To My Mom On Mother's Day

My Hand

My hand can
Hold so many things,
Like a pencil, book,
Or toy...
But holding
Your hand any day
Brings me the greatest joy!
I get joy from books and toys,
Sure I do,

But I get the most joy from you!

Happy Mother's Day!

Finishing the STAR test

In early May, I finished my Star Testing. I had tested for four days. I was really happy because I would have to do no more practice tests. I did Language Arts and Math testing. It was really easy. Incidentally, I have to do the SAT test on the day after school ends. The upside: the district has identified me to be a fourth grader with better academic skills. Hope I can do well in that.

As soon as the SAT test is over, I can relax.

My Gold Ribbon

A week ago, I passed the gold level in Happy Fish Swim School. I finished Happy Fish Swim School completely. I was surprised because I finished in the first session of gold I was in. I thought there was only a 40-60 percent chance of me passing. We stayed for almost half an hour longer so I could get a picture of myself with the gold ribbon. I felt really happy. I knew some of the people on the gold wall of fame, and finally my picture was going to be on the gold wall of fame. I was also happy because my picture was going to be the first one on the fourth gold ribbon wall of fame.

I am going to practice competitive swimming during summer break.

A Visit to the Planetarium

"Hey, did you hear about the De Anza Planetarium, Bobby?"

"Sure I did, Joe. I heard they have an Infinium Star projector"

"Really, Bobby?"

"Yup, Joe"

"Wow, Bobby"

"They even have light shows, a domed IMAX theater, and a 50 foot tall observatory, Joe"

"David told me ge saw an IMAX movie there!"

"Hey, did someone call my name?"

"Hi Dave, Joe and I were just talking about the Planetarium. Can you tell us about it?"

"Okay guys. We had to wait half an hour to get in. It was an interactive movie. Some kid yelled out all the right answers for the questions. We learnt there was a series of catastrophic events before there was life on Earth. I learnt Mercury was bombarded with comets; Venus is the hottest planet; Earth might turn into a lifeless planet; Mars once had water; Jupiter has a one-hundred year old hurricane; Saturn is made out of gas; Uranus has a diamond core; Neptune had a short hurricanes and Pluto might be a large asteroid or a moon from another solar system. Finally, we had a tour of the stars. It was stupendous"

"We'll sure be going there sometime. Right Bobby?"

"sure. We will, Joe!"

-**-**--

(The kid who gave answers was yours truly)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I wrote this report in July 2007, as soon as I read "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".

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J.K. Rowling started writing the Harry Potter series of books in 1998. The hero of the series is a boy named Harry Potter, who goes to study wizardry at a magic school. All the books in the series have become very popular. The seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was released in July 2007.

J.K Rowling has written 6 other books about Harry before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I have enjoyed reading all of them. They all lead up to the final confrontation against the Wizard Voldemort. Harry goes to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when he is eleven years old (first year), gets rid of Voldemort pretending to be a teacher,and gets rid of the powerful Sorcerer's Stone which could make anybody rich and immortal. Harry kills the Basilisk, the evil monster in the Chamber Of Secrets, destroys a diary that he doesn't know about. He learnt that he could speak parseltounge (language of snakes), learnt where the Chamber of Secrets was,and learnt about Voldemort's past when he was twelve (second year).Harry learns who really betrayed his parents when he was thirteen (third year).Harry learned what really happened to Barty Crouch Jr. and gets entered in the Triwizard tournament by accident and brings Voldemort back alive when he was fourteen (fourth year).Harry learned about the Order of the Phoenix a defensive group against Voldemort, stops Voldemort from gettting the Phrophecy that was supposed to tell what would happen between Voldemort and Harry. Finally he gets the Ministry of Magic knowing that Voldemort was back (they had been discrediting Harry for a long time and said Voldemort wasn't back) when he was fifteen (fifth year). He learn't about the Horcruxes ,saw Voldemort’s past,and learned what he had to do when he was sixteen (sixth year).


