DECEMBER 2020 NEWINGTON
Good Bye Mr. Peterson! COngratulations on your Retirement!
By Mrs. Baylock with contributions from MK staff and students
If you walk the halls of Martin Kellogg, you surely know Mr. Peterson. He is the happy guy who always has a friendly hello or a silly joke for everyone. He has been teaching at Martin Kellogg as a 6th grade teacher for 16 years. And he is retiring on December 23. Fifth graders who heard he is retiring said "Oh no! I wanted to have Mr. Peterson next year!". This is no surprise as surely they have heard the wonderful stories of Mr. Peterson from past students of his. Teachers feel much the same. We've heard these sentiments coming from teachers: "I will miss his spontaneity, enthusiasm, and generosity.", " I will miss his presence, energy, and yes, even his funny jokes. He will be truly missed by his colleagues as well as by his students. It was an honor teaching with Mr. Peterson and being part of his team.".
Mr. Peterson will leave a lasting legacy here for his hard work and wonderful ways connecting with students. Did you know that Mrs. Rahman was a former student of his?! She said, "Being his student back in 2007, I feel like Mr. Peterson is still the same fun and caring teacher he was back then! Seeing him interact with students then and now makes my heart warm." Mrs. Rezendes recalled, "My favorite memory of Mr. Peterson is being in his room while he read Green Eggs and Ham to all of his students during Read Across America day. It was such a sweet moment as the kids LOVED being read to and he read with such passion."
Yes, students connect with Mr. Peterson for sure, but the teachers will miss him most for his sense of humor. Mrs. Martin, our school nurse said she will miss the smiles he brought when he came into the health office and joked around w/ the students by offering to do amputation surgery for a little injury like a paper cut or a bruised shin. Mrs. Daigle wonders if MKMS will ever be the same. "Who will keep her supplied with M&Ms and corny jokes and a sympathetic ear and unsolicited advice?" she pondered. And MK's Mr. Pilz wonders if he will still get called Mr. Peterson daily. He says, "We have the same initials; We are almost the same age (I know, he looks 20 years younger than me); At least once a day one of my students addresses me as "Mr. Peterson" and conversely, he often is referred to as "Mr. Pilz." However, our greatest connection is that we both remember the commercials from our childhood, so on any given day, one of us will walk by the other one and sing the first half of a commercial, and the other one will finish it. The surrounding people look at us as if we are crazy - unless one of those surrounding people happens to be a tutor as old as us, then he/she usually joins in!"
The Mr. Peterson stories will be told for many years to come. His roles in past MKMS drama productions will be in the MK history books for sure! Mr. Peterson put his heart and soul into every role. He rose through the ranks, from "The Lollipop Guild" and "Door Guard" in The Wizard of Oz to Mr. MacAfee in Birdie, and eventually to leading roles like Harold Hill in The Music Man and Donkey in Shrek-- roles he was born to play!
Well, Mr. Peterson is about to begin the most exciting role of his life. It is the role of a retired teacher. It is a role he has worked hard for and truly deserves. So when you see Mr. Peterson in the halls or class before his final day here, be sure to thank him and wish him well in his new role and on his new journey. You will be missed Mr. Peterson.
Mr. Peterson will leave a lasting legacy here for his hard work and wonderful ways connecting with students. Did you know that Mrs. Rahman was a former student of his?! She said, "Being his student back in 2007, I feel like Mr. Peterson is still the same fun and caring teacher he was back then! Seeing him interact with students then and now makes my heart warm." Mrs. Rezendes recalled, "My favorite memory of Mr. Peterson is being in his room while he read Green Eggs and Ham to all of his students during Read Across America day. It was such a sweet moment as the kids LOVED being read to and he read with such passion."
