Issue 13: Planet Earth

THE TALON GI VI NG OUR READERS A CHANCE TO THI NK, FEEL, LAUGH, AND CONNECT WI TH EACH OTHER.

Planet Earth Visit our webazine at : t het alon.nido.cl

I ssue 13 - December 2016

Del Cartwright Grade 5

Gaby Gomez Grade 5

Timothy Wegner Grade 5

Briana Perez Grade 5

Pablo Lievano Grade 5

Lena Espinoza Grade 4

Clarie Gillen Grade 4

Emma Garfien Grade 5

STAFF

Keira Simon Grade 4

Elizabeth Arthur Grade 3

Minseo Kim

Alex Arthur Grade 5

Darcy Hill Grade 2

Sam Lowthorpe Grade 3

Grade 4

Ben Rios Grade 3

TABLEOFCONTENTS Did You Know

How- To

How are humans effecting the Earth?

Pablo's cookies...easy to make...delicious to feast on!

Pages 1-4

Page 5

Animals and Nature What is really behind the deforestation of the rainforest?

Page 6

Sports

Spotlight

Your Vote

Our sports writer Ben says goodbye to The Talon in Beast Mode

How we can make a difference locally and globaly

Read about the cherished things of this planet

Page 7

Pages 8 - 12

Page 14

Imagination Creation

World of Art

Wacky Pages

Creative perspectives will make us think twice before harming our planet.

You can be a Pixar or Disney character!

Test your mind and tickle your funny bone!

Pages 18- 20

Page 21

Pages 15- 17

Th e n ew Talon logo f or t h is issu e is design ed by Joaqu in Don aldon as par t of h is In qu ir y Pr oject in t o pow er f u l logos.

Did You Kn ow

THEGREATPACIFICGARBAGEPATCH

by Briana Perez (grade 5)

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a collection of debris in the ocean. It is located in the center of the North Pacific Ocean. The garbage patch, which forms a floating island, is made out of plastic and trash. The trash sinks from the ocean?s surface down to the ocean?s floor.

Researchers who study the Great Pacific Garbage Patch say it?s twice the size of Texas. It?s nine feet deep ( about 2.7 meters). It is mainly made out of nonbiodegradable plastic. This means that the plastic does not break down, which is bad because it just stays there.

The person who discovered the garbage patch was Charles Moore. He found it in 1997 when he was going back to California after a boat race.

Some of the people that help clean up the ocean are people from a website called theoceancleanup.com.

They have created a device that captures plastic, it does this with a screen that catches floating plastic but allows water and ocean life to go underneath it.

(human beings) don?t help the ocean are: 5 to 10% of the fish contain small pieces of plastic in their bellies.

This is obviously bad for them. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is largest landfill in the world. We can?t clean up much of the trash because it?s so small and the pieces are not biodegradable. Also over 5 trillion pieces of plastic currently litter the ocean. There are 5 garbage patches in the ocean: the largest one is between Hawaii and California and that is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. When trash is in the ocean it can hurt the marine life by choking them, entangling them, or them eating it.

Most importantly, no nation will take responsibility for the cleaning it up, and any country that takes responsibility will go bankrupt trying to clean up the patch because of its size.

There are many ways human beings can help. We can recycle, use reusable bags, buy less plastic, use objects more than once, join theoceancleanup.com team, etc.

But if you start doing ANY of these things now, the ocean will be cleaner than it would've been in 20 more years.

The ocean takes up more space than any other thing on our planet. If it?s unhealthy, all of the beautiful things on this planet will be unhealthy too (including humans).

So go out and do your part.

Most of the trash is there because 80% of it comes from North America and Asia. 20% is from boats, oil rigs, and cargo shipsmanmade creations that work at sea. Also, 7 billion pounds of non recyclable plastic are made every year. 7% of the plastic in the U.S.A is recycled, which means 93% is not.

Another thing is that even if the plastic was biodegradable, it will not biodegrade in the ocean. All this means that the garbage patch doesn?t go away, but continues to grow.

The trash from North America takes 6 years to float to the patch. The trash from Asia takes only 1 year to get to the patch. The ocean currents take the trash, and eventually trap it in it?s gyro (the circular current of the Pacific ocean).

Some of the bad things that happen when we 1

IMPORTANCEOFREADING

by Del Cartwright (grade 5) Many people probably just flip through the pages of this magazine looking for pictures, reading the Wacky Page and maybe only sometimes will they really take the time to read an article. Reading is a thing that many kids only do if it's for homework or don?t even do that. People say that reading is overrated and a waste of time, yet it is totally the opposite.

You should really appreciate reading even if you read for 5 minutes and leave your phone in your hand still text messaging your friends. This is still at least a starting point.

If you check out books from the library but don?t even read them and use them just for your teachers credit, you're not thinking. Go the the library and ask for a book recommendation. It is as easy as that. Some kids our age pray for and feel honored to get just one used book for Christmas. And some Nido kids don?t use their library privilege wisely.

Reading is important. Reading is beneficial to your mind and brain. Reading gives your brain the capacity to figure something out and analyse situations. Reading is an experience and can take your mind into worlds, places, and problems without really being there. Reading is a powerful tool that will help you all through school, college, your jobs, news, knowledge and experience. Please go home, pick up a book, and read!

AGEOFEMPIRES3: ASIANDYNASTIES

by Darcy Hill (grade 2) Did you know that there is a game called Age of Empires, Asian Dynasties? Recently, my family and I have been playing it. Age of Empires with the Asian Dynasties Expansion Pack, is a real time strategy (RTS) game in which different countries try to control the New World and Asia. It is a PC game published by Microsoft Studios and is available on Steam. It costs around CLP 20.000 and can be played in single or multiplayer mode.

As a player you can select to be a number of major Asian, European, North American or South American civilisations.

For example, you can be Aztecs, Japanese, British, Spanish, Russian or Portuguese. Each civilisation has its own unique types of buildings, resource needs and soldiers. The game has a cool collection of soldiers, such as, Mahouts, Samurai, Ninja and Musketeers and an impressive set of artillery types, such as flaming arrows and great bombards.

The aim of the game is to defeat your opponents. You have to collect resources, build your city and train your soldiers.

The resources you can collect are food, wood, coin and export. Players earn food by farming, gathering and hunting.

