Mother's Day Surprise

On Mother's Day, Sarah, Hannah, Michael, and I woke up at five in the morning.  We had to get ready for our big surprise. We were putting on a play with live music and actors.  After hours of coloring and designing the scenery, it was time to make costumes.  The play was about dolphins rescuing two children who fall into the ocean.  Sarah and I made tails and dolphin fins for the two dolphins, Hannah and Michael to wear.  After working for about an hour, everything and everyone was ready.

Below is the Program for our show which we printed out for our parents. 
 

Thunder and Lightning

Performed by: Miriam, Sarah, Michael, and Hannah

Written and Narrated by: Miriam

Piano written and played by: Sarah

Acted and performed by: Hannah and Michael

Scenery designed by: Miriam and Sarah

A Little Bit About the Play

After thinking about what to give to our mother for Mother’s Day, Miriam and Sarah decided to combine everyone’s talents into one big performance.  As I was writing the skit, I kept wondering what is wonderful animal that saves people and is sweet and friendly.  I found that out after our trip to Sea World and that was where our lovable dolphins Hannah and Michael came from.  After preparing for a little bit over a month, everything was set except practicing the skit together.  We never were able to find the time until the last minute.  Everyone was extremely hectic, but with teamwork we had one amazing performance.

We hope you enjoyed it!

 Here is the story in case it was hard to hear on the video:

On a tired and old fishing boat, two children named Hannah and Michael went on a fishing trip with their father.  Their poor mother had died 2 years ago and this has been the first time they were going to have fun with their father in a long time.  As they took off from shore, the clouds were coming in and it looked as if there was going to be a gigantic thunderstorm, but it was too late.  The boat had already taken off.  But these children weren’t going to let anything ruin their day.  Their father was lazily rowing the boat and not paying very much attention to the Hannah and Michael.   Then he took a long drink of his beer and started to get really drowsy. 

But by that time thunder and lightning began to crack, and the boat began to rock until the children were scared to death and didn’t know what to do.  They called to their father, but he was too drunk to here.  He was now leading them into a whirl pool.  The boat began to turn and the children starting screaming, but there was nothing they could do.  Then, there was a heavy lurch and the boat toppled over sending the children over boat.  They started yelling, but nobody heard.  Their cries were useless and even swimming to shore wasn’t going to work in the force of the water.  The foam started surrounding the two helpless children until they almost suffocated.  They got tired of swimming and their arms hurt and they felt as if they were going to have to give up and let the hungry ocean eat them alive.  They were saying there last good-byes to each other knowing they weren’t going to be seen from the light house. 

Waves knocked Hannah and Michael over and over and when they were so tired of yelling and had a hoarse throat, were too tired to swim any longer, and were too cold to move, they let the hungry ocean eat them whole.  But as soon as they gave up hope, dolphins splashed beside them.  They waved their flippers in there directions, signaling them to come and gave them a friendly noise that told them it was okay to get on. 

Hannah and Michael grabbed the dolphin’s fins as the dolphins took them to safety.  They jumped over waves and dove under water and took them so close that they now could see the shoreline.  Where the sand met the water, there was a crowd of search and rescue crews standing with the children’s beloved Aunt Elana and Uncle Lloyd. 

As soon as the dolphins couldn’t swim any closer to shore, they knocked there riders of board, and let Hannah and Michael swim to shore.  The brave and shivering brother and sister, walked hand in hand to their Aunt and Uncle who told them they would now live with them.  The dolphins made their last flip in the water and swam away.  Hannah and Michael never saw those brave dolphins, but the tale has been passed down through many generations.

Happy Mother's Day!

 
What did you do for your mother?

Friends Forever

Custom Glitter Text

Elite and I

Happy Birthday!  One of my very good friend from Israel has just turned 12 years old.  We have been friends ever since my mom and her mom met at the park playground when I was still very little.  Ever since then, our parents and us kids have been close friends even though we now live far apart. Her family moved to Israel 3 years ago and recently came back for a visit for a few weeks. Once they moved to Israel, we have been communicating by email, Skype, and telephone. While they were here, we all went  together on vacation to Palm Springs.  While in Palm Springs, we hiked, swam and caught up on each other's lives. 

Elite is the oldest girl of three.  She has 2 younger sisters, Yasmine, who is 9 and Ileana who is 5.  Elite was born in Israel, but her sisters were born in the US.  They returned to Israel when Hannah, Michael, and Ileana were still small so the younger kids didn't remember each other. However, they quickly became reacquainted.  Right before their departure back to Israel, Elite gave me half of a friendship necklace heart.  We agreed to wear it all the time.  We had a fantastic time together, and I wish it didn't have to end.  I hope to see them again very soon!

