Oak street journal year in review for 2012-13

June 2013

Volume 1, Issue 1

Contributors:

Oak Street Journal Online 2012—2013 in review And so the school year begins with old and new faces!

Aya

Jordan

I interviewed Jordan who is in his first year Kindergartener at Norfolk Collegiate. I asked some questions with Jordan.

What is your favorite color?

Gold. What is your favorite lunch? Pizza. Who doesn’t like pizza? What do you like about Norfolk Collegiate so far? Recess. Are you excited about being in the school paper? What school paper?

The school paper I’m writing this for. What’s it called? The Oak Street Journal. Oh, that paper. How old are you? 5.

I’ll be 6 on April 9, 2013.

What school did you go to before Norfolk Collegiate?

My old school. What was it called? Bellamy Manor. That is all the time I had to ask him questions. Jordan can be found in Mrs. Ferguson’s kindergarten class. So when you see him in the hallways remember to say hi to Jordan.

- Dylan Reyes

Aya is a new student and she is in Mrs. Ferguson’s class.

Aya is in Kindergarten. Aya is 5 years old. Aya is very nice. Her brother is Abe and he is in 5th grade. Her favorite lunch is peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Her favorite rescores is art. She is a SCA for her class. She likes this school. At recess she likes to play with her friends.

- Shaw Nagasato

named Abby in Mrs. Sencindiver’s 3rd grade class. Her favorite food is ice cream, I don’t blame her. Julia’s favorite P.E. activity is Free Day who doesn’t love Free Day? Julia loves to do Arts & Crafts after school. When she’s out at recess, she tries to play with everything. She likes that Norfolk Collegiate helps you with everything. She is on team white! If you see Julia in the hallway make sure to give her a high five!

-Emily Hastings

Abby

Ella Bashara

Dylan Pausch

Will Frankenberry

Brandon Pettrey

Antonio Gao

Dylan Reyes

Tyler Hamlin

Alexis Sisino

Emily Hastings

Skylar Tessler

Victoria Jones

Emily Scott

Sarah Kim

Hailey Hux

Grayson King

Sahib Chandi

Shaw Nagasato Spencer

Julia

Julia is a new student here at Norfolk Collegiate and she is in Mrs. Thomson’s 1st grade class. Her favorite color is purple and her favorite resource is computers. She is 6 1/2 years old, and she has one sister.

Now let’s meet Julie’s sister.

Abby is in Ms. Sencindiver’s 3rd grade class. Her favorite resource classes are music and art. Abby is creative and enjoys writing and illustrating her own stories. Outside of school she participates in dance classes and theater.

She loves to play tennis and is looking forward to trying field hockey.

Here at NCS we have had many new students but I will be telling you about Spencer.

Before Spencer came to Norfolk Collegiate he went to Villages Charter School. Spencer enjoys the color black and enjoys Chinese food for lunch.

Spencer is in the 5th grade and his teacher is Mr. Duvall.

Spencer is from Florida and he enjoys swimming and golf.

Spencer’s favorite thing about NCS is recess. His favorite past time is when he won his first state swimming award.

- Grayson King

Page 2 - more new friends Emma

Oak Street Journal Online

Serenity

go to Chuckee Cheese on the week ends and her favorite book is Junie B. Jones. Her favorite TV show is Phineas and Ferb and she spends her summer in Texas.

-Skylar Tessler

Andrew

Archana Emma has Mrs. Thomson, our new 1st grade teacher.

She is 6 and 2/3. Mrs. Thomson has spiders and ants for her class pets. Emma used to go to First Presbyterian. She has 2 siblings Abby and Carson a 7th grader at Norfolk Colligate. Her favorite subject is computers. She loves typing also in P.E. she loves to play kick ball.

-Alexis Sisino & Victoria Jones

Serenity is a new fifth grader in Mrs. Fajardo’s class. She used to go to Kilncreek Elementary. Serenity has two sisters and one brother.

Her favorite subject is writing because she thinks it is interesting. Right now Serenity is ten years old. One thing Serenity likes about Norfolk Collegiate is the respectful community. She is on team white. Go OAKS! - Alexis Sisino

Camile

“We'll be Friends Forever, won't we, Pooh?' asked Piglet.