Players get wood by chopping down trees. Also, players can get coin by mining silver and gold.

There are three game modes: campaigns, deathmatch and supremacy. In the campaign mode, you have to do tasks. In deathmatch mode, you start off with 1,000,000,000 of each resource and in supremacy you start off with 100 of each resource.

You?re probably wondering HOW DO YOU PLAY?!? You need to build a city. First you click on the ?manage city? button.

Then you click on the ?build city? button. Next you click on the culture you like(also you can change the city?s and hero?s name). Finally you click ?create city?. Then you click play. You start off with 4-8 settlers (depending on the culture and the map). One explorer, one chief, or two monks (depending on the culture). They are also called heros. You can build buildings with your settlers. By collecting resources and building up your city you can research and move up a technological age but it is limited to the gunpowder age.

I really enjoy playing this game, particularly with my family or friends. The game is suitable for gamers from 8 and up.

It?s a lot of fun and you can learn some history! I give it 4.5 out of 5 Stars.

The game has exciting graphics (as you can see in the photos) , realist sound effects and uses real historical stories within this fictional game. From the main menu you can access real stories about the civilizations. The game also has exciting battles and great details like smoke from the cannons, birds flying in the sky and wild animals wandering in the background.

2

DIFFERENTCLIMATESOFCHILE

by Lizzie Arthur (grade 3) Because of Chile?s length, it has some of the most diversity in climate zones of any country in the world!

In the North is the driest desert in the world, The Atacama desert.

The Andes Mountains on the eastern part of the country separate Chile from Argentina and Bolivia, and run the entire length of Chile. In the south, these Andes mountains are cold and snowy (especially in winter), but in the North they?re dry and cold.

In the South, is wet and cold Patagonia. Patagonia has the Ice Caps of South America, which are massive (literally)! It also includes the Austral region. This Austral region includes Chiloe, an island in the South, and it is humid, rainy, and cool. Another really cool place in Chile is the Patagonian fjords. Much like the Norwegian fjords, they shoot straight up out of the ocean, are full of dense forests, and sometimes have impressive hanging glaciers.

Chile also has another island, Easter Island. The

weather is usually hot, but sometimes it rains all day (especially in the rainy season, which runs from March to August)! Rapa Nui is what the natives call Easter Island. The weather is usually hot, and it has a rainy and dry season.

The Andes mountains on the eastern part of the country separate Chile from Argentina and Bolivia, and run the entire length of Chile.

In the south, these Andes mountains are cold and snowy (especially in winter), but in the North they?re dry and cold.

Another well known island in Chile is Juan Fernandez. It is also known as Robinson Crusoe Island. It is usually rainy in the islands more in the winter months.

These are beautiful climates, but if we keep destroying and polluting our world these climates will be destroyed. So? .

PLEASE DO YOUR PART TO PROTECT THEM!

NOTE: Al l images f or t his piece are court esy of Miss Carol ina's Art cl ass.

3

ANIMALAGRICULTURE

By Al ex Art hur (Grade 5) Right now, t here are environment al going-ons al l over t he news. Everybody is over-expl oit ing t he f act t hat t he Amazon rainf orest is disappearing. Yet what real l y st rikes me is t hat no one bot hers t o do somet hing about it . Think of it t his way. You are in your house, and it is midsummer. Your ice cream is mel t ing, so you put it in t he microwave in t he hope t hat it wil l re-f reeze. Don?t you t hink it ?s just t he most annoying t hing in t he worl d t hat peopl e t hink a probl em needs sol ving, and t hen go out and make it worse?

In t he USA, 5% of wat er use is f or househol d purposes, yet a shocking 55% goes int o producing meat , dairy and eggs.

And i?m sure you exscuse t his genocide of t he animal kingdom by saying simpl y ?wel l we need meat t o survive?. But we don?t . We are act ual l y heal t hier if we just give it up.

Scient if ic st udies (especial l y ?The China St udy?) have f ound t hat animal product s are not as good f or us as we t hought . In f act t hey can be downright bad! Eat ing a good pl ant diet can real l y bring down t he risk of diabet es, heart disease, and some cancers.

Eat ing so many animal product s is t urning out t o be real l y bad f or our pl anet t oo.

I?m surprised t hat peopl e don?t know t hat raising animal s f or f ood is 51% of gl obal greenhouse gas emissions. Al l cars, pl anes, t rains, t rucks and ships put t oget her onl y makes 13% , t his is puny in comparison. I don?t mean t o say t hat we shoul d ignore t he issues, but being annoyed about t hat is wast ed t ime when compared t o t hinking about animal agricul t ure. You coul d drive t he biggest car you want and do MUCH more f or t he pl anet by not eat ing animal s.

f you ask a l eading environment al ist nowadays about t he l ack of wat er, t hey might repl y wit h ?need t o conserve, pol it icians, f l oods, wat er wars?. But maybe you coul d st rike him wit h t he quest ion ?And what about animal agricul t ure, eh?? That might just l eave him st ut t ering and mumbl ing ?Ermmm? Wel l ? There?s not hing t o say about t hat .? But t here is.

And t his is onl y about t he environment al side of it , not about t he very sad l ives of t he animal s we eat . Last year around 150 bil l ion animal s were kil l ed just because we l ike eat ing animal product s.

Did you know t hat t o produce meat , f act ory f arms keep animal s in cages t heir whol e l ives, f at t en t hem up, inject t hem wit h chemical s, t ake away t heir babies?

?So how can we st op t his?? I hear you ask? Wel l f irst l y, you can t ry eat ing l ess meat . Yes, you heard me right .

St art giving up meat . I f or one know t hat you have al ways bel ieved t hat you need it but do you know t hat some of t he t op at hl et es in t he worl d don?t eat any animal product s? Venus and Serena Wil l iams, t his st upendousl y enormous guy in t he pict ure Pat rick Baboumain, set a worl d record as t he worl d?s st rongest man when he l if t ed a 150kg beer keg over his head. Surf ing champ Tia Bl anco and Chicago Bears def ensive l ineman David Cart er are onl y a f ew of t he sport s st ars who say t hey f eel good and perf orm bet t er wit hout eat ing any animal product s.

Just t hink about it . Maybe every week you can eat l ess animal s, st op unnecessary pain and and save t he worl d.

I 4

How To

HOWTOMAKEHOMEMADECOOKIES

By Pablo Lievano (Grade 5)

combined.

