My Utah Adventure

6/23/10

Yesterday, we started a road trip to visit Zion, Kolob, and Bryce Canyons. We left for the city of Bakersfield at 7:30 P.M. At 10:30 P.M., we arrived there. On the way, I looked at clouds, read, and slept. Today, from 7:30 A.M. (CA time) to 5:30 P.M. (Utah time), we drove to Zion Canyon. I repeated my routine from last night. On the way, my dad forgot how to open our van’s gas tank and how to use a car wash. I made up a spoof song about it:

He lost it!
He lost it!
Dad really lost it!
Which made us sad...
Because he was bad...
But then...
He found it!
He found it!
He found it!
Dad finally found it!
And luckily, the trip was free (because for the car wash, we were given an extra wash because the first didn’t work correctly)
Dad finally found it
Because of ME!

Once we arrived at Zion Canyon, we explored it by shuttle bus. Our first stop was the “Court of the Patriarchs”, home of the landmark the “Three Patriarchs”. After taking a few pictures, we got onto a new bus. Our second to last stop was the “Temple of Sinawava”. There was a river there, in which we did a little wading. Then we got onto another bus to go to the Human History Museum. Sadly, it was closed. At that point, we left for our hotel.

6/24/10

Today, we went to Kolob Canyon in the morning. We took some pictures and were back in our hotel for breakfast in two hours. Then we went to the village of Marysvale and went to on an ARK (Always Rafting and Canoeing) rafting trip. It was an awesome experience to go rafting. Our guide was Don, the owner of the company. My family was the fastest team of rafters, even though we had the smallest team and my sister and I were the youngest rafters. Going through rapids was really fun since we got soaked up to our HAIR in pitfalls known as “waterfalls”. During the trip, Don pointed out mountains like Big Rock Candy Mountain (WHAT THE HECK?!?!?!?), beaver dams, and vague faces in the mountains. I EVEN SAW KING KONG AND LORD VOLDEMORT (albeit Voldemort possessing Professor Quirrel)! Then we went to Bryce Canyon. We took a few pictures there and I made a poem about it:
Oh!
Bryce Canyon!
What a wonderful place to be!
All the things to do
And the sights to see!

You can see a mountain
Far, far away!
Up at Rainbow point,
You can see stuff and say
HEY!

Oh!
Bryce Canyon!
You’re so neat and cool!
Let me tell you,
You’re really a jewel!

6/25/10

Today, we went to Zion Canyon again for horseback riding. My horse was Chalkboard. He was a little slow at the beginning of the track until I was given a whip to whip him with. There was a lot of treacherous footing and we moved unsteadily, but I got used to it. However, once, the horse in front of me pooped. And my horse stepped in the poop. And a bunch of times, the horses peed, and we were in close contact with the alias of “Rocky Mountain Lemonade”. It was really fun, but very hot and somehow just as tiring as going on the same track on foot. We all got a drink and snack afterwards. Then we went to the Human History Museum and learned about Zion Canyon’s history. Then we left and went to Barstow, CA. Tomorrow, we will get home before noon.

Pomeroy, 6th Grade, and Graduation

This year, I was in 6th grade, my last year at Marshall Pomeroy Elementary School. In 6th grade, I had a lot of fun. We went on great field trips, worked on great projects, and just had a lot of fun.

On Thursday, June 10, 2010, we had our graduation. It was the last day of school and my last day at Marshall Pomeroy Elementary School. We had practiced three times for the ceremony a few days before it happened.



Upon starting the ceremony, we went to our seats with our partners. Then we listened to a speech by our principal, Mrs. Berman. It was also her last year at Pomeroy. Then we listened to our classmates make speeches. And then we started getting out graduation certificates. I was one of the first people to get the certificate. After giving everyone their certificates, Mrs. Berman made a second speech. And then we went and ate refreshments. It was an AWESOME day that ended an AWESOME year.

Back in class, we watched some episodes of the old 1930's cartoon, The 3 Stooges. It was EPICALLY funny. We went outside and played for a while after that. Finally, we came back in, stacked up desks and chairs, got our report cards, and left at 12 o'clock A.M. At home my parents gave me a GRAD(uation) balloon and we ate a small celebratory cake and some pasta.

I've been going to Pomeroy all my life. Actually, the majority of my school life was spent there. 7 out of the 13 years(kindergarten being the first) were spent at Pomeroy! Every year, I enjoyed myself immensely. In kindergarten, I learned to socialize and how to use motor skills. In first grade, I learned how work independently on projects. In second grade, I learned relatively advanced reading and math. In third grade, I did a LOT of reading that was truly advanced, such as the first six Harry Potter books. In fourth grade, I learned science, history, math, reading, and other subjects. In fifth grade, I learned art, drug awareness, and very advanced math. And finally, this year, In sixth grade, I learned art, creativity, advanced math, language arts, and poetry. I shall sorely miss my great years in Pomeroy.

The Exhaustion Song

This one is from couple of weeks ago:

This is a parody of a Doctor Seuss poem (it had something to do with brains in your head and feet in your shoes). I wrote it because I was EXHAUSTED after school on 6/4/10. I made it when I told a friend I had blisters on my hands, I’ve got bruises on my knees. It sounded poetic, so I made this poem:

I’ve got blisters on my hands
I’ve got bruises on my knees
I’m trying to be poetic
But I’ll ruin it with a sneeze

LAWL! Funny!

Open House and my Term Project

I wrote this post a while ago, but posting now as you can see!

