September 28

San Diego Life

Marriothotel.jpg

“Marriothotel”. Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.

I love living in San Diego if you’ve never been here then when you have a chance enjoy it as much as you can. San Diego is very hot and sunny, it barely ever rains. But that’s the problem we are in a drought.

We’re very close to the ocean, and as I said it’s sunny. So going to the beach and going in the ocean is really fun! We have a lot of canyons. So I like to ride my bike in the canyon with my dad.

San Diego has a lot of places to go if you want to swim. San Diego is a main tourist attraction. in summer we have a lot of people because summer is the nicest and hottest season. We have a lot of people living in San Diego there is 1.338 million people that live in San Diego.

I love San Diego and I feel lucky that I get to live in San Diego.

September 28

My avatar

My avatarThis is my avatar I will explain how my avatar looks like me. First, the hair my hair is blond like my avatar’s hair. Now to my eyes like my avatars my eyes are green. This nose is the most realistic nose I found so I liked. You could say it looks like my nose but to me I just like it. Now my mouth I know its kind of a normal mouth but it looks like me. Now that was my head now to my body.

First the shirt so I have shirts that look like this one but, I normally wear unusual shirts but they didn’t have any unusual shirts so I picked this one. Now to the dog I’m holding I have two dogs neither of them really look like this one but, one has partly brown on it. I also have I think 8 more pets but I really can’t remember all their names… anyway back to my avatar. Now to my legs and feet.

My legs and feet lets start with legs now I like always wear long pants usually never shorts really. Now my legs are not the same story about my shirts because I usually wear black long pants like my avatar. I STRONGLY dislike shorts. Now to my shoes my Avatar’s shoes are green my shoes now are rainbow but my old shoes are green plus the website doesn’t have rainbow shoes. My favorite color is green too :-). That’s me and my avatar and how we are alike.

September 28

How To Take Care of A Cat

Hi my name is Imogen and this year in April I got a cat. He is a boy and he is half Siamese and half Burmese and he is black. Looking after a cat is a LOT of work. This is what you have to do to take care of a cat.

1. Feed the cat two times a day. (Does one of those times have to be at 6:00in the morning?)

2. Clean the litter (five times a day (how much does this cat poop!))

Beware of the tail. If your cats tail is swishing wildly, that means it wants to scratch you in the face. If the tail is swishing and the eyes are big that means it wants to bite your arm off or tear out your hair.

Beware of the SCRATCHY tongue! In the mornings you will get a licky delight – but remember – the scratchy tongue has been in places you do not want to share with your cat. EEEEUUUWWW.

After all that work, your cat is a cute and snuggly thing. Most of the time.

Sasha on the stairs

SASHA – The cute monster!

September 28

Dalia’s Avatar

Here is my avatar. First, I went to http://avatarmaker.abi-station.com/index_en.shtml and I made my avatar. I made it have dark brown hair like me and dark brown eyes also like me. I play guitar so I made my avatar hold a guitar. I wear glasses that look like the ones my avatar is wearing. I couldn’t really find clothes that look like mine so I chose the best ones I could find. I don’t wear pigtails that often but I used to so I picked those plus it was the only hair style that looked like my hair.

Here it is, my avatar.

And, here’s what my avatar looks like. What avatar site do you recommend?

September 26

Sophie’s Avatar

My aVATAR

Here is the avatar I designed to look kind of like me.

Hello, my name is Sophie and I am going to tell you how I made my avatar.

First I went to the website http://doppelme.com/  and chose my skin color . Next I chose my face to be a nice smile. Then I chose my eyes to be a brownish color and chose my eyes to be the shape they are. Next, I chose my hair to to be brown and be parted down the middle because that was the closest I could get to my real hair. Then I chose my clothing and shoe color. And there you go that’s how I made my avatar and how you can make yours too.

Have fun creating your avatar!!!!

 

 

September 11

Booktalks

Every month you will present a booktalk to our class. You may also record your booktalk and either post it as a podcast or video on SchoolTube. But what is a booktalk? Check out this video on SchoolTube.

