Principal’s Message
Dear Friends and Families of Los Ranchos,
It was a fabulous day of creativity and collaboration at the first annual Cardboard
Challenge. All 463 students worked together to create, build, rethink, rebuild and then
celebrate their cardboard creations. I hope you had a minute to stop by and enjoy their
creations. They are all artists, inventors, engineers, architects and problem solvers.
We are celebrating student writing in our newsletter this week and next. All of our
students have shown amazing growth as writers. As you read on you can see how our
students exhibit powerful strategies in persuasive, informational and narrative writing. Enjoy!
Cardboard Challenge this week, Bike Parade next week! We will celebrate our traditional
bike parade on Friday, June 1. We begin with our youngest riders, TK, kindergarten and first graders at 8:45 a.m. 2nd - 6th follow at 9:05ish. This is also Hunger Awareness Day. Students
are encouraged to bring a dollar for our San Luis Obispo Food Bank. Last year we collected
over $500. Students are invited to decorate their bikes with a food theme.
Please call, email or just stop by if you have any questions, concerns or things to share.
I appreciate your thoughts.
Have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend.
Sincerely,
Marlie Schmidt
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For your Calendar
5/28 Memorial Day / No School
6/1 Bike Parade and Hunger Awareness Day
6/4 End of the Year Assembly 9:45 a.m.
6/7 Last Day of School - Full Day
8/20 First Day of School for 2018-2019
6/7 Last Day of School - Full Day
8/20 First Day of School for 2018-2019
Click This Link for Camp and Community Fliers
Cafeteria Reminder
Please check to see if your student has a balance on their meal account for the cafeteria. If you currently have a balance, please return a payment on line or to the office so that we can clear all lunch accounts by the end of the school year. Any remaining balances on accounts will transfer to the next school year.
Hunger Awareness Day Next Friday - Bring $1 to school to help end hunger
Student Writing
The students of Los Ranchos have been working hard writing in a variety of genres. Beginning in kindergarten students learn to write narrative, informational, opinion, and literary essay pieces and improve their craft with each grade level. Please enjoy these outstanding 4th and 5th grade writing pieces.
My first reason why animals shouldn’t be kept in zoos is that keepers mistreat the animals. Some zoos are nice to the animals. Others are not. Most people think that zoos are kind to animals, but I know better. There are many examples of keepers being unkind to their animals.For example, on the website veganpeace.com I saw an example of a keeper mistreating a tiger when they were posing for a picture. The tiger was not comfortable in the position that it was in. It stood up to rearrange itself. The keeper, clearly annoyed grabbed the tiger by the skin of it’s neck and yanked it down. The tiger tried again to get up, but the keeper smacked the tiger’s head. As if being cruel to the animals when they’re in the zoo isn’t enough, unwanted animals are killed or sold to exotic meat companies. Despite what zoos claim about being kind to animals and only taking them from the wild if they need assistance, the article, 5 Reasons You Should Boycott the Zoo, states that, “...79% of all animals in aquariums are taken from the wild by force.” It is for these reasons that animals should not be kept in zoos.
My second reason why animals shouldn’t be kept in zoos is that their enclosures are too small. Not feeling me? I’ll put it this way: have you ever felt claustrophobic? Maybe you have been in a cramped place. Because you are used to being in a fairly big space, it seems weird to be in a small space . It’s very cramped. You feel that the walls are pressing in on either side of you. This is what it’s like for animals in the zoo. Except it’s worse. Animals are used to roaming free. Take polar bears, for example. They’re used to moving around. Running and hunting on the ice. But once they get the zoo, their enclosures are one million times smaller than their actual habitat. That’s a fact. It’s actually a fact from the article 5 Reasons You Should Boycott the Zoo. Another fact from that article states that, “elephants travel 30 miles per day.” Can you believe that? I sure can’t. But there’s one more thing. How will they be able to do that in the zoo? My final piece of supporting evidence is this: A fifth grade class in California took a survey on whether or not animals get everything they need in zoos. 85% said no. I agree with that 85%. In conclusion, I think that animals shouldn’t be kept in zoos because their enclosures are too small.
