February Issue 2015 - Tomah Area School District

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)
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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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
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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!!
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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:
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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.
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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.
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COMICS: Valentine’s Day
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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
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