Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Fourth Grade In A Snapshot

This was an awesome year. I've got a lot of experience that I will keep for life this year. Now I know school is fun. I've had to be very responsible ever since I became an intermediate.

I joined the Student Council for the first time this year. The Student Council is a group of students that makes decisions for the students of our school. I wanted to run for the treasurer. The treasurer keeps records about how much money the school has. I wrote a 3 minute speech with the help of my parents. I was going against a lot of people. Although, I lost for the treasurer's post, I became my classroom representative. We chose the winners of the Pomeroy T-Shirt Contest, the spirit days we would have this year, and we ran the Student Store.On 6/6/08, we had our last meeting. We had a pizza party at our last meeting. It was six days before the last day of school. I also had my Student Store shift on that day. My partner, Anthony, and I made a ton of money for the store.

I joined chorus for the first time this year. Chorus is a group activity for students who are willing to sing. 12 people participated in chorus. It was managed by Mrs.Stalder and Mrs.Woo. We sung 12 songs from around the world, and three from America. The foreign songs were from Ireland, Germany, Italy, Israel, Russia, Japan, New Zealand, Kenya, South Africa, Argentina, Mexico, and Cannada. All the girls except two quit chorus, but all the boys stayed to the very end. We also had to draw posters representing each country. I, with the help of my dad, drew the Red Square of Russia and the Leaning Tower Of Pisa of Italy. We also had several lines each. We had to memorize them. Thanks to the lines I had, chorus enhanced not only my cooperative singing skills, but my public speaking skills as well. We had three performances. each time we showed the same thing. First we performed for the 4th-6th graders, then to the kindergarten-3rd graders, and finally, to the parents of the chorus members. On the day after our last performance, we had a pizza party.

We had kinder buddies in our class year round. We helped our kinder buddies with art projects. My buddie's name was Vernon. We also did special things with our buddies. In November, we watched a movie about Thanksgiving. In March, we had an Easter egg hunt with our buddies. In May, we went with our buddies to the Oakland Zoo. On the day before the last day of school, we saw our buddies' graduations. They sung a lot of songs. After recess on that day, we saw our buddies for the last time. Everyone ate popsicles and played tag.

This year, we learnt about Missions. When we were done with the Mission unit, we went to Mission San Juan Bautista. My mom was a chaperone for that fieldtrip. We explored the mission. We had questions given to us and we tried to get the answer. We went to buy ice-cream after lunch. We also went to gift shop and bought some amethyst stones. My favorite place was the church. The church had a black cat in it. I also discovered a secret passageway outside the mission, but it led nowhere. We also saw many stage coaches in the mission.

I went to the District Science Fair for my second year running this year. My science project determined which over-the-counter antacid neutralizes stomach acidity most efficiently. I tested 4 antacids. I also took pictures and wrote a log about my project. It was also my sister's first time in the District Science fair. I did many experiments for three months. First I found some very acidic foods. Then we found 4 bases, or antacids. Then we measured how much the pH was. pH is how much hydrogen ion concentration is in a solution. Anything under 7.0 is an acid. Anything over 7.0 is a base. 7.0 is neutral. Water has a neutral pH of 7.0. I also learnt many formulas. My mom helped me do my experiments.

One of my greatest achievements this year is being the top reader in the school (1-6th grade). At the end of the year, I had more than 678 Reading Counts points. The people who got closest to my amount of points had 600 points. Last year, I wanted to get 500 points. I had the most points in all the primaries. I stopped at 510 points. I could have made 600. This year, I wanted to get 600. When I got to 600 points, unlike last year, I still had a lot of time until the end of the school year. So I decided to get 700 points. I was almost there on the day of the last Reading Counts assembly, but after that assembly, there was no more Reading Counts for the rest of the year.

I got many academic awards in fourth grade. I had to work hard to get them. I got academic awards for science, the Science Fair, Social Studies, Math, and reading, but I didn't get the fine arts award & the physical education award. The reading award also had a key chain and Borders (book store) gift card with it. The rest of the awards came with coupons for restaurants. At the end of the year, I got 11 academics awards. I even got a special gift from my teacher for being top reader. And finally, I got my report card. I got a O (Outstanding) in everything except art. I still got an S in art, which is good. And my most important award is my ticket award. I got the most tickets in the class. My teacher gave me 2 free AMC tickets for any movie more than 2 weeks old. It doesn't even have a money boundary.I also got responsibility, caring, and sharing awards. In fact, I got 2 responsibility awards. I also got the O.D.S award (Order of Distiguished Service award).



I worked with Mrs Downey, Mrs.Stalder, Mrs.Woo, Mrs.Patner, Mrs.Anand, Mrs. Rasmussen, Mrs. Melinda Manalo, and Mrs.Brown this year. I did chorus with Mrs.Stalder and Mrs. Woo. I did O.D.S. for Mrs.Patner and also did Student Council with her. Mrs. Anand was my science teacher. Mrs. Melinda Manalo was my physical education coach. Mrs. Rasmussen was my buddie's teacher. I did O.D.S. for Mrs. Brown. Ms.Downey was my class teacher and I also did some O.D.S. for her. Mrs.downey taught me a lot of things. She is also my favorite teacher. She was also our temporary physical education coach. She also helped me make new friends. My good friends this year were Stephen, Tiffany, Rachel, Nicola, Vishal, Andre, Aniruth, Anthony, Christopher, Hannah, Miguel & many others too.

I started to play the mridanga, which is an Indian musical instrument, this year. I started learning in October. I'm getting better now. I'm learning from the famous mridanga player Sriram Bramhanandam. I'm now learning things to play for a rythym called Adi Tala. On the last day of school, I played in front of my class. I've been learning how to play the mridanga for almost a year.

I also started to play soccer this year. I'm not the best player on my team. My teams name was the Demons. We were all under 10. We lost lots of games, but we won a few. We still won our last game. But since we didn't beat the lions, the opposing team in our most important game, we didn't go to the finals. I got the most improved offensive player title.

I passed the gold level at Happy Fish Swim School and I'm going to be on a swim team through the summer.

I also learnt how to play tennis this year. I'm slightly better at tennis than soccer. I can keep balls in play and I'm pretty good at Running Doubles. My favorite things are Getto Tennis, Around The World, King Of The Court, and Running Doubles. I really like doing drills as well.

On the whole, this was a very eventful year & I miss school. I hope fifth grade will be as good. I'm looking forward for a terrific summer.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Reading Counts

A while ago, I got 600 Reading Counts points. Reading Counts is a program for everyone at our school. For every 25 points, we get an award. My previous record was 510 points. 600 points was my goal. I read all the Harry Potter books, all the A Series Of Unfortunate Events, Leon And The Spitting Image, Henry And Fudge, Island Of The Blue Dolphins, Indian And The Cupboard, Return Of The Indian, Mystery Of The Indian, Zia, all the Guardians Of Ga’Hoole books, and The Misadventures Of Maude March. Now I am reading By The Great Horned Spoon, Charlottes Web, Sea Of Trolls, and Mystery Of The Cupboard.

Now I have 664 Reading Counts points. My new goal is 700 points. I learnt a lot from these books.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

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.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

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.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

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)

Sunday, March 23, 2008

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.