March 2016

Volume 4, Issue 3

Clarendon School Courier

By Smriti Chopra

On January 29, 2016, the

sixth graders of Clarendon

elementary school

participated in the spelling

bee. The students turned out

to be pretty good spellers, so

the rounds were very long.

Each student was given a

word to spell. If you spelled

the word correctly you stayed

in the bee. Once you got a

word wrong, you went to the

side and watched the spelling

bee in action.

During the spelling bee,

many students misspelled the

word “mischievous”. This one

was tough, but someone was

able to spell it correctly. The

winner was Jordan Rocco

from Mrs. Smith-Bonin’s class.

The runner up was Jacob Ruiz

from Mrs. Smeyer’s class.

After the spelling bee,

yearbook pictures for all of

the clubs were taken.

Congratulations to the

winners and all the students

that participated.

Principal - Mr. Steve Viggiani

Co-Advisors – Mrs. Dawn Doering

Mrs. Felicia Maloney

Senior Citizen Breakfast By Smriti Chopra

The Senior Citizen Breakfast

was held on February 11, this year.

The breakfast is an event where

the 6th graders of Clarendon school

are the servers and greeters. The

6th graders helped the senior

citizens, entertained them, and

served them food. The 6th graders

decorated the gym and displayed

their Greek God project on the

bleachers. For entertainment, the

Clarendon School Rock Band

performed along with the drama

club. The Rock Band played a

number of songs on stage, while

the drama club danced and sang to

the song “We Dance” and

Timoune sang a solo song called

“Waiting for Life.”

Reporter Gives Talk

to Club Members By Aidan Spooner

Carly Baldwin is a reporter for the

Patch in Monmouth and Middlesex

Counties. She recently came to

Clarendon School to speak to the

Newspaper and Media Club students

who gave up their lunch period to

learn what a reporter does and

learned how to edit their work.

Mrs. Baldwin explained that

information comes from many

sources, but those sources need to be

checked for accuracy. Once she has

the information she writes the story,

then verifies what people have said

with interviews. As she writes she

constantly edits her work. She even

had a life size article for us to edit.

Mrs. Baldwin was amazed how many

errors we were able to locate. It was

the same editing we do in our classes

every day.

Mrs. Baldwin believes that it is

better to interview the people she

doesn't know to see what information

they know about the subject. She also

has to investigate to see if the

people's stories are true. Mrs.

Baldwin edits her work before she

submits. She reminded us that if the

article is published with mistakes, it

will remain there forever. So that

means you need to double check

something before you hand it in.

Page 2 of 6 News from the classrooms

Dolley con’t

A few months after John’s death,

James Madison asked her out on a date.

They fell in love. He asked her to marry

him. She agreed. She was now Dolley

Madison. Since she married outside of

the Quakers, she was disowned.

Eight years later James became

president of the United States. Two

months after moving into the White

House, she began the tradition of “Mrs.

Madison’s Wednesday Nights” for

anyone who would want to talk to her or

her husband. The events came to be

known as squeezes because three to four

hundred people attended.

She would serve delicious food. But

the squeezes would also served a

purpose. It was a place where people

would join together to share news and

gossip. Her goal was unity. A few years

later the British declared war. They

attacked the White House while James

was not home. Dolley escaped with the

portrait of George Washington. She was

forever praised for saving the painting

before the British burned down the White

House. She was now a hero. James

died in 1836 and Dolley in 1849. She

lived a very happy life.

St. Jude By Vincent Salerno

St Jude is a research hospital in Memphis

Tennessee that helps treat children with

cancer and other diseases. St. Jude Hospital

relies on donations from people all over the

world to help children and their parents

receive the care they need without the worry

of paying money. Clarendon School works

to raise money every year to help the kids of

St. Jude. Last year, our school raised

$28,329.00. This collection made us the #1

school in New Jersey and the #6 school in the

country.

Throughout the year, Clarendon School

has fundraisers to collect money such as

jersey day, dress up day, ice skating and jeans

day to name a few. Our biggest fundraiser is

the Math-A-Thon which is currently in effect

until April 8, 2016. The Math-A-Thon is a

fun way to raise money and sharpen our math

skills at the same time.

Thanks to the fundraising ideas of Mrs.

Bartletta, Mrs. Falco and Mrs. Ortiz, we are

able to continue to raise more and more

money for St. Jude. You can become a part

of kids helping kids by donating today and

helping to save children’s lives!

By – Aarti A Advani

On the 100th day of school, the

Clarendon School kindergarters

decorated shirts. The first grade

dressed up as though they were a

hundred years old. The hundredth day

of school was also the day we kicked

off the math-a-thon. The rock band

played their songs such as, Stitches

during the math-a-thon assemblies for

both the primary and the intermediate

pods.

March Math Madness By Alexandra Castillo

There is a lot that goes on in March,

like Dr. Seuss Week, March Math

Multiplication, and fundraisers for St.

Jude. March Multiplication is when

we do math in March. We go into this

competition to see which class knows

their times’ tables the best. At the end

who ever scores the highest, wins!

For Dr. Seuss week we do crazy

things for a week. On Monday we

have our parents or family members

come in to read a book, on Tuesday

we wear wacky socks, Wednesday is

the one and only, WACKY

WEDNESDAY, on Thursday we wear

a crazy hat, and on Friday we read to

kindergarteners.

For some St. Jude fundraisers we do

something called a MATH-A-THON,

where we have to do math problems.

Then we have people sponsor us for

every math problem we do. When we

are all done we bring our money to our

teacher and win some cool prizes.

Another thing we do for St .Jude is

we bring in money and get to buy

really big muffins, now that’s cool,

and that is what we do in March.

