Meet Our Local Weather Man Dan Skeldon by Bria, Photography by Anna

Volume 1 Issue 1 December 2014 Meet Our Local Weather Man Dan Skeldon by Bria, Photography by Anna This month I had a chance to sit down with NBC TV 40 weather man Dan Skeldon. I learned about him and was able to get information about this winter s weather. Bria: Dan Please tell me where you grew up? Dan: I grew up in New England, in a tiny state called Rhode Island. I lived in a beach town that has similar weather like here in Ocean City. We had lots of different kinds of weather like snow, hurricanes and storms. That is what inspired me to become a meteorologist. Bria: That was my next question! Dan: Well we killed two birds with one stone. Bria: What do you like about Ocean City? Dan: I like the beach, boardwalk, and the people. I don t like the summer too much. I am a September to May person. I like little crowds, no lines, plenty of parking and walking the beach. I will walk the beach in all types of weather. Bria: What is your favorite color? Dan: Use to be blue like a bright blue sky but now it is orange. I don t know why I changed but I did. Bria: Please tell me what was your favorite subject in school? Dan: Geography. I loved looking at maps of all the 50 states, learning about cities and people and road maps and maps of all the continents. So Geography was my favorite. My least favorite subject was math. To be a weather man you need to know lots of math. So even though it was my least favorite I needed to learn it. Bria: Did you participate in your school newspaper? Dan: I did. We did not have an elementary school newspaper. We had a high school newspaper. I did a little blurb and gave weather information and predicted if we would get a snow day or not. I think it is great that you have an elementary school newspaper. In fact now, the green screen we use to forecast the weather, that I stand in front of, I did not see that until I got to my first job. Now schools have them, high schools have them. Ocean City has a beautiful green screen. So from newspa- Pokemon by Gary Pokémon is full of adventure. It is my favorite cartoon watching it on TV at home. I love watching it. There are awesome Pokémon s. Every year characters change to more action and new Pokémon s. The more Pokémon s the better it is! Char Izard ex is my favorite Pokémon. I like my Pokémon because he is a legend in the cartoon. He is super powerful. He has more than 13,244 powers. He could beat any Pokémon except Croaky. Croaky can beat all the Pokémon s in the Canto Region. Pokémons are animals that are combined together with human things. Some people think it s weird, but I say it is cool! See Weatherman on p. 3 Inside this issue: A Visit with Mrs. Lively 2 Olympian Superstars 3 Karate in Somers Point 4 My Grandpa Max 5 About Mrs. Libro 6 Our Music Teacher 7 Teacher Ice Cream Favorites 7 Mr. Bo Our Art Teacher 8

Page 2 NEWSLETTER TITLE Thanksgiving With My Family by Patrick We ate all of the food, went outside and played again and then we had to go home. What was the best moment of your Thanksgiving? My whole family was with me at Thanksgiving. My Grandma, Grandpa, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins were there. I played Man Hunt with my cousins all night on Thanksgiving. I had to run superfast. My cousin and I won and everyone else lost. I was so happy! Then, my cousins and I went upstairs. There were so many toys. I jumped in a giant costume bin. I think we also played soccer and dodge ball up there. We just played everything up there. We stayed up all night, until it was time to eat. There was turkey, mashed potatoes, and vegetables. There was so much food. It was like a feast. We ate all of the food, went outside and played again and then we had to go home. I was very sad. I wish I could go this year, but I am going to New York this year with my other cousin. A Visit With Mrs. Lively by Alexis Alexis: What is your favorite color? Mrs. Lively: Purple Alexis: What is your favorite dessert? Mrs. Lively: My favorite dessert is apple pie with vanilla ice cream. Alexis: How many pets do you have? Mrs. Lively: I don t have any pets. I m allergic to cats. Alexis: How many years have you been teaching? Mrs. Lively: I have been teaching for 12 years. My Dog Sushi by James My dog is great! She can lay, sit, jump, shake hands, fetch, and dance! She loves vanilla ice cream to. The only weird thing is that she can t eat bones. She is a Golden Labrador. She could run for sooooooooooo long! She could also swim for ever and ever and ever. I love my dog!

