Let s Travel to the Past Olympics

Transcription

1 Volume 5, Issue 5, June 2016 In this issue: Let s Travel to the Past Olympics Travel! Learn!! Be Entertained!!! By Alex Castro Cruz Welcome to the Olympics. Not the actual Olympics, but a page where we take a time machine back to the first modern Olympics and see the evolution from then to now. The first modern Olympics, not the ones the Greeks had, was reinitiated on April 6, This was 1,500 years after the Roman Emperor Theodosius banned it. Held in Athens, Greece, a crowd of 60,000 people came to welcome and watch athletes from throughout 13 different nations. Before the first Olympics began, different countries around Europe began their own Olympics tradition. However it took a young French baron, Pierre de Coubertin, to develop the idea of creating an international Olympics that would be held every 4 years. In the first modern Olympics, 280 athletes from 13 nations competed in 43 different events including track-andfield, swimming, gymnastics, cycling, and more. The 1896 competition also featured the first marathon run, in which the athletes had to run a 25-mile route that the Greek soldiers used to destroy the Persians. It wasn t until 1926 where an extra mile was added to the modern marathon. The first marathon winner was supposedly Spyridon Louis, who won in the 1896 Athens Olympics. Since then, the Olympics has improved, with the first winter Olympics happening in the year of 1926 and even more events such as soccer, volleyball, snowmobiling, have been added to create our present Olympics. Hope you guys enjoyed this article and check out the website below. I hope to see you at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio! Website:

2 San Francisco From a plane ride far, far away for 6 hours by Madeleine Donahue There are many places and objects in San Fransisco that you probably already heard of like the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz and Lombard street and cable cars which are San Fransisco s national moving monument and the only moving monument. My favorite place was the Exploratorium because it was really fun and cool to see what kind of mind blowing brain games there are. One of the Brain games is a chair with a bar connecting to the two chair arms and you would put your forehead on that bar and click the button next to the bar and the chair would spin and when you get you get up you are supposed to be dizzy. Another little brain game is a chair with a big round glowing orb that changes colors which is pretty cool. Another place that we took a little tour on was Pier 39, this was a place where if you like sea lions, then get ready to be amazed because there were about 5 squares of the docks COVERED in sea lions and there was a gate so you could not disturb the sea lions. This was still pretty cool. If you are a big fan of PIXAR, Disney owns Pixar, then you are going to be knocked out when you here this. In San Fransisco there is Pixar films studio that says A Steve Jobs Building (which I think those in 6th grade will all know why the building is named that way). I was allowed to take pictures of the downstairs, but I was not allowed to take pictures of the upstairs because of some spoiler alerts for Finding Dory. Pixar also puts up pictures relating to the movie that they are making. It would be pretty cool to work at Pixar because they have a swimming pool and one day of every week the Pixar workers play a soccer game to take a little break from work. This would be my dream to work at Pixar because you would get paid a ton just to play soccer and make art and movies. If you do go to San Fransisco you should try out their food, especially their burgers because they are very good. I also went on a sea plane tour where you are in a small little plane and lucky me, I got to see the Golden Gate Bridge strait down the middle and it was really beautiful. Lastly, Alcatraz is an old prison near San Fransisco and there is a long enough body of water to separate the two so that the prisoners could not escape and would stay at Alcatraz.

3 Study Smart by Casey Gallagher I m sure all of you know that finals week is quickly approaching us, and I know you all want to do well on the exams. Finals are worth one-fifth of your overall grade for some of your classes. Below are some tips for you to use so you can do your best. 1) Write it out. Try to physically write out the information. Research has shown that we store information more securely when we write it out by hand rather than when we type it. 2) Say it out loud. Maybe when you are studying, try to take a new approach to remembering things. You can try to say things out loud to help remember them. When you say the information out loud, you are mentally storing it in two ways: be seeing it and by hearing it. Both of these functions allow you to absorb the information better. 3) Stay relaxed. I know studying can be frustrating, but just remember to stay relaxed. Research does suggest that meditation can reduce anxiety and boost attention span. So, just remember to stay relaxed and take deep breathes. 4) Take a time out. As I ve said before, studying can be frustrating, so taking a break can be beneficial. Science research shows that taking regular breaks can boost productivity and improve our ability to focus on a single task, don t take too long of a break, just a long enough one for you too refocus. 5) Space it out. DO NOT PROCRASTINATE!!! It is common for people to procrastinate until the night before the quiz/test. Instead of waiting until the last possible minute, try to space out your studying. Maybe you could do vocabulary one night and comprehension questions the next night.

