom finished talking to Mrs. Brightwell, we went to the book fair for a book my sister wanted called "Rani in the Mermaid Lagoon". I got bored and rolled (I was wearing Heely's) home with my family.

Turtie's Kitchen Announcement

From the desk of Turtie Turtle
Hi GWN Readers!
I am sooooo glad you people love my announcements! It's a pleasure to have them. If you read the Mail Pail section, you'll see someone even tried my recipes! Thanks Nicole! I hope you enjoy this week's tips!

Turtie Turtle, Owner of Turtie's Kitchen

Tips of the Month (From Turtie's Kitchen):

• Make sure you have enough time to make cookies. You don't want to be rushing at the end; the end is the most important part: baking the right amount of time!
• When you start out making cookies, you might want to use half as much of ingredients as the recipe says, just in case you mess up. For example, instead of 2 cups of flour, use 1 cup.

New News

Origami: Praying Mantis

Diane Zhou's teacher requested that this story be written and here it is:

One day, Diane and some of her classmates were making origami things. Mr. Gracey saw, and made the girls make a praying mantis! Diane did find instructions, but they were way too hard. Mr. Gracey said it got the “praying mantis club” addicted to origami.

If YOU can make a praying mantis, please show the praying mantis club. Email instructions to GWN's email address!

Remember when Nicholas Lien generously sent pictures of mushrooms at Mission San Juan Bautista about a month ago? Nicholas wants you to see ALL of them. Here is the URL: http://www.geckofan.com/mushroomfarm. Hope you like the pictures!

Thanks again, Nicholas, for the pictures!

Book Fairs

From May 12th to May 16th, Ardenwood Elementary School had its Book Fair. Three of the most popular books were “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid”, “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules” (both by Jeff Kinney), and a Pokémon drawing book. At least one out of every three students in the school were either holding, buying, or reading “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books. The Pokémon drawing book sold out in three days!
On the other hand, Forest Park Elementary had their book fair about three weeks ago. “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules” was probably the most popular. Everyone there had already read the first book, so that wasn't a huge sale. The other big sale was “Swindle”.
So it seems like Jeff Kinney's “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books are really good. If you would like to write a review of it, please send your writings to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com
Since the Pokémon drawing book was super popular at Ardenwood, Gingy wants to have a contest: Who can draw the best Pokemon? You can choose any single Pokemon, send in a set of Pokemon drawings, or make a creative poster with all the Pokémon. Please do not cheat by tracing.
If you don't know the prizes, here it is:
1^st place: A GWN certificate and 3 GWN tickets
2^nd place: A GWN certificate and 2 GWN tickets
3^rd place: A GWN certificate and 1 GWN ticket
Everyone who participates in the contest earns a ticket! So if you win 1st place, you participated PLUS won, so you actually get 4 delicious tickets! The deadline for this contest is June 1st. Good luck everyone!

Recess

by Susan Pham, 5th grade

On May 6, 2008, at about 12:20 p.m. (recess time), I saw everyone rushing to the grass. So, we just decided to tag along. We watched as these three guys named Marty, Hai, and Angel had a dance off. One of the yard-duties recorded them on her cell-phone. Then, Mrs. Rugg, our principal, came and told us that it was already already the end of our recess. The bell did not ring because people were still taking the STAR Test. Everyone then said "Aww!" It was time to go back to our class room.

Dance Contest

by Deanna Wong, 5th grade

On May 7, 2008, during lunch there was a dance contest. Everyone was standing or sitting in a circle. There was a fifth grade team and a sixth grade team. Then it started. There was no music. When they were dancing it seemed like they needed to go to the bathroom. It was boring.

Mail Pail

Debate Time (STAR Testing):
“I think the STAR Testing was OK...Honestly, I think the hardest was English, then Science, and finally math. During the STAR Testing, I was scared I will fill in the bubbles too messily! =-O I forgot my score last year but this year I think I will get above average like always for math. Science was easy! I rate it 6.” Chloris Li, 5th grade
“I think that the start test was easy this year. I might get around...92%. Last year, I forgot my score. I think the science part was the easiest. I would rate it a 4.” Susan Pham, 5th grade
“Rating: 5, Last year my score was 88%. I think I will get around 90%. The science test was easy.” Deanna Wong, 5th grade
“STAR testing was kind of easy. I like it about a 6. Since I'm in 2nd grade, I didn't even take the test last year. I think I will get around 95%.” Alex Zhou, 2nd grade
“I would rate it “5”. The science was pretty hard.” Cynthia Yao, 5th grade
“5. We got to skip math lab :-). I don't like math lab.” Nicole Sun, 5th grade
“1. I hate STAR testing. Medium.” Vicky Sun, 5th grade
“I felt very confident on the STAR testing. Even though I had to take 8th grade math, it seemed pretty easy! I probably would get a 500 or above. At least, I hope so. :)” Tiffany Chen, 7th grade
“10, it's cool, funny, and awesome! Everything's so EASY! Last year I got a 600 on both math and language. Yay me!” Nicole Tong, 5th grade
“I think the Star Testing was very stressful because my mom made me do lots of tests.” Nicholas Lien, 4th grade
“9, because it's kinda boring. I got 600 on reading last year but I am not sure I will this year. Now I'm better at math.” Olivia Li, 4th grade

GWN Notes:
“I like Turtie's Kitchen. Tickets are okay, since Diane is my sister. It doesn't matter if I want to be hired or not (I don't really want to) because my mom makes me write for GWN and I don't like writing.” Alex Zhou, 2nd grade
“Happy Birthday GWN! I love Turtie's Kitchen, my mom loved making the chocolate chip cookies, so did I! I went [to the Chinese Rock'n Roll] too! It was weird. I gave my mom roses, chocolate, and a a lot of other things [on Mother's Day]. She loved it. We also invited her to eat sushi, too! My grandparents are coming back on Memorial Day. Happy Birthday Tiffany, even though I don't know you!” Nicole Tong, 5th grade

Comments on “Sean” (by Chloris Li)
“Nice story! It was short and simple to the point.” Tiffany Chen, 7th grade
“I loved the story 'Sean', it's touching.” Nicole Tong, 5th grade