Around the Block Starting the Year Assembly By: Mackensie

On September 14, 2012 we had our first assembly of the year. You might remember it because Mr. Marchionda almost had his head shaved, and they talked about setting goals and also about things we do throughout the year here at Northside! The reason why the teachers came together to cre-ate the assembly was to tell you about setting goals for the year. And just to say welcome back.

At the beginning of the assembly we watched clips from “Finding Nemo”. The first clip was Nemo getting ready for school and is all excited and annoying his dad by telling him to get up because he has to go to school. After this clip was done the teachers were saying how they hope that you were excited and bugging your family saying that you had to get going, on the first day of school. Then, we watched the second clip from Nemo, it was the scene where Dory kept saying, “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming swimming swimming.” The purpose for this clip was that even when things get hard and you are stressed just keep going on.

After the clips were all done, Mr. Marchionda talked about the New York State Test and brought up kids from the first row to use as examples. Then, he showed the video of Mr. Ginalski saying if 75% passed the New York State Test that he would give us a pizza party, a dunking tank to dunk 5 teachers, and most importantly, shave Mr. Marchionda’s head. Next, Mr. Marchionda pulled out his razor and told us he was going to let us shave his head because even though he didn’t have the results yet that he was confi-dent that we met our goal. So then he pulled out a bag and had everybody’s name in it and said that whoever he picked out of the bag was going to shave his head. The great thing about it is that he pulled out his own daughter, Olivia, name out of the bag. Then she came down, but then when everybody was getting all excited Mr. Pronti busted in and yelled, “Stop, the results are in!” Unfortunately we did not make our goal so Mr. Marchionda did not get his head shaved. However, we could still get everything we wanted from Mr. Marchionda and Ginalski, all we have to do is this year is get 70% of us to pass. As long as we keep working hard and paying attention we could see Mr. Marchionda with a new haircut!

Continued on page 2

November 2012

Volume 15, Issue 1

Special points of

interest:

Welcome Teach-

ers

The Library

Band Chorus

History of Hallow-

een

Columbus Day

Math Class Mr.

Holmes

Watson Home-

stead

NWEA Testing

Physical Educa-

tion

Physical Educa-

tion is FUN

Math NWEA

Book Reviews

Pre-testing

Spirit Week at

Northside—

Student Council

Around the Block

Staff

What is Veterans

Day

Khan Academy

Page 2

Around the Block

Then, came Mrs. Wolf and Mrs. Dickens and they talked about “The Dignity Act for All Students” or the bullying prevention. They showed us a video about a blind man on the street and he had a card-board sign that said, “I’m blind please help”, but everyone just kept walking by. But then this lady picked up his cardboard and turned it around and wrote something else on the back. While she was writing the man felt her shoes and as she left almost everyone that was walking by put money down by him. The lady came back later and the man felt her shoes and he knew it was her and asked what she wrote on his sign. Then, the lady said she put an old saying it is “It’s a lovely day too bad I can’t see it.” After the clip was done, Mrs. Dickens and Mrs. Wolf said if you see anyone getting bullied or if you are getting bullied go to them or any teacher and they will fix that right away. Something else you could do is go to the bully box in the nurses office.

Next, came the teachers talking about positive recognition coupons. Positive recogni-tion coupons are yellow slips your teachers can give you if you are demonstrating good charac-ter. If you get a positive recognition coupon take it to the library and put in in the box for your grade and every month they will pull someone’s name out of every grade and you will get a prize. At the assembly they pulled names for each grade and the students won a Dunkin Doughnuts gift card. So if you want a cool prize like that keep acting good because the more positive recognition coupons you have in there, the greater chance you will win something. Next, we talked about Honor Roll. To get Honors you have to get a 85-89 grade average. For High Honor you have to have a 90-94 average. And last but not least for Honors in Excel-lence you have to have a 95-100 average. If you make anyone of these you will get a locker cer-tificate at the end of every marking period so work hard.

The last part of the assembly was Mrs. Wilson telling us about what we were going to when we got back to homeroom. During the assembly they were talking about goal setting and how we should make a goal this year. So the activity we had to do was trace our arm from the elbow down and write your name and two goals you hope to accomplish this year. You had to make an academic goal and a character goal. Once all the arms from every homeroom are done we are going to hang them around all over the school.