Yes, students connect with Mr. Peterson for sure, but the teachers will miss him most for his sense of humor. Mrs. Martin, our school nurse said she will miss the smiles he brought when he came into the health office and joked around w/ the students by offering to do amputation surgery for a little injury like a paper cut or a bruised shin. Mrs. Daigle wonders if MKMS will ever be the same. "Who will keep her supplied with M&Ms and corny jokes and a sympathetic ear and unsolicited advice?" she pondered. And MK's Mr. Pilz wonders if he will still get called Mr. Peterson daily. He says, "We have the same initials; We are almost the same age (I know, he looks 20 years younger than me); At least once a day one of my students addresses me as "Mr. Peterson" and conversely, he often is referred to as "Mr. Pilz." However, our greatest connection is that we both remember the commercials from our childhood, so on any given day, one of us will walk by the other one and sing the first half of a commercial, and the other one will finish it. The surrounding people look at us as if we are crazy - unless one of those surrounding people happens to be a tutor as old as us, then he/she usually joins in!"
The Mr. Peterson stories will be told for many years to come. His roles in past MKMS drama productions will be in the MK history books for sure! Mr. Peterson put his heart and soul into every role. He rose through the ranks, from "The Lollipop Guild" and "Door Guard" in The Wizard of Oz to Mr. MacAfee in Birdie, and eventually to leading roles like Harold Hill in The Music Man and Donkey in Shrek-- roles he was born to play!
Well, Mr. Peterson is about to begin the most exciting role of his life. It is the role of a retired teacher. It is a role he has worked hard for and truly deserves. So when you see Mr. Peterson in the halls or class before his final day here, be sure to thank him and wish him well in his new role and on his new journey. You will be missed Mr. Peterson.
bored of your tv shows? We have a list for you!
By: Alex Dyson, Nicholas Winiarski, Caitlin Claffey, Clara Dicks, and Cora Tracey (The Newsclub Team)
Have you ever wanted to know what we think the best shows are? Well guess what now you can! These 13 shows are the best shows that the whole newsclub team picked. Each one has a description so you know if you want to watch them! (this includes movies/shows).
1. The Mandalorian (Baby Yoda Show), Disney+
The Mandalorian, a bounty hunter, goes on missions throughout the galaxy and stumbles on The Child and goes on missions with him. Season 2 coming on Halloween!
2. Agents of shield (Marvel), Netflix
A show of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents trying to track and help superheroes. The main characters are agent Colson, Melinda Maye, Skye, Fitz, Simmons, and Ward.
3. Mulan, Disney plus (both 1998 and 2020)
This girl is a warrior for her side. She loves nature but also loves to fight for good not evil. When her father needs help Mulan dresses up as a man so she could fight for her father and her home.
4. Enola Holmes, Netflix
Based on the book. Enola Holmes is sherlock's sister. She needs to go to London to find her mother that disappeared. Watch to see if she finds her mother.
5. Cobra Kai, Netflix
A karate kid show! A Chinese boy learns karate for his family protection. He loves learning karate and trying new things. Watch to see what happens to him!
6. Zombies 1 and 2, Netflix and Disney plus
Zombies and humans meet and try to be friends. However, one zombie boy and human girl fall in love. Watch to see what happens!
7. Any Marvel Movie!, Disney plus
The Popular movies that star Captain America, Black widow, Hulk, Thor and Groot! Some movies include Infinity war and Endgame.
8. The Unlisted, Netflix
A show where two boys go to this school where people are getting tracked by the swat and cia. But there are some people/kids that aren't tracked they are always running away called The Unlisted!
9. Raising Dion, Netflix
A superhero that is a kid! He lives with his mom. His mom does not know he has superpowers but he got them from his dad when he died. But one guy loves his mom but the guy always seems weird to him. watch this to find out why he is weird.
10. Moana, Disney +
One girl has always wanted to be out on the ocean but when fear strikes and her home is in danger Moana must journey to the unknown to save her home. Will she do it? Watch to find out.
11. Alexa and Katie, Netflix
Two girls. One is suffering from cancer which makes it hard to go to school but her bff is always by her side to stand up and fight for her. Watch now on Netflix to see what they do!