Even longer,' Pooh answered.” ― A.A. Milne,

Winnie-the-Pooh

This is Camile. A first grader in Mrs. Sykes’s class. She has a dog named button and her favorite animal is a Leopard.

Her favorite subjects are Spanish and Computers. Her favorite food is pasta, while her favorite movie is Despicable Me. When she is older she wants to be a fashion designer. Her favorite school lunch is carrots and ranch and her favorite color is blue. She likes to

Meet our new student Archana, she is from Michigan!

Her old school was NMC. She likes the privileges at NCS. She loved being on WNCS. Her favorite color is blue and be sure to wish her a happy b-day on July 22!

-Emily Scott

Andrew is in Mrs. Dashiell’s 1st grade class. His favorite color is blue. He loves to play soccer. Andrew’s favorite book is Cat in the Hat and a movie he recently watched and liked was “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” His favorite subject in class is science and his favorite recourse class is computers.

Andrew is becoming a great NCS oak.

- Sahib Chandi

Ellie Julianna

I have interviewed Julianna and found out many interesting facts. Julianna is in Ms. McNaughton’s class. Her favorite food is cookies, her favorite color is orange, and she likes to read or do gymnastics in her free time. She likes to read Olympic biographies. Her favorite animal is puppies. She likes music class.

She is in her first year of third grade. I can’t believe it because she is taller than me!

-Sarah Kim

Don’t forget about Andrew’s sister Ellie! I got the chance to talk to Ellie on the very last day of school. She was in Mrs. Collado’s 4th grade class. She likes all colors especially when they get mixed up in tie-dye.

She loves competitive horseback riding. She has already found a horse she loves to ride!

Her favorite book is Eight Key – she discovered it here in our library. It is about a little girl like Ellie. She has a lot of favorite things about Norfolk

Kylie

Page 3 Collegiate. She loves having PE every day. She enjoys Spanish – she has never taken this language before she came to NCS. She is looking forward to spending time in her family’s new paddle boat this summer.

Grayson

We should also welcome...

Sanaa

Sanaa is a new girl this year.

She is in 5th grade in Mrs. Fajardo. She came from Town and County Elementary. She told me that she likes Norfolk Collegiate School so far. Her favorite food is sushi. Her favorite music artist is Justin Bieber.

She is 10 years old. She likes to play soccer at free time.

- Brandon Pettrey

Volume 1, Issue 1

Grayson is in Mrs. Farjardo’s 5th grade. Grayson is from Norfolk and likes to spend time shooting hoops.

He has lots of friends in his neighborhood and has made lots of new pals at NCS. Grayson discovered Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series in the lower school library—it is his favorite.

Kylee is one of our new kindergarteners here at Norfolk Collegiate. She is in Mrs. White’s class and she is on the blue team. Her favorite book is Amazing Grace, and when she grows up she wants to be a teacher and a P.E. teacher. Her favorite subjects are Spanish and music and you might have seen her perform The Star Spangeled Banner at the fall fair. She was great! Kylee is 5 years old, but she is about to turn 6.

Her favorite colors are pink and purple and she likes to play games and sing songs.

So now that you know all about Kylee. If you see her in the hallway make sure to give her a high five!!!

-Ella Bashara

Hailey Hux Grayson Park Ali Mahmood Jaden Choudhurry Megan Yost Annabelle Baccanari Ryan Choudhurry Mary Archer Connors Nicolas Cook Flynn Dalton Devon Green Jake Green Lyric Gregory Blaike Hill Blake Hrisko Kenneth Opfer Gregory Paul Robinette Evan Skroch Mitchell Snyder Carter Thomson Randolph Williams

Of course all of our Kindergarten students became new members of the NCS family!

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Oak Street Journal Online

Staff Profiles Getting to Know Mr. Burnham

By Hailey Hux As we all know Mr. Burnham is our lower school science teacher. But I wanted to know more about Mr. Burnham, so I interviewed him.

Mr. Burnham majored in biology in college. Even though he likes all sciences, his favorite is biology, the study of life. He said, “Being alive is so wondrous, the more I learned, the more fascinating it became.”

I asked him what his favorite project was this year and he said, “The Steam Power Plant with the 5th graders, where we generated electricity, burned fuel and made steam.” Lower School students did some really fun projects this year, like raising butterflies in kindergarten, studying rocks and minerals in first grade, making mudslides in second grade, studying living cells in third grade, and using lasers to study light in fourth grade.