Lastly, welcome back!

By: Mackensie

Page 3

Volume 15, Issue 1

We would like to welcome the new teachers. In 8th grade there is Mrs. Zelko/Sandvik

and Mrs. Cotter and Mr. Wright and Mr. Fabian. Mrs. Zelko/Sandvik is a 8th grade history teacher and she

used to work at CFA as a 7th grade history teacher. Mrs. Cotter is a FCS teacher which is Family Consum-

er Science teacher which you cook and talk about career setting and she was another teacher at another

school for Family Consumer Science. Mr. Wright is a 8th and 6th grade French teacher he has been a

French teacher before he came here. Mr. Fabian is a Spanish teacher and he has been a Spanish teacher

from 6th grade to college. For 7th grade there is Mrs. Hurd. Mrs. Hurd is a 7th grade Humanities and we

would love to say welcome. For 6th grade there is Mrs. Fazzari and Mr. Zarate. Mrs. Fazzari is a FCS

teacher for 6th grade. Mr. Zarate is a 6th grade Spanish teacher and he is a Spanish teacher, and he has been

a Spanish teacher before he came here. For different help classes are Mr. Bronson and Mrs.Terwilliger.

Mr. Bronson is a special education teacher, helps you to get settled in. Mrs.Terwilliger is a speech teacher.

By: Kelsey

Welcoming Teachers

Do you have nothing to do, are you bored? Well here’s a neat place to go

to, the library. You can check out books, read, and do homework. There are great librari-

an named Mrs. Cornell and Mrs. Olmstead her helping instructor. They are able to help

you find books and check out books. You are also allowed to use the OPAC to search for

books. The OPAC is a component that you can get onto; just ask one of the librarians.

You could also use the OPAC at home so you could see which books are checked out or

not. Here’s an inside peek for what’s coming up in the library. So far we have news that

we are getting Nooks! If you were wondering what a nook is it is an educational device

used for reading books. The nooks are for reading purposes only, they cannot be taken

home. Here are two educational charts on the library and the Nook. By: Vasu

Those were the charts. That was my newsletter on the library.

The Library

100%

0%

Library

100%

0%

Nook

Band and chorus are two great ways for kids to get music into their lives but at the

same time they are having fun! Mrs.Bryson is the chorus teacher and Mr.Ellison

and Mrs.Harpster are the band teachers.

Band is so much fun! There are many different instruments like the saxophone, clarinet, flute,

trumpets, French horn, percussion and trombones. Band meets on A days 5th period. Lessons are availa-

ble for people who want to learn to play an instrument and join band. Band offers All County for stu-

dents. All County is where students perform in front of judges and see if they make it in. If you make it

in you go to a festival and the festival, is held in different places every year. You go and meet with kids

from another school, who have also made it in to All County and practice for the festival.

Chorus is another fun musical activity. They do fun warm up activities. Chorus meets at differ-

ent times in the day. There are soprano and alto groups. They sing in harmony or unison. Students have

lots of fun, the whole time when they are singing. They focus on the Grand Staff. They have a rhyme

that helps them remember the parts of the Grand Staff. You get a folder with the music in it. You could

end up sharing a folder with a partner. Chorus also has All County but it is a little different.

Northside Blodgett offers a great music program. They offer band chorus and discovery music.

Northside has the best music teachers also. So if you do not play an instrument or sing, try it. It is so

much fun!

By: Madison and Arianna

Page 4

Around the Block

Band and Chorus

The History of Halloween

This is the history of Halloween. Halloween wasn’t always about people get-

ting CANDY.! It started in Ireland the Celts. The way it started was when people went from

house to house getting bread. And when he or she asks for the bread they would “say who do

I pray for”. The person giving the bread would say who he or she wanted to pray for. And

they pick October 31 to be a time where people could get bread for free where people could

ask for food and not get yelled at. After time progressed people gave out candy to young

children's. So now you kids get candy. And there is your history lesson on Halloween.

By: Gabrielle

Page 5

Volume 15, Issue 1

Some people might think of October 8 as just another day. However, if it was just another

day then why would we have the day off of school? We have school off because it’s Co-

lumbus Day. Columbus Day is the day that Christopher Columbus arrived to America on October 12,

1492 after sailing all the way from Spain. It is a very important day.

