WE'RE BAAAACK!!!
BY Varivashya Poladi, Grace Yang & Kelly Chen
We’re back, and we’re as smart and talented as we can be! Can you believe it’s a new year already? 2014 rocks!
Do you want to get hold of some of the gifted work we do? Well, I guess we could let you in some of the stuff…
Some adults have a hard time handling all the numbers in their lives. Bills, bank accounts, money, and checks! They have difficulties handling their jobs, lifestyle, and home. Well, we are not going to let that happen to us! We already are learning to grip all these numbers in our head, and we are holding our own checkbooks for all our expenses. Well, we are handing out our own business checks. We are all pretending to be the big managers of our own huge company. Just like HBC, HBO, CSC, Staples are successful corporations, we created our own company where it’s Payday! The employees are waiting for their checks. So we have to add up the amount of hours they work each week and calculate how much gross pay they each get and the deductions for health insurance, social security, retirement pay, and much more. We get and give; it’s a routine in life! Don’t complain; “TOO MANY NUMBERS!”
Welcome to the world of authors! Wait, not only welcome, come in and meet some of the great authors in life! All you have to do is pick up a guest pass at P.S. 165Q's main door and enter the room of 5-301! It's been 5 months of school now, and you wouldn't, you couldn't, think that we didn't publish any masterpieces, could you? To make sure that doesn't happen, we already produced over 200 great pieces of work! Each and every one of us published a memoir, telling about an important event in your life that twisted your life around a bit, and we published poems about life. We are a work of ingenious students, led by the fantastic, unforgettable teacher Mrs. Felice Clyne Davis!
"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers." said Charles William Eliot. All of 5-301 agrees! We are learning about how some characters make ethical and smart decisions and some don’t. We are evaluating the actions that a character makes in a book and why they made it. We evaluate if the character thinks an action is effective or not. We are following Kohlberg’s model to literature and know what the character is doing. This is how we get to understand our characters better and put ourselves in their shoes.
Have you ever been at Broadway? It rocks, trust me! As a class, 5-301 went to see the Broadway show called Matilda. Matilda’s a genius, but a genius with a hard and tough life with her family. We saw the entire show and had fun, but that meant a new rocking assignment! We have to create our own playbills for the show Matilda. We have to summarize the plot and overall, see in depth into the character, although it’s only a show, not a book!
Did you know, aside from these school subjects, our class learns about issues going throughout the world? We learn and try to make a difference. For starters, we are involved with an educational program called roots and shoots, and it helps people learn about the problems in our world. They are trying to make a difference and if anything is going on that is going to bring a change in the communities, we want to help, so we are soon going to be interviewing a representative from the roots and shoots program, and we expect a lot of new information! The environment and animals are dying out, and besides us, who else is in the world that would destroy the habitats? So, we are the ones doing it. It might not seem like a lot, but littering, polluting even for a second, or even accidentally throw a plastic water bottle in the trash can instead of the recycling bin, some of our world disappears.
And we shouldn’t be using plastic water bottles. Some people think that bottles water is healthier and better than filtered tap water, but no, it isn’t! And guess what? Only 1 out of every 6 plastic water bottles makes it into the recycling bin! That’s just plain bad!
And, you're missing out on the most interesting thing. Do you want to know? I bet you do! Mrs. Clyne Davis and some of our classmates own a bunch of cats! And oh my gosh they are cute! Mrs. Clyne owns a bunch of cats--a couple are from the animal shelter. She helps a lot, and I mean a lot, with rescue groups and cats. On Saturdays, she is very busy running around with the cats! We can’t just leave Jennifer around, she also owns 3 cats. They are amazing. Sometimes, as a class, we wonder what it is to be a cat or an owner of a cat. Some of the cats had kittens! It is as if our room was dedicated to cats!
We can’t forget that other people also own a variety of pets. Some of our classmates such as Anson Ko and Rishi Shah have and had pets such as dogs and turtles. You just have to see them when they are swimming around! They even made graves for the poor turtles in their backyard! It’s a sad story.