The 5th grade was learning about the lungs and how they function. So, in science lab we made a prototype of the lungs and how they move. We used a 2 liter bottle for a “rib cage” to hold it in place. Then we used straws to make the trachea or windpipe. We used balloons as lungs and Saran wrap as the diaphragm. The diaphragm makes you lungs increase and decrease in size. It was all put together by painter’s tape and clay. This shows that in air through your trachea, only your diaphragm makes your lungs become larger and smaller. We always have fun in Mr. Burnham’s science lab.

Notes from Mrs. Wallace

By Dylan Pausch What’s the matter? Can’t tell the difference between a bellow and a cello? Well, I bet Mrs. Wallace, the chorus teacher, can tell you. There are forty-one 4th and 5th grade kids in chorus, who practice in the auditorium every Wednesday from 3:00 to 4:00 to learn new songs and strengthen their voices. Once everyone is up on the bleachers, we are ready to rock and roll! I can only say this much, but we are preparing a performance for Grandparents’ Day, and it includes the song called “Demos Gracias”. I love chorus, and cherish every moment of it, as it is one of the few places I can sing without my dad yelling “take it outside!” And now, for an exclusive interview with Mrs. Wallace!

Question: “What is your favorite part of chorus?”

Answer: “When we sing the song called “ in harmony” together.”

Question: “What is your least favorite part of chorus?”

Answer: “I don’t have a least favorite part, but if I had to chose, it would be trying to calm things down after snack.”

Question: “How do you feel about chorus?”

Answer: “I love chorus! I love that everybody can have a voice, and be able to use it in different genres.”

Question: “What is your favorite part of chorus?”

Answer: “I don’t have a least favorite part, but if I had to chose, it would be trying to calm things down after snack.”

Question: “What are your plans for chorus?”

Answer: “My plans for chorus are to continue to grow chorus, and have more community performances, as well as more NCS performances.”

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Volume 1, Issue 1

Creativity Under the Oak

By Brandon Pettrey Mrs. Vooss is an art teacher at Norfolk Collegiate School. We do lots of art projects. I like how we always do creative ideas. This year Mrs. Vooss is doing forensics and she is doing art club.

She must be very busy. Sign up while you can. Mrs. Vooss always does the best art club.

Questions about the Million Minute Challenge

By Dylan Reyes

The New Face under the Oak

By Shaw Nagasato Mr. Brown is a new janitor at our school.

His favorite lunch is lasagna. He lived in San Francisco before he came here. His favorite sports are basketball, tennis and volleyball. His favorite book is Midnight.

He loves messing around with kids at Norfolk Collegiate School. Though Mr. Brown works every day of the week; Fridays are his busiest.

What is the Million Minute Challenge? The Million Minute Challenge is the reading program for the school year and our goal is to read a million minutes by the end of April. Who participates in the Million Minute Challenge? Students, faculty, staff, and even Mr. Kennedy! Isn’t it unfair that faculty and staff have a later bedtime? Not really. Faculty and staff have to make dinner, clean the house, and do the laundry which takes up reading time. Plus homework counts as reading minutes and faculty and staff don’t have homework. I did not know that homework counted! Well, now you do. I’ve noticed a thermometer outside the library. How does that work? The thermometer will track our progress towards our million minute goal. How about the tree in the library? How does that work? The tree was painted by Mrs. Vooss. For every 5,000 minutes that we read I add a leaf to the tree. For every 100,000 minutes I add an acorn. The decorations also change depending on what holiday is near. Why is the picture of the swinging boy there? Each month the top reader from one grade will have their picture displayed on the tree.

I hope this clears up all the questions in the minds of you readers about the Million Minute Challenge.

Oak Street Journal Online

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Student Council Association Spotlight I would like to commend the SCA elections. They make me feel like I have a say in how our school is run.

I, first of all, would like to congratulate our SCA candidates. They all did a fantastic job in preparing their speeches, platforms, and posters. We have SCA elections to figure out who will be student president, student vice president, student secretary, and student treasurer. The student president’s job is to help oversee how the school is run, as well as present new ideas that may be beneficial to the school. The job of the student vice president is to advise the student president. The student secretary’s job is to write down things, and to record information. The student treasurer’s job is to help manage the school’s money, and to budget things. SCA rocks!