All of us resting after a hike in Idyllwild

Playing Pick up Sticks

Elite

In downtown Palm Springs

Behind a tall rock

Hannah and Ileana at Joshua Tree

Outdoor Education Trip

We just stepped outside of our bunk and boy was it cold!

My counselor Elle and I

Last week, I went to a sleep away camp with all of the fifth grade classes.  The camp was called Outdoor Ed, and we were able to learn about many different plants and animals.  The camp was part of the Santa Monica Mountain Range in Southern California.  During the five day trip, we saw many animals such as mule-deer, red tailed hawks, gopher snakes, cooper hawks, and many ground squirrels.  We were divided into different trail groups, and we had a naturalist names Lisa that explained to us about the plants and animals that we spotted.  We also had a counselor named Elle who was a senior in high school. Elle cared for us so much and even decorated my bunk room on my birthday. On the first day of the week, I dressed in shorts and a t-shirt with no sweater.  I literally froze that day because as soon as the wind picked up, the air temperature dropped.  I learned my lesson to always dress in layers! 

Resting at a creek after a long hike

One of my favorite days of the week was Tuesday when we did an all day, 7 hour hike.  We were the only group that saw a family of mule-deer. We also saw some gees and a beautiful landscape.   While on the hike, we crosses a creek with fish swimming in the water.  I missed a step on one of the rocks in the creek and fell right in.  I had to suffer the rest of the hike in cold wet socks and shoes.  Although, that was a pretty bad misfortune, I still had a good time.  At the end, we went to a rock pool to journal about the day.  Walking back, everyone was pretty tired, and we sang some songs to make the time pass by   It was a tiring but beautiful day. 

Mule deer

Building a shelter. I am glad it didn't rain!

We also had a Chumash lesson where we made necklaces out of abalone shells, tried to make fire, saw different animal furs, and saw a live gopher snake.  I was very surprised about how hard it is to start a fire by spinning the stick. We all tried and tried as a group, but we only got a little bit of smoke.  We saw animal furs from coyote, skunk, rabbit and dear. All of these animals died in nature.  The coyote skull was also pretty incredible. I thought the best part of the whole Chumash lesson was  building shelter.  Imagine being stuck in the mountains with nothing but tress, sticks, ants, string, and rags. We had to learn to build a small night shelter with what was available to us.  I was in charge of gathering the sticks because everyone else was scared of ants. How would you have made the shelter?

So soft! (Racoon)

Smelly Skunk (the skin is actually very soft and does NOT smell)

Have you seen any of these animals?

Have you ever gone to sleep away camp? 
How was it?

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope you spent time to give someone your love.  I made my mom a special Valentine because she cares about me.  A few days ago, my teacher assigned us to write a few Valentine poems.  I hope you enjoy them.

Even animals show their love!

“Valentine’s Day”

I am so sick today

That I can’t go to school

But it’s Valentine’s Day.

 My face is all green

 And my stomach is gurgling.

I’m itching all over

With sweat running down me

And I do look atrocious

 But it’s Valentine’s Day

 And my love is waiting

  For me to give her

My special Valentine.

“Hours, and Hours”

Hours and Hours my valentine took

I just couldn’t figure out what kind of book.

My teacher had told us to give someone a present

But I just couldn’t figure out what to give.

I finally decided on a book

 But what kind of a book

A frog, dog, cat, person, soldiers, or a duke book.

Valentine’s Day is in an hour

But what do I pick maybe a flower?

The story was as bright as the flower I had found last night,

I just hope that my valentine is all right.

   

“Flunked”

Today at school I flunked a test,

And now I would be in trouble.

But Valentine ’s Day is coming up

And I still don’t have a present.

But now that I have flunked a test,

I don’t think it will matter,

I guess I’ll just flunk fifth grade

And then not have to think about

My secret Valentine.  

Did you do anything special for Valentine's Day? 

Can you write a verse or poem for Valentines Day?

Talent Show

The musical talent is on!  A few days ago, I performed at my school's talent show.   I performed the Flight of the Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov, and Sarah performed Fur Elise by Beethoven.  We had many rehearsals that took place after school, and all the performing students worked very hard at perfecting their dances, songs, or piano pieces.  Show night finally arrived and we each performed our routines or pieces. The lighting and sound wasn't very good, therefore my mom couldn't record the concert. She therefore recorded us on our home piano. We wore the same beautiful ball gowns that we wore for the talent show. 

