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!!!

Volume I No. 18

See All the News We Have!!!
Again, GWN has a lot of news this week! Here is the list:

• Interview
• GWN Update Notice
• Ice Skating Competition
• Event List
• Interesting Hike
• Another Test Result...
• Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Table of Contents
New News
Interview
Debate Time
Mail Pail

Debate Time

Teach About Holidays

Should schools teach about religious holidays and how holidays came to be?

Do you think teachers should teach students about how holidays came to be? Send you answers to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com

Other Debate Topics:
(Please reply to these debate topics too!)

• Do you think it was worth being tired while getting to the peak of Mission Peak?
  
• How do you like GWN's new and improved website?

Interview

(Interview from “Interesting Hike”, page 6 to 7)

GWN: May we interview you about your tumble, Alex Zhou?
Alex: Yes.
GWN: From a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being scariest, how scared were you?
Alex: Probably 8.
GWN: Do you think it was mostly fun, scary, embarrassing, or what?
Alex: Scary.
GWN: Did it hurt?
Alex: No.
GWN: Was it embarrassing at all?
Alex: Not really.
GWN: Do you think the fall made you unhappy?
Alex: Yes, because the fall made my pants dirty and I like those pants.
GWN: Thank you for taking our interview, Alex.

Dear GWN Readers,
GWN has a new (and improved like crazy) website! Check it out at: http://www.freewebs.com/gingerbreadwklynews
Please send your comments about this new website. Email GWN if you would like to stop receiving paper copies and just read online or if you would like to receive paper copies for safekeeping. Also tell GWN if you would like to subscribe to our site.
Thanks!
GWN

New News

Ice Skating Competition

Diane Zhou had her first competition of the 2008 season! The name of the competition was Crystalline, held at Santa Rosa on March 29th. Congratulations for placing 4th out of 9, Diane! Diane competed in Pre-Juvenile artistic and fell on a jump. “My mom went crazy, but I still placed 4th. I hope I do better later, but I think this was a decent finish,” Diane told GWN.

Events:

• Happy “Belated” Easter: It was Easter on March 23rd. Who found eggs and celebrated? Hope you had fun!
• 2nd and 3rd Grade Writing Test: Write, write, write, 2nd and 3rd graders! Your writing tests are on April 15th and 16th. Good luck!
• Young Author's Contest: Did you have a Young Author's Contest? GWN hopes you did well! Send your outstanding story to our email address. Ardenwood Elementary's Young Author's celebration is on April 18th.
• Green Grass Contest Results: Our editors' and their brothers' Green Grass Contest results will be out on April 18th. That day is also Green Grass's Open House date. If you would like to go to an afterschool everyday after school and have Chinese lessons, be sure to visit! It is located at Kid's Castle in Newark.
  
• Spelling Bee: Ardenwood Elementary's Spelling Bee is on April 23rd. Good luck, GWN readers in Ardenwood (including our editor, Diane)!
• STAR Testing: Be sure to study! STAR Testing for 2nd to 6th graders begin on April 28th. Study, study, study!
• April Fool's Day: Hope you don't get tricked on April Fool's Day!

