The Green and Purple Pages Issue 2 Published Bi-monthly January, 2018 Niederman Family Farm Walking Lights Tour Field Trip Article by Evelyn Huff Last Christmas, a great, family friendly, and really cool activity was The Niederman Family Farm light display. After walking through over a mile of lights, you step out of the cold and into the warmth of the dance barn. There was music, hot cocoa, and lots of cookies! Although it was very cold, it was worth doing! I will certainly go again next year, and I hope that you will too! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! (So what if it s a little late?)
Columns John Bryan State Park Column by Will Campbell John Bryan State Park is a massive state park. It has 752 acres that include beautiful woods, a limestone gorge, and the renowned Little Miami River. Plus, there is a campground that offers campers a fantastic experience. John Bryan State Park has a variety of exciting activities. Canoeing down the Little Miami River is a wonderful trip with many historic places along the route. If you have a license, fishing in the Little Miami river is another enjoyable activity. In the summer they have pleasurable nature programs. I think over all the best part of John Bryan State Park is hiking. John Bryan has 9 well cut trails, and all of them have many beautiful sites. All in all, I love the many recreational options John Bryan offers. John Bryan has a pretty campground. There is a total of 67 camping sites and dogs are allowed. There is an abundance of drinking water and waste water. Thankfully, there are places to dump your smelly trash so you don t have to smell it all night. If it s a rainy day and you want to eat outside you still can, because there are several shelter houses. There are many restrooms too. If you still want electricity, some of the sites have it. There are fire pits all around so you can burn a toasty fire. I honestly think John Bryan s campground is a great entertaining place. I think that you should go and try John Bryan State Park yourself. In my opinion, I think this place is a great park with many historic places and crazy adventures for the whole family. NFL Football Column by Ryan Meester Football is one of my favorite sports. Whether it s playing outside with friends or watching it on tv, it s one of my favorite things to do in my spare time. Among the top teams right now are the Minnesota Vikings, with their excellent offense and defense, and the New England Patriots who have been in the playoffs for the past few years. The Patriots just need to keep their wide receiver, Rob Gronkowski, healthy because he has been dominating the playing field so far. Another top team is the Philadelphia Eagles who have been a very solid team this year. And then we have Pittsburgh Steelers who have a very solid offence. The LA Rams are also a top team this year. Now we are moving on to the injuries. To start it off, we have the Pittsburgh Steelers Ryan Shazier who was carted off the field on December 5 with a back injury, but will not have to undergo surgery. Then there s also the Rams Alec Ogletree with an elbow injury, and the Buffalo Bills QB Tyrod Taylor with a knee injury. From wins to losses to injuries, each team has had great season so far, but there can only be one champion. Each team has a good chance to win and are playing hard to do so. I personally would prefer the Eagles to win but I think that the Patriots will win. I think that the Vikings have a very good chance also. Who knows, the Atlanta Falcons could pull off a miracle and win. That s it for this time, and make sure you read my next column on the Winter Olympics!
The Story of Christmas Column by Reiss Davis Hi, my name is Reiss Davis and I will be telling you about Christmas. Christmas is all about Christ s birth, not just about Santa and presents. Jesus was born in a manger in Bethlehem. Joseph knocked on every door and he got the same answer every time. They came upon an inn and he said, My wife is going to have a baby. Do you have any place for us to stay? The Innkeeper said, I have a barn, is that ok? There was no room for them in the inn, so he was born in a barn with a lot of animals. The animals made it smell bad. Jesus was wrapped in cloth that was in the barn. He was born near the twenty-fifth of December. That is what Christmas is about We set up Christmas trees, put ornaments on, and decorate the tree to celebrate. I know you are excited to open presents and play with your toys, but next year, take a minute and remember to tell Jesus Happy Birthday!! The Dance Details Column by Bethany Crank Hello everyone, I hope everybody had a merry Christmas and a happy New Year! In this issue, I will be telling you about a topic that a lot of people don t really understand. Today, I will be telling you about girls playing boys. This past year in the Dayton Ballet s the Nutcracker, I played a party boy. This is not uncommon, as a matter of fact; both of the people who played Fritz were girls. There was only one boy out of twenty-two party kids, the rest were girls. It is actually fun playing a boy in a ballet, I got to bring out my ornery side! There has only been one time I have seen boys playing girls, in Cinderella the ballet the boys played the ugly stepsisters, pretty funny right? I hope you learned some things about this topic, see you next time! Vocabulary Counterpart the other person playing the same part as you in the other cast Plie - bending of the knees Elective Highlight Column by Bethany Crank Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a great holiday. This issue, I will be telling you about the Intro to Theatre class! In this class, the students learn about backstage jobs, monologues, costume design, acting, and more! If you went to the Christmas Program, this class was introducing each class. You might have seen me as one of them. This is another class I highly recommend. See you in the next issue!