A= Adult help needed

6. Make a ball with the dough and divide it in half.

Ingredients:

7. Wrap them in kitchen plastic wrapper and put the 2 balls into the fridge FOR AT LEAST 1 HOUR.

½ a pound of room temperature butter

8. Roll them and make the shapes.

1 cup superfine sugar ½ teaspoon salt

9. A Open the oven and put the cookies on the tray and put the tray in the oven. Leave them from 6 to 8 minutes.

1 large egg yolk

10. Take them out, wait for them to cool and enjoy!

1 large egg (or 2 small eggs) 2 teaspoons vanilla 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

Utensils: Large bowl Beater, whisk (Both names are correct) Kitchen plastic wrapper Fridge Oven Tray

Steps: 1. A Pre-heat the oven at 375 Degrees Fahrenheit, or 190 Degrees celsius.

2. Mix the ½ pound of room temperature butter, 1 cup superfine sugar and ½ teaspoon salt.

3. Add 1 large egg yolk and beat until blended 4. Add 1 large egg (or 2 small eggs), 2 teaspoons vanilla and beat until combined.

5. Beat 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour until 5

An im als an d Nat u r e

CLIMATECHANGE

by Sam Lowt horpe (grade 3) What?s going on you may ask? Destruction. For example, every minute, an alarming 55,600 trees get cut down.

It?s time to make a change. But what is all the destruction for? 1: Money. Money is used almost everyday in are normal life. 2: Soya trees. They use soya trees to make cows get fat, then kill them, and finally the most important...

Palm Oil. One of the biggest problems on Earth is Palm Oil. First of all, many Indonesian forestry companies cut the old growth rain forest trees that help us breath and clean the area. Then they plant palm oil trees, wait a while, and finally cut down the palm oil trees to use the palm oil. This is responsible for most of the rainforest destruction in the world. These foods and the companies that make these foods have TONS of palm oil so if you don't want your grandkids to be living on Mars, then I would highly recommend not eating too much of these foods:

70% of t hat 47% is f or cow product ion!

The ot her 30% is f or f ruit , veggies, and nut s.

2. 550 cows get kil l ed per a minut e due t o beef . Not t o ment ion 90,000 chickens!!!!!

3. If t he current rat e of def orest at ion cont inues, it wil l t ake l ess t han 100 years t o dest roy al l t he rainf orest s on t he eart h.

4. Approximat el y 4000 square met ers of rain f orest s get cut down per a second.

5. 20% of t he worl d?s oxygen is produced in t he Amazon f orest .

Thank you for reading this article so what are you waiting for...Christmas!!!Go ahead and make a difference.

Do you want to learn more about how much damage we are doing to Earth? Or see how careless we are to just let greedy people trick us? If you care about saving this planet and saving nature then let?s make a change together!

Source: Al l t his inf ormat ion came f rom t he new cl imat e change document ary "Bef ore t he Fl ood" (Wat ch it on Yout ube or Nat ural Geographic channel ).

The three biggest rainforests are the congo basin in South Africa, The Amazon Rainforest in South America and the South East Rainforest in Indonesia,the top of Australia and the bottom of Malaysia.

I personally think that we should not cut down the rainforests. The rainforest trees not only give us oxygen but also suck in carbon dioxide? untill we burn the trees into flames which releases giant amounts of carbon dioxide the goes up into the atmosphere.

Fun f act s 1. 47% of l and is used f or t he product ion of f ood and 6

Spor t s

BEASTMODE

were really bad so he left. The best play he made is known as ?Beast Mode?. It goes something like this; from the 30 yard line he catches the ball, he passes 3 players, then 4, 5,6, 7 and 8 and then someone dive tackles him. Touchdown!!! Everyone at the stadium screams as he dives into the end zone. Pretty good play you ask me.

by Ben Rios (grade 3)

I?m writing this piece because I?m retiring from The Talon just the same as Marshawn Lynch retired this year from his team the Seattle Seahawks. But that?s not what we?re talking about so cheer up! We?re here to talk about why Marshawn Lynch is a legend for the Seattle Seahawks.

Marshawn is pretty tall, his height is 1 meter 80 centimeters (5 ft. 11 inch.) His rushing touchdowns are 74. He has 27 total fumbles.

His receiving touchdowns are 9. His receiving yards are 1,979.

Also, his rushing average is 4.2 yards per carry.

He played 9 seasons in total.

This running back was born on April 22nd, 1986. He announced his retirement February 7, 2016 by Twitter. His total rushing yards are 9,112. He?s a legend for the Buffalo Bills too but the Bills

At Super Bowl 47, Marshawn Lynch had a great performance, when his team crushed the Broncos 43-8.

That same season, he had an impressive 1,306 rushing yards, which earned him the deserved nickname ?Beast Mode?. He went on to almost win another Super Bowl against the Patriots, but the Seattle based team lost the ball on a crucial play, giving New England the win.

In conclusion, Marshawn Lynch was a pretty great player and even though he retired I will always see him as my star player.

8 7

Spot ligh t

7 WAYS TO HELP THE EARTH

by Gabriela Gomez (grade 5) REUSE

Reuse means to use something more than once.The problem is that people are getting used to using one side of a paper and then throwing it away if they end up not needing it. The effect from this problem is that thousands of trees are being cut down and are barely being used. In the library for example there is a big cardboard bin where you can find paper you can reuse. If you only used one side of a paper and you don?t need it anymore, you can put it in there for other people to use. It?s the same if you need a piece of paper to just write something down, you can use one of those.

What You Can Do: Use both sides of a paper Save plastic cups, utensils and/ or plates to reuse later. Especially here at Nido for any parties. Don?t forget you can bring your own plates at Kermess!

Use supermarket bags more than once.Don?t throw away your old clothes, try to either donate or use them in another way, maybe cutting the cloth and using it as a white board eraser in class.

RECYCLE Recycling is the process of making waste into reusable objects. Almost everyone throws away plastic bottles, cans, paper, etc. This is horrible because they know that recycling companies exist but they don?t take action! Recycling companies get everything they can and use machines to melt metal, paper, plastic, etc. and then make them into something different.

Pick Up Trash In one day, 4.3 pounds of trash is being produced by an average person! This is creating a lot of pollution, which leads to the ozone layer opening holes. This is horrible and you, as part of the future generation, have to help.