4 Ways to Study: 1) Flash cards are the quick and easy way for learning new material! They are great for studying vocabulary but are also great for memorizing. 2) Quizlet is a great website that is very beneficial for its users. They have online flashcards, practice tests, games and spelling activities. The games are fun, the tests allow you to focus on what you need to improve on and it is great for helping to learn information. They have recently added a new feature to their website- Quizlet Live. Quizlet Live is a fun way to compete against your friends on vocabulary. 3) I m sure you ve all heard of the fun game Headbands- and Heads Up! is just like it. You need your phone or a mobile device and a few other study-buddies to play. You enter your questions and answers in the beginning and once you do that you are ready to play. Just like Headbands, you would hold your phone up to your forehead, without peeking, and your other study-buddies have to describe the question or answer to the word(s) on the phone and you have to correctly guess the word they are describing. I hope these tips will help you do better on your finals! Remember to get a goodnight sleep the night before and eat a healthy breakfast the morning of! REMEMBER: PLAN OUT YOUR STUDY TIME!!!! Good Luck!!!! :) Prepare the Popcorn by Valerie Finke Throughout the country there has been a lot of buzz about upcoming Disney movies. Why? Well, during a fan convention Disney shocked everyone and announced all of their movies for the next 4 years! The movies are everything from action thrillers, sequels, classic fairy tales, and famous books. The movies will be Captain America: Civil War, Finding Dory, The BFG, Pete's Dragon, Doctor Strange, Moana, Beauty and the Beast Live Action, Guardians of the Galaxy 2, another Cars movie, Coco, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Gigantic, Toy Story 4, The Incredibles 2, and four undecided live action fairy tales. I m very excited to see The BFG and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. The BFG stands for The Big Friendly Giant, which is based on the book by Roald Dahl and illustrated by Quentin Blake. This story tells the adventure of Sophie, a girl who goes on an adventure of a lifetime and meets a unique friend, a friendly friend, a giant friend. In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Jack Sparrow is up to no good while trying to find Poseidon s trident. Jack Sparrow is in for more than he thinks when his all time enemy, Captain Salazar, has come back to take revenge on all the pirates including him! If you are new to Pirates of the Caribbean I suggest you watch his other movies or at least the last movie Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. If you would like to check out the previews and possible release dates go to:

5 Whacky Weather Predictions Summer 2016 Weather Predictions by Alexis Valerius Well, it looks like you ll be needing that sunscreen a whole lot this summer. According to meteorologists around the world, most of the U.S is expected to reach very high temperatures throughout the summer. Temperatures are expected to sky rocket in the northern parts of the states, all the way from the Pacific Northwest, northern plains, and Northeastern states. This is because of the summer sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic. These numbers are expected to be higher than the past 5 years have been. Southern California, central and southern plains, and the south east should also assume slightly higher than average temperatures. However, only central and southern Texas presume to be receiving colder than average temperatures between the months of June and August. Of course, we might all be excited to hear about these extremely warm temperatures now, but after a week or so, we ll all be wishing we could go back to the snow and colder weather. That s all for now, I m Alexis Valerius, reporting from Westhampton Beach, New York. LOOKING FOR A GOOD BOOK? TAKE ONE FROM THE BOOKSHELF by Hannah Parsons Journey with Edie as she hits the point of extremis and is saved by the mysterious and beautiful Kian. Together they must save her from killing herself and after she has been saved, she must never think about him again. However something about him is just not settling and she can t forget him. And he can t forget her. Bound by love in this thrilling adventure through thick and thin, experience the world unknown to Mortals with Mortal Danger.

