Our Science Fair

Our Science Fair

Last Monday, the fourth, fifth and sixth graders of our school participated in a Science Fair. All of the students worked very hard on their projects – and their hard work really paid off.
During the Science Fair, each student’s project had to be judged at least twice. The judging consisted of explaining your hypothesis, procedure, results and conclusion to the judges and answering their questions. The judges were mainly neighborhood parents, etc.

Although every project was great, there were only three winners in each grade. In fifth grade, Toby, Sam and Luke of OUR class got third place!!! Their project involved trying to see which modern day astronomical instruments would give them the best idea of what Galileo saw when he observed the moon 400 years ago.

Everyone agrees that all the projects on display were very interesting (although some seemed to be pulled together at the last minute). However, a couple people think that some projects were very similar to last year’s, making the Science Fair a lot less exciting.

Now, a quote from Toby, who received third place: “I was afraid that we hadn’t gotten a place, but I think that we deserved third.” (We think you did, Toby, although you should’ve spent a little more time on your project!)

Overall, the 2009 Science Fair was a success. Although not everyone won, we all enjoyed constructing our experiments and learned A LOT; whether it was about Galileo, friction, or memory…it was all very exciting.

Thanks for reading!

Emma, Toby, Mary May, Indiyah and Kameron

Book Recommendations

Book Recommendations

In our class we did a Newberry Book-cover project. We had to read a Newberry medal or honor book over the winter break and then we had to design our book cover. We decided to write about some of the books that we read for this that you might consider reading. If you are a parent you can read some of these books to your children. Here are some of the books we would like you and your children to enjoy:

1. Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson.
Feathers is based on the poem
“Hope” by Emily Dickinson – “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul” is the first line of the poem. It is also about a girl named Frannie whose older brother is dumb, he can not talk. She has a lot of adventures in the book and learns about what she calls her “heart-truth”.

2. Penny from Heaven by Jennifer L. Holme.
Penny from Heaven is about this girl named Penny and she has to take care of her family. Her mom is dating someone Penny does not approve of. Penny feels that her mom spends more time with this man than she does with her. Penny learns that it only matters if her mom is happy, then her mother will like her better.

3. Missing May by Cynthia Rylant. Since Summer was six she was living with her aunt May and uncle Ob. Now that years have past and Summer’s aunt May has died Summer really misses her aunt and has a fear that something will happen to Ob. Sometimes Ob does not want to even get out of bed and move on with his life. Summer has to learn about some of the hard realities of life in a quick way.

By Shaniah, Indiyah and Alicia

Our School Musical- Mulan Jr.

For our school musical this year, we will be performing Mulan Jr. (The Disney version). If you think that you know what the play will be like – you’re wrong. Because we are going to put an exciting new twist on Mulan, so it won’t be the Disney version…it will be OUR version!

Below are the similarities and the differences between our play and the Disney movie:

The characters and their qualities are basically the same in both the play and the movie. You get the same idea of each character’s personality in both, but in the play the actor gives more life to the character. Also, in the play you are able to sculpt your character in whatever way you want, while in the movie the characters are only what the animation made them to be.

In the play, you really get connected with the strict traditions that the characters had to follow, and the Chinese culture. In the play, Mulan’s Ancestors seem more important to the story while in the movie, you don’t get a very good idea of what they mean to Mulan and her family.

Performing in Chinese

Another cool thing about Mulan Jr. is that it will be bilingual. The three major leads (Mulan, Mushu, and Captain Shang) will be performing all their lines and one song in Mandarin Chinese. Also, there will be a Chinese Chi Fu and maybe a half – Chinese ensemble.
As the main Chinese performers, we believe that we can do this, but we will have to sacrifice a lot of time.

It will be difficult. For one, we have to speak our lines at the same time as the English performers. Sometimes it will be easy – for example, when the English Mushu says, “What did I miss? Am I late? Am I early?” and the Chinese Mushu says something of similar length. But other times it will be pretty hard, like when the English Mushu says “Poor kid!” and the line in Chinese is about twice as long. However, we are all willing to step up to the plate and get down to business (to defeat the Huns!).

The performance will be on May 8th, 9th, and 10th. That means that we have about three months to memorize our many lines…but we can do it! Please come and see our show. The cost is about $5.00, and children under three years old are free. If you comment, we can e-mail you our school name and address.

by Sam (Mushu), Luke (Qian-Po), Emma (Mulan), Toby (Captain Shang), and Zahra (Subar-Tu, Hun)