 

September 10

Be a perfect person…or not

perfectWe just read Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days. In this story a boy named Milo accidentely finds a book in the libary…actually it falls off of a shelf and hits him on the head. The book says that it can teach him how to be “perfect” in exactly three days. Milo really wants to be perfect and since it’s really thin, he reads it! In three short days, Milo does some pretty strange things like wearing a stalk of broccoli on a string around his neck on his quest to be perfect.

At the end of the story he begins to wonder if perfection is all it cracked up to be. Dr. Silverfish even says, “Perfect is boring!” How has Milo’s feelings about perfection changed? How have your feelings about being perfect changed? 

August 31

Boring is easy, so be awesome!

“You were made to be awesome!” according to the one and only Kid President. We all need a little encouragement every now and then since it’s not easy being awesome all the time. And, don’t forget you need to have hopes and dreams to reach for.
It’s the start of a new school year and the perfect time for a peptalk from Kid President. Check out his video. Which road are you on? What are your hopes and dreams for this school year? Who encourages you? What will you create to make the world awesome? Let us know.

 

July 10

Longer Lunch and Recess

• • • Happy • • •
Photo Credit: David Robert Bliwas via Compfight

If you are a kid, you will probably think how come there is not enough recess or lunch? If you read this you can see why kids need time to do what they have to do.  These are what kids like which helps them stay fit and healthy.  Here are the reasons why.

If there is not enough recess kids can’t play and have fun. Longer recess will keep you in shape and healthy.  Not only does it let kids have a good time but kids will stay healthy and fit.  It’s good exercise for us kids, and helps us focus in class.

If there is longer lunch time there is more time to talk to our friends and gain friendships. If there is more time to talk to our friends during lunch, we won’t feel the urge to talk in class. If we don’t have a long lunch, we will not be able to visit our friends from other classes.

Longer lunch gives kids more time to eat. Kids need more time to eat so they do not end up throwing their food in the trash. The older kids sometimes will skip lunch because we are playing, a longer lunch would give us enough time to play, and enough time to eat.

In conclusion, if Curie staff will allow us to play and enjoy a longer lunch, kids will become much healthier. If this happens kids at Curie Elementary will be much happier.

June 10

Bats

In a Time For Kids article called Bats Beware we’ve learned that bats carry a disease called white nose syndrome (WNS). In the article we learned the disease spreads from the nose to the ears to the wing’s also it makes the bat’s dehydrated which means they can’t fly and if they can’t fly they can’t get water or fly so they will die. If this continues the bat’s might go extinct that will not be good. The bat’s have some very good qualities like they eat rodents that eat farm crops which saves farmers money than having to buy more. The disease is only in like half of the united states and a little bit in canada.

File:Square-townsend-fledermaus.jpg

This is a bat that does not have WNS  (white nose syndrome) as you can see the bat’s nose wing’s or ears are not white so you can see they do not have white nose syndrome also it is flying with WNS they can’t fly.

By Velho at en.wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/), GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

June 10

Cricket In Times Square

We think that the book The Cricket in Time Square was an okay book we would give the book 2 stars out of 5 stars. In our personal experience it was confusing it had too many topics but at the it came together at the end of the book.Our favorite character is Harry the Cat because he is he gives you his opinion and then that’s you decide what’s best, like in one scene when Chester didn’t want to be famous anymore Harry said he should do what he pleases. We liked where the setting was in NYC because it reminded us of when we went to NYC. Our favorite part of the book is when Mario found Chester in the subway station because when Mario found Chester he thought it could be his pet and best friend because he had nothing but his parents to love, and that touched our heart. We liked the concept and part of the book but at the at the same time we didn’t like the book

illustrationforkids.blogspot.com

credit for picture above

April 24

The Mission Era, Three Perspectives

Did you know California was once a Spanish colony? It was known then as Alta California. The coastline was dotted with 21 missions, all about a day’s walk from each other. The Spanish built these missions to secure their land claim. Local natives were rounded up and forced to live on the mission where the missionaries tried to convert them to Christianity and make them into good Spanish subjects.