My third reason why animal shouldn’t be kept in zoos is because they’re not happy with their artificial habitats. Animals are smarter than we think. They can tell the difference between something fake and something real. For example, animals can tell when they’re in an artificial habitat, and when they’re in a real one. Being in an artificial habitat at the zoo makes the animals behave in strange ways. This is because they know when they’re in a false habitat. One keeper at a zoo in California said, “An elephant in my zoo was pacing. She was banging her trunk against the wall of her enclosure. I came back three hours later, and she was in the same spot, doing the same thing.” This elephant was suffering from ARB (a.k.a. : abnormal repetitive behavior). Many animals suffer from ARB, particularly elephants and polar bears. Some animals have even died from ARB. They won’t eat. One chimpanzee at a zoo died from an eye infection, because his mother wasn’t cleaning it out. This was because she was depressed and knew that her home was an artificial habitat. This made her confused. She was more focused on getting out of the zoo that she forgot about her son’s health. Some animals in zoos even get angry because they are so stressed out. When animals are angry or nervous, the rates of being attacked at a zoo increase. You wouldn’t want to be attacked by an angry monkey, would you? It is for these reasons that animals shouldn’t be kept zoos.
So, are you convinced? I sure hope so. More animals are being mistreated in zoos. Enclosures are still small. Animals are dying and it’s up to us to stop it. Animals shouldn’t be kept in zoos because their enclosures are small, the keepers are mean and animals aren’t happy. I ask you to take action by taking this paper to your local zoo and having them read it, and making sure that the animals around you are being treated with respect. What do you think will happen if this continues? Animals might die. We need to put harmful zoos out of business, so do your part.
Emerson
March 8, 2018
Researched Based Argument Essay
Help Save The World!
Imagine you are a sea turtle, swimming through the peaceful Pacific Ocean. Suddenly, you swim into a black cloud! But then, you see something familiar: jellyfish! You dive for one and take a huge bite of it! Then... your life ends!! You just bit into a plastic bag in the middle of the pacific garbage patch! I strongly believe that plastic bags shouldn’t be sold in stores because it’s bad for the environment, other places banned them, and you can always use other bags. Do you want your backyard littered with plastic bags? No! Get ready to help save the world and ban plastic bags!
One reason why plastic bags shouldn’t be sold in stores is because It’s bad for the environment. For example, the Pacific Garbage Patch is a dump in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. 80% of the patch is made up of plastic. Plastic can choke an animal with just one nibble! So, the pacific garbage patch kills 1 million seabirds as well as 100,000 marine animals a year. Adding on to this, people make more than one trillion bags a year. That’s ten times the number of stars in the Milky Way Galaxy!!! If most bags end up in the Pacific Garbage Patch, the patch will kill even more animals! Plastic bags are also not good on land, either. Plastic bags use up millions of barrels of oil. We can’t lose oil. Also, what do you think would happen if we had an oil spill near the Ocean??! Some oil will get into the water and kill some marine life! Do you really want our beautiful sealife to be gone? Plastic bags are really bad for the environment. Let’s set a good example and ban plastic bags! This brings me to the next paragraph.
My second reason why plastic bags shouldn’t be sold in stores is because other places banned it. According to the article Bagging Plastic, the text says, “ More than 100 U.S. counties and major cities like San Francisco, Seattle, and Austin- now have bans on plastic shopping bags.” San Francisco is a pretty big city! Los Angeles also recognized all of the oil that was being wasted. So, they too, have a ban on plastic bags. All of these cities are trying to set a good example for other, small cities! It’s a good thing that these cities are all trying to save our world. This is another reason why we should ban plastic bags. Do you really want your city to be trashed with plastic bags? What if we recycled other, earth friendly bags?
My third reason why plastic bags shouldn’t be sold in stores is because you can always use other bags. For example, I asked my class what type of bag they used the most, and 38.9 % of the class said that they used paper bags most often. They had four other choices including plastic bags. Adding on to this, in the article More Shoppers Choosing Reusable Bags, Grocers Say, it says, “we’re starting to see more and more people bringing in their own bags to reuse.” This is another reason why we should ban plastic bags. There are so many earth friendly bags! All of this shows that we don’t need plastic bags.