- Dylan Pausch

SCA President Skylar This month I interviewed Lower School President Skylar. She said that she wants to invade the Upper School in basketball season and she also wants pajama days. In her free time she likes to play soccer, music and do some art. She has been here for 2 years she has had Mrs. Meersman and right now she has Mrs. Fajardo. She is 10 years old. She likes to swim and play soccer.

She also likes the color purple, she likes history too, but she also loves sea turtles. She has read the Percy Jackson series and liked it She is really happy about being president and thanks all of you for voting for her

SCA Vice President Emily Meet Vice President Emily Hastings!! She has been at NCS since kindergarten. Hey white team! She is on the white team! Go White! She is planning to help our school by trying to make people’s requests’ possible. She is very excited to help our school out.

Some books she would recommend to our Kindergarteners and our First Graders is Click, Clack, Moo and Ten Apples on Top (this is her favorite book). Be sure to congratulate our new vice president!

- Emily Scott

SCA Secretary Perry As many of you all know Perry is the school secretary. The secretary takes notes in the SCA meetings.

Perry has never been in the SCA before. She wanted to run for secretary because she had always wanted to be in the SCA. She is excited to be the SCA secretary.

- Will Frankenberry

SCA Treasurer Annabeth Why did you run for treasurer? Annabeth says, “I like to count money. “ What was your slogan? Annabeth’s slogan was “Vote for me Annabeth C.” What does your position do? Annabeth’s position at the meetings is to count up all the money NCS gets and tells the representatives and all the officers. Do you like being treasurer? Annabeth says, “Yes. It’s fun and I think everyone who likes to count money and is good at math should try and run for treasurer.”

- Tyler Hamlin

We had some great candidates!

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Volume 1, Issue 1

Happenings Under the Oak Fall Fair

By Sahib Chandi, Will Frankenberry, Tyler Hamlin & Skylar Tessler

The 2012 Fall Fair T-shirts are spectacular! I think swirled up tie dye looks great. Since I was in Kindergarten, the Fall Fair T-shirts were awesome, but this was one of the best. I asked some kids at the fair about what they liked about the T-shirts and they said they like how the words were swirled. Others say they like the mix of colors. I wonder what next year T-shirts are going to look like.

The Noodle Toss is one of my favorite games at the Fall Fair. It is the game at the first grade booth. The object of the game is to throw a pool noodle at one of the circle targets. Each target is worth a different a different number of tickets.

Angry Birds Smack Down is a game based on the app Angry Birds. In this game you have to knock down the pigs with a certain number of birds. In the app you have to get all of the pigs in order to get on to the next level.

Grandparents and Special Friends Day

By Grayson King

Corn hole was the second grades activity. It was a fun place to be.

Corn hole is when you throw a sack into the corn hole board. If you throw three in you got a lot of tickets. So you would want to go there.

Balloon Darts were a fun place to be, but don’t get in front of the shooter. Balloon darts is the 5th grade booth grade. The object of the game is to throw darts at the balloons and try to pop them.

Also at Fall Fair they had a fun, noisy, fast game called plink-o. To play you take A plink-o puck and drop it in any of the top pegs and when it gets to the bottom in the slots numbered 1-5 and that’s how many tickets you get.

They also had a wet, easy, fun game called duck-pluck. To play duckpluck you pick up a duck with a numbers 0-3 and that’s the number of tickets you get. At the prize booth you can get a lot of good toys like water guns, sunglasses, erasers, blow up toys, and other fun toys.

Here at Norfolk Collegiate we have a really fun day called Grandparents’ Day. At Grandparents’ Day we have many activities and fun games to participate in. In the morning we sang songs for our grandparents. They loved it! After we sang songs for them we went to our classrooms and played and talked with our grandparents. In my class we played Jeopardy. It was so much fun!

Oak Street Journal Online

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More Happenings Under the Oak Lower School Book Fair is a Success!

