What We're Up To Part 1: Science

Science

Teachers aren’t the only ones who teach. Well at least not in our class. Sometimes we students teach science to the class and our teachers. We are assigned to this almost every week. It is interesting and we have fun doing it. For the last couple of months we have been doing these projects on posters, but just this week we started doing the project with the choice of a play, a commercial, a newscast, or even a song. Most of us enjoy doing this instead of the posters. We enjoy it more because it is more exciting to us.

Some of the poster categories were Biomes, Changes in Ecosystems, Cycles in Ecosystems, Water Ecosystems and much more. The categories we have now are Earths Landforms, Plate Tectonics, Volcanoes, Earthquakes, and Shaping Earth’s Surface. The majority of our classmates chose a play or a commercial and very few chose the other choices. Some of our classmates chose to do a play with a song or a newscast with a commercial.

When we use posters we can draw pictures or examples of what we are talking about. It can be something funny but it has to be educational and it can’t be over the top. At the end of every presentation we ask for questions and comments. Usually the presenters have about twenty minutes to take questions.

Before each lesson, our teacher tells us to be ready with a few questions to ask to the group. It takes so long to ask questions because in the end people end up asking about 4 questions each. We think this way of learning science is more interesting and entertaining and makes it more fun to learn science.

Shaniah, Mary May, Indiyah, Luke and Kameron

Wizards Among Us

On April 6th two players from the Washington Wizards came to our school. Oleksiy Pecherov and Darius Songaila, both Center/Forwards for the Wizards, made the rest of us look like munchkins. Pecherov is 7 feet tall and wears size 16 sneakers, Songaila is 6 feet 9 inches tall and wears a size 15. Our 5th and 6th grade classes had put together presentations about each players respective countries. Our class's presentation was about Pecherov who is from the Ukraine. Songaila is from Lithuania and the 6th grade's presentation was about that country.

For our Ukraine presentation we divided the class into several groups and each group covered a topic about that country. One group covered foods, dress and traditions; another group looked at history and government; a third group studied language, music and holidays; another group did the religions and myths of the Ukraine; and one group talked about sports and Pecherov. We learned how to say hello in Ukrainian - privit - and the national anthem. We also learned about their struggle for independence over the centuries (they didn't become independent until 1991) and the protests in 2004 called the Orange Revolution. We learned about the Black Sea and the myth of Bogatyr who had a magic arrow that was so powerful he decided to toss it into the Black Sea to protect mankind. This is how the sea's storms were explained.

The things we learned about Oleksiy Pecherov is that he started playing basketball when he was 15! Pretty late compared to most American players. His first sport was soccer - at least when he was younger. He was drafted by the Wizards in 2006 and he is an offensive threat in the low post and near the three point line and he had a 8.75 rebound. Oleksiy Pecherov was the 18th person to be drafted into the NBA.

It was very exiting to meet Oleksiy Pecherov. We all recived 2 tickets to the Wizards game against the Toronto Raptors and a signed photograph from Pecherov and Songalia.

Over the past few weeks our class has been working with Capitol Letters Writing Center on "This I Believe" essays. "This I Believe" is actually a radio series on National Public Radio and there is a chance that our essays could be on the radio. Capitol Letters is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization that has been doing a lot of writing workshops for students. And they came to our school to do a workshop with us. In fact, a couple days ago we recorded our essays.

Working on "This I Believe" has been a memorable experience. The Center's volunteers came in very confidently and very well prepared. We got started by brain storming, and once we'd all chosen our topics (what we believed) we started writing with the help of the volunteers. Out of these few steps spun a beautiful personal essay.

I took a lot out of this experience. I never knew that I could write a powerful essay just like that. Also, writing this essay really taught me about myself - taught me things I'd never realized. What? Well, I learned that sometimes (or always) I set my standards way too high. I'm a perfectionist, but I'm not perfect. That's not a good mix. SO, I have to try and help myself be confident in what my abilities are.