What You Can Do:

What You Can Do: DO NOT THROW AWAY RECYCLABLE OBJECTS! Try to recycle at your house.

Remember that you can always bring your recyclables to Nido and put them in the huge recycling bins. The bins will be at Nido on the weekends from November 19 to November.

They will be at Nido from 9:00 am on Saturday, to 11:00 and on Monday.

*You can pick up trash when you see some

*You can try to recycle so that you don?t create so much waste.

You can reuse objects, which is another way to not create so much trash

8

Drive Less What is also making holes in the ozone layers is the pollution coming from vehicles. The ozone layer is a layer in the sky that keeps us safe from the sun?s UV. That is why it is really important to wear sunscreen right now. Because of the holes in the ozone layer, the sun?s UV is way stronger now. But people don?t take action. People are getting so lazy that when they have their destination a block away, they prefer to drive then to walk. Come on people you need the exercise!

What You Can Do: Try not to use your car so much, ride a bike or walk. When you think about it, buses help a lot because although they are creating pollution, they carry a bunch of people. That helps because instead of around 20 or 30 people driving separate vehicles only one has to create bad air instead of 20/ 30.

Use Less Wat er My grandfather always says that everyone should take maximum 5 minutes taking a bath. You get wet, put on soap and then get wet again to rinse it off. Although sometimes you might take longer, you could help a lot by just turning the water off when you are not needing it. Like while you are brushing your teeth, you could turn off the water while your brushing instead of letting it running. Eventually, water is going to become rare, but right now we need to try to stop that from happening so quickly.

Don?t Cut Trees In a year, 15 bil l ion t rees get cut down by humans! Come on peopl e, t rees are our f riends not our enemies. You shoul d al ways be t hanking our t rees. The oxygen you are breat hing right now, are because of t hese amazing, unique t rees. Trees t ake in carbon dioxide f rom t heir l eaves (t he air we breat h out ) and produce oxygen. So, when we cut down t rees, it is l ike cut t ing down oxygen.

What You Can Do: *Save paper, t he more papers you wast e, t he more t rees are get t ing cut down.

What You Can Do: Turn off water when you are not using it.

Do not throw water away, instead try giving it to a plant.Do not overwater plants, you are just wasting water.

*Don?t hurt t rees ( picking out a l eaf hurt s t hem) remember t hey are al so l iving.

9

KERMESS GOES GREEN

By Edu ar do Galin do (Gr ade 3) This year's Kermess was dif f erent f rom t he years past . There was around 6,000 peopl e f rom over 50 nat ional it ies. But , t he big change was t he new sust ainabil it y init iat ives at Kermess.

Four new recycl ing st at ions! My sist er and I and many ot hers used t he recycl ing cent er consist ent l y.

Kermess reusabl e cups bought at t he t icket boot h f or 1,000 CLP. These are t he reusabl e cups t hat had a discount of 250 pesos on drinks. Al so, when you brought your own pl at es f rom home you coul d receive a discount of 500 pesos on f ood.

Heal t hy f ood st and. Mr. Duf f y?s HS Heal t h cl ass designed a menu of heal t hy f oods incl uding: Hummus, sal ad, and an appl e-banana honey desert .

In concl usion, I?m proud of t he progress t hat Nido has made in t he recycl ing process. I hope t o see many peopl e using t he init iat ives of t his year?s Kermess in years t o come. Reduce. Reuse.

Recycl e.

10

ORGANIC GARDENING: FEAST FOR WORMS

by Minseo Kim(grade 4) In the After-School Activity Organic Gardening, we got the idea of a worm project which helps the worms and the garden by using worms?casting which helps the soil and the soil helps the vegetable and the rotten vegetable helps the worms again! I interviewed people that knew very well about gardening. If you want to know more, just keep on reading.

I had an interview with Organic Gardening teacher, Ms. Davina, who had lots of thing she knew about gardening.

M(Minseo/ or me): Hi, I am Minseo from 4D. Can I ask you some questions about the worm feeding project?

T(stands for teacher): Yes, of course. What is it f or?

M: I?m writing an article in Talon, and I decided to write about worm feeding project.

First, can you introduce yourself? What is your background? How did you get into gardening?

T: Hi, Tal on readers, my name is Ms. Davina, and I am a l andscape designer and I ran Organic Gardening f or 4 years. I got int o organic gardening because I l ived in nat ure and I enjoyed nat ure. Al so, I was curious where t he f ood comes f rom.

M: What made you think of this project?

T: I want ed ot her peopl e t o know how t o grow t heir own f ood, and connect wit h nat ure.

M: Do you want this project to be officially started? Or? Can you explain what you hope this project is able to accomplish?

T: Yes, I woul d l ike it t o be of f icial l y st art ed, but not just t he worm project , I want t he garden t o be communit y garden.

M: How many worms do you have?

T: It ?s hard t o count t hem al l . There?s l ike mil l ion of

t hem. I?m not very sure about it .

M: Can you explain what worms CAN eat to the readers?

Why is what they eat important to organic gardening?

T: Everyt hing t hat comes f rom nat ure, and t here shoul d be no cooked t hings because ot herwise t he ot her animal s l ike snail s and rat s might come. And al so no condiment ed f ood f or t he same reason. Things t hey eat are import ant t o organic gardening because t hey t urn unusef ul l ef t overs t o humus(worm cast ings). And it is al so import ant because t hey al so might get bad resul t depending on what you give it t o t hem. Like I said, t here might be animal s eat ing it , and t here might be humus depending on what you give t o t hem.

M: What do you think about worms?

T: Amazing. They t urn t rash int o usef ul humus.

M: Do you have anything else to suggest for gardening with worm to the readers?

T: Creat e of energy (in ot her way, f ol l ow t he cycl ef ood -> l ef t over -> worms -> humus -> f ood).

M: Do you have anything else you want to tell the readers?

T: I t hink everybody shoul d l earn t o make t heir own f ood, and underst and nat ure. Underst anding nat ure makes you underst and you.

Int erview wit h t eachers I also had interviews with some Nido teachers to find out their thoughts on the project.

Ms. Jen(teacher of 4D) M: The Worm project is a project which we thought of that feeds worms and cleans trash at the same time. What do you think about this project?

T: I t hink it is eart h-f riendl y, and al so very creat ive.