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This week, on May 19, 2010, I presented my Term Project. Every year, students have to study something that interests them and make a presentation about it. I made a video and a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. My Term Project was on neurosurgery, a very difficult research topic. I went to the library one day and took out some books that could help me research. Then I started typing my presentation with the books and some help from the Internet. Finally, when I finished typing, I started practicing my presentation. When I presented it, my classmates said it was well researched. Here is a link to the small video I made from pictures from the Internet.

The next day, May 20, 2010, we had Open House. Open House is a HUGE event. Every year, in the days leading up to Open House, teachers clean up their rooms and get all sorts of stuff to show parents. There is also a barbeque (I didn’t attend because I’m vegetarian, and there was no veggie stuff), an ice-cream social, a book fair, an art fair, and classroom visitation.

First, we left at about 6:00 P.M. At 6:10 P.M., we arrived. The first thing I did was getting our pre-ordered ice-cream social tickets. Before I had ice cream, though, I went to the art fair to find the picture I drew for it. It wasn’t there. I had some ice cream.

Then we went to the book fair. This year, my sister bought Harry Potter 6 (we lost our last copy) and a Judy Moody book. I bought a book called N.E.R.D.S. and a book on paper airplanes. Then I visited my classroom and presented my Term Project again there. No one listened! I then went with some friends and we talked and raced. It was a lot of fun. Finally, I went and saw my 4th grade teacher, Mrs.Downey, just before Open House ended. After I visited her, we left.

This is my last year at Marshall Pomeroy Elementary School. I really think I put my last Open House to good use.

My Grandmother

This year, my grandmother came to visit us from India. She had also been here in September of 2009. We really enjoyed her company.

Once, a two days before she left, on May 29, we went cherry picking with her. First, we went to the Livermore temple after getting some food for a picnic we were going to have with our cousins. We met our cousins once we got to the cherry farm and started picking and eating cherries.




Funnily enough, it was the black cherries that tasted best, contrary to the generic red cherry. During the picnic part of our trip, we ate angel food cake, Hawaiian buns, and drank CapriSun Roaring Waters juice. I also *cough, cough* tried to skip stones. If you didn’t pick up the hints, I failed miserably.

My grandmother also made great food. Every day, she made something new and exciting. She showed me “allu muttar” and I REALLY liked it.

My grandmother left on June 1, 2010. On the day before, I made her a picture showing our whole family together. We wished her a happy journey before we left for school and she left for the airport.

I really miss my grandmother and hopes she comes back soon. Luckily, soon, my other grandparents are coming. I can’t wait!

Merryhill: Shadow Day

Today, April 21, 2010, I went to a shadow day at Merryhill Middle School. I followed around a sixth grader at Merryhill for a day! The first thing I did after arriving was meeting the principal, Mrs. Quinn. She told me that I was going to follow a sixth grader named Henry.

First, there was an assembly for the quarterly Honor Roll. There were Bronze, Silver, and Gold levels. After that, I followed Henry outside to the Music Room. I watched the students practice their yearly dance. Every grade has a different one. Halfway through, a person came and told us he had to set up something where they were practicing. It turns out that it was a giant bouncy slide. The students had to move somewhere else. Then, the Mega-iHome (at least I think of it like that) ran out of charge, so they had to listen to the music teacher’s iPhone. Next, we had math, also known as Home Room. The students were studying about regular polygons, a subject my class had finished studying a few weeks ago. I shared some of my knowledge and fully completed a worksheet, which was not actually due the same day.

Next, we had lunch. I thought the kids were just fooling around in class for a while before I learned they were actually eating lunch. It was very early, at only 11:00 am or so. Then, we had the official lunch. I had already finished and asked Henry some questions about the schedule. Today, we were going to have history, language arts, science, and P.E. So anyway, after lunch, we went to history. I basically didn’t do anything because they were working on projects and had a quiz on a book I’d never read. Then they read a handout I didn’t have. I thought the history teacher was very funny.

In language arts, I was given the book the sixth graders were reading, Animal Farm. It was an allegory about communism. I voiced some of the opinions I had about the small amount of the book that I read. Then, the teacher read us a story about a future where everyone was equal. It was HORRIBLE! All the people with ANY skill at all were badly handicapped by the Handicapper General. At the end, because two people wouldn’t be handicapped, they were killed. Afterwards, we had a short ten-minute break.

At science, we learned about ocean ecology. We also did a project about ocean food chain in which we made a food chain with note cards. Finally, we were supposed to have P.E., but since it was raining, we just stayed inside and had a break for and hour or so. After about half of the time, we had to move from the science lab to the cafeteria because there was a meeting in the science lab. Anyway, during the P.E. time, Henry and me became good friends. At 3:40, we were dismissed. I was picked up at 4:05.

All in all, I really liked the shadow day, and since I liked it so much, Mrs. Quinn offered to let me come again. I will be going for a half day tommorow.

A New School

Next year, I’m going to a new school for 7^th grade: Merryhill school! It is a private school. My parents decided to send me to Merryhill instead of Thomas Russell Junior High, which we had planned to go to. I’m going to Merryhill to prepare for high school and also to learn more.

A few days ago, my parents told me a little bit about Merryhill. In the summer, they send some test prep books where you do a few pages a day. This is so that students don’t forget what they learned. However, since I’m going to be a new student at Merryhill, my parents are going to get a lot more test prep so that I can get up to speed with the other students. I was FURIOUS when my parents told me this! I got really angry and so did my parents. However, I realized my mistake after 1 hour. They also showed me the schedule. One thing that stood out was lunch: 10:35-11:00! Next year, they will change it to 11:00-11:30. I still think that’s early.

At the end of the day, we will learn something like Spanish or music. The day ends at 4:00 after some questions about the days work. Some time in April, I am going to shadow a Merryhill student to learn about the school. All in all, I think that even though Merryhill is a strict school, I think it will be a great learning experience to go there.