I also learned to take all those jumbled-up feelings from my head and put them, in an organized fashion, onto paper. Plus, now I'm more confident. I hope to do another workshop like this sometime soon!

What was recording our essays like? Well, it was pretty scary, to tell the truth. I was relieved that we got to practice it first, before we went into a little storage closet to record. But then, it was just me and the volunteer. The moment we'd all been waiting for.



Our essays were done!



Below are some statements explaining how we felt about participating in this workshop:

The experience helped me organize my thoughts. It also improved my writing skills.

-Malachi

Writing a three paragraph essay was like letting your feelings out and telling your paper about your personal life.

-Mary May

It felt great working with them because it helped let out all of my thoughts and how I felt.

-Ademir

I learned that writing takes time and shouldn't be rushed. I also learned that writing doesn't need to be perfect.

-Zahra

What I liked about the workshop is that the volunteers made me feel like a real writer and not just a kid writing an essay.

-Devin

The people from Captiol Letters walked us through the process and got us to access the deep thoughts that we never really thought about.

-Tobias

I had really accomplished something I would remember.

-Jonah

I felt so happy and good. I released my anger problems with the essay and not on other people.

-Nick

Book To Movie

Our class just finished reading the book The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson. We also watched the movie and noticed several changes that were made. This had us thinking about the different things that happen to books that become movies. Below are several of our reviews of books that became movies.

Lord of the Rings: Book/Movie




DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN OR READ “LORD OF THE RINGS”!

I have read The Lord of the Rings series and seen the movies. Which do I like better? Well, alone, I think the movies are pretty good. But in comparison to the book – I think Tolkien is a step ahead of the movies.

Like any book/movie pair, there are some similarities between the books and the movies; but there are also many differences. For example:

In the movie, everything goes by very quickly. One minute we’re in Gondor, the next we’re halfway to Rohan – as opposed to Tolkien’s detailed writing about the journies-within-the-journies. Of course, the filmmakers needed to shorten the movie – but was that the only reason for change? I don’t really like the fact that they take out the best of Tolkien’s writing. Without this incorporated into the movie in some way, any way, Middle Earth seems less alive.


Of course, the characters are pretty much the same in each. Frodo in the book is overall the same character as Frodo in the movies. (However, I do think that the movie Aragorn was more kingly than the book Aragorn, for better or worse.) And then there are little things – such as, Faramir in the book and movie is always more thoughtful than Boromir.

In terms of change: yes, things are taken out – such as Tom Bombadil in the first book. But what else?
Well, take Saramaun. When just thinking about “The Two Towers”, he is murdered while giving Gandalf important information, while in the book, he escapes back into Orthanc. Why? Was it because the filmmakers needed him out of the picture for a later scene?

I am not sure if I liked this change. It might have been necessary – but it takes away some suspense and fear from the movie, because now only Sauron is nagging you at the back of your mind.

By Emma

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix


Book/movie comparison

I read and saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I feel that in the movie they overdid Bellatrix Lastrange and underdid Luna Lovegood. Something I really despise about the movie is they took away almost all of the Department of Mystery parts. To me those were some of the most exciting parts. Also in the movie they took away what happens at the exams like McGonagall being hit by four stunning spells in the chest and Hagrid being abducted. One of the most important things in Harry Potter is quidditch and in the movie there is no quidditch! Quidditch is especially important in this book because Ron is the new Gryffindor keeper. Quidditch effects Ron’s Harry’s and even Hermione’s emotions. Like when Ron kept making Gryffindor lose he was sulky, annoying, mean, and angry.

I personally liked the book better. The movie really ruined the story to me. It’s almost as if the magic of the book disappeared. The movie only stuck to the main parts as the book goes into deep details. Like I said before, quidditch is very important in Harry Potter and the movie completely got rid of it. By completely got rid of it I mean it did not even mention quidditch. In the book, on the other hand, talks about each individual game. The movie also did not express the characters’ emotions very well. If I could change one thing in the movie I would have put in quidditch. I wish the movie stayed truer to the book.