6 OPINIONS How technology is infiltrating society by Hannah Parsons Look around at the world and compare it to a 80s movie. What s different? Cell phones, laptops, computers, ipads, Kindles, they re everywhere! Technology follows us. All the answers at the tips of your fingers. Literally. They are good, and they re also bad. Texting in class, and medical breakthroughs. Black marketing, and no more heavy textbooks. It s a very controversial topic, but technology is becoming a huge part of everyday life. Now that technology can be used to store information, people can be hacked easier and some things are not meant for the public to see, such as someone s bank account information or government passwords or plans for war. People can now have their lives made even more difficult with cyberbullying. Teens everywhere have had bullying issues in high school and in the past they were able to escape them when at home, but now these same problems can follow you even into your room. There really is no escape. Teen suicide percentages are steadily rising because cyberbullying is too much for them to handle. Anorexia and other eating disorders are becoming more common because students are being told by the media, that they are fat and the logical thing to do would be to stop eating. Society is not becoming a better place. It is becoming worse. In my opinion, the cons outweigh the pros. I believe that you still should have important things on a hard copy and locked up, because then you are really the only one who can get to it. Bullying also would stay at school and not follow you into your most private places. Every person on the planet has one way or another been affected by technology, more negatively than positively. Technology is definitely infiltrating this society, and is a major part of our lives. If you have an opinion on this topic, I would love to hear about it. Come talk to me anytime during school.

7 Terror in Brussels by Alexis Valerius Just four months after the recent ISIS attacks in Paris, Brussels, Belgium was attacked. On Tuesday, March 23rd a popular international airport, along with the Maelbeek metro station were bombed. The first explosions took place at around 8 am at the Zaventem international airport. The first blast was said to be a suicide bombing, according to Belgian prosecutor, Frederic Van Leeuw. The second explosion took place outside by the security checkpoints and the airline check-in counters. According to Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon, A third bomb was left at the airport but didn't go off. At least ten people were killed. Around an hour later, one last blast hit the metro station during rush hour. ISIS has claimed responsibility for these planned attacks, however it might just be too soon to say the terror group was behind all of this. Police have three suspects in mind based on security surveillance. Two are said to have been suicide bombed and died in the explosion at the airport. The third man planted a bomb in the airport that never erupted. He is still out on the loose and the authorities are considering him a wanted man. They are asking for all the help they can get from the public to report anything they know or see that could be related to the bombings. Play Some Basketball During Open Gym by Hannah Parsons Come on down to WHB Middle School with Coach Gholson to learn how to better your mad skills. They meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6PM-7PM in the Middle School gym. A little bit about Coach Gholson is that he is fair, honest, and loves basketball. He coaches many teams for each season and wants to encourage you to love sports as much as he does. This program goes up to the high school level and has both boys and girls. If you think that this might be for you, talk to Shaver Coffey and Jaden St. John. They have both been great participants in this program and learned a lot from Coach Gholson. Coach Gholson also said that his favorite part of the whole program is interacting with the kids. He loves helping them get better and seeing the improvement in their skills throughout the year. This program will be starting up again in September. Come join the Middle School Basketball program!

8 This Year s Cover Stories Issue 2 Issue 4 Issue 1 Issue 3 Issue 5 Our Final Issue of the Year! We hope you enjoyed reading as much as we enjoyed writing! Some of our Feature Writers. Contributors to this issue: Feature Writers: Alex Castro Cruz, Madeleine Donahue, Casey Gallagher, Valerie Finke, Alexis Valerius, Hannah Parsons Production Editor: Hannah Parsons Managing Editor: Casey Gallagher Executive Editor: Alexis Valerius Newsletter Supervisors: Ms. Perez and Mr. Holt Publisher: Sydney Sheren Do you want to see your name in this box? Join The Newsletter Association at any time during the year. Go to the Middle School Library for more information.