Check out Ryan and Carter’s GoAnimate. In this animation you’ll see three different points of view on this period of history–a native Indian, a Spanish missionary, and a Spanish soldier.

 

April 24

Claramae

 

Claramae.jpgDear Future Owner,

Yo. My name is Claramae. I am 4 years old, am a Labrador, have dark fur, and I’ve been here trapped in this stupid kennel for 3 years! I want to go outside! Sorry just had to let that out. I am a female. A few things I love to do is go to the park and play with my peeps (aka my other dogs). If you haven’t noticed I am very energetic. I am a big barker and I am very sweet. But if you don’t adopt me there will be some problems.

 Here are some cool things about me…and yes there is a lot but here are just a couple. First of all I am very smart, like totally why wouldn’t I be. I can chase my tail, of course. and here is the amazing part. I can sit , shake, roll over, speak, and catch the treat. I know I am awesome you don’t have to tell me. Did I mention I am really smart?

I would love to have a family that has a ton of attention, on me. Because I am very energetic and I need to play,. I need to have a family with a ton of kids to play with, and a messy family so I can eat their food off the ground.  I also l-o-v-e love to snuggle. If you could find a family just like that for me, that would be great.

Please get me out of this kennel! They don’t have my food. I mean I am on a diet here. Da! So please adopt me. I mean who could say no to this face?

Obviously Your Future dog,

Claramae

P.S. I am really adorable so adopt me, right now. Get in the car and hit the pedal.

March 28

What is empathy?

Today our school counselor came to visit and we talked about a very important topic–empathy. What is empathy? And how do we show empathy towards others. We role played how people can show empathy towards others especially when we don’t have anything in common or we are not friends. Afterwards, we shared our thoughts on a Padlet wall. How do you show empathy towards others?

 

Created with Padlet
March 21

It’s a small, small world

 It really is a small, small world here at Curie Elementary. Many people call America the “great melting pot” and that’s because our country is like a great big pot filled with people from many different countries. Our school is no different. We have people from all over the world…Russia, Mexico, Korea, Japan, Israel, Germany, Philippines, Italy, China, England, Ireland, Brazil, Canada, Netherlands, and the list goes on and on. America was built by immigrants or people that moved here from other countries to start a new life. The only real natives to America are the American Indians who were living here for thousands of years. Other than that, everyone came from somewhere else at some point in their heritage.

Today we celebrated our multicultural community at our annual Multicultural Fair. Every year parents volunteer and create booths for many different countries. We rotate through the booths and learn about them. We eat food, look at artifacts, hear music, learn to write our names in different languages, and much  more. It’s a lot of fun! Here’s a little information about some of the countries we are from and/or visited today at our fair.

Israel is a small country with BIG history! It goes as far as ancient Rome and even farther. Israel has a special language called hebrew. The foods are different. For example,  instead of cutting salad ingredients in big chunks they cut them into tiny bits. Israelis also eat humus balls called falafel and lots of other foods! In Jerusalem there is the wailing wall. The wailing wall was once a temple but it got destroyed and now there is only one piece of the temple left standing, and that’s the wailing wall.

Brazil is a beautiful place. Even though we haven’t been to Brazil we just know it is a really cool place just by learning about it in 1 or 2 minutes at the fair.  Brazil has lots of beautiful beaches and lots of cool cities. The movie Rio takes place in Brazil. Rio is actually a real place or area in Brazil it is one of the beaches in Brazil. The country itself is one of the largest countries in South America. Brazil has lots of animals in Brazil’s forests like snakes, makas, monkeys, and lots of other animals and insects. Brazil is most known for its art. One of the pieces is a painting of one of the beaches in Brazil. In Brazil there is a statue called Christ the Redeemer and it is a statue that represents Christianity and if you stand next to it you have a awesome view of Brazil…and it feels like you are on top of the world. The climate change here has a very small effect on Brazil. Brazil is a wonderful place and maybe one day you should go there too.