And since it t akes pl ace in our school , I l ike it because it is a l ocal project t hat WE t hought of and t hat shows our st udent s?creat ivit y. It wil l be a great discovery and also our school challenge.

Special thanks to: Mr. Jason, Mr. Chad, Ms. Davina, Mr. Moises, Ms. Jen (4D teacher), Ms. Nasha (4F teacher), Nico Rodriguez (4D).

11

ORGANIC GARDENING CONTINUED... be a great discovery and also our school challenge.

Ms. Nasha(teacher of 4F) M: Worm project is a project which we thought of that feeds worms and cleans trash at the same time. What do you think about this project?

T: I t hink it woul d be f un t o st art t hroughout t he school because it woul d be one way t o use our t rash in a posit ive way. I t hink Nido needs t o improve t he recycl ing syst em and maybe t his coul d be a part of it !

I also asked the school gardener, Mr. Moises, about what he thinks about this project because he also knows a lot about gardening.

Translated in English from Spanish (question translating help by Nico Rodriguez 4D): M: We are doing a project in after-school activity, Organic Gardening. It is about feeding worms with the trash that worms can eat so that it is good for the school and also the garden. What do you think about this project?

Here are some facts about worms:

1. Worms?castings are high in G(for gardener): Very good. I didn?t know it was happening.

M: Do you think it would be good if this project also happens during the regular school time, not only during after-school?

G: I t hink it wil l be great wit h al l of t he kids invol ved during school t ime because t hen t hey wil l be abl e t o know where t he f ood comes f rom and al so care Eart h.

magnesium and other things that are good for plants.

2. When worms make their way, they dig tunnels, and that helps plants grow root better.

3. Worms do not eat expensive foods(they do not eat king-size hamburger or meatball spaghetti like you!).

M: Thank you!

12

OPERATION ICEBRIDGE INTERVIEW What were some f act s you l earnt about t he ice?

By Keira Simon (Grade 4) Did you know t hat al t oget her Ant arct ica and Greenl and ice sheet s cont ain more t han 99 percent of t he worl d?s f resh wat er ice? Here are some int erviews of t he peopl e who have f l own in a Icebridge aircraf t over t he Ant arct ic ice which wil l t el l you al l about t heir experiences and t hought s about t he Icebridge, a program t hat arranges f l ight s over t he Icebridge, in Greenl and and Ant arct ica, t o monit or and examine t he ice and how it has changed inst ead of t he ol d sat el l it e. Five Nido t eachers were given t he opport unit y t o f l y in an Ice Bridge aircraf t .

?Sal t wat er can f reeze at -1.9 degrees cel sius and sal t wat er ice is more dense t han f reshwat er ice.?

What are your t hought s about t he ice? ?BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! Especial l y when t he ice is next t o wat er.?

How does it f eel t o be riding in t he Icebridge aircraf t ? ?So cool ! It f el t so good t o have f reedom on t he airpl ane. Being abl e t o t al k t o t he pil ot s, go under t he aircraf t , and being abl e t o t al k t o t he scient ist s.?

Mr. Chad

Mr. Mart in: What were t he probl ems you not iced during t he f l ight ? ?The ice pol es are mel t ing f ast er t han t hey are repl enishing.?

What were some f act s you l earnt about t he ice? ?The ice have l ayers t hat t el l you how ol d t hey are. For exampl e if you cut a t ree, t here wil l be rings in t he t runk t hat show t he age of t he t ree.?

How does it f eel t o be riding in t he Icebridge aircraf t ? ?It f eel s so cal m and peacef ul t o be seeing just ice and snow.?

The experience of f ered by Operat ion Ice Bridge gave new meaning t o t he phrase 'breat h-t aking'. It was t rul y a spirit ual experience t o gl ide 1,500 f eet over t he vast ness of Ant arct ica's f rozen wonders. To gaze out over t he t apest ry of f l owing, cracking, shif t ing,col l apsing, and f l oat ing ice made me appreciat e it s pl ace in our worl d. It is where man's creat ions are overshadowed by ice shel ves and gl aciers, where f rozen wat er has reigned f or mil l enniums. To bare wit ness t o t he majest y of west ern Ant arct ica was a gif t , an emot ional connect ion was f ormed, and wit h it comes a new responsibil it y.

What are you t hought s about t he ice? ?I don?t know what is going t o happen but if t he ice pol es mel t , we are going t o have a big probl em being human beings.?

Mr. Paul Boot h:

Unl ess you want many of our homes t o sink, we need t o st op gl obal warming. You can decrease your carbon f oot print and seek advice f rom t he ot her art icl es / websit es on how t o save t he Eart h.

SAVE THE EARTH!!!!!!!!!!!

What were t he probl ems you not iced during t he f l ight ? ?The wat er get s underneat h gl acier and mel t s t he gl acier f rom underneat h.?

t he

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What do you Cherish About Pl anet Eart h?

What I cherish about planet Earth is the leatherback turtles. The reason why I cherish them is because they are endangered and that is what makes them special to me. I also think they are very pretty and intelligent turtles.

By: Claire Gillen (Grade 3) What do you cherish most about planet Earth?

This question was asked to some Nido students and teachers, and they all said very interesting, yet very different answers. The Earth is changing and warming up, and there lots of other problems, so these things we cherish about our planet are things we humans need to protect. Read other articles to find out more about Earth?s problems.

Rheana Daswani (4E St udent ): I cherish animals. There are so many types of animals and some are very cool and different. I really like how they sometimes help us and make us very happy.

Keira Simon (4A st udent ):

Ms. Lucy (Grade 3 Teacher): I cherish nature, and everything around us that is natural, like trees, mountains, and of course wild animals. I cherish everything that is natural about this planet.

Mr. Krist ian (Grade 4 Teacher): What I cherish about planet Earth is how amazing it is, and the connection between humans and trees and wildlife, also how at moments the Earth is very peaceful, and at other moments it is fierce and powerful. I also cherish how we people work together to live as one.

Ms.Cheng (Grade 5 Teacher): I really cherish how planet Earth takes care of us, and gives us what we need in order to survive, because if our Earth was different, then we might not even be here and have the things that we have.

I cherish how nature can make such fascinating things and how everything and everyone is unique. Everything is so amazing and beautiful in many different ways.