Jonah

Coraline


Coraline is my favorite hence only horror book I’ve ever read. I liked the movie, but they could have made it a good movie without changing as much as they did. Most of the things they changed I disapprove of, for instance, in the book Coraline has brown hair and in the movie she has blue hair. How many eleven year old girls with blue hair do you know? Did they really have to add Whyboren into the movie? Where did Whyboren come from? He was not a character in the book. They didn’t have to make the other mother look like a spider. I know Neil Gaiman talks about her having character traits of a spider but in my opinion they overdid it. I think they messed the book up by adding the garden, which is also not in the book. It’s supposed to look like the garden she had in her home but they made it they put magic talking flowers in it! Even though I disapproved of most of the movie version, I did like the part when the other mother built the doll to lure Coraline to the door. That part was scary and exciting as it was in the book. This is what I think of the movie and book.



Kameron

Bridge to Terabithia Book or Movie


By: Mary May, Ayah, Izzy and Ademir

Mary May liked the movie Bridge to Terabithia better then the book and Ayah, Izzy, and Ademir like the book better then the movie. Mary May thinks that the movie is better because it shows more details about Terabithia. Ayah, Ademir and Izzy liked the book better then the movie because the book is more original and unlike the movie it tells that Leslie doesn’t fit in as much. Ayah felt that Miss Bessie was a main character in the book but they took her out of the movie which changed Jesse’s farm boy personality .Ademir felt that the movie wasn’t as interesting as the book. Izzy felt that in the movie there wasn’t enough for you to imagine about Terabithia and that it had a lot of unnecessary parts.

We all agreed that Miss Bessie should have been in the movie and its not fair that she was left out of the movie because she was a character. Also the movie makers made the movie as if the story was placed in the 21 century instead of the 1970’s. The movie makes Terabithia real not just an imaginary place we think that this changes the feeling of the story a bit. In the movie Bridge to Terabithia they should’ve made Leslie call her mom and dad Judy and Bill like in the book.


The Bridge to Terabithia


By Inidiyah, Alicia and Shaniah

We’ve watched the movie Bridge to Terabithia, as well as we’ve read the book. There were several differences between the book and the movie. For example in the book there was a cow named Miss Bessie and she seemed like one of the characters, in the movie the cow isn’t named and doesn’t seem important.

The book’s story took place in the mid 1970’s and the movie takes place in 2006 or 2007. In the movie the characters watch music videos and dress like people in the 21st century. In the book the characters dressed in a more strict way – nice shirts, nice pants, nice shoes. This made the way Leslie dressed seem weird and made her stand out more. It is almost impossible to make Leslie’s clothing make her seem different.


In the movie Jess’s parents seemed different than they were in the book. For instance, the mom did not have an accent in the movie. In the book she seems not very well educated but in the movie there isn’t a difference in her than in any other mom. In the book Jess’s dad was angry about Jess wanting to draw but in the movie it seemed like he didn’t really care about Jess’s art.

Fulcher is not really a bully type of person in the book, he’s just a kid who wants to win the race like Jess. In the movie Fulcher is a bully and tries to be the cool person. Janice Avery is closer in the movie to her character in the book but she does punch out Fulcher’s buddy, Gary Holger.

Alicia felt that the feelings of the book and movie were the same, that there wasn’t a big difference between the two. However, she did feel that Jess was a little bit different. Indiyah and Shaniah felt that there was a huge difference between the book and the movie. Jess’s emotions were different, for one. In the book Jess seemed a little more sensitive than in the movie. In the movie he seemed tougher. All three of us liked the movie better than the book.

Bridge to Terabithia


by
Adam S.

WARNING: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK!!


There are many differences in the movie and the book Bridge to Terabithia. In the book, Jess is different from everyone else. In the movie, he seems normal. In the book, Jess’ dad is very mean about Jess’ drawings. “What do they teach you in that #@*! school?” said Jess’ dad in the book. Gary Fulcher, Jess’ nemesis, is a bully in the movie. In the book, he is not. In the movie, Gary Fulcher also has a friend who follows him everywhere that also bullies Jess. In the book, there is only Fulcher.