The fun is not over yet! We’ve gone through history, math, writing, reading, and we’ve even talked about our adorable little pets, that we cherish. We have many things to cherish, like our pets, but what about the environment, or what about animals. Many animals may go extinct because, of habitats destruction. What can we do to prevent this from happening? Well, this is where Mrs. Clyne our extraordinary teacher comes into handy. Mrs. Clyne has been helping animals by, rescuing them from getting killed. Now don’t you think she is called a hero, or what? Mrs. Clyne wants us to contribute to these exciting activities that can help save these fascinating animals that we learn in class. Now that is what we call more than marvelous! We also help homeless people, by getting involved in a food drive, and what’s even better our teacher wants to set up a toy drive!
This class, named 5-301, is all on fire, so come on join us, to see what we remarkable, gifted fifth graders are doing in this class!
ALOHA AND SIZZLING SUMMER SALUTATIONS!
Isn't summer a magical time of year? You can just kick back and move at your own pace. Hope you are all enjoying yourselves. Have you read any good books lately? Have you gone on any interesting trips or vacations? I recently spent about ten days in the land of paradise: Hawaii. It is absolutely beautiful--sandy beaches, blue * clean ocean water, tropical breezes (to accompany the sun) and lots of delicious food including a wonderful assortment of fresh fish and lots of goodies made out of coconut. My favorite treat was coconut pancakes for breakfast doused with coconut syrup! Yummy! The people have lots of "aloha" spirit which means they are very warm and welcoming. We have several friends and family members who live in Hawaii.
We got to visit the volcano on the Big Island when it was erupting and one evening there was also a full moon. That was quite a sight! We camped at the Volcano Park (in cabins with real beds--I'm not that adventurous to "rough it" in a tent!)
In addition, I do a lot of volunteer work for an animal rescue group which is very rewarding. I was able to help out even more during the summer months since I had some time off from school. I am very excited that we will be going to Broadway in December to see "Matilda." Payment will be due soon after we return to school. (Don't worry, details will follow!) We will also be a "class of the week" in Newsday's Kidsday. You will all be "real-life" reporters. It's a very exciting opportunity. More on that later, too. We will also be involved in humane education which not only instills the desire and capacity to live with compassion, integrity, and wisdom, but also provides the knowledge and tools to put our values into action in meaningful, far-reaching ways. Here's a bit more info:
Humane education enables us to find solutions that work for all by approaching human rights, environmental preservation, and animal protection as interconnected and integral dimensions of a healthy, just society.
Humane education includes 4 elements:
We got to visit the volcano on the Big Island when it was erupting and one evening there was also a full moon. That was quite a sight! We camped at the Volcano Park (in cabins with real beds--I'm not that adventurous to "rough it" in a tent!)
In addition, I do a lot of volunteer work for an animal rescue group which is very rewarding. I was able to help out even more during the summer months since I had some time off from school. I am very excited that we will be going to Broadway in December to see "Matilda." Payment will be due soon after we return to school. (Don't worry, details will follow!) We will also be a "class of the week" in Newsday's Kidsday. You will all be "real-life" reporters. It's a very exciting opportunity. More on that later, too. We will also be involved in humane education which not only instills the desire and capacity to live with compassion, integrity, and wisdom, but also provides the knowledge and tools to put our values into action in meaningful, far-reaching ways. Here's a bit more info:
Humane education enables us to find solutions that work for all by approaching human rights, environmental preservation, and animal protection as interconnected and integral dimensions of a healthy, just society.
Humane education includes 4 elements:
- Providing accurate information (so we have the knowledge to face challenges);
- Fostering the 3C's: curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking (so we have the tools to meet challenges);
- Instilling the 3R's: reverence, respect, and responsibility (so we have the motivation to confront challenges);
- Offering positive choices and tools for problem solving (so we will be able to solve challenges). In other words, we will work on becoming "solutionaries" and critical problem solvers.