By Dylan Reyes

What did you think of the book fair? I asked some students and some volunteers what they thought. When I asked fifth grader Will Frankenberry I got these responses. What did you like? They had a wide selection of books. What didn’t you like? Not enough stocked books. How often did you go? I went at least once a day. What would you rate it on a scale of one to ten, ten being best and one worst? I would rate it an eight. Did it affect your opinion on books? Not really.

I also asked Jordan Reyes from kindergarten. What did you like?

The volcano books. What didn’t you like? There were no black hole books.

How often did you go? Everyday. What would you rate it on a scale of one to ten, ten being best and one worst? A seven. Did it affect your opinion on books? No. It took some thorough explaining to get those answers.

I asked our librarian, Mrs. Amos some different questions. Is it hard work? It is a lot of work. We put up decorations, we put the books out on the tables, and we have to schedule the teacher visits. How long does it take? About a day. What is your opinion on the book fair? I love it! How bad are the crowds on Grandparents’ Day? Very heavy crowds but exciting to see all the book buyers. Why do you volunteer? Because it is a chance for students to add books to their libraries and it allows us to buy books for the library and for the classes.

Hanukkah

by Skylar Tessler

Winter

Let’s celebrate Hanukkah! What’s that you ask?

Hanukkah is a celebration for the Jewish people. It commemorates when they had a war and there temple and everything else was destroyed. They had to light the menorah. So they looked and looked but they could only find one can of oil. It would only last for one night, but it didn’t it last for one it lasted for eight. That is why we light the menorah for eight days and eat foods made from oil like potato pancakes and donuts. We also play the game derided. The dreidel has four sides. One side means you get all, another means you get none, one means you get half and the last one means put one in to the pot..

What Did You Do Over Winter Break? - Alexis Sisino What did the Lower School students do over winter break?

In Mrs. Dashiell’s class, Annabelle Baccanari, went to their beach house in North Carolina. She saw her friends Sophie Mathas and Jane Timney. Her favorite present that she got was an American Girl doll.

Mabelli Sumner went to her cousin’s and dad’s house.

She must have had a great time going to see her dad and cousins! Mabelli went to Richmond and Kentucky. She got a guitar for Christmas. In Mrs. Farjardo’s class Emily Scott went to Maryland to see her grandparents, her cousins, both of her Aunt Kellies, and her Uncle John Jr. She got an iPod touch. Grayson Park saw his uncles and friends. Also he bought a new skateboard and got videogames for Christmas. Davis Munn had an exciting winter break! He went to New York with his dad and went to North Carolina to see his grandparents and cousins. His favorite thing he got for Christmas was an electric scooter. Angela Hamlin stayed home and saw her friends and family. Her favorite thing that she got for Christmas was her Spa Orbeez.

Kwanzaa

by Hailey Hux

Kwanzaa is an African American holiday. Its celebrated December 26th to January 1.

Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday. In 1966 Maulana "Ron" Karenga created this holiday to celebrate and honor universal African hedritage and culture. Last year, 2012, was the 46th annual celebration of Kwanzaa.

There are seven principles (symbols) celebrated. Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa honors a different principle. These principles are believed to have been used to build a strong, family and community in Africa. People who celebrate Kwanzaa greet each other with "Habari gani," or "What's the news?" The principles of Kwanzaa form the answers.

Merry Christmas Everybody!

by Emily Scott

Everyone has heard of Christmas but not everyone celebrates it. Christmas is a Christian holiday that is officially on December 25th. But some Christians start the celebration on December 1st, with an Advent calendar. An Advent calendar is a calendar with little boxes with numbers where inside each box has a treat. Have you ever heard of Santa Claus? Of course you have! Santa comes down kids’ chimneys to give the kid a present. He has little elves that make him toys in the North Pole. Then he has reindeer that pulls his magical sleigh to everyone’s house.

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Volume 1, Issue 1

Still More Happenings iPads

By Shaw Nagasato

At Norfolk Collegiate we use iPads. All the grades use the iPads.

Sometimes we use the iPads to do our tests. Some of the games are used to just review things you already learned. Sometimes we use the iPads for making videos or making a cartoon. The iPads are an enjoyable device at the school. In 2nd grade they play games. They play math games and get coins to buy stuff.