12. A Series of Unfortunate Events, Netflix
Three kids whose parents died and they have to live with different relatives and may or may not be related to them. The first one is Count Olaf is an evil actor that has not been in any play. When Mr. Poe the bank owner and in charge of the children’s fortune which count Olaf is after. As they jump from house to house Count Olaf appears in a stupid disguise which fools every one except the children.
13. ATLA (Avatar the Last Airbender)
The Last Airbender is a show about a kind with powers of the wind! Watch to see what happens next!
14. The Emperor's New Groove, Disney
Emperor Kuzco is very selfish and Arrogant. When he fires his Aviser Yzma she plots to poison him. But it fails and he turns into a llama. Now he has to pair up with a villager Named Pacha to regain his throne. What happens next? All I will say is that it is very Funny and full of meta references (when the characters talk to the audience)
Have you ever wanted to know what we think the best shows are? Well guess what now you can! These 13 shows are the best shows that the whole newsclub team picked. Each one has a description so you know if you want to watch them! (this includes movies/shows).
1. The Mandalorian (Baby Yoda Show), Disney+
The Mandalorian, a bounty hunter, goes on missions throughout the galaxy and stumbles on The Child and goes on missions with him. Season 2 coming on Halloween!
2. Agents of shield (Marvel), Netflix
A show of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents trying to track and help superheroes. The main characters are agent Colson, Melinda Maye, Skye, Fitz, Simmons, and Ward.
3. Mulan, Disney plus (both 1998 and 2020)
This girl is a warrior for her side. She loves nature but also loves to fight for good not evil. When her father needs help Mulan dresses up as a man so she could fight for her father and her home.
4. Enola Holmes, Netflix
Based on the book. Enola Holmes is sherlock's sister. She needs to go to London to find her mother that disappeared. Watch to see if she finds her mother.
5. Cobra Kai, Netflix
A karate kid show! A Chinese boy learns karate for his family protection. He loves learning karate and trying new things. Watch to see what happens to him!
6. Zombies 1 and 2, Netflix and Disney plus
Zombies and humans meet and try to be friends. However, one zombie boy and human girl fall in love. Watch to see what happens!
7. Any Marvel Movie!, Disney plus
The Popular movies that star Captain America, Black widow, Hulk, Thor and Groot! Some movies include Infinity war and Endgame.
8. The Unlisted, Netflix
A show where two boys go to this school where people are getting tracked by the swat and cia. But there are some people/kids that aren't tracked they are always running away called The Unlisted!
9. Raising Dion, Netflix
A superhero that is a kid! He lives with his mom. His mom does not know he has superpowers but he got them from his dad when he died. But one guy loves his mom but the guy always seems weird to him. watch this to find out why he is weird.
10. Moana, Disney +
One girl has always wanted to be out on the ocean but when fear strikes and her home is in danger Moana must journey to the unknown to save her home. Will she do it? Watch to find out.
11. Alexa and Katie, Netflix
Two girls. One is suffering from cancer which makes it hard to go to school but her bff is always by her side to stand up and fight for her. Watch now on Netflix to see what they do!
12. A Series of Unfortunate Events, Netflix
Three kids whose parents died and they have to live with different relatives and may or may not be related to them. The first one is Count Olaf is an evil actor that has not been in any play. When Mr. Poe the bank owner and in charge of the children’s fortune which count Olaf is after. As they jump from house to house Count Olaf appears in a stupid disguise which fools every one except the children.
13. ATLA (Avatar the Last Airbender)
The Last Airbender is a show about a kind with powers of the wind! Watch to see what happens next!
14. The Emperor's New Groove, Disney
Emperor Kuzco is very selfish and Arrogant. When he fires his Aviser Yzma she plots to poison him. But it fails and he turns into a llama. Now he has to pair up with a villager Named Pacha to regain his throne. What happens next? All I will say is that it is very Funny and full of meta references (when the characters talk to the audience)
Featured TeacheR: Mrs. Johnson
Video Story By Caitlin Claffey
Check out this edition's featured teacher: sixth grade's Mrs. Johnson.