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1 Page 3 pers to TV screens schools are getting more and more fancy with technology. Bria: I did not know that. Dan: Yup, so Ocean City High School, when you get there, get this, their TV studio is nicer than our studio which is a professional studio. Bria: Are you nervous when you are on camera? Dan: Not anymore. Your mom and dad probably tell you, practice makes perfect. Well a meteorologist is never perfect. We try to predict the weather but we are not always right. So when I first started, I started in Michigan, I was very nervous. Thousands of people watching and you can t stop and pause and start over again, its live TV, so everyone sees it. I have had flies land on my head, lights catch on fire while reporting but I need to keep going. I have tripped on TV before, so all of these things happen but despite that, the more you do it Weatherman, Continued from page 1 the more comfortable you become. I have been doing it for 15-16 years now so I am not nervous anymore. I am still nervous to get the weather right but I don t get nervous to deliver the weather anymore. Bria: Can you predict South Jersey s weather for this winter? Will we have more snow and/or cooler temperatures than last winter? Dan: We had a lot of snow in March last winter, around St. Patrick s Day and the week after. This winter I think we have more snow than last winter, but it will not all come in March like it did last year, but I think it is a snowy and cold winter. Remember though, meteorologists sometimes can t get tomorrows weather right. So if we can t get tomorrow right and we are trying to predict December, January and February, you have to take that forecast and put it in the back of your mind and not take it too seriously. The farther out you go the harder it is to forecast. Myself and others who are trying to forecast this winter are saying, a lot of snow and a lot of cold. Probably, I ll go out on a limb and say 5 snow days for you this year, that would be my guess. Bria: That would be nice. Bria: Thank you for taking the time to meet with me and for all you do for our community. Also congratulations on your wedding. Dan: Thank you very much. After he got out of college Ronald Reagan was a wellknown sports announcer. Ronald Reagan by Reagan Ronald Reagan was an amazing person. He had a lot of jobs so Ronald was a busy man. When Ronald was in school, he was a great student. At age 17 Ronald went to a small Christian Church College. He was captain of the swim team, and also liked to play football. After he got out of college Ronald was a wellknown sports announcer. Reagan described the action so well it was like you would actually be at the event. He made baseball, football, and track come alive to his listeners. Ronald Reagan later left his job as a sports announcer and was an actor in Hollywood. He also was an officer in the Army Air Corps during World War 2. I think that we should thank people like Ronald who helped us in all different ways. Olympian Superstars by Mia Did you know that there are many Olympian Superstars? Today I am going to tell you about one of my favorite Olympian Superstar s. Her name is Gabby Douglas. You might have heard of her but hopefully you learn something new. Gabby Douglas has two families. Gabby has one brother and two sisters in her original family. Gabby has won two or three gold medals! Gabby started gymnastics when she was six. Gabby lives in Virginia Beach. She has lots of BFF s. Her BFF teammates are Jordyn Weiber, Kyla Ross, McKayla Maroney, and Alexandra Raisman. Gabby says, the most important thing besides gymnastics is her loving family.