Class Pets

By Ella Bashara

Norfolk Collegiate has some cool class pets around the building. Mrs. Dashiell has a bunny in her room its name is Thumper. Thumper’s favorite food is cantaloupe and veggie sticks. He also enjoys eating his homework and Mrs. Dashiell’s chair. His favorite place to hang out is the meetwith-me chair. His favorite subject is reading during the daily 5 and his favorite app is Teach Me First Grade. At night he sleeps in the doll house and sometimes he goes into Mrs. Maus’s room to play with the fish El Fuego.

El Fuego is a Spanish word for Fire. Mrs. Maus’s class named their fish El Fuego, or Fire, because when it swims around in its tank it looks like a flame or fire. El Fuego is a red Beta fish. Mrs. Dashiell and Mrs. Maus have some pretty cool class pets!!!

WNCS News

By Sarah Kim

WNCS is a news program that fifth graders have the privilege to be doing.

Ms. Pidgeon started the program and Mrs. Windley took over. They have been doing WNCS for about 13 years. No student has ever had a nervous breakdown. I have heard that many students were nervous at first, but have come to their senses after they were on air. These fifth graders talk about sports scores, holidays, lunch, weather, etc. Thank goodness we have the news!

Oak Street Journal Online

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Even More Oak Happenings Fine Arts Center Opens

By Sarah Kim

Most of you out there have been to the Fine Arts Center. You probably know that the upper schoolers are doing their performances there. Chorus, drama, and performances will be held there. Rehearsals and performances will be there. But don’t worry; the school will make time for you to walk over there. (So you won’t be exhausted by the time you get there.) After school activities may be held there such as the National Junior Honor Society and other clubs. The other schools stage will not be used as much but it may be used as little. I bet all of you are excited to use the fine arts center, but you can still visit to see plays and performances there.

Bugz Musical is a Hit!

By Dylan Pausch

Did all of you see the spectacular play called Bugz? If you haven’t, let me enlighten you. Bugz! was a play performed by kindergarten and first grade? It tells the story of a bunch of bugs who are “invited” to a picnic. They are all making preparations to go while trying to figure out how to kindly tell the stinkbug that he is not welcome at the picnic. Among the costumes were butterflies, army ants, ladybugs, and even a potted Venus flytrap! There are five songs in the play: Goin’ on a Picnic, Be a Lady, March of the Ants, Things Change, and Goin’ on a Picnic (reprise).

My favorite song was March of the Ants. It was extremely funny. While all the kids and parents made wonderful costumes, my favorite was the potted Venus flytrap. It looked so realistic; I thought it was going to actually start chomping the other bugs! Kylie B.’s favorite song was Goin’ on a Picnic, while Even W.’s was a Firefly. Austin R.’s favorite costume was an army ant. CJ L. admits there were some tough parts to the play, especially his line.

Camille’s favorite bug was the ladybug; which stole the show in their song called, Be a Lady. Ben C., the stinkbug, told me that he chose to be a stinkbug because it was his favorite creepy-crawly. I have to go to ladybug’s party now, so catch ya later.

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Volume 1, Issue 1

Still More Happenings …

Rocket Racers

By Hailey Hux

On October 1st in the auditorium there was an amazing event. The NCS 5th graders gathered together to race their rocket racers for a forces and motion science project.

There were a total of 42 students racing. Races were done by class. Three students raced at a time.

The racers had to be powered by a balloon but all other parts could be anything. There were cars with CD wheels, Legos as the bodies, and many other creative ideas.

The winning racer was built by Jack Hall and went 34.1 ft. The top ten racers were recognized.

The NCS 5th graders would not have this opportunity if it wasn’t for an amazing science teacher, Mr. Burnham.

First Grade Field Trip

By Tyler Hamlin

The first grade took a field trip to a planetarium. They had a rainy ride on the bus to the planetarium. In the planetarium there was a big telescope.

I asked Gregory Paul what his favorite part was about the trip and he said when they watched a movie with a wolf and a scientist in it.

Fifth Grade Homemade Instruments

By Tyler Hamlin

The point of the project is to combine science and music to learn about the instrument families. Ms. Wallace’s favorite instruments were Sam’s harp, Spencer’s saxophone, and my xylophone. I asked Hailey what she liked best about the fifth grade instruments and she said, “Spending time with my dad.”

The Art Auction

By Will Frankenberry

You may see some art hanging on the wall in the school. That is because we have an art auction.