Italy is famous for pizza, pasta, and cars. Italians make the lamborghini and they are really good at making pizza. A long time ago they had a Colosseum where gladiators fought to the death for the Emperor for his entertainment. The gladiators  fought lions and one on one fights with other men while lions ran around them.The Leaning Tower Of Pisa is also in Italy–it’s height of the  is 55.86 metres (183.27 feet) and it’s famous because it leans.

Myanmar is a beautiful country in Asia and is very nice. It was once called Burma. Myanmar people each some things that might seem unusual to you–they eat bugs you might think that is gross but once you taste it you will get used to it. Today at our fair some men were playing traditional music. There was a pattala (or xylophone) which was made from wood. It sounded very different but beautiful.

Mexico is a beautiful country too. One place that is called Acapulco is very beautiful tourist destination. Mexico has some delicious foods like, tortilla chips, churros, tacos, quesadillas, and many more yummy foods. We ate bunuelos which are tortillas dipped in cinnamon and sugar. They were very tasty.

Russia is the world’s largest country, covering 1/7 of the world. It has the Ural Mountains that start in the north, running to the south. Its capital, Moscow, has a population of 11,000,000,000! We saw nesting dolls at the fair. These are a famous type of Russian folk art.

On top of that, it started out as a trading post in the 1300s. Lake Baikal in Siberia is the deepest freshwater lake and contains 20% of the world’s freshwater supply. Russia is very rich in natural resources like timber, oil, and natural gas. Over 1,800 bears live in the wilds of Kamchatka alone! Now imagine tigers and leopards. The Amur leopard (Russia’s wild leopard) They are listed as critically endangered. They are not local to Russia and were brought over from East Asia and the Korean Peninsula.

England is a very fascinating place. It is a small island in Europe. It is home of Queen Elizabeth II. They love to eat fish and chips in England. London is the capital city and it has an ancient history that dates back to William the Conqueror in 1066! The Union Jack is the flag of Britain. It’s actually a combination of flags from Ireland, England, and Scotland.

Finally, Germany. Did you know they invented gummy bears and pretzels. Germans love soccer and beer! It’s a very small country in Europe. There is no speed limit on special freeways called the autobahn. Can you believe that? It must be very dangerous to drive there.

America really is a small, small world with its mix of many cultures. We like it and think it makes our country unique and interesting. What is your cultural background? Is your country a melting pot too?

March 9

Why I deserve a dog

Coleguilla - Little fella

There are three reasons why I should have a dog. One is that I am a responsible kid. Two is that I get lonely. Three, I love dogs!

I’m very responsible. My parents say that having a dog is not that easy. I think they are wrong. I know how to take care of them. I took care of my next door neighbors’ two pugs when they were away from vacations for 11 days. I even got 55 dollars after I took care of them. I can put five dollars in the bank. The rest of the money I can buy candy and Lego toys.

I first had to walk them two times a day. I made sure I put a plastic bag in my pocket so that when they pooped I would pick them up with the plastic bag. I don’t like it when other dogs poop on our yard and the dog owner doesn’t pick it up. It is gross to look at it. I stepped on poop one time. My shoes were stinky and I had to spray water under my shoes to clean them. I know that I am supposed to clean up after them because if I don’t those poop will go down the storm drain and it might poison or kill the fish and animals in the ocean. My mom said that bad bacteria are found in the poop and if it gets into your food and your drinking water it will give you stomach pain.

I also played with the dogs inside our neighbor’s house before and after I walked them. That was fun and exciting. I had to walk them every day because the dog owner said that it’s important that they get their exercise ever day so they don’t become lump balls.

I also had to feed them dog food and give them water in their bowl every day. The pugs, Harvey and Tyrone, are always fighting when there is not enough food for both of them. I proved my mom wrong. I lasted the whole 11 days without getting bored. I did not give up my dog sitting responsibility. I did not disappoint my neighbor.