Page 4 Karate in Somers Point by Matthew NEWSLETTER TITLE My name is Matthew, and I am going to tell you about what I do in karate. We always start by stretching, and Sensei asks us questions about karate. We stretch to the left foot, the right foot, and in the middle. Next we exercise. We do jumping jacks, pushups, squat thrust, and mountain climbers. My favorite exercises are jumping jacks because I like to jump. Then we do punches, and kicks. My favorite punch is the right punch, and my favorite kick is the side kick. After that we do flying sidekicks. Sensei holds a pad, and we do flying sidekicks. After we do flying sidekicks, we do races. We line up at the end of the mat, and we race, and then it is halftime. After halftime is done, we do stances, blocks, and forms. There is a form that every person in a belt level needs to know to go to the next belt level. I am a green belt, and the forms I know are: Kook Moo 1, Kook Moo 2, Chung Gee, Dong Goon, and Hayon Showdon. I am practicing Hayon Kneedon now. It is the form I need to know to get my first black stripe on my green belt. Last, we do sparring. I started out without equipment, but when I got my equipment I could make contact. Finally we wrestle. We usually do wrestling with the kid we did sparring with. My favorite part of wrestling is when I get the other kid down. I love karate. Halloween Night by Osver Next, I heard a scraping noise coming behind us. I look back and saw a scary tree was chasing us. On Halloween night my mom and I were walking through the park. A full moon loomed over the leafless branches. Their spiny limbs reached out as if to grab us. But we kept walking. All of a sudden we heard a spooky noise. I looked over and saw a white ghost walking its skeleton dog. I screamed, Look Mom! but he was gone. Next, I heard a scraping noise coming behind us. I look back and saw a scary tree was chasing us. My mom and I started to run home. We were so scared! When we got home and grabbed a big red ax. We went back to the dark park to find the tree. We found the big tree and my mom took the big ax to it. The tree cried loudly as my mom cut it down. The tree can no longer chase anyone anymore. I will never forget that Halloween night. Camping in the Wilderness by Brady One day we decided to go camping in Bellplain State Forest Campground. When we got there we setup the giant six person tent for the four of us. Then, we built the little fire. Once we put sticks in the fire it grew bigger. Next, we threw the football around. Then we cooked dinner on our awesome campfire. We had hotdogs and barbecue chicken. After that, we roasted marshmal- lows and made smores. Then we told ghost stories. After that, we went to our cozy bed. I love camping so much!!!!!

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1 Page 5 My Grandpa Max by Mali My Grandpa Max owns a movie theatre in Mobile, Alabama called Crescent Theatre. The theatre has 80 regular seats and 10 cool recliners in the front row. Customers can buy popcorn and lots of candy like Whoppers, Twizzlers, M &M s, and skittles. Most of the popular drinks are Soda adult drinks. The Crescent shows mostly for grownups, but sometimes shows family movies like It s A Wonderful Life at Christmas. My Grandpa Max built his house out of the old bricks from the first Crescent Theatre that burned down. He also makes wooden guitars and other cool art. In his house he made two sets of wooden stairs. I love visiting him because I get to watch movies with my family and eat popcorn and candy for free. We get the whole theatre to ourselves! I m so lucky to have a nice and generous Grandpa. Thousands of people watching and you can t stop and pause and start all over again, its live TV -Dan Skeldon- Soda is Bad for you by Julia All kinds of soda has a lot of sugar in it. A bottle of Coca Cola has about 65g of sugar. Because of all that sugar there is 240 calories in just one 20 oz. bottle of soda. The next one is Mountain Dew. There is 77g of sugar in Mountain Dew. The calories from the sugar is 290 calories: WOW!!! That s a lot. The next soda is Pepsi. Pepsi has 69g of sugar and there is 250 calories from the sugar. So that is why all kinds of soda is bad. Product Sugar Calories Coca Cola 20 oz. 65g 240 Mountain Dew 20 oz. 77g 290 Pepsi 20 oz. 69 250 LeBron James Super Player by Tahir He is a good player. He slam dunks. He is on the Cleveland Cavaliers. His jersey is 23. He used to be on Miami s team. LeBron had a lot of work to be the man. He worked really hard to get a team. LeBron loves his team so much. So they work together. His coach and his team help him.

Page 6 My Football Year by Brendan NEWSLETTER TITLE When I just started playing football I was not very good. This was my first year of football. My first practice I did bad but everyone else wasn t great either. The first drill was blocking. The person that was going against me was not great and I blocked him far. When practice was over I told my dad all about it and was excited to go to another. When I got home I could not stop thinking about going to another practice. The next day I got ready for football practice. The coach said, we have a game tomorrow. So our team worked on the things we have to be better at and we received our game jerseys. My number was 24. The first game I drove to Buena. But I had to pick my teammates up and I had to take them to the game with me (don t worry I was not driving my dad was). When I got there the game was starting. I caught the football from the kickoff and I got ten yards. When the game went on our team made a touchdown and then another. Buena did not make one. We won! We played a lot of games. We played the Raiders, Jokers, Dolphins, Blue Devils, and Eagles. We won some. That was my football year. I think practicing football and playing on teams until High School, will help me be good enough to make the OCHS Football Team! Ocean City by Avery On the boardwalk there are rides, ice cream, arcades, restaurants, and water ice. Ocean City is my home. I like Ocean City because there are a lot of things to do. The abbreviation for Ocean City is OC. In Ocean City I like to ride my bike. Ocean City is an awesome place. There s a boardwalk and a beach. On the boardwalk there are rides, ice cream, arcades, restau- rants, and water ice. The boardwalk has a lot of stuff on it. My favorite thing on the boardwalk is the rides. I like the rides because they are fun. In Ocean City people work, play, teach, and learn. My favorite part of Ocean City is school. I like school because I love learning. Our school colors are red, white and black. About Mrs. Libro by Anna Mrs. Libro was my 1 st grade teacher and that is why I chose her to do a biography. She became a teacher because she loves helping kids learn. When she became a teacher she was 22 years old. She thinks her job is the best! Her hair color is dark brown. She does not have freckles. She has brown eyes. Her dad used to call her his brown eyed girl. Mrs. Libro is married. She has 4 year old twins named Stesfano Anthony and Mary Josephine. She grew up in Hockessin, Delaware. She has 3 siblings Mike, Chrissy and Gerry. Her favorite color is yellow because it reminds her of sunny days. And last but not least she loves Christmas!