There are so many reasons why plastic bags shouldn’t be sold in stores. They are not good for the environment, other places banned them, and there are so many other bags that you can use. Imagine if we kept using plastic bags! More oil will be used! Then cars would no longer be usable, and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch got bigger! Do you want to risk animal’s health, your family's, and earth’s? Please help your city get a bag ban, and use a more earth friendly bag.
Brooklyn
March 8, 2018
Researched Based Argument Essay
Do You Value Your Life?
CRASH!!! That's the sound of all your dreams being ruined and you life flashing before your eyes. Do you think extreme sports are worth the risk? Well I am here to prove to you that they are not. Did you know Jeremy Lusk died from extreme head injury in freestyle motocross? Sad isn't it, well there's more where that came from. Extreme sports can equal Injuries, what if that happend to you. Extreme sports are not worth the risk because they can cause severe injuries and death, there becoming even more dangerous, and kids are starting to get roped into them. So get ready to be convinced that extreme sports are never ever worth the risk.
One reason I believe extreme sports aren't worth the risk is because they cause many injuries and deaths. Some people think that if you practice your tricks nothing can go wrong, but I say they are incorrect. As evidence sarah burke died doing a flip that she'd done thousands of times. This shows that no matter how much you try to master a trick they are still so dangerous. If one thing goes wrong you could die just like she did.
But not everybody dies from extreme sports… they can get injured really badly too. As evidence kevin pierce crashed so badly that professionals say his helmet probably saved his life. He experienced extreme brain trauma that affected his vision and his memory. That one crash ended his career. According to a quote on pinterest kevin pearce ounce said ¨My life was so set like concrete but then it got flipped upside down.¨ It must have been really tough for him.
In addition One thing that i don't want to forget to acknowledge is how hard these deaths and injuries might be on the families of these athletes. One particularly devastating example is caleb more, he was a professional american snowmobile rider that died at the X games. His younger brother colton moore is also a professional snowmobile rider that still continued to compete in the sport and latter on suffered a spinal cord injury that caused a lot of damage. Anybody can see that many people's lives have been messed up by the deaths and injuries that can occur in extreme sports.
Another reason I believe that extreme sports are not worth the risk is because the X games have been making them more and more dangerous. For example the courses have been getting even more dangerous. As evidence the half-pipe was risen from 16 feet to 22 which can make falls from that height even more lethal. Adding on, making them more dangerous means even during practice you can get hurt. If you are not able to be safe while practicing a stunt how are you supposed to learn to actually do a stunt.
This brings me to another piece of evidence. The extreme sports have been getting even more and more competitive. That's the whole reason that some people like to watch them. So as the sports become more of a competition you have to do harder and harder tricks right? The X games have been getting more and more dangerous because to impress the judges athletes are having to do more and more dangerous tricks.
According to QuoteHD Colten Moore ounce said ¨you have to focus on what's coming next, not on what you just did.¨ and that's probably because with the way the courses are a split second mistake can cost you your life. So you can clearly see that extreme sports are already dangerous and were just making them more and more dangerous.
One last reason why extreme sports are not worth the risk is that kids are starting to take part in them. It's one thing for trained professionals to try them but it can be even more dangerous for kids. I mean that is why they say ¨kids, dont try this at home¨ right. In addition, did you know there were over 4,000,000 home injuries from 2000 - 2011. And they were not just cuts and bruises.
Adding on, kids are starting to do tricks that are way to advanced for them. This is only because they see pros do it and think that they can. And evidence suggest that wearing pads doesn't always mean its safer, if you read paragraph 1 you'll see that many injuries can occur while wearing pads.
In addition a lot of kids just think there cool because they watch them on tv, in fact 39% of my 5th grade class think that extreme sports are worth the risk and 15% of them think that just because they look cool on tv. But that did not shock me the most, what shocked me the most is that 15% of kids in our class play an extreme sport. And thus we can say, it is definitely dangerous for kids to be taking part in extreme sports.