What I cherish about planet Earth is how beautiful it is. The sunset, the mountains, beaches, and so many other things in the world are so beautiful and I also cherish how amazing it is that they are natural.

Do you want to help save these things that so many people cherish? Ask your friends what they cherish and look at ways to help save those things! If you

want to keep these things, then don?t wait? SAVE OUR PLANET!!!!!

WHATDOCHERISHABOUTPLANETEARTH?

YOUR VOTE

El iza Currie (4E St udent ):

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Imaginat ion Creat ion

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LUCINDAMEETSEARTH By: Malayka Aly (grade 4) One day, Lucinda a regular girl with an enormous secret

was finishing revising her amazing draft about a girl named Annabelle and her amazing dreams. After she felt she was done, Lucinda put her notebook, pencil, pens and eraser away. She told her teacher Miss Madeleine she was done and her teacher dismissed her. Since Lucinda came to class early she was dismissed from class early. She decided to take a slightly longer route to her next class since she was dismissed 10 minutes early. She?d be at the least be 3 minutes early to her next class. After walking in the hallway Lucinda took a right turn. She saw a forbidden classroom. The classroom was old and needed to be refurbished with new furniture, repainted walls, and new electronics. Some students say the class is haunted, while others just say it?s old.

So why did I point out this classroom? Well, a bunch of so called students go into that classroom through the back window. You see, these students are actually villains in disguise. But wait! What does this have to do with this story? Well, remember when I said Lucinda had her enormous secret? Here?s her secret. She?s a superhero who gets her powers from planet Earth. Her Superhero name is Starlight. That?s because her very first powers came from stars.

Now as I was saying, she?s a superhero who battles evil villains who don?t protect the planet. These villains sneak into that old classroom and pretend to have a reading club that?s already full. When everybody gets to their next class and there is nobody in the hallway, the villains take of their disguises and begin to form a plan to defeat Starlight aka Lucinda.

As she was passing through the hallway, Lucinda heard noises coming from the old class. She thought is was just her imagination, but it really was the villains sneaking in through that tiny window.

After Lucinda?s last class of the day came to an end, she bolted to the bus and sat next to her best friend, Naomi Smith, the only person who knew her superhero identity.

Lucinda and Naomi chit chatted on the bus ride. Before

Naomi hopped off, Lucinda told her about hearing noises from the old class as she passed by to get to her last class.

Naomi said she should examine it more closely tomorrow if she heard more noise.

So that?s what Lucinda did. She passed the classroom again on the way to class and this time she heard them talking about Starlight. She wasn?t sure what they were talking about, and she didn?t have any more time to continue listening. Only because she could have gotten caught by some students who would think she was crazy.

For the rest of the day Lucinda was worried and curious why she heard someone or something talking about Starlight. After many classes of only half paying attention, Lucinda got on the bus and soon got home with Naomi for their playdate.

After lunch, Lucinda explained everything to Naomi in her room. Naomi had a bunch of ideas of what could be happening, and together both girls made a list of which ones were farfetched and which ones seemed possible.

All of a sudden, their enjoyable play date was interrupted by a crash breaking the window of Lucinda?s room. There standing in front of the girls were all of Starlight evil enemies?

Lucinda rapidly transformed into Starlight. She left Naomi in her room and she began to fly through the enormous hole in her window. She lead the villains out of the city and well into the middle of nowhere. As Starlight was flying to the middle of nowhere she got her powers activated. She activated the power of light from the sun, the power of nature from all the plants she saw, and the power of water from the lakes and rivers she passed by.

After the villains were done following her, they used their magical guns and creations firing a spell that was very strong and never used before. That spell sent Starlight crashing to the ground?

Having heard the villains bicker about how they finally had victory, Starlight got up and used all her powers to form a spell that would send the villains far, far away.

Hopefully for forever. She fired the spell at the villains but managed to create a shield just in time?

But, Starlight?s spell was so powerful that their shield began to shatter. Soon, their shield disappeared and Starlight?s spell sent them miles into the distance. That spell contained a dust that made the villains forget her identify. Lucinda flew home, and fixed her window. She told Naomi everything and soon her mother came and picked her up. After dinner, Lucinda had a shower and went to bed. What a day!

To be continued... 15

ATREE

By Del Cartwright (Grade 5) It is an early spring morning and I stretch out my branches and remember the day where I was in a little boy?s hands running full speed into the thick rain forest. He carried twelve of us tree saplings in his pocket.

I came first as he held me over the hole that I would live in for the rest of my short life.

Birds calling me in my trunk woke me up from my long gone memories. I had more important tasks to do now as a young adult kapok tree. I had to search for minerals in the dirt with my roots, provide a glorious home for the owls and squirrels living in me, and process all the moisture in the air through my leaves.

Whoo, whoo, I heard an owl in the distance playing with it?s brother. Whoo, whoo! They circled, dipped, and swooped over the tops of the trees. I was an old kapok tree to humans, but inside I felt as young as 64 years, which indeed is very young to a three hundred year lifespan of an kapok tree. I hadn't seen another human ever since my adventure with that boy which I would never forget. I looked out along the treetops searching for another sight of the young boy running through the forest.

Ohh, ohhh. Then all of a sudden I peeked out of my branches and saw smoke, men in machines cutting and whacking down other trees. My friends! I rustled my branches as to make a sign of danger to my neighboring trees. Everything stopped and was silent. Animals climbed up the trees to get a better look. The machines were slowly approaching. They came closer and closer until it finally became night.

Now the trees were still on the lookout watching the lights of the men creep closer and closer. The nocturnal animals crept into their homes just as the owls, bats, rats, sloths, along with all the other nocturnal animals just woke up to the sound of whack, whack, whack... thump... pause...whack? . whack... whack... thump.

Once again scurrying up the trees to get a better look at what was the sound, the animals stopped and watched something they had never seen...thump..whack...EEEEkkkk, I heard an owl screech in the direction of the machines. EEEkkk, seek one tow, I couldn?t count them. Owls were calling and screeching to all the other animals in the jungle. Owl after owl flew over my branches into the direction opposite to the men. Soon, sloths and monkeys and coyotes were running in between the trees fleeing from humankind. Bunnies and rats were hiding in their homes and scampering around the forest floor.

Continued on next page...