Interesting Hike

“Pant, pant, pant!” Diane and Alex Zhou's family, Andy and Emily Wang along with their dad, and Vicky and Nicole Sun's family were hiking up Mission Hill. It was a beautiful afternoon on March 22nd when all but two moms made it to the very top, the summit!
In the beginning of the long hike up, everyone was fresh, talking, laughing, energetic. As everyone emerged the benchmark of one-third of the way up, they were all breathing hard. The girls, Alex, and Vicky's dad were there first. They waited for the rest of the panting hikers of the group. “They will be so depressed that it's only a third of the way up,” Diane said. When they finally arrived minutes later, there was water drinking, snack eating, and rest for 20 minutes. Then the moms went down the hill (already!) while the rest continued the challenge.
On group gradually became four. Party 1: Alex and his dad, at the head; Party 2: Diane, Emily, Vicky, Nicole, and Vicky's dad; Party 3: Andy; Party 4: Andy's dad, at the tail. Parties 1 and 2 took many steep and challenging shortcuts. Andy and his dad took as many as they could to catch up. Diane (as you know, is an athlete, an ice skater) was very competitive and caught up with her brother and dad. Diane's dad couldn't keep up with Party 1 any longer, so lagged behind to Party 3 with Andy. Diane and Alex were the only ones in Party 1 now, about a hundred paces ahead of Party 2. Alex moved back with Party 2 and Diane arrived first at the summit!
Party 2 came seconds later, and since most of the people arrived, they took pictures. In about 10 minutes, everyone was up, there was rest, drinks, and snacks, and the descent started. Everyone then underestimated the difficulty of going down. It still took 2 hours!
There were no rests since it wasn't very tiring, but Alex “tumbled” down a steep shortcut. He was running down in wild control, yelling, “Aaaaah!” and THUD, fell down, sliding. Trying to get up, he literally tumbled on his side and continued slipping and sliding. His dad finally got Alex up. GWN interviewed Alex about his “tumble”: (See the Interview section.)
Then, Diane's friends shouted, “Look! Disgusting!” A cow was peeing! Yuck! Yes, it's disgusting, but funny too! What an interesting hike and a funny one too!

Do you think it was worth being tired while getting to the peak of Mission Peak? (Debate #3) Send your answers to GWN!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

It was just Saint Patrick's Day on March 17th. GWN hopes you wore green! If not, did you get pinched? Diane totally forgot about it, but luckily, she wore a little green on accident so didn't get pinched at the ice rink where her skating coaches and friends asked everyone if they wore green.
Alex Zhou also luckily wore green, but his parents didn't. Diane got to pinch them! “Saint Patrick's Day wasn't really emphasized this year, but I guess it was fun seeing how many of my friends accidentally wore green.”

Another Test Result...

Now we know Diane Zhou's piano test results! She passed! Diane, as you know from last week's GWN, got 98% for theory. The results for her technique and sight reading are here too! Good for sight reading and excellent for technique! Hip hip hooray for passing Level VII (7), Diane! Please send congratulation notes!

Mail Pail

Here's all the mail GWN received this week:

Debate Time (Debate with Adults?):

• “I like debating with my parents and teachers. You can share your answers to each other. You can also see how adults think differently!” Chloris Li, 5th grade
  

• “It all depends. If it's my parents, then I would feel more agreeable, but if I think I'm right then I would try to show my opinion. If it's my teachers, then I would definitely agree with them. If you do, matters would become worse and you might get in trouble.” Tiffany Chen, 7th grade

Debate Time (Presidential Election):

• “I like Barack Obama.” Emily Wang, 4th grade
• “I choose Hilary Clinton because she has the talent and experience. Her husband, Bill Clinton will be able to help her. She will also be the first woman president in the United States! It won't be fair to always have a man for president.” Chloris Li, 5th grade
• “Hillary Clinton, of course! I want the president to be the first woman, not the first black.” Cynthia Yao, 5th grade
• “I would want Hilary Clinton to win because it's nice having a woman as a president for change. Women should be respected more and "noticed." In my opinion, Hilary Clinton is also a bit more experienced than Obama and McCain because she served in the congress or something like that. :]”Tiffany Chen, 7th grade

Volume I No. 17

Two Birthdays in a Week!
There are two birthdays this week: one girl and one boy. Both have relationships to GWN. Happy Birthday, Katherine Xiao (GWN reader) and Andrew Chang (Amanda's brother)! Send you Happy Birthdays to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com

Table of Contents
Cover Story
New News
Debate Time
Mail Pail

Debate Time

Debate with Adults

Do you like debating with your parents and teachers?

Speaking of “debate”, do you feel proud of yourself for debating with your parents or do you feel ashamed? Send answers to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com

Proud!

It's a time to show the world who you really are! It's time you can get your own way. If you're interested in politics, debating is a start (speaking of politics, see bottom of page). Debating is a way to show yourself, maybe on decisions that affect you like moving.

Ashamed...

Parents and teachers always want the best for you. You may have your own ideas, but don't go on debating forever. Grown-ups, especially elders, have lived longer and experienced more. Their opinions or decisions are probably best!