Flight of the Bumblebee is piece written for the orchestra by Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, for his opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan, composed in 1899–1900. I have seen this as a movie at my grandmother's house many times.  It describes a magic Swan Bird who changes Prince Gvidon Saltanovich (the Tsar's son) into an insect so that he can fly away to visit his father (who does not know that he is alive). He stings his evil Aunt (his mother's sisters) in the eye.  The swan later turns the prince into a bumblebee and he stings his other evil aunt in the eye.  The aunts get kicked out of the palace and the prince visits the king and the family lives happily ever after.

Sarah played Fur Elise by Beethoven.  Nobody really know who Elise is, but they think that he misspelled her name and it was really meant for Therese. To read more about Beethoven, you can visit Miriam's blog who also plays this piece.

What did you think of the pieces we selected?

 

Safari Park Adventures

Over winter break,  my family and I traveled to the Safari Park. Safari Park is similar to the zoo except they let some of the safari animals out in the hills.   They have animals such as parrots that will sit on you if you have nectar, gorillas, rhinoceros, giraffes, lions, elephants, and even cute baby animals.  There were also some unusual animals such as cheetahs and jaguars. These animals as well as lions, gorillas, and elephants were not let out in the wild. 

Safari park is located in the hills so there are many animals in a secured area covering many acres of land. We took a tram to the hills and visited some of these magnificent animals.  There were many baby giraffes that even though they were very young, they still were pretty tall.  We also saw different types of endangered rhinos, some that had horns and some that didn't.  Some of the rhinos were endangered species that didn't have horns because the horns were hacked off.  These hunters believed that the horns have medicinal properties, which isn't true.  The Safari Park owns one of three rhinos species left in the world! 

After the tram, we visited some animals in cages such as bats.  Bats are nocturnal animals so they sleep all day upside down.  Seeing bats for the first time was pretty incredible.  As we headed along the trails of the park, we went to the elephants.  The elephants were the cutest animals you could imagine.  There were so many of them and there baby's were huddled close to the adults.  The elephants were playing so well that I thought I could go over there and touch one.

We continued on our path and went into the parrot exhibit. The parrots were in a caged area, flying overhead looking for people  with nectar in there hands.  My dad bought us a small cup of nectar which we all shared.  I got so lucky that two parrots landed on my hand and drank the nectar.  The parrots didn't have sharp nails so when they landed, it felt like a kitten purring against your arm.

Isn't that cute!

The last sight of the day was the cheetah run. The cheetah run is a 100 meter dash that a cheetah runs along with his companion Miley his female husky-mix domesticated dog.  The cheetah was raised as a baby together with it's best friend, the dog. Now the cheetah relies on the husky to show her how to do things. The cheetah was extremely fast.  It ran the course in less than 6 seconds. Wow! My mom caught a very short video of the cheetah run.  



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What did you think of the cheetah run?

Which animal is your favorite?

State Fair- Wyoming

In 5th grade, every student picks a state to learn and write.  I chose the state of Wyoming. 

My goal in this project was to persuade my class to visit my state.  Wyoming is filled with so much history and information, that it was hard to pick and choose which sections would be most persuasive to get people to visit the state.  For me, the most difficult part of the project was the oral presentation.  I had to say it over and over again until I had it memorized within the correct time limit.  After putting together my talk, I still had one more step, create a presentation board for the state fair.  Doing the presentation board was easy because I knew in my head where I wanted everything to go.  After I placed everything down on the board, I thought it needed more color so I made a red border around the section headings. 

Wyoming has so many interesting facts that it will amaze you.  Wyoming is known for its beautiful parks such as Yellowstone National Park. Yellowstone is filled with nature as well as animals such as grizzly bears, elk, buffalo, and deers all roaming throughout the park.  Yellowstone has the largest population of grizzly bears in the United States! Yellowstone is not only filled with animals it also has waterfalls and geysers like Old Faithful.  Old Faithful erupts every hour and astonishes the visitors viewing it.

Yellowstone isn't the only incredible place to see, there also is Devils Tower National Monument.  This gigantic rock column was the leftovers of a volcano that erupted many years ago.  As you continue your journey through Wyoming,  I encourage you to look up and view the high peaks of Grand Teton National Park.  These peaks rise over a mile above the valley floor!  Wow!

Since Wyoming is natural wonders, it has the lowest population in the country.  Don't let that discourage you from visiting, as the state has many dude ranches for people to explore and enjoy the Wyoming lifestyle of horse back ride and hardy foods.  Wyoming also has the largest outdoor rodeo in the world!  I hope I will be able to visit this state someday.

The whole 5th grade presented there posters to the other parents.  After my mom visited my poster, she went around and viewed posters from some of the other states.

What interesting facts can you share about the state that you live in?