Stay Safe RemindersThe Challenge of studying remotelyBy: Samuel de Malas Pedre
Covid-19 has become part of life this 2020. As we all know, Covid-19 is ruling, affecting, and even killing people. It’s changing the world every day, how we talk, walk, move, socialize, and lots more. It’s making people lose their jobs or to work from home. It gets harder to go to places. For example the Store. We all know that we need certain things for certain needs.
It also has a lot of side effects. For us, students and teachers, It’s the fact of not getting infected and staying safe. It's also really hard to not want to socialize with your friends or teachers. In MKMS we have the choice of being fully remote or just going to school for 2 or 4 days. That has changed and might change again because of Covid. We all have been fully remote for 2 weeks, we might even be remote for more than that. Who knows? What I do know is that some of the cases have been rising and getting worse in Newington. We all need to be safe and take care of ourselves each day. We need to clean/wash our hands each day, keep our distance and keep your mask on! In school, we all need to sanitize our desks and our chairs before and after we use them. We also need to keep our masks on for the whole day except for mask breaks and at lunch. In mask breaks, you can chat with your friends but you still need to keep your distance. Maybe if you are bored and have nothing to do then join a Club! There are lots of clubs available for you to join. Maybe the yoga club or the News club. They are both lots of fun and teach you a lot of things each day. Studying remotely is a big challenge but as champions of life, we are going to beat this challenge too. |
Stay safe during the pandemicA PSA created by Caitlin Claffey
We could all use reminders on how to stay safe during the pandemic, especially with the upcoming holiday season.
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WeVideo: A great tool for creating!
Looking for new ways to creatively use technology? Well, for your next project, try a video editing program like WeVideo! Make your ideas come to life. This great video by Josh Discher shows just what you can do with WeVideo.
Video by Josh Discher
social mediaBy: Olivia Grattage Social media is something that a lot of people use every day. Something that is so easy to find and get attached to. Something that is an important part of some people’s days. But first, let’s find out what social media is. Social media are different websites and apps where you can create content based on the app and communicate with people all around the world. There are many different platforms of social media which include Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube, and others. All these apps have different qualities so let’s find out about them.
Facebook is used to build a community and bring the world closer together. You are able to communicate with people across the globe or right down your street. Different groups could be set up for different reasons like to inform people about sports groups, schedules, and many more. It is also used to express what matters to them and share things with larger groups. There are over 2.7 billion active accounts in 2020. Twitter is a talking platform where you can send and receive small passages called tweets. You are able to add pictures to tweets and are able to be 140 characters long. There is a feature where you can follow anybody that you want if there account is not private, and see all the tweets that they send. You could also tag people’s usernames so in the tweet comments and so that they can see the tweet too. It is almost like texting but for a lot more people to see. There are currently 330 million people on Twitter. Snapchat is an app where can send snaps to someone. Snaps are a picture or video of whatever you want to show someone. There are also different filters that you can use, some for face and some for backgrounds. You can also send text messages to people on Snapchat. Also, different creators are on the app and you can subscribe to them for free and see what they are up to in their daily life. There is also a feature to see the people you have friended stories. A story is a place where you can post things to show people, for example, the nice breakfast you had this morning or something you thought was cool. You can also have private stories where you can only add certain people to them. There are 249 million people are on Snapchat. Those are just a few of them in depth. These apps can help us also keep up to date at school. If you go to Instagram, I believe there is an MKMS page where you can find all the things that have happened. This is very important so fun times are not lost. There are still so many positives to social media and I hope you were able to get the good parts out of this article. MKMS HappeningsBy Caitlin Claffey
Pajama Day happened on December 10 and 11th. PJ for Kids day is an annual event that honors the brave kids at Connecticut Children's Medical Center who are fighting cancer. Students, teachers and staff at Martin Kellogg wore PJs and donated $1.00 to CCMC. It feels good to do something good and feel comfy and cozy while you are doing it! Thanks to all who participated!
things to do when stuck at homeBy: Caitlyn Claffey
Although life may return to normal at some point you might find yourself running out of ideas to keep yourself occupied at home! Here are some links and ways to stay entertained while we look forward to seeing people safely again!