Presidential Election
Do YOU like Hilary Clinton, Barrack Obama or John McCain?

It's still election time. Who would you want to win: Clinton or Obama? Maybe John McCain... Send your “not counting” vote to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com

By the way, do you play computer games? There's an interesting game about Obama verses Hilary at: http://www.miniclip.com/games/street-fight/en/

Cover Story

Two Birthdays in a Week!

Birthday Girl: Katherine Xiao

Our GWN reader, Katherine Xiao, is the birthday girl this week! Her 10th birthday was on March 11th and was celebrated on March 15th. Have a merry birthday, Katherine, and thank you for enjoying GWN!
GWN interviewed our birthday girl this week:
GWN: Hi Katherine! GWN would like to interview you.
Katherine: Uh...okay!
GWN: What's your favorite hobby?
Katherine: Gymnastics.
GWN: How long have you been doing gymnastics? We think you are pretty good at it.
Katherine: I didn't really learn gymnastics before. I just like doing the gymnastic moves.
GWN: How do you like reading GWN?
Katherine: It's very interesting...
GWN: Thank you for taking our interview! Happy Late Birthday, Katherine!

Birthday Boy: Andrew Chang

There are two birthdays this week! Andrew is our editor, Amanda Chang's, brother. Happy 8th birthday, Andrew! He had his birthday party a day after his real birthday. The party was on March 15th.
Fun, fun, FUN! There was a basketball game at City Beach. It was a tiring and exciting game and became a tie. Good game, Andrew's friends! Diane and Alex Zhou went too. “They were cheating and all, but it was exciting!” Alex told GWN.

New News

Be Careful!

(By Diane Zhou, editor)

Some students from Delaine Eastin told GWN, “Did you know a teacher got hurt at our school? It was scary!” Please be careful, fellow schoolmates, and be sure your parents drive safely too!
If you notice dangerous things in your neighborhood, please tell GWN too! Safety first!

Book Buck$

Last week was BOOK BUCK$ week! How many BUCK$ did you receive? Send to GWN's email address. Diane Zhou and Amanda Chang always go for the most (800 maximum), but this year, their maximum was only 600. Why? On a coincidence, both of them didn't get The Argus on Monday. Diane is in a combination class and the school didn't have enough copies of the newspaper for her class. Amanda had a substitute who didn't know about the Book Buck$ so she didn't get one on Monday. As Diane told Amanda that it wasn't fair, she found out that it was actually fair since Amanda didn't get a copy either. What a coincidence!!!

Donations

(By Amanda Chang, editor)

Please make efforts to help those in need! There was a story on news that a 75-year-old man retired from his job and went back to his hometown. There, he saw many children playing around because they had no money for school. He decided to sell most of his possessions to help raise money for the children. When that wasn't enough, he rented a three-wheel vehicle that carries people and carried people to other places. All that money he earned went to kids. Now he is 95 years old and can no longer ride the three-wheeled vehicle. This man raised thousands of dollars for the children. If he can do it, so can you! Not thousands, but if 10 of us donate 20 dollars each, that's already 200 dollars! Please help our community!

Please do not donate to GWN; we don't need money. Donate to the poor please!

What a Joke!

(By Diane Zhou, editor)

Errrr...”What's that?” “I think it's the speaker.” There was a sound coming from Diane Zhou's classroom computer. “Oh it's the so-called 'good' computer,” Diane's teacher said. Then he went to the back of the room and told the student by the computer, “And it might explode...” The teacher went to another student...and suddenly shouted, “BOOM!” Chloris Li told GWN, “I actually got scared for a moment!” What a joke!

Fun Field Trip (or maybe not...)

(By Alex Zhou)

On Tuesday, March 11th, Alex Zhou's class went on a field trip to an art museum. The name was Mocha, which is short for Museum Of Children's Art. His class looked at art pictures made from other 2nd graders. Some were made by overlapping shapes. After they looked at the pictures, they made things out of clay. Most of them made dinosaurs. Lastly, Alex's class made pinch pots. They put designs on them. On Alex's opinion, it was a boring field trip. “I thought there were way more displays and things to do, but very disappointingly, nope, not there,” Alex told GWN.