So now do you believe me when I say extreme sports are not worth the risk? I know that they are not because they can cause death and injuries, there becoming even more dangerous, and kids are beginning to take part in them. Are you really willing to support something that can end people's lives?imagine if one of those injuries happened to you. well if you are not maybe next time you see extreme sports on tv you will think twice about watching extreme sports. And maybe someday this article will keep you from getting killed in an extreme sport.
Silas
March 28, 2018
Opinion Piece
My little Brother Skyler Is Super Special!
Have you ever wanted a brother that always looks on the bright side of things? If you have, then my little brother is the right person for you! He is super special to me.
Skyler is special to me because he is smashingly nice, super funny, and really helpful.(and you won't believe this, he's only 6 years old!) Get ready to believe my opinion!
Whoo hoo SKYLER!
#SKYLER!!!
Super Nice
My brother is super special because he is nice, and if you ever just wanted someone nice to hang around, then my little brother Skyler would be the right person for you! One way my brother is super nice is that he lets everyone-and I mean everyone- play with his toys, even if they´re super duper special to him. Another way is that he always includes people, he always makes it that everyone has something to do, and never leaves anyone out. And lastly he always offers to help with things like one time he let me play with his terrifically special superhero playhouse on the day of Christmas when he got it. That's why my brother is marvelously nice.
Super Funny
My brother is also super special to me because he is hilarious!!! He tells jokes that make no sense and are so random that everyone laughs! He also tries to make up songs that make no sense at all and are also really random! And lastly, is that he makes everyone laugh when he falls flat on his face when we are bouncing on the trampoline.
As you can see my brother is super, duper funny! This is one of the reasons I like my brother the most.
Super Helpful
Lastly, my brother is special to me because he is helpful. One reason my brother is helpful is when I ask-or anyone ask- him to do a favor, he always does it, whatever the favor is. My brother is also helpful because when there's a mess, he helps clean up! (I never said always helps clean up.) Lastly, he is helpful because when someone´s not having the ¨greatest¨ time, he always wants to be helpful and do things for that person and make them feel better.
That is why my brother is super special.
Skyler
As you can see my brother is super special to me because of what I like to call the three supers, and always will be. He might just shine as bright as a star in the universe somewhere else, but really, he is as bright as the sun. I'd like to recognize my brother as one of the most special people in my life, I will always love him and I would do anything for him. Not only is Skyler super special, but he makes me feel super special too.
LET'S GO SKYLER!!!!!!!!!!!
Merideth
March 9, 2018
Opinion Writing
Plastic Bags
It's easy to think that plastic bags are amazing because they're so convenient and useful: Imagine, you buy some tasty, mouthwatering, delicious strawberry ice cream. But alas, you forgot to bring your basket. You think, "Oh, no biggie. I'll just get a paper bag." So you start to go out in to the parking lot with your paper bag with your yummy ice cream inside of it. You hear a rip...blam! Your ice cream falls out of the bag! That's why people think plastic bags are so cool, things won't fall out of them. But if you are the average person, well we need to have a talk. It is my belief that plastic bags should be banned. They should be banned because there are way too many of them, they're bad for the environment and there are many alternatives, that are just as good, even better than plastic bags.
The first reason why plastic bags should be banned is because there are way to many of them. For instance, humans use, oh, 10 times the number of starts in the milky way galaxy! That's about 1 trillion too many. In addition, the article "Bag Ban Debate" says, " The average American family takes home almost 1,5000 plastic shopping bags a year." That means you (if you're an average American family that is)! Also, only about 5% of plastic bags are recycled, so some plastic bags (assuming they don't become litter) get piled up in the landfill. I know you're thinking, " Oh, that's not so bad. They'll just decompose into the soil!" But, instead of decomposing into the soil, plastic bags stay in the landfill for up to 1,000 years. (Decomposing is when something that comes from the Earth (Not plastic.) let's say a banana peel, goes back into the Earth and kind of "disintegrates" into the soil) So, in other words, plastic bags never go away. So they just take up space in the landfill forever.
