You’ve probably already read this but…

…Monday August 16th for new student Orientation; we will see the rest of you on the first day of school for all students, Tuesday August 17th.  On that day, students can check the white boards outside the cafeteria, where they will find their name and the name of their advisory teacher.  They can then proceed to their advisory classroom.  New students unfamiliar with the school layout, not to worry; there will be counsellors, administrators and teachers there to guide you to the right location…

I wonder which homeroom teacher I will get… ANXIOUS!!!!!

Nicole

I was reading a book my brother got, it’s a Cam Jansen book, and it talked about recycling. Then I remembered something: In 3rd grade, my class did this cans and bottles recycling project. It was pretty simple. All you had to do was collect bottles and cans around your neighborhood and house, and put them into a bag, and then you took them to school on Friday. When the class was reading, my 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Tyson, would choose a few people to go outside and sort through the bottles and cans, into different categories, such as glass (beer/wine bottles), plastic water bottles, and tin cans. I’m not sure, but I think each can or bottle had different prices. So we would also sort by price. The way you could tell is by the label on the can or bottle, and in America it would say something like, CA 5¢, for a bottle or something. After all the sorting, a parent from our class would take all the recycled bottles and cans, and take them to a grocery store, like Safeway or Nob Hill, or even Whole Foods. The parent would receive an amount of money, depending on how much cans and bottles were collected, and then we would use the money to buy animals for a faraway country somewhere, I forgot. But then every Monday, our teacher would tell us something like, “We raised $112! Now we can buy a goat!” Even though we didn’t even keep any of the money for ourselves, we had a fun time! Next time you’re in America, maybe you could collect some bottles and cans, and take them to a nearby supermarket, and trade them in for money…? I don’t know, but its really easy to collect cans and bottles.

Comment and tell me if your school had a cool recycling project like this! While you’re at it, do you know about the game called MASH? I do, its a really fun game for if you’re bored. If I get 5 comments I’ll post the instructions for MASH.

Have a splendid summer!

Nicole

P.S. STAY GREEN!!!

Well, like I said before, 5th graders, you are now 6th graders!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, fine, I might be exaggerating a little, we’re just like 5.5th graders. I can’t believe it, it all came so fast, it felt like I was just walking into the 5th grade corridor for the first time, and just a few hours ago, I took my last step in that same 5th grade corridor. The whole year was such a blur, it came so fast, and yet I can still remember everything… that’s the magic! Next school year we 5th graders come to SAS proudly as 6th graders. But I’m still worried…. does anyone know where to go when you get off the bus??? I know you go to the middle school place, but do you go to lik :e just a random classroom or something??? Oh well, I bet there will be a place for students to get a sheet of where and what they do. I cry for all the people that had to leave behind the pudong students here at SAS PD, and go to another school, another place, another world it seems. Oh well, I guess life isn’t always perfect…..

!!!!!!!!H.A.G.S.!!!!!!!

Well, its official, there’s only 1.5 days of school left! With kids wearing shorts and flip flops, I think it’s safe to say that summer has truly arrived in Shanghai. Several students are gonna take a plane and go back to their home country, well most, but everyone’s gonna have to do something…! I heard that lots of people are going to leave right after school, thats what I’d do… but sadly I’m only leaving in July. Here’s something I’m looking forward to – the moment we get out of school, we are officially 6th graders, or 5.5th graders, because we’re out of 5th grade. I can’t wait for summer vacation. Comment and tell me where you are going!!!???

Nicole

The four videos below are the four videos which are part of the very very short series of the ©2010 Mini Mi Inc. Inventions. Group members are Miranda, Ale, Misha, and of course me Nicole.

Misha’s Invention video, the “Pop Holder”.

Ale’s Invention video, the “E-Z PedE”.

Nicole’s Invention video, the “Station-Airy”.

Miranda’s Invention video, the “4-1 Bandana”.

Change

An anthology of poems by Nicole Tang

Sunset on a Californian Evening is a poem of my afternoons crouching on the front porch of my home in Los Altos, California. There was a period of time where I used to sit with my brother, and the neighborhood cat, Boots, and I would just sit there, do my homework while Boots would curl up in my lap. Every once in a while, my homework would be a dreary bore, so I would sit on the prickly porch mat and just stare at the colors, until it blinded me. But the way the sunset beamed its colors at me, gave inspiration.

Sunset on a Californian Evening

It was filled
with a blur of colors
each color
Striping the sky,
As if a child
had painted it.

Lonely navy blue,
at the top
of the world.

An abandoned
Dim lavender
Skidded,
Going zigzags.

The fading dazzle
of a brilliant
Golden orange,
Draped across
what was once
A stunning blue sky.

In the Park is a poem of how my Grandma used to take me to the park in my town-house compound, which was in Mountain View, when I was about 3 or 4. Every time I went there, I never stopped to rest. Whether I was struggling on the monkey bars, or creating sand castles with the water fountain water, I always treasured time in the park.

In the Park

Sand sifting through
my unwashed hands
feet aching with pain
as my feet pounced
with uncertain grace
up the spiral ladder.

Down I go,
Not down the
lonely tunnel, but
down the ivy green slide.

Down then up,
Up then down
On the sand covered
Playground stairs.

Across the rickety
Plastic bridge,
Hopping once,
Then twice
Over and over
But I’m never tired.

Before I leave
I pack my fun away,
And hope.