The Life of Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy in 1451.He was said to be born into a middle

class family. During the time Christopher was born, children were expecting to start preparing for a ca-

reer at a very early age. In the writings that Christopher wrote, he was sailing when he was 10 years

olds. Columbus sailed and found trade routes, but he knew he wanted to always do more. They say that

Christopher thought that there was a quicker way to India than Marco Polo’s route. So he went to King

John II of Portugal in 1485 and asked for three ships and a year’s supply of things needed to discover.

However, the king turned him down and thought it was a waste of money. Christopher was not going to

give up there so he went to King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I of Spain. The first time they said no,

but then they realized they could not let an opportunity like this slide. So after a lot of though they said

they would provide everything and they also arranged to give him and his crew lodging and food in eve-

ry country. On August 3, 1492 Columbus set sail with 90 crewmen. He set sail with his three

ships called the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria. Two hard months later his crew wanted to turn back, but

Christopher wasn’t stopping now, so they kept going. Finally on October 12, 1492 he saw land. Colum-

bus had come across America.

Columbus Day in the United States

In 1972, the first Columbus Day was celebrated. It was all because of a lady named Tammany

Hall who through an event to remember history’s was needed. Italian and Catholic communities were

full of pride so they organized parades through the streets and started organizing religious ceremonies.

Then in 1892, President Benjamin Harrison declared a proclamation stating that the 400th anniversary of

Columbus Day was encouraged to be celebrated by all Americans. Finally, in 1937 Franklin D. Roose-

velt made Columbus Day an actual holiday. Columbus Day was originally October 12, but in 1971 they

changed it to be celebrated the second Monday in October. All over the country Columbus Day is cele-

brated within the Italian- American heritage. To celebrate some traditions they have parades with bright

costumes, food, and music.

In conclusion, I hope you now know why we have October 8th off from school, but most im-

portantly how amazing this holiday is to our culture. It is important because on October 12, 1492 Co-

lumbus stumbled upon America. By: Mackensie

History of Columbus Day

Mr. Holmes 8th

grade Math Class!!

Who likes Math? Well I have Mr. Holmes in 8th grade and we have learned a lot of

things. Our 1st unit was Rational and Irrational numbers! People think, why do we need

this crazy math stuff. Well you don’t use them in our life but, you always need your learning. Examples

are 3.14 is irrational even though you think it is rational because 3.14 is equal to PI but, it’s not!! If you

are in 7th grade you sometime use 3.14 as PI which 3.14 is PI but, in 8th you use the PI symbol and 3.14

is an irrational number. Our 2nd unit is changing decimals to fractions and fractions to decimals. You

can use this for cooking and measuring which is what you learn in FCS in 8th grade which is a different

subject but that’s what you will use it for. Our 3rd unit is adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing

integers. This is another thing you won’t use in life but you still have to learn something and being

taught because that’s what teachers are for and to help you if you need any help. For example, 3-(-3)=

KCC which is Keep Change Change. Keep Change Change is a method to use in math for integers.

Well you keep the 3, change the subtracting to adding, and change -3 to 3 so its 3+3=6. Our 4th unit is

combining like terms and evaluating like terms. Combining like terms is easy after you get the hang of

it. Examples: 3p-8p+1p-6= -4p-6 is your answer which you combine the ones with p’s and the real num-

bers. Our final unit is Exponents but there is way more left to come but I don’t know currently. 34 and

122 is all examples of Exponents. 34 is 3x3x3x3=18 and 122 is 12x12=144 and that is all exponents.

What do you think of math now?

By: Kelsey

Page 6

Around the Block

Watson Homestead

On Friday September 21, 2012 the 6th grade students went to Watson Homestead for

a “Get-to-know you day.” There the students made new friends, played games and ate lunch outside.

They played games such as, a scavenger hunt, the human knot, mini golf, basketball, volleyball, football,

kickball and went on a nature walk!

For the scavenger hunt they had to find items such as, a feather, a penny, a spider, an earring, a

belt, a wildflower, a paperclip, a piece of plastic and more!

The human knot was a game that made them think. They got in a small group of people and

crossed their arms. Then they took hands at random and tried to get untied.

On the nature walk we saw lots of interesting things. We saw a snake, we saw a maze made of

stones, we saw a rock wall (no, we did not get to climb it), we got to walk over a stream.