You can also buy some of the paintings that are hanging on the wall. We hang all of the art everywhere in the hall. The paintings are painted by artists in the area. Most of the money that you pay for the art goes to the school, so it is a good fundraiser for the school. I hope you stop by next year and see the paintings.

Oak Street Journal Online

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Book Reviews Big Nate Flips Out

Review by Dylan Reyes

The Big Nate series is a bunch of thrilling books starring Nate Wright and his best friends Francis Pope and Teddy Ortiz. Nate Wright is a messy, cartooning, Cheez Doodle loving guy who is definitely NOT the teacher’s pet. Francis Pope is a smart, tidy, alphabetical order kind of guy who has been friends with Nate since kindergarten. Teddy Ortiz is a funny S.P.O.F.F. (Sports Played Only For Fun) loving guy who HATES noogies from Jefferson 6th graders. These characters along with Jenny (Nate’s crush), Artur (From Republic of Belarus), Gina (Know it all), Randy (Bully who does bad things and blames Nate), and many others they get into crazy adventures.

Remember how I said Nate is messy? Well in “Big Nate Flips Out” Nate becomes, neat? After losing the camera he borrowed from his teacher Mrs. Godfrey, Francis takes the blame. Even after Nate released his middle name, Butthurst! Nate brings it upon himself to become neat. With help from drama girl Dee Dee Holloway, and best friend #1A Teddy Ortiz they investigate the mystery of the lost camera, and tail their prime suspect, Randy Betancourt. Can Nate and Francis’s friend ship be saved? Who stole the camera? Read “Big Nate Flips Out” to find out.

The Secret

Review by Antonio Gao The secret series is about a boy named Max-Ernest and a girl named Cassandra or Cass as her friends call her. These are not their real names because the author, Pseudonymous Bosch, wants everything very important to be a secret especially “The Secret”. This book is all about those two characters trying to find out “The Secret”. This series is all about secrets small or big. The biggest secret “The Secret” will be found at the end of the last book of the secret series. Find out more in the secret series. The first book is “The Name of this Book is Secret.”

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Book Reviews

Volume 1, Issue 1

The Genius Files

Review by Will Frankenberry Have you ever wondered what it is like to be a spy? Ask Coke and his twin sister, Pepsi. In this intense, action-packed book called The Genius Files by Dan Gutman, Coke and Pepsi join a program called the Genius Files without knowing.

The Genius Files is an organization that fights evil. This organization gets the twins in trouble because they are getting tracked down by bad guys that want Coke and Pepsi dead.

In this book, find out that they are part of the Genius Files. The twins, Coke and Pepsi have to jump off of a cliff, because the bad guys were going to kill them if they didn’t jump of f the cliff. The twins discover that they are getting chased by their health teacher named Ms. Higgins. Their health teacher wants them dead so she plans to get them in detention, and after almost all of the faculty members and all the students except for the twins go home, there is a fire in their school.

They can’t escape because the door is locked, and Ms. Higgins isn’t in the room.

The only faculty members in the school are the janitor and Ms. Higgins. Just when Ms. Higgins thought that her plan was working, the school janitor unlocks the door and saves the twins. This is when Coke and Pepsi find out that they are part of the Genius Files organization. They also figure out that their janitor isn’t just a janitor; he is also part of the Genius Files. Their janitor also tells them that the twins are in serious danger, and that the bad guys want them dead. The janitor gives the twins a gift, something that will keep them alive, a Frisbee. “How is this supposed to help us?” said Coke. “It’s not just a Frisbee it is a Frisbee grenade,” said the janitor. It will end up saving your life said the janitor. “Just listen to him,” said Pepsi and they left. I recommend this book to anyone who likes an action packed novel.

The Lightning

Review by Skylar Tessler Percy Jackson is different. He always has been and he always will be. Well he isn’t exactly normal. He’s a Half-blood. Part mortal/part god. The book starts out at his boarding school on a field trip. Oh, did I forget to mention that Percy is ADHD and he has dyslexia. Now being a half-blood is dangerous there are monster that can only be killed with celestial bronze. There is one place where you can be safe, Camp Half –Blood on the Long Island River. It has magical boarder that keep unwanted mortal and monsters out. Percy being the main character has just been chosen as the son of the Poseidon, but now he is accused for stealing the master lighting bolt. Percy Jackson must return the bolt before the summer solstice and stop a three way war between the gods. Along with his friends Grover and Annabeth at his side.