More Test Results...

(By Amanda Chang and Diane Zhou, editors)

We now know the results of some of our GWN readers' and editor's CM test results. Starting off with our editor, Amanda Chang in Level IV (4) out of 10...93% in theory and good for sight reading and technique! Super job, Amanda! Our other editor, Diane Zhou, got 98% (as you know from a previous GWN) and just had her technique and sight reading test on March 16th. Results will come next week. She did great though, so good luck on Level VII (7)! Sara Ye, also Level IV, got ~~~~~~ for theory (passing), excellent for sight reading, and good for technique. Give it up for Sara!! Grace Ching, on the same level as Diane (VII), got 89% for theory and excellent for sight reading and technique. Congratulations! Diane also had her ice skating test on March 16th (that was a crazy day with piano and ice skating) and passed! Congratulations everyone!

Mail Pail

Here's all the mail GWN received this week:

Debate Time (Yard Work or Homework?):

“I don't know which I'll rather do, but if you want to pick one, I will choose yard work. You can breath in the fresh air and spend more time with your family members. Many people don't really know much about their family members because they don't talk to them. I will rather do yard work.” Chloris Li, 5th Grade
“I would rather play piano because in the process of elimination, 3 choices: homework, piano, and yard work. I hate homework and yard work, and piano's okay, so I like piano the most.” Emily Wang, 4th grade
“Whichever is easier. If there's hard homework, I'd sweep leaves outside for yard work.” Vicky Sun, 5th grade
“Same as my sister, only I'd rather rake leaves.” Nicole Sun, 5^th grade
“I'd rather do yard work since I hate piano and homework.” Cynthia Yao, 5th grade

Remember “What's this?” from last week? It was a root in the ground! Congratulations to: Vicky Sun, Bryan Yan, Deanna Wong, Emily Wang, and Chloris Li.
Good guess: Nicole Sun, Austin Xiong, and Susan Pham, who guessed a worm.
Nice unique idea, Cynthia Yao, who guessed a vine!

Volume I No. 16

Yard Work
Diane Zhou's family is doing tons of yard work! They are getting new grass for their humongous backyard!!! Find out how fun and tiring mix together for Diane's family to have a “new” backyard. How interesting...

Table of Contents

Cover Story
New News
Debate Time
Mail Pail

Debate Time

Yard or Homework?
Would YOU rather do yard work or practice piano, do homework, etc.?

Speaking of yard work on the cover story, what would you do instead: yard work or homework type things? Send you opinion to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com
Diane Zhou's family has been doing tons of yard work (see cover story). She doesn't know what she'd rather do. Neither does her brother, Alex. What would YOU think? Be sure to send you opinion with reasons!

Yard Work!

Yard work is waaaaaaaay better! You get healthy fresh air and see green, which is good for your eyes. Homework, piano, etc. is bad for your eyes and you don't get fresh air for your mind. Yard work is also like exercising, so you can have a healthy “workout” while doing yard work. You get a taste of what it was like in the old days without machines.

Homework!

Of course homework or piano is better! Studying makes you brain smarter and focused on education. Don't you already spend much time outside in school, shopping, playing at the park, etc.? Wanting to do yard work might just be your excuse for not playing piano (which some people hate) or homework. You don't get dirty while doing homework, do you? It would be surprising if you did. And you don't get sore either. So, do more homework than yard work!