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Soon the forest was wide awake. Eyes glowing in the dim light of the forest covered the ground all staring into the lights that were held by men in the distance. Once again I looked up through my branches and saw the men now so close that I could already distinguish them. I thought I saw the person that had planted me years before, but it must have been just my silly imagination, always wanting him to come back and look up at me with his bright eyes. He was such a caring kid. By now all of the animals were fleeing from their home that had once been peaceful and quiet. Babies dashed ahead to keep up with their mothers and now no animal cared about each other. Everyone was charging up the river, fleeing and scared of all the noises coming through the fog. cutting tree after tree. ?Keep it going guys,? I heard one say to another man. We got to get more than 55,600 trees cut down a minute or we will get into bad trouble.?

No it couldn?t be, 55,600 trees getting cut down a minute? Wait I couldn?t believe it, my entire family would be downed in a minute, my life would be over in twenty seconds. All this growing and production for nothing?

Now the men were so close that I could barely see them under my dying leaves. I couldn?t see them, yet I heard their rough voices beneath me. 20 seconds and 1 would be over and the ground that had held me up for the last 64 years. Wam! Wam! A sharp pain ran up my spine.

Wam! Wam! Another and another pain crawled up me making my branches and leaves shiver with pain. Wam! Wam! There was now know way of stopping me from dying. Wack Wack I slowly fell towards the hard ground and landed on my aching back. I stared up at the men in awe. After all that hard work they had cut me down making me die for the foolish paper production.

Then my eyes fell on someone who I recognized but who? I reckoned it was Johnny, the boy who planted me 64 years ago, but it couldn't have been. He was so caring and nice. I stared hard into his eyes and truly saw the Johnny in my memories. ?Johnny brother,? said one of his mates, ?come on what are you staring at??

?Me? Oh nothing, just a memory,? he responded. I saw the other guy mumble something but then walk away. I was left here to die and suffer alone. Shhh Shhh the last of my leaves calmed and I closed my eyes to not see daylight again.

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WORLDOFART Voice Act wit h your f riends! In a project cal l ed, "The Makings of a Memorabl e Charact er" st udent s wrot e a scene f rom an animat ed movie. They used a powerf ul bl end of act ion, descript ion, and dial ogue. These are screenpl ay versions of t heir work. Form a group, and act out t he scene!

TIPANDOHINPARIS

Writ t en and Int erpret ed by Sam Lowt horpe Act ion Narrat or - (A.N.) Descript ion Narrat or- (D.N.) TipOh-

TIP: ?Probably,?

D.N.: Tip kidded as she nudged Oh and laughed.

A.N.: Due to his frustration, Oh?s skin turned to a purple shade. His brow was furrowed and he seemed lost in thoughts. Oh was confused and concerned at the same time.

OH: That is not making me feel better,

D.N.: He was concerned about being killed because he was only trying to send an email to his so called friends. Yet instead of sending it to a couple of his friends, he accidently sent the entire galaxy his email invitation, which included Earth as the location of the party. Their enemy Gorg now had the information he needed.

TIP: ?Nobody?s perfect. You know what my mum says,Your Mistakes Are What Make You Human.

A.N.: Tip could see Oh?s concern and carefully walked towards him. Oh was staring out towards Paris below.

Tip leaned closer towards him and asked,

A.N.: Oh said with frustration while walking towards the flying car. As she was putting pig-cat into the car,Tip explained,

OH: That is not what makes you Boove, D.N. Tip giggled as they were getting into the car.

Tip and Oh both clipped in their seat-belts. Tip started up the engine, they smiled at each other, and together as friends they zoomed towards the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

A.N.: They had no idea what a grand adventure they were about to face?

Tip: What is the purpose of your face?

Oh: I... has...confusion. I do not wish to be erased.

But maybe Captain Smek is right. It is possible that I will keep making hilarious mistakes.

A.N.: Muttered Oh being honest with himself.

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HICCUP: Thank you for summing that up,

WORLDOFART HICCUPONTHECLIFF

D.N.:Hiccup replied, sounding dry of humor and trying to keep his temper down. He continued, HICCUP: Why couldn't have I killed that dragon when I found it in the forest? It would have been better for everyone,?

ACTION NARRATOR (A.N.):

A.N.: Astrid flipped her blonde braid and glanced her blue eyes at Hiccup.

DESCRIPTIVE NARRATOR (D.N.):

ASTRID: Yep.?

HICCUP:

D.N.: She agreed. They both thought back to when Hiccup found Toothless, and had decided to befriend him rather than kill him.

ASTRID: D.N.: Hiccup was a skinny Viking with no confidence, no muscles and he was not even close to being a real Viking. He watched a flock of ships sailing farther and farther away with his best friend, Toothless.

A.N.: Toothless was a dragon with contracting teeth, which made him appear as though he had none. He was also a species of dragon called a Night Fury.

D.N.: A Night Fury had top marks, it?s the fastest and most dangerous of all dragons. Toothless had been boarded up on the flock of ships to find the dragons?nest. The dragons are vile and ruthless creatures in the eyes of the Vikings due to the sheep they steal every night.

A.N.: Hiccup watched from above as Toothless was being chained tighter and tighter by Stoick, Hiccup?s overprotective Father and Captain of the Ship called Vast. Stoick also happened to be the Captain of the Vikings. He made all of the decisions. And right now he had decided to use Toothless to lead him to the dragons?nest.

D.N.: While Hiccup is stood there, Astrid came to stand next to him. She had never had a strong relationship with Hiccup, but at this moment she couldn?t help to feel sorry for him.

A.N.: While they watched the ship leave, she said: ASTRID: It's a mess. You must feel horrible. You've lost everything. your father, your tribe, and your best friend.?

ASTRID: The rest of us would have done it, so why didn't you? Why didn?t you??

A.N.: She repeated, sounding more fierce than the first time.

HICCUP: I couldn't ASTRID: That's not an answer!

HICCUP: Why is this so important to you all of a sudden?

ASTRID: Because I want to remember what you say right this moment.

HICCUP: I was a coward. I wouldn?t,

ASTRID: You said wouldn?t that time, HICCUP: Three hundred years and I?m the first Viking not to kill a dragon.

ASTRID: First Viking to ride one, though. So? ..?

HICCUP: I wouldn?t kill him because he looked as frightened as I was. I looked at him and saw myself,?

D.N.: Declared Hiccup. He had no idea at the time he was going to teach Astrid, Snotlout, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut to ride dragons too.