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1 Page 7 An Interview With Mrs. Romano, Our Music Teacher by Charles My first question for Mrs. Romano is Where did you use to live? I grew up in Blackwood, New Jersey and spent all of my childhood there. As an adult, I have lived in New Jersey, Arizona, Maryland, and Texas! I then asked What is your favorite color? Purple! I knew Mrs. Romano loves music so when I asked her who is your favorite Musician, and why? She replied I have many favorites. I really admire Yo Yo Ma, who is a cellist and Joshua Bell, who is a violinist. I really like The Piano Guys and Pentatonix, the vocal group. What is your favorite food? It s between broccoli and apples- oh, and pasta too! One more,-dark chocolate covered pretzels! I found out that Mrs. Romano has lots of pets! 2 dogs, 5 cats, and 3 foster cats (the fosters are adopted). My husband and I work with local animal rescue groups to help animals in need. What is your favorite movie? Pay It Forward. I like the message of the movie. If someone does something nice for you-pay it forward and do something nice for someone else! Even though I should not ask, I asked, How old are you? I am 54 years old. If you had a different job what would you be? I would be working with or for animals. When were you born? 1960. What is your favorite instrument? The piano of course! What color is your car? Tan. When is your birthday? July 19. What is your favorite book? Outlander. It is historical fiction and takes place in Scotland. It was recently made into a TV series. What is your favorite song? I have so many!!! I have like Over the Rainbow, What a Wonderful World by the Hawaiian musician Israel Kamakawiwode. All about Bischon Poodles by Skylar Bichon poodles are a mix of a bichon and a poodle. And they love the water. I also have a pet bichon poodle at home too! They don`t shed or drool at all. They have curly fur and are very smart. Bichon poodles love being played with and sometimes like sleeping with people. I think bichon poodles are an awesome kind of dog because they are smart, happy, and just a fun dog. So if you get a dog I hope it s a bichon poodle. Did You Know that Bischon Poodles: Are a mix of Bischon Frise and the toy poodle Weigh between 6-18 pounds Are 9 to 18 inches tall Average life span is between 12-16 years Teacher Ice Cream favorites by Dakota I am going to tell you some types of ice cream. There is cookie dough, mint, chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, cookie and cream, and peanut butter. I would rather eat cookie dough. I did surveys of the teachers favorite ice cream. Cookie dough has 5 votes. Mint has 11 votes. Chocolate has 7 votes. Vanilla has 7 votes. Strawberry has 3 votes. Cookies and cream has 2 votes. Peanut butter has 7 votes. Chocolate and peanut has 2 votes. The winning ice cream is mint! Ice Cream Flavor Votes Mint 11 Chocolate 7 Vanilla 7 Peanut Butter 7 Cookie Dough 5 Strawberry 3 Cookies and Cream 2 Chocolate and Peanut 2