In the movie, there is a part where Jess loses his dads key to their green house. In the book, there isn’t anything about Jess looking for keys. There isn’t even any green house mentioned in the book…

Something that is alike with the book and movie is that the characters say the same things in the movie and the book. Here are some examples: “It’s crazy, isn’t it? You have to believe it, but you hate it. I don’t have to believe it, and I think it’s beautiful.” This is what Leslie says talking about the bible after they went to church together.

“So-I realize. If it’s hard for me, how much harder it must be for you.” This is what Mrs. Myers, Jess’ teacher, is telling him about how she feels about Leslie dieing.

I liked the book better. That is because they did something in the movie that they do in every movie. They make the bullied hero fight back. They did that by making Jess punch Gary Fulcher in the end. In the book, Fulcher isn’t mentioned at the end.

Holes
Comparison Book-Movie


WARNING: DON’T READ IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN OR READ HOLES!

Movies and books are usually different even if the movie is based on the book. Holes is about a boy, Stanley Yelnats, who gets in trouble for “stealing” a pair of cleats that he didn’t steal. He is sent to a juvenile detention center called Camp Greenlake that has no lake and is in what seems to be the dessert. The boys at the detention center have to dig holes five feet wide and deep each day. The story follows Stanley through his experiences trying to survive eighteen months at Camp Greenlake.

In both the book and the movie Holes, Stanley is the main character. But he is overweight in the book version and a skinny kid in the movie. I don’t see why you would change a thing like this. Maybe the actor that they wanted was skinny but they could still use a costume and makeup. Otherwise, the character is pretty much the same to the one I imagined when I read the book. He’s pretty nice and he becomes braver as both the book and the movie go along.

Both the movie and the book use flashbacks. The film does a really good job of this. The portrayal of Kissing Kate Barlow is very close to the book. To me it seems like they use the exact same words as in the book.

The biggest difference between the movie and the book is one scene added for the film version. In the scene, Stanley is out at night, walking, when he runs into Mr. Sir, the second in command at Camp Greenlake. Mr. Sir pulls out a gun, tells Stanley not to move and then shoots a lizard near Stanley. There is no point to this scene.

There are other things that are different in the book and the movie. One of them is that in the movie when the Warden says to dig more holes you see something like a tunnel almost but in the book you get the picture of more holes, again another meaningless change.

Even with the changes which were few I think it did a pretty good portrayal of the book.

Toby and Zahra

Eragon- Book vs. Movie




The movie Eragon is the best movie to hate. The book Eragon is a really good book, but the movie stinks. For example, in the beginning of the movie Brom tells some of the villagers of Carvahall about the Dragon Riders. That happens in the book, but in the movie they did something that made it so that one main problem that the main characters faced in the book. They had soldiers in the scene. If that had happened in the book the soldiers would have been under a spell to kill Brom. Also, in the movie, when Saphira flies for the first time she grows the way Simba grows when he is crossing the waterfall in The Lion King. That is supposed to represent time going by, but at the end of the movie Ayra says that the movie is meant to last two days. The book lasts months.

The characters in the movie do not always resemble the characters Christopher Paolini created. Ayra seems more godlike in the movie than in the book. She does not seem to have feelings in the movie, and she says things like a wise old man. Also, the movie uses Durza so much that he does not seem evil.

The movie Eragon takes out good parts of the books and puts in unnecessary parts that are not as good. I know they take out parts to shorten the movie and the cost, but why do they put in the unnecessary parts? An example of a part they took out that was good was a whole scene in the city of Teirm. A not-so-good part that they added to the movie was Eragon looking through Saphiras eyes.

I think the people who made the movie Eragon could have tried a lot harder. They made a great book into a bad movie. Still, my 2nd grade cousin said he loved the movie, although he had not read the book. So, if you do not read great literature Eragon is a good movie. But if you do, read Eragon, but never watch the evil movie.

Sam

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)