February 2015 The TiMeS The Truth Behind Valentine’s Day By: Theodora Edell Do you have that special someone? The one that makes you feel all tingly inside. Celebrate your relationship on this very special day called Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day came to be when a man with the name Saint Valentine (Valentinus). Saint Valentine was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers who were forbidden to marry and for ministering for Christians, who were persecuted under imprisonment. According to legend, during his imprisonment, he healed the daughter of his jailor, Asterius. Before his execution, he wrote her a letter signed “Your Valentine” as a farewell. So if you didn’t know, now you do. So go, spread some love. Give that special someone a Valentine to show them how much they mean to you!! :) Special Challenge: How many little red hearts can you find in this issue of The TiMeS? (Answer on last page) 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Feature Story: Science Olympiad PAGE 3 Holidays of the Month: February PAGE 4 Celebrity Birthdays of the Month: February PAGE 5 Who’s Who: Staff Around TMS PAGE 6 Who’s Who: Students Around TMS PAGE 7 Science Corner/Fact or Fiction PAGE 8 Rachel’s Challenge: Chain Reaction PAGE 9 Book Review: The Help by: Kathryn Stockett PAGE 10 Comics: Valentine’s Day PAGE 11 Jokes, Riddles, and Games PAGE 12 2 FEATURE STORY Science Olympiad By: Sydney Moore Science Olympiad is a club of competition but it’s also about having fun! The first practice, students picked their top events, which Mrs. Kaus then assigned to different groups. Every event has to have 2 people. There is a wide variety of different events. There are some test events (Solar System, Meteorology, etc.) in which students have to learn all about one subject and take notes that they can use during the test. There are also some building events like Bridge Building and Bottle Rocket where students have to build a device that has to pass a certain test. There are many other events as well. Practices are Mondays and Thursday after school until 5:00 and students are working very hard to perfect their events. The regional Science Olympiad competition will take place on February 7th where students from the middle school will be competing against many other schools. Students who Sydney Moore & Lexie Bos Bridge Building do very well in this competition will Sydney Moore & Lexie Bos Write It Do It go on to the state competition. The Meteorology Science Olympiad team will be selling Sydney Moore & Emma Franks Emma Franks & Brielle Lueck Crime Busters ice cream during the lunch hours to Emma Franks & Brielle Lueck Green Generation raise money for team t-shirts and Andy Becker & Lauren Buss Simple Machines transportation money to go to the Andy Becker & James Kelley Elastic Launch Glider Andy Becker & Hunter Davis Crave the Wave competition. Please show your Lexie Bos, Haley Bradley & Lauren Buss Bio Process Lab support by buying some ice cream… Haley Bradley & Lillie McMullen Picture This Haley Bradley & Brielle Lueck Anatomy It helps your classmates plus you get Haley Bradley & Emma Franks Solar System ice cream!! Lauren Buss & Lillie McMullen Wheeled Vehicle Hunter Davis & Brandon Long Air Trajectory Hunter Davis, James Kelley & Brandon Long Experimental Design Jesse DiBenedetto & Connor Wronski Disease Detectives Jesse DiBenedetto & Haley Bradley Road Scholar Jesse DiBenedetto & Braden Taylor Dynamic Planet Brandon Long & Lillie McMullen Can't Judge a Powder Braden Taylor & Connor Wronski Bottle Rocket Braden Taylor & Connor Wronski Entomology Braden Taylor & Connor Wronski Fossils Here is a list of everyone and the events that they are in. You can find out more about each event by going to: http://soinc.org/2015_div_b_events 3 Holidays of the Month: February By: Chadd Williamson Feb.1—National Freedom Day Feb.2—Ground Hog Day (6 more weeks of winter?!) Feb.3— The Day Music Died Day Feb.4—Thank a Mailman Day Feb.5—National Nutella Day Feb.6—Lame Duck Day Feb.7—Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day (YUM!) Feb.8—Kite Flying Day (Brrrr) Feb.9—Toothache Day Feb.10—Umbrella Day Feb.11—Make a Friend Day! Feb.12—Plum Pudding Day Feb.13—Get a Different Name Day Feb.14—Valentine’s Day!!! Feb.21—Card Reading Day Feb.22—International World Thinking Day Feb.23—Tennis Day Feb.24—National Tortilla Chip Day Feb.25—National Clam Chowder Day Feb.26—Tell a Fairy Tale Day Feb.27—Polar Bear Day Feb.28—National Tooth Fairy Day Feb.15—Singles Awareness Day Feb.16—President’s Day Feb.17—Random Acts of Kindness Day Feb.18—National Battery Day Feb.19—National Chocolate Mint Day Feb.20—Cherry Pie Day 4 Celebrity Birthdays of the Month: February Feb. 1—Harry Styles (singer) Feb.2—Shakira (singer) By: Madison Owens Feb.21—John Henry Newman (religious leader) Feb.22—George Washington (former U.S. Feb. 3—Sean Kingston (singer) President) Feb.4—Rosa Parks (Civil Rights Leader) Feb.23—George Fredrick Handel (composer) Feb.5—Hank Aaron (former baseball player) Feb.6—Bob Marley (musician) Feb. 7—Chris Rock (actor) Feb.24—Eddie Murray (baseball player) Feb.25—Tucker Albrizzi (TV actor—Good Luck