Mocha and "Squirrel" By Ella Smith

     Have you ever owned or wanted to own a pet? A cat or a dog, maybe even a guinea pig? Pets can be a lot of fun, but a big responsibility. For my (early) birthday I got two guinea pigs, one named Mocha and one is undergoing a name process, but for now we call her Squirrel or "No-Name." If you are thinking of getting a small animal, specifically a guinea pig, here are some great tips to help you.

     Guinea pigs live up to 8 years. The record age is 15 years! If you take good care of them, they should live a long time. They are herbivores, which means that they eat veggies and fruits, sort of like a vegetarian. You should not feed them milk, bread or cheese though. Guinea pigs teeth constantly grow, so they need to have chew sticks to chew on which will help keep their teeth from growing too long. They also don’t produce vitamin C, so you must be sure that they have vitamin C supplements to prevent them from getting scurvy.  Some common health symptoms are runny nose, which could also mean an upper respiratory tract infection, (which Mocha had) diarrhea, and lice.  They are susceptible to heat stroke, so put the cage in a shady area. It is not a good idea to keep male and females together, because they will definitely have babies. If you get two boys, it is better to get them from the same litter to prevent fighting issues. They are social animals so they do best in pairs. They can grow to 12 or more inches and 1000g which is about 2 1/4 lb. They should have at least 4 square feet of cage space. Guinea pigs spines are different then mice and hamsters. They don't bend back so DO NOT GET THEM A SPINNING WHEEL!!!!! They are about $30, the cage is about $60, and the bedding is about $25 or more, but in my opinion it is best to get a starter kit which includes all necessary items like the cage,  food, water bottle, Timothy hay and bedding.  I hope this helped if you are considering getting a guinea pig.  Do you own any pets? If so, what kind and what is are some interesting facts about your pet?

        Below is a picture of Squirrel and also of Mocha with her runny nose! Yuck! She's currently at the vet getting antibiotics so she will be home with us soon!

US OPEN Piano Competition By Caroline Tjoe

      Have you been to any competitions?  If you had, were you scared?  Well I have been to a few competitions, but today I would like to emphasize on one competition that I would always remember.  This competition I entered was a piano competition. The piano competition was in Oakland, quite near the Chabot Space & Science Center.
      One Febuary afternoon, my dad drove me to Oakland to compete.  Before my session started, I had been there once before.  That time I won the fourth prize.  This time I really wanted to do better.  Every year the competition takes place in a beautiful church.  The church has many flowers in the entrance and on its sides.  The problem is that we don't get to go inside the main church.  The church has another property on its side.  We compete there.  When my dad and I went there, we were early.  So we sat on few chairs inside the building.  I looked at the list of people that I was going to compete with.  Then suddenly, some body's name caught my attention. I read this name about six times.  In my head, I said again and again,"Is it really her?"  Then near the registration desk I saw her. I started smiling, then got nervous.  I was really going to compete with her.  Finally, my dad said it was time to go in.  When she played her piece, my eyes grew as big as coins.  "Wow!"  I said to myself, "She plays great!"  When it was my turn, I went to stage and played.  The piece I was playing was composed by Schumann.  When I was done, I went back to sit next to my dad. Many other children had played, and at the end the judges said they would take a recess to determine the winners.  For a few minutes,  she and I were playing and telling stories.  The time flew by very fast and the judges were back already. The judges announced names.  When they announced fourth prize, and did not mention my name, I thought I could still win.  When the judges announced the third prize, I applauded and was very happy that they mentioned my friend's name.  Then I was worried that I would not get anything.  My heart was thumping very hard and my hands were sweating.  When the judges mentioned the second prize, and I did not hear my name, I whispered to my dad's ear,"I don't think I would win anything."  My dad replied, "Remember I will still give you a dollar."  When they announced the first prize and spoke my name, I was astounded.  I couldn't stop smiling.  Till this day and on, I would always remember that day - I won first prize.

St. Patrick's Day -By Karisa Choi

Did you ever wonder why St. Patrick day is on March 17? If you don’t know, I will tell you why. It is because a priest named Saint Patrick who is the most commonly recognized of the patron saints of Ireland. He was born in a wealthy British family. At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken to Ireland as a slave. Later on he escaped, returned to Britain and became a priest. Since he is one of the most successful priests who taught Catholicism in Ireland, people observe St. Patrick’s day on March 17 after he died on March 17, 461. Why do we wear green on St Patrick Day? We wear green on St. Patrick’s Day because Saint Patrick used the shamrock, the three leaved plant to explain the Holy Trinity to others. The wearing and display of the shamrock design becomes an unique feature of this day. And the color green associates with the shamrock plant. If you don’t wear green on this day, you will get PINCHED by your friend! So now I hope you will wear green on this day which is going to be on this coming Saturday and we will celebrate it for school on Friday too.

Apples By Rohan Dasari

          I love iphones, ipads, and ipods. Mostly because they have the best games ever. I’m going to talk about the iphone games. How I love the game angry birds. They made $125K-$180K selling that game for $0.99. It costs $99 to post an iphone app on to the appstore. Another game I love is Plants vs. Zombies. The dancing zombie dances to Michael Jackson in the "Thriller" music video. Plants vs. Zombies sold more than 300,000 copies in the first nine days it was available on the App Store, generating more than $1M. An awesome game I love is Cut the rope. It has twelve boxes right know. They’re Cardboard Box, Fabric Box, Foil Box, Gift Box, Cosmic Box, Holiday Gift Box, Valentines Box, Magic Box, Toy Box, Tool Box, Buzz Box, and Stone Box. Cut the Rope is made by Russian developers. It’s made by ZeptoLab and is published by Chillingo. But the game I love the most is Where is my Water. The guy who made Jelly Car made where my water is and a bunch of Disney games. I recommend the games by Pocket gems for girls because it has cute animals and, for boys Temple Run but not for little boys because it has monkey demons. As you can see I really love the iphones, ipads, ipods, and most of all Steven Paul Jobs  for his awesome apps and games. Over the weekend apple announced there 25 billionth app download. A person in China got a $10,000 apple gift card for downloading the 25 billionth app. I am happy Steve Jobs didn’t die at a early age.   

1.   What is your favorite apple game?
2. How many apple products do you have at home?

Puss in Boots in 3D By Joshua Wong

Over the break, I went to Jonathan’s house for his birthday party. One of the things we did was watch Puss in Boots in 3D.  We used a special 3D TV and special glasses. Puss in Boots is about a cat that had a mischievous past. In the beginning, Puss, the baby kitten, is in a basket, and the wind pushes him across a bridge. The bridge leads to San Ricardo. Magically, the basket keeps moving until it hits the door of the orphanage. After that, the woman who owns the orphanage opens the door and takes Puss in. The orphanage is the place where Puss meets Humpty Dumpty. They both want to find three unique magical beans so they can plant them. They think that the beans will grow into a magical beanstalk with a castle on top. And in that castle, there would be a golden goose that makes golden eggs. Puss and Humpty Dumpty hope to get rich from the golden eggs. They then go on a long journey to try and find the magical beans. To find out what happens, watch the movie. This is what I did over the break. What did you do over the break?