Oak Street Journal Online

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NCS Club News The Lower School Band

by Alexis Sisino

In band you can choose from a lot of different instruments like the flute, saxophone, clarinet, drum, trombone, and trumpet. In the band you get to play a variety of music. You also get to play at assemblies. I think the band did really well on Montego Bay and Regal March. These were the songs that they performed at the Fall Fair. Right now the band is working on their songs for the Christmas Sing-Along. I cannot wait to hear them!

Spanish Club

by Antonio Gao

The Spanish club had its first and second meeting already. On the first day of Spanish club, we signed the pledge, had some snacks, learned a song. We met the president of the upper school SGA Mark Jamais. Mark is also in the upper school Spanish club. Mark taught us a song, and we made la Catrina masks! When we learned the song it was called Chipi Chipi.

We did Chipi Chipi in the courtyard, and we had a lot of laughs. At the second meeting we made four pumpkins; you may have seen seen them. We also learned about the how the Mexican flag has the eagle on it and about a Spanish ship.

The third Spanish club meeting was awesome. We watched Nanny McPhee in Spanish. If this sounds like something you like then join the spring Spanish club. Sure you can’t do all of this stuff, but I bet Senora Mann has something fun. You 4th and 3rd graders can sign up nest year too.

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Girls on the Run

by Emily Hastings

Girls on the Run is a program for girls to run on every Monday and Friday. A lot of girls in 4th and 5th grade are doing Girls on the Run. I have been doing Girls on the Run for 2 years; it has really improved my running. When you are in 4th or 5th grade you can do Girls on the Run. It is a very nice thing to just run after a long day with friends. They enter you in races to show you how running can let you just relax when your feeling stressed. The coaches are Coach Gretchen, Coach Beth, Coach Aaron, Coach Barbara, and Coach Dana.

They are very kind and encouraging, when you are walking a lap they sometimes go run with you to get you running again.

We had many clubs at the lower school!

Take a look at how involved our students are and what we have to offer.

Forensics

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4th Grade Science Clubs Spring and Fall

5th Grade Science Clubs Spring and Fall

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5th Grade Honors Science

Chess Club

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Boys Intramurals

Girls Intramurals

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5th Grade Birthday Fairies

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Little Feet Dancers K-5

Yoga K, 1 & 2

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Yoga 3, 4 & 5

Lower School Strings

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Children of Alumni

Safety Patrol

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Oak Ambassadors

Lower School Class Representatives Fall and Spring

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Oak Street Journal Online

SCA Officers

Lower School Celebrates the End of the School Year!

By Skylar Tessler

This school year is almost over The summer at last has begun But this year is not all over There’s gonna be parties and fun K-4 are going to Lakewood park And rocking and rolling from sun to dark 5th is going on the Rover And to a water park But there are more plans to uncover Like going to the beach And surfing and chilling Before the autumn freezes the beach People are going to Florida Or to sleep-away camp Or going to see a rock concert or band There’s so much to look forward to And way too much to do You better get started Cause school’s out June 6!

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What Our Fifth Graders Will Miss Most About the Lower School Antonio - I will miss trying to achieve our reading goal Brandon – having my 20 inflatable cows Emily – the playground and recess Will – Mrs. Willson from the third grade Dylan P – the library Tyler – the science lab Abe – all of the teachers and the way I felt when I walked in on my first day Sarah – the community and the facility Hailey – field day and being the oldest students in the school Serenity – WNCS news Sahib – SCA Sanaa – my friends Chas – the teachers and safety patrol Grayson – the little kids playing, and Max and Ruby in the library Skylar – being SCA and my younger friends Ray – being in the school I grew up in Isaiah – the teachers Jack – recess Jon K. – teachers and friends Shaw – friends Elliot – the teachers and the ability to wear shorts Andrew – the teachers Emily Hastings – being in the lower school Alexis Sisino – the teachers Victoria – lower school teachers and friends Ella – Seeing friendly faces and my sister Lucy

What the Lower School Staff Will Miss

The fifth graders!

Have a wonderful summer!