However, not all plastic bags end up in the landfill. In fact, most plastic bags don't go into the landfill. Most plastic bags end up as litter. Plastic bags are so lightweight, so they blow all over the place! Plus, the average American uses 6 plastic bags a week, which is 325 in a year, which is 25,000 in a lifetime! That's about 25,000 too many plastic bags!
Another reason why plastic bags should be banned, is because they are bad for the environment. First of all, plastic bags are not a natural thing. For example, you can't walk out into Zion Canyon and start mining for plastic bags. Okay, I admit that was a slight exaggeration but you get what I mean. Making plastic bags uses up natural resources such as petroleum, which is a crude oil. (Crude meaning in a natural or raw state) It takes approximately 12 million barrels of oil (or petroleum) to make plastic bags each year.
In addition to that, plastic bags also harm animals. Guess what? It's story time! I'm going to tell you a really good story! A salmon named Sammy sees a plastic bag floating around in an ocean. He thinks in his pea sized little brain, "Dinnertime!". Unfortunately, for Sammy, he eats the plastic bag. What happens in his little body is that the plastic bag blocks his digestive tract, which is not good. Do you know why that's not good? Because he died. Sorry, but that story could be true. (Maybe not the Sammy part) Animals really do die from plastic bags. The story about Sammy could have happened, or they could've been strangled from a plastic bags. Okay, there's one last thing about this. So, let's say a salmon eats a plastic bag. Humans eat salmon right. Okay prepare yourself, this is kinda gross, if a salmon eats a platic bag, and humans eat salmon...plastic bags are technically entering our food chain! Alright, I said it. Hey! I warned you! You know, the Sammy story doesn't have to happen anymore. You can bring a reusable bag to the grocery store and fish like Sammy won't get strangled anymore, which brings us to my next reason.
The final and most important reason why plastic bags should be banned is because there are plenty of alternatives to those plastic horrors! I know what you're thinking, "Let's sue a bunch of paper bags!". If you think that, I think you should meet my favorite stick, Billy...Paper bags are really just as bad as plastic bags. First of all, you need to cut down trees to make them and that's not good because trees give us oxygen and...they're pretty. Some paper bags are recycled paper, but it pollutes the air to do so. What's so great about paper bags anyway? They probably rip when you put a lot of stuff in the anyway. So what are you going to do? You're going to get reusable bags to bring to the grocery store!
You are probably asking, "Well, how do I do that? I'm a kid!" There are a lot of things you could do! For instance, you can take an old T-shirt and you could cut it and safety pin it so it's a reusable bag, in facet, It'll probably reusable until your dog chews it up. If you don't want to do that, you could cut out old jeans (because it's a sturdy material) and you could turn them into a cool bag. Or you could spend like, 5 bucks and buy one of those nylon bags that roll up until it's the size of a meatball. Lastly, if you're feeling fancy, you could buy a very nice wicker basket. So, as a kid you can nag your parents about reusable bags until it becomes a habit. If you're a parent, you can stick one of those meatball bags into your purse and you'll never forget it. Although, kids are already using reusable bags, I took a survey to see who used plastic bags and who didn't. Out of 22 students, 18 students used reusable bags, and 4 do use plastic bags. Now that you've learned all about plastic bags, let's move on to the check out line.
There are so many reasons why plastic bags should be banned: People use too many, they're bad for the environment, and there are plenty of alternatives. Okay, it's time for a pop quiz. Don't worry, you won't be graded on it (or will you?) Okay say you're at the grocery store in the check out line: "Next!" Says the cashier. You walk up and spill out y our items. "Paper or plastic?" He asks. What should you say> What you should do is reach into your purse and say, "Neither. I brought my own reusable meatball bag!" Remember, if you buy a plastic bag, you are risking an animals life, losing natural resources and eating a plastic bag. So, instead bring your own bag and risk nothing. and, If you have any more, can I have a bowl of that yummy ice cream? (Strawberry is my favorite)
Leila
March 14, 2018
Opinion Writing
No Plastic Water Bottles:
Introduction:
One thing all human beings rely on is water. Plastic bottled water is so easy to grab. You can grab a bottle of water just like that from the fridge, and go off for the day without a hassle or anything. But have us humans taken a second to think about what it is doing for the rest of the environment? We waste 50 billion plastic bottles a year, and most of that goes right to the trash! Trash! 50 billion plastic bottles a year gjust go into the landfill!! I went around my class of 24 students asking them whether or not they use bottled water a lot, and 20/24 of the students in my class use bottled water sometimes, and I want to change that to neve. I think plastic bottled water should be banned because it is wasteful, because tap water is just as good, and because it is not a good use of oil.