The book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" is the story of Harry's seventh, and very last year at Hogwart’s. Harry, however has quit the 7th year since his favorite and only headmaster had died during the previous year. In this book, Harry gets rid of Voldemort, to free the world from evil. This year Harry goes camping, infliltrates the ministry of magic, steals something from the wizard bank, finds the sword of Griffindore (one of the school houses at Hogwarts), finds the horcruxes (worst kind of magic) that Voldemort needs to survive. He destroys them and finally kills Voldemort. The seventh book is the best but scariest book. I think it’s the best book of all time.

This book is famous. It’s more famous than the rest. It has absolutely horrible things, but still extremely mysterious. It is also scarier than the rest of the books in the Harry Potter series. There are hundreds of murders, but it’s still a classic. It will be famous for years to come. Almost everything is explained in the end. Harry finds out everything he has to do in the very end, when a teacher Harry hated dies. He learnt what everything meant in the very end.

The end is quite different from what the rumors said before the book was released. Harry doesn’t die. It has a very good ending. The story ends at a time after 19 years after Harry finishes his stay at Hogwarts. Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione are sending their children to Hogwarts too. Harry's son Albus told Harry that he didn't want to be in Slytherin (one of the houses at Hogwarts). Harry told him about the mean teacher Snape, who was dead for 19 years. After Harry told him that, Albus wasn't scared of being in Slytherin.They said good bye to each other .Harry's lightning scar hadn't hurt for 19 years. All was well.

Overall, J.K. Rowling has done great work on this book. I’d give her the best rate there is. I say these books are the best this century, millennium, and the best for all times. You should read it and treasure it

I really liked reading the Harry Potter books. It took me 4 days to read this one. I've convinced my parents to read these books. I encourage you to read too.

Wednesday’s Eclipse

On Wednesday, February 20, 2008, there was a lunar eclipse. Me and my dad had been waiting for it ever since we saw the newspaper on Monday, February 18,08 It started at 5:30 P.M. I started looking at the moon when half of the full moon was gone. I hadn't known it had started until then. I looked at it through binoculars. Slowly, the moon was disappearing. We were the only people outside.

My dad told me that an eclipse happens when the shadow of the earth covers the moon and he illustrated it with my sister by using the shadow of his hand. He slowly moved his hand across the light of a streetlamp.A shadow formed on my sister's face.Then the shadow left when he moved his hand away from my sister's face.

When the moon was almost completely gone, mist started to gather around it. After it was gone, we waited for about an hour inside. My dad told me about lunar and solar eclipses while we waited for the moon to be seen again . When we saw the moon reappear, we saw it reappear after half of it was already back.

It was the first eclipse I saw!

Sankethi get-together 2008 sankranthi habba

Yesterday I went to Sankethi Koota. It was at Sanathana Dharma Kendra. This was our Sankranti meeting.

I was in the art contest. I drew the Ganesha Yantram. The Ganesha Yantram is a geometrical figure that has religious significance. It represents the power of Lord Ganesha. Next year, I will draw it again on Ganesha Haba {festival}. I practiced drawing the picture a number of times. I didn’t want to be in the art contest at first, but after that I started to like drawing. I only had help once. We had 1 hour to draw our picture. Swathi did a Sankranti village scene. Sanjana, Sanjana, and Sanjana (threesome!) were also in the art contest. I didn’t think I was good at art until now. I finished with ten minutes to spare. Aditi, Aditi, and Ananya were some of the people I knew that were in the art contest. My drawing was the neatest, but I didn’t get a prize. Swathi won second place in her division.



Then I played with my friends. Soon after, I had to do a play. It was the Kannada version of “The Emperors New Clothes”. I had to practice the play every day for 2 weeks. When we started practicing, it was a bit difficult, but the more we practiced, the better I got. My dad made a English script for us. I was the raja{king}, Swathi was the darji{dressmaker}, and our younger cousin, Aditi, was the innocent child. Everyone thought I was a laugh riot. I had to come out in biking shorts and an undershirt in the last act. I also got chocolate.

Then I played army freeze tag with my friends for a long time. Then I served food in the cafeteria. Finally, after talking with my friends for a while, I left. I enjoyed the day a lot.