Comics
Reviews Book: Clementine A Review by Kaylee Fields Author: Sara Pennypacker Pictures by: Marla Frazee I would rate this book 8 out of 10. I did not rate this a 10 out of 10 because I thought there should be more action and more details going into it. This book is about a girl named Clementine who usually does not pay attention in class. She has a friend, Margaret. One day in art class, Margaret accidentally got glue in her hair. Margaret was very fancy. Clementine cut Margaret s hair to get the glue out. Later on in the book, Margaret cut off all of her hair. They went to Margaret s room and Clementine drew on her head, which caused her to get in trouble with the principal and Margaret s Mom. Later on in the book, Clementine cut her hair too, to be the same as Margaret. Spy kids review Review by Josh Huff I thought Spy Kids was an exciting movie. It has some robots that are really funny. Spy kids is about two spy parents who get captured. Will the kids Carmen and Juny be able to stop Floop and save their parents? I give this movie 9 out of 10 stars. Book: The Indian in the Cupboard Review by Ryan Meester This is a great book about a kid named Omri, who gets a toy Indian from his friend Patrick. He then finds a cupboard and puts the Indian in the cupboard. Later he discovers that the cupboard is magical and that the Indian comes to life inside of it. I definitely recommend that you read the book to find out the adventure and excitement Omri and his Indian, Little Bear, have together. I myself really enjoyed reading it, and give it 4 out of 5 stars. I thought Clementine was really good at helping her Dad fight the pigeons. I found it really cool that Clementine figured out the problem with the pigeons and solved it. When Clementine got her cake that said Hero of the Great Pigeon War! I thought it was very funny. She used to have a cat named Polkadottie, but then after the cat passed, she got a new cat named Moisturizer for fighting the great pigeon war. I would recommend this book to kids who are just beginning to read longer chapter books. I also think people who think they are not perfect would like this book because Clementine (not perfect) tries to be a good friend by doing the same thing to her hair like Margaret s.
Stories A Day at the Zoo Story by Kate Campbell Grace shivered. The icy cold wind nipped at the tips of her nose and fingers. She knew that braving the cold weather would be worth it in the end. She and her family were waiting outside the zoo. They, like many other Americans, were waiting to see the unveiling of two new baby animals that were being released to the public for the first time. They were twin baby pandas named Lyn and Lee. Finally, the gates creaked open, and the crowd shuffled forward, awaiting their turn to walk up to the ticket booth. When they got inside, the crowd pushed and flooded, jostling Grace all around. She stepped out of the throng. Seeing her mother s blue coat, she jogged after her. Mom, she called. When her mother did not turn around, she called again and broke into a run. At last, she reached her. The woman that faced Grace was not her mother. In fact, she was a complete stranger. Grace turned and ran again. Mom, she yelled. No one called back. Tears began to stream down her face. Grace followed the crowd, hoping that her mother would be where ever everyone else was going. Suddenly, she was enveloped in a hug. Oh, Sweetie, a gentle voice said. There you are. Mom, Grace shouted. She hugged her back. The baby pandas were in a long building. People milled about and crowded around a glass window. A family stepped aside, and Grace and her siblings stepped forward to see the pandas. They were small and fluffy, still slightly pink. Grace smiled as the two pandas pushed each other to get to a toy. The rest of the day at the zoo was fun. Grace s family did their best to stay inside of buildings for most of their time. Most of the indoor exhibits were heated at least. They visited the aquarium, Artic exhibits, and the petting zoo. By the time they got home, it was rather late. Grace was glad for the day that she got to spend with her family, having fun and making memories.
Special Credits In addition to everyone who wrote an article for the newspaper, we have a couple of people on the newspaper staff that are more behind-the-scenes, but just as vital to the team as our writers. These people are: Emily Ash- editor Drew Kempe- editor Evelyn Huff- editor and assistant Noah Huff- photographer Gwen Geitgey- editor in chief Thank you to all of our staff and parents for helping us publish this newspaper!