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Fun Facts about Travilah By: Emma Baldwin & Bianca Shah

Special thanks to: Mrs. Lee, Mr. Menk, Mrs. Harriston, Mrs. Fones, Mrs. Winkler, Mrs. Shenk, and Abbey Mayne for helping us so much collecting information for the article.

Since Travilah Elementary School is celebrating its 50th anni-versary this year, we thought you might enjoy learning more about the “then” and “now” of our school.

How Travilah got its name: the area around it

When it was first opened: November 1886

(Travilah ES wasn’t originally built on where it is now)

How many classrooms then: it was a one room school house Principal in 1960: Albert Gibson Principal now: Mrs. Susan Shenk

Number of students in 1960: 312 students

Number of students now: 436 students

First Mascot: Chipmunk because it is intelligent and peaceful

Current Mascot: Dolphin

How many classrooms now: 18 classrooms Number of teachers now: 31

Teacher that has been here the longest: Mrs. Winkler with 26 years (substitute for 4 years and been around Travilah for 33 yrs.)

Travilah Kid’s Post W r i t t e n b y s t u d e n t s , f o r s t u d e n t s !

A L o o k A h e a d

March

29th: Spring Portraits 5th Grade Class Pictures

31st: No School Professional Day

April 14th: Talent Show

18-25: Spring Break

27th: Family Fun Night

M a r c h 2 0 1 1 E d i t o r : M r s . E g a n

Pg. Topics

1 Fun Facts About

Travilah

2 Holiday

Word Find

2 Science In The

News

3 Mystery

Staff

4 Where’s The

Leprechaun?

5 Super Bowl

March Madness

6 Book Reviews

7 All About

Animals

8-9 Caution,

Caution,

Watch Your

Step (Bullying)

10 Comic Strip

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IBM’s Watson By: Radhika Khare

Wouldn’t it be cool if there were a computer smarter than a human? You may think it would be years until something as extraordinary as that will happen. But no, IBM created the Watson which beat 2 men on Jeopardy on Febru-ary 17, 2011.

This Jeopardy event was 3 night event, with Jeopardy champions Ken Jennings, Brad Rutter, and of course the Watson. It took over four years to make this intelli-gent gadget. After 3 days of answering questions, the Watson came home with $77,147. Ken Jennings, who came in second place, won $24,000. Brad Rutter sadly came home with only $21,600. Watson was named after IBM’s founder, Thomas J. Watson.

Watson’s winning was not a surprise. With a brainy computer, what new gadgets will come next?

Science In The News

HOLIDAYS BY MEGAN REILLY

WORD BANK EASTER LOVE EGGS LUCK FLAG NEW YEARS HOLIDAYS PRESENTS LEPRECHAUNS CELEBRATION ST PATRICKS DAY VALENTINES DAY INDEPENDENCE DAY

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Who Can It Be? Mystery Staff #2

By: Emma Baldwin and Bianca Shah

Birthday: February 20

Favorite color: black

Happiest Moment: First time held daughter

Number of Pets: 1 dog, 1 bird

Favorite Sport: volley ball

Number of siblings: 2

Birth place: Montevideo, Uruguay

Favorite Food: chocolate

Number of years at Travilah: 5

Favorite thing about Travilah: students

Favorite thing to do in free time: bike

Fun facts: lived in 4 different countries

Uruguay, Chile, Argentina and the U.S.A

*Guess who it is. Then check to see if you’re right when you check the last page of this edition.

Who Can It Be? Mystery Staff #1

By: Vibha Sastri and Rachel Li

Birthday: September 23

Birthplace: Washington, D.C.

# of years at Travilah: 23

# of kids: 3

# of siblings: 1 brother

# of pets: 1 beagle (dog) named George

Favorite color: Pink

Favorite food: Spaghetti

Favorite sport: Football

Favorite hobby: Reading books

Happiest moment: When her three

children were born

Fun Facts: Loves to bake cookies Going to take cake decorating classes

Walked up the Washington Monument

*Guess who it is. Then check to see if you’re right when you check the last page of this edition.

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Surprise! It’s Saint Patrick’s Day! Are you wearing green? Or are you going to let your friends pinch you? Don’t tell me that you think St. Patrick’s Day is boring! Well, let’s find out more about the world-famous Saint Patrick’s Day!

Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17 every year. It is known for St. Patrick’s religious feast and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. People would party, dance, drink, and feast--on a traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

♦ Today, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated by people of all back-grounds. The colors of the Republic of Ireland are green, white, and orange. The orange represents the Protestant population, the green represents the Catholic, and the white represents the peace between them. So, wearing the green is the symbol of St. Patrick’s Day.

Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17 every year. It is known for St. Patrick’s religious feast and the anniversary of his death in the fifth century. Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. People would party, dance, drink, and feast--on a traditional meal of Irish bacon and cabbage.

Today, St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated by people of all backgrounds. The colors of the Republic of Ireland are green, white, and orange. The orange represents the Protestant population, the green represents the Catholic, and the white represents the peace between them. So, wearing the green is the symbol of St. Patrick’s Day.

Check out these fantabulous facts about Saint Patrick’s Day: ♦ According to legend, Saint Patrick used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity

to the Irish people. ♦ Every year, people in Illinois dye the Chicago River green using vegetable dye. The tradition started

in 1962 when city pollution-control workers used dyes to trace illegal sewage discharges. They thought it would be a unique way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

♦ More than 100 St. Patrick’s Day parades are held across the United States; New York City and Boston are home to the largest celebrations.

♦ St. Patrick’s Day is also known as St. Paddy’s Day, and St. Patty’s Day.

♦ According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the highest number of leaves found on a clover is 14!

♦ One estimate suggests that there are about 10 000 regular three-leaf clovers for every lucky four-leaf clover.

Now, St. Patrick’s Day isn’t such a boring holiday, is it? Actually, it’s one of the most spectacular days of the year. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Where’s The

Leprechaun?

By: Vibha Sastri and Rachel Li

http://www.spreadshirt.com/

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Super Bowl By: Daniel Philipose, Kayvan Fouladinovid, and Luxman Mahes-

MARCH MADNESS

Which College Teams Will Be In The Final Four?

1 OHIO STATE 4 KENTUCKY EAST SOUTHWEST 1MARQUETTE 2 NORTH CAROLINA

1 DUKE 5 ARIZONA

WEST SOUTHEAST 3 CONNECTICUT 2 SAN DIEGO STATE

On February 6th, the Super Bowl took place. It was the Pittsburg Steelers against the Green Bay Packers. The Packers were the underdogs, but you never know what will happen. The Packers took a 21-10 lead into halftime. The Black Eyed Peas had an amazing and colorful appearance with a special appearance from Usher during halftime. The second half was tense. The Steelers caught up with two touch-downs. But the Packers scored 10 more points, taking the lead back. So the score stood 31-25 with Green Bay in the lead. The Steelers tried to score and win, but the Packer’s defense stopped the Steelers offense. The final was the Packers 31, Steelers 25. The Packers are Super Bowl champions!

1 KANSAS 12 RICHMOND 11 VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH 10 FLORIDA STATE 8 BUTLER 4 WISCONSIN

3 BRIGHAM YOUNG 2 FLORIDA

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Book Reviews

Allie Finkle Rules for Girls Blast from The Past

Author: Meg Cabot

By: Aditi Singh and Radhika Khare

Allie Finkle is a girl in fourth grade who recently changed schools. Mrs. Hunter, her current fourth grade teacher, has announced the fourth grade in Pine Heights Elementary is taking a field trip. Allie is so eager after she hears about the field trip since she’s never been on a field trip. That’s because Mary Kay, her ex-best friend from her previous school, Walnut Knolls Elementary, wrecks it. Her happiness evaporates when Mrs. Hunter announces that because of economy changes the fourth grade of Walnut Knolls and Pine Heights are going to go together. Her old friends there hate her! But her dreadful mood turns into an even more awful mood when she finds out Mary Kay will be her partner of the day. Will Mary Kay ruin Allies fieldtrip again or will things turn out to be fine???

http:// img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n70n352977.jpg

Extra Credit Author: Andrew Clements

By: Aditi Singh & Radhika Khare

Abby Carson has the capability of doing schoolwork, but sadly, she doesn’t want to. So when her teacher, Mrs. Beckland, warns her that she might have to repeat a grade, her teacher gives her an option. Abby can repeat a grade or do an extra credit project. The extra credit project is that Abby must be pen pals with another kid from distant country. Abby chooses the country Afghanistan. Her pen pal is Sadeed Bayat. He’s the best sixth grade writer in the entire Afghanistan. Soon, Abby and Sadeed learn that there letters are not only passing the ocean, but they are crossing a cultural split. In Afghanistan a female cannot communicate in any way with a male. Will Sadeed and Abby stay pen pals and will Abby finish her extra credit project? Or will they not succeed?

http://img1.fantasticfiction.co.uk/

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Enormous Elephants By: Abbey Mayne

What animal has four legs, one trunk, and a tail? You guessed it, an elephant! The elephant has a very high intelligence level. They can adapt to a new habitat very quickly. Elephants are mostly found in Asia and Africa. The number of elephants over the past couple years has decreased alarmingly due to poaching for their beautiful ivory tusks. Some of the hundreds of elephants are captured and trained to be in circuses, county fairs, and zoos. They are extremely well of listening to the commands they are given.