A.N.: He didn?t know that he would save Toothless from death, and Toothless in return would save him, and change the lives of everyone on the Isle of Berk.

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WORLDOFART FIGHTFORTHESCROLL Adapt ed and Writ t en by Eduardo Gal indo Act ion Narrat or - (A.N.) Descript ion Narrat or- (D.N.)

TI LUNG: It?s nothing!!!

A.N.: He blurted out in frustration seeing only his reflection in the mirror inserted in the scroll.

PO-

PO: Uhhh, oohhh,?

TAI LUNG-

D.N.: Po grunted. Trying to get up from the ground, Po opened his mouth to speak,

D.N.: As the battle for the powerful Dragon Scroll came to an end, Po laid defeated in an immense crater that the powerful Tai Lung had created. The stratus clouds of dust covered the two archenemies.

PO: It?s okay, I didn?t get it the first time either,?

A.N.: The dust started to clear out. Po, a stout and fuzzy panda, gazed up in exhaustion. The sun above them cast a scary shadow on his enemy. Tai Lung, the antagonist, stood proudly in front of him. This pudgy panda had been hit hard, but he was not willing to give up.

PO: ?Ahaaa,?

D.N.: Laying on the ground, Po reached for the dragon scroll. It rested on the ground. His right eye twitched, and his jaw leaned forward.

A.N.: Replied Po trying to get to his knees. Tai Lung leaned in to listen closely. Po coughed. Tai Lung looked back at the scroll confused.

TI LUNG: What?

PO: ?There is no secret ingredient.?

D.N.: Tai Lung stared at Po in disappointment.

He glared back at the Dragon Scroll in frustration as he released it.

PO: There is no secret ingredient. It?s just you.

A.N.: Po admitted as he placed his hand on his chest. Po smiled at the reflection of himself in the scroll.

A.N.: Before Po could react, Tai Lung snached the scroll from the ground.

TI LUNG: Finally? .Oh yes. Hahahahaha. The power of the Dragon Scroll is? .MINE!!! Huuuu Haaa huuu haaaa D.N.: Tai Lung blurted out of breath while opening the Dragon Scroll. A sudden shock trembled through his body. Tai Lung panted in exhaustion.

Looking confused, he tried to find the writing inside the scroll? .but found it blank.

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Wacky Page

AWESOMEANIMALFACTS!

By Al ex Art hur (Grade 12)

In t his compil at ion, t here are 3 f al se f act s. Can you f ind t hem al l ?

Did you know t hat Oct opi have t hree heart s?

You can t el l t he age of a goat by chopping of f it ?s l egs and count ing t he concent ric rings inside!

The wat er in a Bl ue Whal e?s mout h weighs as much as t he body of t he whal e it sel f .

The t adpol es of t he Paradoxical Frog are bigger t han t he f ul l y grown f rog!

70% of al l animal s in t he Amazon Rainf orest rel y on f igs f or t heir survival .

Gerbil s can smel l adrenal ine.

Ll amas can l ick t heir own el bows.

A crocodil e?s jaws can be hel d shut wit h your hands.

There are more l iving organisms in a t easpoonf ul of soil t han peopl e on eart h, and a bil l ion t imes more t han al l t he st ars of t he mil ky way in a t onne!

If al l t he spiders in The Net herl ands t ook t o eat ing humans inst ead of smal l insect s, t hey woul d have consumed al l 16.5 mil l ion dut ch peopl e in just 3 days.

Cows moo in regional accent s!

Al l pol ar bears are l ef t handed.

Al l pol ar bears are l ef t handed.

Ll amas can l ick t heir own el bows.

You can t el l t he age of a goat by chopping of f it ?s l egs and count ing t he concent ric rings inside!

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ANSWERS: The fake ones are:

Plan et Ear t h Wor dsear ch

By Briana Perez & Emma Garfein

ANIMALS PLANTS RECYCLE FOOD REDUCE HUMANS REUSE LANGUAGE SNAZZLE NATURE TREES OXYGEN DIRT DIVERSITY EARTH ELECTRICITY

Jok es What do you call a tulip with 3 eyes? Cross out all the boxes that have the letters from the word: eye, to get the answer.

__ __ __ __ __ __ __ What do you call a plant that is only kind of weird?

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HERE?SYOURCHANCETOWRITEFORTHETALON The Tal on st af f is al ways l ooking f or ?mind bl owing? writ ing t o add t o our pages. Choose f rom t he f ol l owing ideas, and pot ent ial l y your writ ing coul d be publ ished! Submit your best version, f inal draf t s t o t he f ol l owing email address: t het al on@nido.cl . Incl ude your f irst and l ast name, grade l evel , and t he t it l e of your piece. Send phot os or original art work t o compl iment you work t oo!

HOWTO: Writ e t o Teach! Nido is t he home of curious minds. Writ e a piece wit h cl ear inst ruct ions on how t o make somet hing, how t o do somet hing bet t er, or even give our readers advice on a cert ain t opic. The ?How To? sect ion is a pract ical guide t o improving oursel ves. We are l if e-l ong l earners, so writ e somet hing t hat wil l hel p us l earn.

READERSWRITE: Writ e a Personal Incident ! This sect ion of The Tal on asks readers t o express t hemsel ves on a part icul ar broad t opic. Writ ing st yl e isn?t as import ant as t hought f ul ness and sincerit y. Writ e about an anecdot e f rom your l if e, or a memorabl e moment . Bl end descript ion, dial ogue, t hought , and act ion int o an ent ert ain piece f or our readers.

IMAGINATIONCREATION: Writ e creat ivel y! This sect ion is based on f ict ion, f ant asy, and creat ive st ories writ t en by Nido st udent s. We encourage you t o submit your best f ict ional st ories. (Not e: St ories over 800 words wil l onl y be f eat ured on our websit e.)

DIDYOUKNOW: Writ e t o Persuade! This sect ion is one of The Tal on?s most popul ar due t o it s connect ion t o t he real worl d. It incl udes opinions on books read, movies wat ched, games pl ayed, and pl aces visit ed. This sect ion al so incl udes inf ormat ion on Nido current event s. We encourage you t o give us an opinion on somet hing you?ve experienced l at el y.

SUBMIT YOUR WRITING TO : thetalon@nido.cl

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