My Choice is a poem that shows what I feel right now that I am in Shanghai. At first, I didn’t want to leave at all, but now that I’m used to my friends, house, everything, I don’t want to leave! The thing is, when I left California, I knew that I would have the chance to see my old friends again, but when I leave Shanghai, the chances are not so likely that I will meet with my friends again. So this is what I feel like: Should I miss my friends in California, or should I forget about them and think about my friends here. I can’t decide, but since I won’t be leaving for still a while, I think I’ll just enjoy the time while it lasts.

My Choice

I hated to leave,
It felt like
A knife had been
Pierced in my back.

But now that I’m here,
My feelings are mixed up
Should I be sad and hopeless?
With no bravery,
Or forget about it,
And move on.

The Angel tells me,
To keep it all,
But the Devil says,
To ruin the memories,
And make fresh ones.

My mind is jumbled up
Like building blocks
When my brother
Knocks them down.

This is a little poem of my life and how I felt when I moved from place to place. I think the biggest moving impact on my life has to be when I moved to Shanghai. I know it will be extremely depressing when my friend, Da Eun leaves for the Puxi Campus. I hope this poem can tell you what I felt and where I’ve been moving…!

Places and Feelings

I was born in Sacramento,
By my mom and my dad,
But then I moved to Mountain View
Although I wasn’t sad.

Mountain View was very nice,
I had so many friends,
When I finished the Pre-K,
I knew I had met ends.

We moved to our Los Altos home,
My brother and I were happy!
We stayed there all the way,
Until the big news made me drowsy…

I whined and whined and never stopped,
My friends and I were tight!
If I moved I would be sad,
And things just wouldn’t be right.

Now I love it, my Shanghai home,
I want to stay forever,
But I know I’ll have to leave someday,
So I guess I’ll just be braver.

All these poems come from the heart, and every single word comes from the soul. This memoir is dedicated to Mrs. Power, who taught me that once you’re done, you’ve just begun. She also pushed my writing skills from the level of an average 4th grader with a hopeless sense of writing, at the start of the year, to a talented 5th grader with the brains to write a brilliant story. Thank you Mrs. Power for supporting me 100% of the way, even when I made mistakes, you still forgave me. Thank you.

Nicole

This is the official 100th post on my blog. Sorry that I haven’t been posting in a while… OK fine, it’s been 10 days. But its just that I’ve been caught up with Invention Convention (Which the ©2010 Mini Mi group finally finished their videos with), Memoir writing (I will try to post my Memoir up by Monday), and the Math Test that we just completed today. Anyway, in honor of my 100th post, I’m going to list 100 things that happened this week, and will happen in the next few days:

1. Finished ©2010 Mini Mi Invention Videos
2. Math tests
3. Kevin went to hospital
4. Chinese shadow puppets
5. Working on Memoirs
6. Market Day
7. Orchestra Party
8. Capture the Flag
9. The fish game
10. Last study link of the year
11. Field Day/ Summer Sizzler
12. Moving up Ceremony
13. Puberty week
14. Doctor comes in
15. Da Eun’s Birthday
16. Band/String Concert
17. Mimi came in
18. Uh oh
19. I can’t
20. Think of
21. Anything else
22. To say

Wow, this is harder than I thought. Well, I guess that didn’t work out… Oh well… Here’s some details for the last full week and a few days of school left:

May 31st – Start of Puberty Week

June 1st – First day of Summer*

June 2nd – Dr. Bristol comes in to talk about Puberty

June 4th – Field Day / Moving-Up Ceremony

June 8th – Band/Strings Concert**

June 10th – Need I say more???***

*That’s the First Day of Summer in my world, but really, the real First Day of Summer is on June 21

** Wear white top and black pants/shorts

***Really, do I need to say more? Its the Last Day of School, and its also a half day so students go home at 11:30.

This is a really cool site that gives a little bio of some kid inventors. Most of the kid inventors invented something really useful, and they are aged from 3 – 18! This proves that anyone can invent anything. Here is the link : By Kids For Kids. If you click on a picture, you can see what that kid has invented. There’s this one girl, she invented a Scripture Connector Projector. If you read, it says at the end that she starred in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

Nicole

Today was a very humid day stuffed with music everywhere. You’re probably wondering what I mean. Well, then lets recap. This morning, the band students (flutes, trumpets, clarinets) all stepped into a probably hot and stuffy bus and headed out into the rain to the SAS Puxi campus. But as you may again be wondering, where did the kids that played violins, cellos, violas, stuff like that, what were they doing? Well, this is what happened, after all I am part of the Orchestra. In the morning, we rehearsed plenty. And then at 10 AM at least 40 students from the SAS Puxi Campus filed into the auditorium. Everybody had a partner that he/she sat with. I sat with a girl named Cindy. So, again with the rehearsing. As you all probably know, Sabrina transferred to the Puxi campus, so we saw her, and I was super excited. Blah blah blah, at 2:00 came and the concert started. We played 6 songs and it was tiring. Thats the end. I’m not sure about the Band, because I heard that they went home from the puxi campus. Oh well.

SWIMMING TOMORROW AT 8.20… BRING YOUR STUFF!!!

On Ms. Yick’s blog, Ms. Yick gave her kids some homework. The homework was to think of some naturally inspired inventions. An example on her blog was velcro. Burrs gave George de Mestral the idea of velcro. Her blog has several pictures, and she’s wants to hear our thoughts on what the pictures got inspired into…:

Big leaves >> Fans

Gourds >> Trail Mix

Burrs >> Velcro

Thorny plants >> Barbed Wire

Spuce Tree >> Christmas tree

Venus flytrap >> Hair clips

Tomato Worm >> Baguette design

Milkweed >> Flower Bouquet

Lightning >> Electricity

Those are my hypothesises. Hope I got close to the real answers. For now, Bye!

Nicole