The 6th grade students had a wonderful time at Watson Homestead and met lots of new friends!

By: Paige

Page 7

Volume 15, Issue 1

Do you guys seriously understand what NWEA is? NWEA is Northwest Evalua-

tion Association. This is what we take in the fall and spring. This is the test we

drag about and hate but we get through it. Today, there is 24 million assessments. NWEA comes togeth-

er with more than 2,200 different districts meaning more than 3 million students. NWEA testing goes

through a scale called RIT which measures a student’s achievement and growth. The average range is

from 140-300, when you are in 3rd grade and up you should score 140-190, when you are in middle

school the range is from 200-230 and in high school you should score 240-300. You are not timed but

they say you can complete it in 2 class periods which is 80 minutes together. Like I said, you are not

timed so DON’T rush. All student take different test depending on their averages and grades! Some

ways to help the student prepare are….. Meet the student’s teacher or teachers and ask what the student

can do to do better…. Have a quite comfortable environment at home to study or do homework…….

Make sure the students go to bed at a decent time and have a good breakfast…… Give your student a

well-rounded diet, a healthy body leads to a healthy mind. This test is given to the students 2 or 3 times

a year, on math and ELA. Parents can help with their child’s homework, discussing school matters, and

organizing and monitoring a child’s time. NWEA testing are important to teachers because then they

can keep track of process and growth in basic skills. They let teachers know where a student’s strengths

are and if help is needed in any specific areas. Teachers use this information to help them

guide instructions in the classrooms. By: Kelsey

Physical Education is FUN

Physical Education is so important! Northside Blodgett offers a wonderful Physical Education

program. We get to play fun games while getting in fit at the same time! Like running the mile that is

so much fun, I love cheering others on! Not only is exercise important but eating right is too. The cafe-

teria offers many healthy choices. They serve fruits, vegetables, and meats. Another good thing about

the cafeteria is that the lunch ladies take the time to make the food healthy and taste good!

I think it is so cool that we have gym with our friends because it is a lot more fun to do things

with your friends. Like running the mile, half of Mrs.Rijo gym class runs in pairs. There are three gym

teachers Mrs.Rijo, Mr.Knapp and Mrs.Wilsoncroft.

NorthSide Blodgett has many sports teams: football, soccer , swimming ,volleyball and others.

Northside Blodgett also offers intramurals in the morning. Mrs. Wilsoncroft runs intramurals. Intramu-

rals is a way in the morning to get physical education into your day and also gets your brain working!

By: Madison

NWEA Testing

How to Interpret Your Math NWEA Score

By Mackensie

Recently, in all grades we have just taken the math NWEA,

and you’re probably wondering what your score means and if the score you got is where it

should be. Well, NWEA determines your score by doing a RIT scale. A RIT scale is a curricu-

lum scale that uses individual item difficulty values to estimate a student’s achievement. The

factors that go into the RIT scale are the achievement scale, the accurate scale, the equal in-

terval scale; it also helps measure growth over a period of time, and the grade and age of a stu-

dent. NWEA’s in the fall help teachers know what level you are at when you walk into their

classroom. The NWEA’s in the spring tell teachers how much you have grown and learned

this year.

Math NWEA Scores

The chart above shows if the score you got is below, average or higher above than what the state thinks you should have. So now that you know how good your score is try to set a goal for the spring NWEA. To show the teachers how much you have learned in that class. Try to get in the average range if your below our if you’re in the average range push to get a higher score in the spring.

Fall Spring

Grade Below Average High Below Average High

6th Grade 209 209-222 222 215 215-229 229

7th Grade 214 214-228 228 220 220-236 236

8th Grade 220 220-235 235 226 226-243 243

Page 8

Around the Block

Page 9

Volume 15, Issue 1

Book Review Percy Jackson and the Olympians series

Think of the beginning of the series like this. You begin your day as a normal

teenager at the age of 12.Beginning your day normal at middle school not

knowing that you are a child of a god from Greece. Later on in your day, you

might just get attacked by your Math teacher, or even your language arts

teacher. In the situation of being attacked, you are saved by your best friend

who might just be a Satyr (half-Human and Half-Goat). Later you will be rushed off into a

remote area while your best friend is trying to explain about the gods of Greece. Later

through your normal life, well you thought, you will be shown around a camp called Camp

Half bBood. Later you might even be claimed by a god and be put into your cabin mates,

your brother and sisters, you might be so unusually that you are the only child from your pa-

rentally god.