Wasteful Alley:
Do you ever think about what goes into the landfill and why there is so much trash? My first reason why there should be no plastic water bottles is because it is wasteful. Almost half of most landfills are all plastic water bottles! And guess what? 8 out of 10 plastic water bottles get thrown in the trash instead of the recycling them every time! That makes 80% of our plastic water bottles ending up in the landfill. That is way too much plastic not recycled, so why do we even have the plastic bottled waters at all? Some people that are trying the clear this bottled water problem and are deciding to go through trash cans looking for the recycling, and the trash and sorting it. But even that is not enough. So many people have stopped sorting through trash, and to fix that in one way by not even using plastic water bottles at all will make that so much less of a problem. Us humans use over half a trillion plastic water bottles just it one year! Also, according to “I don’t Understand Ethos Water”, it says that about 50 billion of them go into the landfill, or trash specifically. That is half a trillion.
Tap is Just as Good:
Did you know in so many places around the world have tap water that is better than water from a plastic bottled water? Well, it is. Another reason why there should be no bottled water is because tap water is just as good. Water from a drinking fountain, faucet, or tap actually is just as good if not better. After all, it is a lot cheaper than plastic water bottles. Bottled water can even cost up to about $1.50 each! Also, so many plastic bottled water companies sell glacier water, and according to “Tap Water is Better than Bottled Water for People on Earth” it says that it is worse, and even unhealthy! Companies around the world which sell plastic bottled waters are making commercials lying about how tap water is awful and contaminated. But really the commercial men and women are actonaly using tap water themselves when they are talking about how bad tap water is anyways. But at least where I live the tap water is not a problem, and it is the same way for multiple, multiple people, tap water is just fine! But, there truly are people in the world that do not have any available access safe drinking water from a facet and some people buy them bottled water so they can have clean drinking water. Bottled water is not the fix, in fact, it is more of a problem for the rest of the environment. According to the article “I don’t Understand Ethos water” it says that people can just donate that $1.50 so they can get clean tap water. That way, people around the world without the access to clean tap water now, can have it in the future by others donations. So, if you are in a place right now with access to safe tap water, definitely choose tap water instead of plastic bottled waters.
Not a Good Source of Oil:
Did you know that there is tons and tons of oil used to make plastic bottles for water. Lastly, there should be no plastic bottled waters because it is a terrible use of oil. According to the article “Bottled or from Tap” it says that humans use over 17 million barrels crude oil! And, each barrel is 42 gallons! In all, that is 714 million gallons of crude oil wasted just to make plastic water bottles! Adding on, the amount of oil we use in just less than 1 year can fuel 1 million plus cars. Just take a second and imagine every plastic water bottle filled up a quarter, or one fourth of the way with oil. That is how much oil it takes just to make one plastic water bottle. This oil should be going to cars, or energy to power houses which need it. Some of the bottles even get burned, and that endangers fossil fuels which creates greenhouse gas!
Conclusion:
All of this shows that there should not be any plastic bottled waters because it is wasteful, because tap water is just as good, and lastly it is not a good use of oil. Our whole Earth is falling apart by the second! Just one thing can make a difference. All you need to do is take a few seconds longer to fill up something saving our entire Earth more. Now, would you grab a plastic water bottle, or take just a few extra seconds to fill up a perfectly fine reusable water bottle that is great, and not bad for the environment in any way. Do you really want to be risking our Earth or environment in a way? I would hope not. So again, simply grab a reusable water bottle and fill it up with some water from the faucet or tap next time.