The behavior of elephants is very complex. Females enjoy socializing with other female elephants, where as males like to wrestle with other males. As a male elephant it is their job to protect their herd and always be alert! When it’s time for feeding the male elephant leads its herd to a safe water-ing hole or grazing field.

Elephants always seem to be hungry. They consume several hun-dreds of pounds of vegetation daily.

Tarsiers By: Parth Shetty

Tarsiers have enormous eyes and long feet. Their feet have extremely long tarsus bones, which is how they got their name. top to bottom Tarsier are 10 to 15 cm in length, but the hind limbs are about twice this long (including the feet), and they also have a slender tail from 20 to 25 cm long. On Y ouTube there is a video called “Dramatic Maki” where a lemur makes his eyes from small to huge. It reminds me of a tarsier because they have big eyes too. If you are a fan of YouTube use this link to watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14alLh3LglQ&playnext=1&list=PL69EE00EDE18F0CA0 They are also known to prey on birds, snakes, and bats they jump from tree to tree, tarsiers can even catch birds in motion. It is pretty obvious Tarsier are nocturnal because their eyes are like an owl’s.

Look out monkeys!! A new animal is going to take YOUR place!!!

All About Animals

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Caution, Caution, Watch your Step!

Written by: Christina You and Florina Lam

A serious problem is sprouting all over the nation. Do you know what it is? If you guessed bullying, you are correct. Bullying is a form of abuse. A lot of us know a little bit about bullying. Maybe you witnessed it before? Some people have seen bullying before but don’t recognize it because it happens in many different forms. Someone might hurt or scare another person on purpose and the person being bullied has a hard time defending him or herself. Bullying can also happen physically like punching, shoving, and other things. Spreading bad rumors, excluding, and teasing people in a bad way; it’s all bullying! Think about cyber bullying, which includes sending mean texts, emails, and instant messages. It’s all over the place!

But when you see bullying, what should you do? Should you escape away before the bullies turn on you? Should you join in on the bullying to make yourself seem cool? Actually, none of those things. If you see bullying happening, step in and offer help to the victim. But if it gets too dangerous, don’t just stand there, get an adult! Never be a bystander.

What should you do if you’re bullied? Bullying never stops so if you’re being bullied; don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself! Say something like “Stop it!”

Or walk away and act like you don’t care, even if you really do. Looking hurt or retorting back would give the bully satisfaction and would make him/her feel even more powerful. Just remember, bullies usually are people who feel insecure, don’t have any friends, and look weak. Don’t bully back, in fact never bully anyone else and never let the bully win. Keep doing what you love to do. You’re not alone.

thestayathomemother.com

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Ever thought why a bully would want to bully you? Take a look and see! We think this would make you feel better after

you read this:

♦ She's having problems in other parts of her life, like something going on in her family or struggling with school. ♦ He may not feel like he's getting enough attention from parents or teachers. ♦ She's watched her parents or older siblings get their way by being angry or pushing other people around. ♦ He's being bullied himself, maybe by another kid or a brother or sister...or even his own parents. ♦ Her parents have spoiled her or haven't taught her about not hurting others. ♦ He's getting exposed to a lot of violence in movies, TV, and video games ♦ He has a grudge on you for something you did in the past 

So you know a lot about bullies now, right? But are you a bully? Read and answer the following questions to find out.

♦ Do you constantly strive for attention in negative ways such as: -try to look cool by making others look weaker -tease others to make them respect you -try to impress people by beating up children ♦ Do you purposely leave out certain people when they try to join in? ♦ Do you do bad things because people tell you to fit in? If you answered yes more than once, you might need to watch out for

your actions some more. If you put all no’s, then you are not a bully, but make sure to stand up for yourself.

Now that you know a lot about bullies, you can try not to be a bully

yourself and stand up for anyone! If you want to learn more about bullying, go to Google and search for

“Are you a bully test?”

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The Gold Pot By: Jack Foley and Megan Riley

A BIG THANKS TO OUR TRAVILAH KID’S POST WRITERS FOR THEIR

DEDICATION TO BRINGING US YET ANOTHER EXCELLENT EDITION!

Mystery Staff Answers: Mystery Staff #1: Mrs. Donaldson

Mystery Staff #2: Mrs. Fones