This is a normal day for a teen that is learning that he or she is a demigod. This day

was much similar to Percy Jackson’s who is the main character for the Percy Jackson series.

His best friend is a Satyr named Grover. In the series, Percy is the son of Poseidon. At camp

Percy meets another important main character, Annabeth, she is the daughter of the Athena,

the goddess of wisdom. Later Percy is shown around camp half-blood and later finds out

that his mother has been taken away by Hades the god of the underworld because Hades

thinks that Percy has the master bolt, the weapon of Zeus the god of the sky. Percy’s quest is

to find his mother and find out who has the master bolt to prove that he is not he lightning

thief in the book Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the Lightning Thief.

By: Chandan

Pre- Tests

By: Mackensie and Julia

Just recently all grades have taken the pre-tests in many of their classes. These classes are Humani-

ties, Science, Spanish, Art, French, Health, Band, and Chorus. These tests are to see what you know about

that subject. They also give you a basic idea of what you will learn about in that specific class. They are

graded and then put away the whole year, and then at the end of the year you take a post test to see how

much you have learned/improved. The post tests at the end of the year will have some of the same ques-

tions, but most of the questions will be a little harder. The tests might be a little bit longer to just to show

that you have improved. Don’t be worried about what you get on the pretests because they don’t count on

your report card. It’s only to see what you know. The post tests are like a final. They will count on your fi-

nal grade. I hope this gives you a little more idea about the pretests and post tests.

Spirit Week at Northside Blodgett!

Spirit Week at Northside Blodgett is a randomly picked week which means like

Monday is sports day, Tuesday is crazy hair day, Wednesday is costume day, Thursday is twin

day, and Friday is sprit day. Monday is sports day which you wear your favorite sports teams

like Jets, San Francisco 49ers, or even Syracuse. There is plenty more but this is the day you

can show people what team you like. Tuesday is crazy hair day which you do whatever you

want to do to your hair. One example, food coloring/kool aid dip your hair all different col-

ors. Another example, use gel and spike your hair into a Mohawk. There are a lot more

things than what I told you, you can do whatever you want to do with your hair. This is the

day to show people how crazy your hair is and tell them how you did it and maybe people

might want to that the next time it is crazy hair day. Wednesday is costume day which means

you wear your Halloween costume to school but it can’t be to bloody or inappropriate for

school. So it’s like Halloween at school which is pretty cool. Thursday is twin day which you

dress up as the same person. If you think sports day, crazy hair day, or even costume day

looks fun well twin day is so awesome. On twin day you ask someone to be twins with, like

last year I was triplets to 2 other people so it doesn’t matter if its twins or triplets. Friday is

sprit day this is where we celebrate our school by wearing our colors which is black and or-

ange. Last year 6th grade wore black, 7th grade wore orange and 8th grade wore black and or-

ange. Northside Blodgett has been doing this for a long time and the students love having

these different things to do to make our week more fun than it usually is. By: Kelsey

Page 10

Around the Block

Around the Block Newspaper Staff

First Line Editor: Divya Advisor: Mrs. Howe

Articles Submissions:

Mackensie, Kelsey, Vasu, Madison, Arianna, Gabrielle, Paige, Chandan, Julia, Brooke, Irfaan and Emma

Page 11

Volume 15, Issue 1

What Veterans Day is About

Some people may think that Veteran’s Day is a day to honor

American military that have died in war or battle. That’s not quite true. Veteran’s Day is

really a day to honor our American military that have passed away in war, or is still living

present day. Factually, Veterans Day is intentionally meant to thank the living veterans that

have done loyal service to their country. Veteran’s Day is held on November 11th every

year so our veterans know how we appreciate them, and what they did for our country, so

we can live free of danger. So it is a very vital day in history and present day.

Why We Honor Our Veterans On this Day

We honor our risk taking veterans on November 11th, 1918 because they are a part of

our history. After the ending of World War I the U.S. military force celebrated at 11:00

A.M. on November 11th . That’s when they came up with Veterans Day. The World War I

also known as “The Great War” formally ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed

on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside of the town Versailles, France.