Charlie) Feb.26—Johnny Cash (musician) Feb.27—Jeff Smith (cartoonist) Feb.8—Bethany Hamilton (surfer) Feb.28—Jason Aldean (country singer) Feb.9—Kelli Berglund (TV actress) Feb.10—Chloe Grace Mortez (actress) Feb.11—Taylor Launtner (actor—Team Jacob!) Feb.12— Abraham Lincoln (former U.S. President) Feb.13—Randy Moss (football player) Feb.14—Frederick Douglass (author) Feb.15—Zachary Gordon (actor—Diary of a Wimpy Kid) Feb.16—Elizabeth Olsen (actress—Godzilla) Feb.17—Larry the Cable Guy (comedian/actor) Feb.18—John Travolta (actor) Feb.19—Victoria Justice (TV actress) Feb.20—Rihanna (singer) 5 Who’s Who? Staff Around TMS By: Lauren Buss Mrs. Lueck – Food Service Staff Favorite Food: Pea soup Favorite Dessert: French silk pie Favorite Color: Purple Favorite Holiday: Halloween Hobbies: Scrapbooking and camping with family If you won $1 million, what would you do first? Pay off house If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? Maine Mrs. Marquardt – Library Staff Favorite Food: Mexican food Favorite Dessert: pumpkin bars Favorite Color: Yellow Favorite Holiday: Duck Season Hobbies: Reading, hunting, and other outdoor activities If you won $1 million, what would you do first? Donate to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? Alaska 6 Who’s Who? Students Around TMS By: Sydney Moore Lexie Bos is an 8th grader here at TMS. She is new to the district this year as she moved here from New Lisbon. Lexie’s favorite subject is English because she likes to read, but she also likes math and ESS. Her least favorite subject is social studies. Lexie likes almost every food and her favorite colors are turquoise, orange and purple. Lexie likes all the seasons for different reasons. She likes that there are different things to do at different times of the year. Lexie plays basketball and is a part of our Science Olympiad team. Her hobbies include spending time with family and friends, playing basketball, and playing the flute. She also enjoys babysitting and playing volleyball. She hopes that the rest of her year is as good as it has been so far!! 7 Science Corner Plants vs. Pollution In China, an agricultural scientist Quan-Hong Yao and his team have recently made an incredible development when it comes to ‘going green’. Toxins left over by chemical spills and air pollution have a very negative impact on the environment, and cleaning these messes can be very expensive. However, this group of scientists have developed a more cost-efficient way of accomplishing the task. They have successfully genetically modified a certain type of plants to not only be able to thrive in polluted conditions, but also help get rid of the waste. They combined small plant called Arabidopsis thaliana with an enzyme-producing microbe. The enzymes the microbe creates speed up chemical reactions in the plant it was put into. And tada! The result is an eco-friendly chemical cleaning plant! Now, instead of spending a large amount of money digging up contaminated dirt or putting expensive chemicals in it, all you have to do is place these amazing plants in the area at nearly one-tenth the price! Fact or Fiction 1. There are 8 times as many atoms in a teaspoonful of water as there are teaspoons of water in the Atlantic Ocean. 2. The human brain takes in 11 million bits of information every second but is aware of only 40. 3. The average person accidentally eats 200 bugs each year of their life. 4. Gorillas and potatoes have two more chromosomes than humans do. 5. A dog’s sense of smell is 100 times more sensitive than a human’s. 1. Fact 2. Fact 3. Fiction: The average person accidentally eats 430 bugs each year of their life. 4. Fact 5. Fiction: A dog’s sense of smell is 1,000 times more sensitive than a human’s. Answer Key: 8 By: Theodora Edell Rachel’s Challenge Chain Reaction Have you done your part? How many goals have you completed? Think. Maybe just maybe you can start a chain reaction. Doing good isn’t hard. Being the bigger person can be. But you choose what you do. You can always be the bigger person and stand up. Here’s a challenge. Start a chain reaction. Go home cut out slips of paper and write down things you’ve done for other people. Then get something to connect them and make a chain. Set a goal. After so long, see how many you got. Share this with other people spread this chain. Do what you got to do. 9 Book Review The Help Written By: Kathryn Stockett By: Chadd Williamson I have recently read The Help. I thought this book was phenomenal! The book really showed how hard it was back then. It made me feel all the emotions that the characters felt. It was very well written. I laughed, I cried, and I got emotionally attached to the characters. I feel this is a MUST READ book. It really changes your views on how life works. 10 COMICS: Valentine’s Day 11 Jokes, Puzzles, and Riddles What is a vampire’s sweetheart called? SUDOKU A: His ghoul-friend What did the paper clip say to the magnet? A: I’m very attracted to you. What do you call a very small valentine? A: A Valentiny! What do you fill with empty hands? (Answer at bottom) A: gloves; Number of little red hearts = 31 12
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