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The electoral college: what you need to knowBy: Thomas DeNapoli Did you watch the election? Are you wondering what the electoral college has to do with it? Then you’re in for a treat. In this article, I am going to give you some information on it. The Beginning of the Electoral College At the 1787 Constitutional Convention, there was a huge debate over how to elect the president. A group of people wanted Congress to decide the fate of the Presidency, and another group wanted “One Person, One Vote”. They battled it out, but came to a compromise. The electoral college! Now, this was a compromise because the “One Person, One Vote” group got Congress to not have full power, while also giving the people a voice, whereas the Congress group got the power for Congress to vote in the event of a 269-269 tie, while also shutting down “One Person, One Vote” by letting the electors decide based off the majority of what the state wanted. Now, let’s delve a little deeper into how this process works. Process Based on a state’s population (Using Census Count) (That’s why filling out the Census is so important!)), the 538 electoral votes are divided up. For instance, the state of Connecticut only has a population of 3,574,097 (Based on the last Census). This means that CT only gets 7 electoral votes because we only have 2 senators and 5 representatives. If the 2020 census is higher, we could get one more vote because we got 1 more representative. Then, take a state like California, which has 55 (the most) electoral votes. That’s because their population is 37,253,956. That is almost 12 ⅓ times CT’s population. Then, whoever reaches 270 votes first wins. In the case of a 269-269 tie, the election goes to the House of Representatives and the Senate. In the House of Representatives, the states come together and vote as a state. For instance, CT has 5 Democratic Representatives. They would most likely unanimously vote to push through a Democrat. This only counts as 1 vote. Then Maine would do the same. Or Alabama would do the same. This goes on through all 50 states until there is a 26-24 or better state majority. In the event of a 25-25 tie, the House would keep at it. If the tie isn’t broken by Inauguration Day, the VP becomes President until further notice. In the Senate, majority rules, meaning when 51 Senators vote for a candidate, that candidate wins. In the event of a 50-50 tie in the Senate when voting, they also do the same. Debate until they aren’t deadlocked. Now let’s talk about when the Congress has had to break a tie! Ties! There has been one tie in the electoral college. The last one happened in the 1800 elections, but the tie was broken in 1801. It was the Third Presidential Election. The problem was that Burr and Jefferson were running mates (Jefferson President, Burr VP). At the time, no one knew who was VP or President because it wasn’t shown on the ballot (The names were individual). So therefore it went to the House. At the time, there were 16 states. That meant you needed 9 states to win. At the time there was only one representative from DE (Delaware). He folded and Jefferson won. Burr became VP. Now, let’s talk about how the process was jeopardized in 1970! 5 Short In 1970, abolishing the Electoral College was a hot topic. Lots wanted it gone, lots didn’t. There was so much support to abolish there was a vote on the Senate Floor. 80% of Americans in one poll wanted out of the Electoral College. There was support to abolish on both sides, but in the South, the Senators were almost all pro-segregation. Therefore, the bill that was passed in the house of representatives by a vote of 338-70, to add the amendment that would state that popular vote decides the presidency, was struck down in the Senate by a first vote of 54-36, and a second vote of 53-34 Conclusion I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope I’ve shed some light on the Electoral College with this article.
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Sixth Grade Science spotlight
The sixth graders are seen here working hard on their penny experiments!
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Left Photo: Peyton Stegmaier's Cell Model
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Observing Osmosis
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6th grade students observed osmosis with two "naked" eggs. One egg was placed in a hypotonic solution (vinegar) which allowed water molecules to enter the "cell" (the egg's membrane) until equilibrium was reached. Then we popped it to see how much water the egg absorbed.
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Sixth graders are doing their part to keep Martin Kellogg clean!
Magical World
By Clara Dicks