Other similar holidays are…

Remembrance Day, Armistice Day

Some similar holidays that are celebrated around the world are Armistice Day and

Remembrance Day. These holidays are also very vital days in history. By: Brooke

Kids who like writing, taking pictures or just something to do after school should attend this

program. You should come to Around the Block. Mrs. Howe runs this proram. Around the block is a fun

after school program. Around the block is in room 218 after school from 2:50 to 3:15 twice a week.

We usually meet on Monday– Thursday but never on Friday’s. If you know where the Computer Technology

room is then there is schedules of when we are meetings in a folder on the board outside the room. It is very

fun. All the writing pieces you do get published in one large newsletter. The whole school reads our writing

how great is this! We would love to have new members. By: Gabrielle

AROUND THE BLOCK

Page 12

Around the Block

The way students learn has changed throughout the years. At first, students would use textbooks and have the teacher

teach a lesson by using a chalkboard or whiteboard. Now, students learn and teachers give lessons through the inter-

active SmartBoard or other technologies. Using the SmartBoard, students can learn in new ways. Instead of using the

textbook and having the teacher talk nonstop, technology has changed learning in positive ways. Learning is different

and more efficient than before. There are students who struggle with a certain subject and students who are more ad-

vanced for a particular class who will find self-pacing beneficial. What if students can learn and work at their own

paces without being behind or learning something you already know? We can do this at our school if we incorporate

Khan Academy into our learning system. Using Khan Academy will help our school learn more and become more

successful in the future.

What is Khan Academy?

Khan Academy is an online organization that helps many students all over the world. Khan Academy teaches

students through video tutorials of many topics. Khan Academy teaches lessons in subjects including Math, Science,

Computer Science, Finance & Economics, and Humanities. A section for test prep is also available. As you can see

there are a variety of topics covered in Khan Academy. Khan Academy is not limited to a certain age group; it is for

children not even in school to students who are in college, adults and senior citizens. Khan Academy enforces indi-

vidualized learning to help you learn at your own pace. To use Khan Academy, you choose your subject and then you

choose your topic. You would then choose a video that has the lesson you are looking for. For example, I want to

learn how to add and subtract negative numbers. I would choose “Math” as my subject, and then I would choose my

category “Arithmetic and Pre-Algebra”, and after that I would choose my topic, “Addition and Subtraction.” Now, I

want to learn about adding and subtracting negative numbers. I would click on that video tutorial and watch it. I can

pause anytime and rewind a certain part if I don’t understand something. There are about 200,000,000 lessons deliv-

ered through Khan Academy, so everything you need help with is here at Khan Academy. Lessons are organized very

well so it would not take very long to find what you are looking for. If you want to practice certain math skills, you

can complete exercises as well. You work at your own pace, there is no limit on how fast or how much you learn in a

time period.

Who founded Khan Academy?

The founder of Khan Academy is Salman Amin 'Sal' Khan who was originally was a hedge fund analyst. The

beginnings of Khan Academy started when Khan was tutoring his cousin. When other friends and relatives of his

needed tutoring, he thought it would be reasonable, easier, and efficient if he posted his tutorials on YouTube. His

tutorials began to be noticed from people he did not know. There were about 20,000 views on each of his videos.

Once his videos started to get popular, he quit his job to develop his YouTube channel, Khan Academy. Now, he has

more than 6 million students using Khan Academy and his videos have been viewed over 160 million times. Khan

has been very successful with his development of Khan Academy. He has made appearances in all kinds of media

and his learning resources have been mentioned by Bill Gates.

Page 13

Volume 15, Issue 1

Why is Khan Academy helpful?

There are many reasons why Khan Academy effectively helps students learn and master skills and techniques. Be-

ing able to work at your own pace is a key tool for success for students. At Northside Blodgett, each period is

about forty minutes long. There is usually a set schedule of what is going to be taught during that period. Most of

time, all students in a class must learn the same thing. They each do the same worksheets after a lesson. If one per-

son is done, that person has to wait for the other students to finish. Instead, that student could be learning some-

thing new. The last student should not be worried or pressured. Khan Academy does not rush you or pressure you

at all. You can complete your exercises at your own pace whenever you have free time. Khan Academy is a great

form of individualized learning. Once you complete your lesson, you get your results and stats instantly. You do

not have to wait forever to get your graded assignment back. At Khan Academy, you get your results instantly.