I want to have a dog because I get bored easily at home. Sometimes my dad would play basketball hoops with me but that is not enough. Sometimes my mom would play Pictionary board game with me but that is not enough for me either. Sometimes I would go bike riding with Ben, my best buddy in my neighborhood, but he has to go home for dinner and I would not see him for another week. Ben said he has a lot of homework to do. My sports and other activities are sometimes not enough to keep me busy.

I love dogs! Each time a see a dog walking down the sidewalk I would ask its owner if I could pet it. They usually say yes. I would scratch its head and its belly. Dogs love being scratched on their belly. I must have petted a million dogs since I was a toddler. I think I am a dog magnet. Some owners don’t want me to pet their dogs because they say that their dogs bite. I have never been bitten by dogs. They are all nice to me.

My parents are still not convinced that I can take care of my own dog. I want a dog very badly. I am so sad when I get home without a dog to play with. Most of the kids in our neighborhood has a dog. Why can’t I? It’s not fair. Not. Not. Not. Maybe Santa will surprise me and give me a dog for my Christmas present. Every night I dream to have my own dog to play with everyday. My mom thinks if I have to take care of my own dog every day for a hundred days I would get tired of taking care of it. She also thinks I’ll be too busy doing my homework, playing sports, and other activities. I think she is wrong, wrong, wrong! I think I would watch less T.V. and play more with my dog if I have one.

I deserve having a dog because I am very responsible, get lonely, and the dogs loves me and I love them. Someday I’ll have a real dog. But for now I only have stuffed dog animals. They are as cuddly and warm as the real one. The nice thing about stuff animals is that I don’t have to pick up their poop. I just have to pick them up off the floor when I am done playing with them. That would make my mom happy!

Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Paco CT via Compfight

March 9

Help the environment–plant your own garden

Claremont Farmers' Market - November 2006Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Michael Porter via Compfight

You should plant your own garden so you can help the environment. Growing your own fruits and vegetables help our bodies be healthy as well as reduce air, soil, and water pollution.

First of all eating organic fruits and vegetables is good for our bodies. It is full of nutrients and is not contaminated with poison and chemicals. It tastes fresh and good, too!

Second, the left over fruits and vegetables can be recycled to become compost. The compost is used as a fertilizer to grow more fruits and vegetables. This helps reduce soil and water pollution by not using bad chemicals.

Third, the air can be cleaner because fruits and vegetables gives us fresh oxygen to breathe. You also don’t have to use gas to drive to the grocery store since you have you have your own garden.

Having your own garden can give us a cleaner world to live in. It gives us food to eat, recycle to use as fertilizer, and reduce pollution. So, get off your couch, and start planting your garden today!

 

March 9

Reuse, reduce, recycle!

Recycle Logo From Recycling Bin
Photo Credit: chrissatchwell via Compfight

Do not throw away your recyclables! When you do you are filling a landfill. When you throw your recyclables in the trash they go to a landfill, and when landfills are filled they find a new place to make one. There are many landfills in california that have lots of recyclables. Landfills are made by digging a big hole then putting a layer of trash then dirt then a layer of trash than dirt. When it is all filled up they find a new place. But it takes a while to fill up because trash can turn into dirt but recyclables cannot.

Recycling is easy and you can do it in many ways! I know about recycling because my family recycling. We have 4 recycling bins in my backyard one for tin cans, one for big pieces of cardboard , another for boxes, and one for plastic recyclables. Can be a habet? Yes! Every day you probably have or use at least one plastic thing , and if you find a recycling can instead of a trash can you are making a difference. If you buy reusable cups instead of paper cups you are saving money because reusable cups you only have to buy them once. But if you by paper cups you have to keep buying them.

In the future reasons when you buy a bottle of soda the bottle itself is 5 cents and when you turn it in it is only worth 2 cents so if you buy a reusable cups you would not have to pay the extra 5 cents.When you turn in your recyclables you can get money for them.

ere will be smaller and less landfills in the world if people recycle. People should recycle because it is so easy and you can save money and best of all it is good for the world! Now think about all the ways to recycle … now don’t you want to recycle?h