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1 Page 8 An Interview With Mr Bo, Our Art Teacher By Luke I wanted to interview Mr. Bo because he is my favorite Specials Teacher and I really like Art. I was excited when he said I could do an interview. I wrote a lot of questions and Mr. Bo answered them for me. Because he is an artist, I asked him ~ What is your favorite color and why? Green because it s the color of my favorite basketball team when I was a kid the Boston Celtics. Who is your favorite artist? Rick Griffin, surf artist. Where do you live and was it good or bad and why? Mr. Bo said that he lived in Upper Township and likes it because it offers many options for things I like to do ~ hunting, fishing, and surfing. Mr. Bo said he would like to visit Alaska. When he hunts, he likes to hunt for deer, ducks, and the occasional squirrel. Mr. Bo said that his favorite food is Blue Claw crabs and that in two days from this interview, he would be 32 years old. His birthday was on November 15 th. His favorite tool to use in art is a paintbrush and aside from art, he likes surfing, fishing, soccer, and being outdoors. He likes cars, but only when they work! Mr. Bo also likes music and books. His favorite song is Redemption Song by Bob Marley, and his favorite book is The Bible. Thank you Mr. Bo for such a cool interview! I know everyone reading The Primary Express, will learn a lot about you! My Dad by James My Dad is awesome! He is also a hard worker. He teaches, coaches volleyball, has a chess team, umpires baseball, and tutors! But one thing he really likes is watermelon. He also loves dogs, Christmas, Peanut butter pie, and Reese s Peanut Butter Cups. He can also be kind of weird. He wants to invent something that gives you perfect sleep no matter if its 1 nano second or the rest of your life, you ll get perfect sleep. Isn t that weird? He would also like to visit Iceland. His favorite store is in one of the Keys in Florida, Islamorada. That s my Dad for you! Super Nerd by Cole Chapter 1 Start of Our Hero Once there was a teenager named Zack and he was a real nerd. Everyone pushed him around, but Zack s friend Max helped him. One day his class went to Aztec. Zack was walking when he saw a cool looking room. He walked toward the room when nobody was looking. In the room was a container of atomic energy. Chapter 2, Bad Rock Suddenly a big rock hit the container of atomic energy. The container cracked. Most of the atomic energy went in his mouth. It gave a huge glow. Zack started to feel dizzy. So a scientist saw him and took him outside. Suddenly a car whizzed right in front of him. Then atomic energy jets popped out of Zack. Then Zack went flying. Somehow Zack turned off the jet. Then he realized that he was given the gift of atomic energy. So he practiced his powers. He got a suit and soon he became Super Nerd! Chapters 3 & 4 will be out in our next edition of the Primary Express. Stay tuned...

What is Christmas? By Michael Ocean City Schools Committed to Excellence Christmas is a holiday. Some people celebrate Christmas, and some people don t. Santa gives all of the boys and girls toys, but you have to send Santa a wish list. Naughty boys and girls get coal for Christmas, and nice boys and girls usually get their presents. You usually hang up Christmas lights on Christmas. There s also Christmas music! Sometimes, when it s snowy outside, you can have snowball fights, and build snowmen! It s also really cold outside. On winter break, you could take a vacation! During winter, you have to wear a coat, boots, mittens, a scarf, and a winter hat. There are also Christmas channels on TV when it s wintertime. Sledding is also really fun! If you want, eat snowflakes, too! It could probably go down to 9* degrees in winter! I also LOVE Hot Chocolate. You should try it. At wintertime, the malls are very crowded and packed because everyone s out Christmas shopping. I LOVE Christmas. Do you? The Great and Powerful Mr. Dougan by DJ Interviewing Mr. Dougan was fun. This is the interview I did with him. He is a very interesting person as you will find out. DJ: How long were you in Iraq? Mr. Dougan: I was in Iraq for one year. I was gone for 18 months. DJ: Were you happy when you came back from Iraq? Mr. Dougan: I was very happy. I missed my family very much. I also missed just being able to relax and have fun. Iraq was stressful. DJ: How hot was it over in Iraq? Mr. Dougan: Most days in the summer it was 130 degrees, but one time it was 152 degrees. DJ: Was it scary over there? Mr. Dougan: Yes, but not all the time. We had some fun times. Some ponds were very beautiful. DJ: What was your favorite part of Iraq? Mr. Dougan: I liked the history, we saw some really old buildings. Some of the people were very nice to us. I saw a lot of cool stuff.