There is no need for a progress report or report card because you know what your results are. It even shows other

information such as how much progress you have made. Khan Academy remembers what you have done and even

shows many neat statistics. As you work on Khan Academy, you get badges based on certain achievements. These

achievements are like bragging rights. It is really addicting to achieve these certain badges. The system of Khan

Academy is student-friendly so it is very easy to use.

Why would Khan Academy benefit the students and teachers of Northside Blodgett?

Now that you know about Khan Academy, you are probably wondering why Khan Academy is being men-

tioned in Northside Blodgett. In most schools, students learn in a group or in a class. Khan Academy is a system

of individualized learning. While learning in a group is beneficial, individualized learning is also important. Most

schools tend to focus on learning with the whole class. A great skill to have is to learn independently. Learning

independently is really important because there will be many situations that you will encounter where you will

need to depend on your skills without assistance. There would not be a teacher with a Smartboard teaching you

how to solve the issue. Khan Academy will help students learn the ability to learn independently. In a modern

classroom, the teacher is usually standing in front of the room giving a lecture on how to solve a problem or task

by learning a new technique. Students have the ability to do this, but they might not always completely understand

it. Teachers should spend their time during the class period helping students with understanding the learned lesson

or topic instead of teaching the lesson whole. Doing this will help students learn faster and learn more efficiently.

As we know from the assembly from the beginning of the year, our school was not able to reach the goal we set

for our NYS Math and ELA tests. If we do incorporate Khan Academy into our learning, we could improve our

NYS Math scores for the following years. As of right now, Khan Academy does not have any teachings for ELA.

If we can incorporate Khan Academy in Northside Blodgett or even the school district, Khan Academy would

spread throughout many schools in the nation and the world. It would be reasonable to incorporate ELA in Khan

Academy if it is used everywhere. There are already schools that have students learning through Khan Academy,

so why are we waiting? Khan Academy is the foundation for future education. It will make learning easier and

make school more enjoyable. What do we do now? Try Khan Academy today right now at

www.khanacademy.org.Learning just got more exciting! By: Irfaan

Page 14

Newsletter Title

Thanksgiving is traditionally told to have started in the autumn of 1621 with the Pilgrims and

Native Americans. It was not a holiday but more of a gathering.

How it started:

The Pilgrims first left their home in England to find religious freedom in Holland. After a short period of

time they found the Dutch practices “ungodly” and left to negotiate with a London stock company to finance

a pilgrimage to America.

They arrived on December 11th, 1620. The first winter for the Pilgrims was devastating. Forty-six of the origi-

nal one hundred and two people had died. Soon, when the harvest came, it was bountiful. The remaining

Pilgrims, along with some Native Americans celebrated surviving their first year in America. Their feast was

more of an English gathering, rather than a true Thanksgiving feast that we know now.

Their Governor, William Bradford sent men after fowling. It is not certain that turkey was actually served, as

it was a term for all wild birds. The feast also did not include pumpkin pie, as flour had long diminished, so

there were no sweet treats as we know them, but they did have a type of boiled pumpkin. No milk, butter,

cider or potatoes were served either. They did not have any domestic cows and the potato was considered

poisonous in England. However the feast included fish, berries, watercress, lobster, clams, venison, dried

fruit and plums.

The ‘Thanksgiving’ feast was not repeated for many years after. It wasn’t until June 1676 that a

‘Thanksgiving’ was proclaimed again. On June 20th the Charlestown, Massachusetts council held a meeting

to determine how best to express thanks for their good fortune over the years. They instructed Edward Raw-

son to proclaim June 29th as Thanksgiving Day. The future thanksgivings did not include the Natives, as it

was celebration of the Americans success. Now, the Natives were a threat to their expansion.

One hundred years later, on October 1777, all of the colonies gathered to have one last celebration about

the British defeat at Saratoga. George Washington officially proclaimed Thanksgiving a nation al holiday in

1789. Many felt the hardships of the pilgrims did not deserve a holiday. President Thomas Jefferson also op-

posed Thanksgiving.

Eventually, Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor pushed and President Lincoln proclaimed the last Thurs-day in November as Thanksgiving. The date was changed a few times, lastly by President Roosevelt, to create a longer Christmas season. It became official in 1914. By: Emma

History of Thanksgiving