Cover Story

Yard Work

“I've been working on the backyard,
All the afternoon.
I've been working so very hard,
Until I cannot move.”
Alex Zhou sung that while working on the backyard on Saturday, March 8th. “It doesn't rhyme, but it's cool!” says Diane Zhou, his brother. “He [Alex] sung it in the 'I've been working on the railroad' tune. It made the yard work fun!” Diane hates yard work, but also dislikes playing piano inside the house. Her family has been picking grass, flipping the soil, and all that stuff to get new grass since the Sunday before. Yard work was much more fun with Alex singing on that Saturday.
Diane's neighbor changed grass before, so her family asked them for advice. “Just flip the soil and get the grass loose with a machine on one day, pick out all the roots the second day, and put the new grass on the third day!” they had said. Well, their yard was tons of times smaller, so instead of three days, it took a whole week! The job finally got done on March 8th and surprise! A “new” back yard.
Everyone had jobs that day. The new soil came in big bags so it was Diane's dad's job to get the soil onto the wheelbarrow. Then Diane's mom pushed the wheelbarrow to the backyard. Diane took a big bucket of soil to the backyard to help get all the soil there. Alex had the spread the soil with a rake. When the soil was done, Diane and her mom carried the new grass to the sidewalk of their backyard while Alex put water into a manual lawn roller and Diane's dad finished smoothing out the soil. Halfway through getting all the grass, Diane and Alex flattened the soil for good together with the heavy lawn roller. Diane's parents took a break. Later on, Diane's dad used the roller to flatten the rest of the soil while the females continued getting the grass. Alex went in the house to rest awhile. Diane went in ten minutes later. The rest of the work was done by their parents. “It was sooooooo tiring,” Diane told GWN. “I saw how exhausted my parents were, but I was also really exhausted.”
The job's not done yet! Something should be done with the extra grass. Diane's family put it by the gate to the backyard. More work! Well, this was much easier and done in one hour on Sunday, March 9th.

New News

Dance Performance

By Chloris Li

On Saturday, March 8th, 2008, I went to a place (where old men and women go to when people in their families don't have time to take care of them) to perform 4 Chinese dances. In total, 8 people were in our group (including me)! Our teacher, Amy Wang, teaches 3 groups at the Union City Community Center (Next to Alvarado Middle School): the adult, kid, and toddler groups. Even though we learn Chinese dance at a community center, Ms. Wang is a professional dancer.
Once we got there, I was puzzled. I did not know where to go to change my clothes so I just waited. Then finally, my mom asked a lady and I went to change. The first dance for me was the Peacock Dance, but first, my auntie did the Ribbon Dance.
After the Peacock Dance, I hurriedly changed. The next dance was the Mongolian Dance. This dance was harder than the one before, though it was still a little bit easy. There were a few hard movements in this dance. People clapped wildly after I did them. At the middle of the dance, the music softened, paused a little, and people started clapping because they thought it was the end of the dance. I smiled when I saw them stop clapping.
After the Mongolian Dance, it was the Tibia Dance. That dance was the easiest one of all, and with the most people in it. I did not make a single mistake, except for the beginning.
Lastly, we had the Dun Wong Dance. (I think that is how you spell that.) It was the most difficult, and the prettiest too! I totally forgot what to do at the last part in that dance, so I stayed wherever I was and copied my dance mates.
Finally, I took a lolly-pop from a box and headed back to my House Of Merry Ends (HOME)!

Thank you, Chloris, for sending your story to GWN!

Ardenwood Choir on the News!

Do anyone of you of your parents read the World Journal, a Chinese newspaper? Guess what? Ardenwood's great choir singers went on the news! Some of our GWN readers are there too! Emily Wang, Chloris Li, and Deanna Wong are sort of famous now! It didn't mention names (since it's Chinese) but their faces are there.

Mail Pail

Here's all the mail GWN received this week:

Debate Time (Should GWN have a blog site?):
“I think there shouldn't be a blog because others that have not the slightest connection to it can access it. Those people may mess up the blog or send the website to friends and then GWN will be exposed to others.” Sara Ye, 4th grade

(Now, since Sara sent her opinion to GWN, 2 people think GWN should NOT have a blog while only 1 person thinks GWN should. GWN will not have a blog. Sorry for those who really wanted it. GWN will reconsider in the future.)

Debate Time (Should the breaks/recesses between classes be eliminated during writing test days?):
“No breaks on writing test days! I forget my ideas during recess and become unfocused on the topic! Recess should be eliminated on writing test days!” Emily Wang, 4th grade
“I don't think breaks should be eliminated. If you don't have breaks during writing tests, then you will go crazy staying in the classroom for like 6 and a half hours! Students need breaks, you know. They will be really tired and dizzy writing all day. I think we should still have breaks on writing test days.” Chloris Li, 5th grade