Dolley Madison By Gabriela Romanelli

March is Women’s History Month

and I think that an inspirational

woman would be Dolley Madison, the

wife of 4th President James Madison.

She was born as Dolley Payne on

May 20, 1768. She was the third of

eight children. Her mother was a

Quaker, or a member of the Society of

Friends. Her father, after marrying her

mother, became a Quaker too. The

Quakers were very strict about their

rules. They had rules like you

couldn’t play cards, dance, own

slaves, fight in wars, or wear flashy

clothes or jewelry. You could get

thrown right out of the Quakers if you

married someone outside of faith, or

break any of their rules.

When Dolley was one year old her

father moved the family to eastern

Virginia. They moved from farm to

farm. Later, Dolley complained that

the Quaker rules were controlling her

completely. She was aching to rebel.

Her grandmother may have helped her

by allowing her to wear nicer clothes. Her father tried to work as one of

the Quakers. He was selling starch for

laundry. He failed. The Quakers

disowned him. Humiliated at being

disowned, he went to his bed. Even

from his bed, her father controlled her

life by picking out her husband.

Fortunately, she liked him. His name

was John Todd. They had two

children, one of which died of a

disease called yellow fever that was

carried by mosquitos. Later her

husband died of yellow fever too. She

was now alone with a one-year-old

child.

What is a Black Hole?

By Jay Raval

Do you know what a black hole is? If you

don’t, here is the answer. Scientists that study

black holes have to study these holes billions

of miles away from the Earth. They are

invisible. A black hole is one of the most

mysterious objects in outer space. A black

hole is made up of very dense objects

surrounded by an area in space. Anything

that goes into a black hole is trapped – even

light.

There are three things that help scientists

understand black holes – gravity, escape

gravity, and the speed of light. Gravity is a

force that pulls objects toward a center point.

Gravity makes the planet orbit. It is very hard

to escape the pull of gravity. If something is

fast enough like a rocket it can escape this

force. How fast the rocket goes is called

escape velocity. Nothing in the entire

universe can travel faster than light. Light

rays travel at 186,282 miles per second. A

black hole has incredibly strong gravity. The

gravity is so strong that it pulls anything it

gets close too. Do you think that you would

ever want to get pulled into a black hole?

Gravational Waves By Ayush Argawal

Gravitational waves are waves that cause

ripples in space and time as the waves travel

through the universe at the speed of light.

These waves can be produced by events such

as the colliding of black holes, the collapse of

a supernova, and the gravitational radiation

from the creation of the Universe. For

example, when two black holes collide, they

release a great amount of energy in the form

of gravitational waves. The energy released

can be 50 times more than the energy

produced by all of the stars in the universe.

Scientists have been trying to detect

gravitational waves for years, but they

couldn’t because these waves become very

weak by the time they reach Earth.

Movie Releases By Uma Advani

Do you like the series Kung Fu

Panda? Continuing his adventure of

awesomeness in KUNGFU PANDA 1

and 2, here it is, KUNGFU PANDA 3.

It is a 3D American-Chinese computer

animated action comedy. If you have

watched the first and second movie,

don't wait to see the third one.

If you aren't a fan, let me tell you

what the series is about. It is about a

panda named Po who always wanted

to be the dragon warrior and turns out

that he and his dad have a noodle

store. Po the panda, works at the store.

But, his actual dad, who is a panda,

shows up in search of his son. Po goes

to his actual dad's panda town or

village to discover what it truly means to be a panda.

These movies were produced by the company, DreamWorks Animation. Melisa Cobb produces these movies. I hope I have encouraged you to see the newest movie Kung Fu Panda 3. Hurry up before it gets too late!

noun

a story or event recorded by a camera as a set of moving images and shown in a theater or on television; a motion picture. synonyms: film, motion

picture, picture, feature

(film)

Sunny Side Up! By Ava Lenze

Do you know how to tell time

using just your shadow, or the best

way to conserve heat in the winter?

This reporter had the opportunity to

go on a field trip to the Meadowlands

Environmental Center to learn about

the sun!

After splitting into groups we got

to work. One group learned how to

make a human sundial and presented

an outstanding play on how to use

one. Another group explored the sun,

created a giant picture of the sun, and

read sun poetry! The last group

learned how to use the sun (the

greatest natural resource) and built a

model of a house kept warm by just

the heat from the sun! They learned

many new things and amazing facts

they never knew before from very

informative counselors.

This reporter also had the opportunity

to interview Mrs. Wurst, the Gifted

and Talented Teacher who

accompanied the students on the trip.

Why did you choose this subject to

study? Solar Astronomy was selected

based on student interest.

What did you enjoy the most?

I enjoyed watching the students

present their knowledge during

culminating activities.

What information did you want the

students to walk away with?

I wanted the students to experience

investigating humans understanding

of the sun through time with ancient

cultures, sundials, telescopes, solar

energy, and modern solar study.

Personally, what you learn that you

never knew?

I learned how to create and utilize a

sundial.

What’s Trending? Page 3 of 6

Page 4 of 6 Clarendon’s Character Education Corner

RESPECT By: Sophia Lee

What is respect? Respect is another word

for kindness. ‘’You should treat everyone

the way you want to be treated,’’ you hear

that everywhere and think it is just a saying,

but it is true. You should respect everyone

and they’ll respect you back. For example,

when someone helps you pick up your

books, say thank you as a sign of respect.

Some words of respect are thank you,

please, and you’re welcome. If someone

sees you being respectful and helping

someone, you might get a reward!

Citizenship By Meghan Francis

Do you know what citizenship is?

Citizenship is the status of being a citizen.

If you have citizenship in a country, you

have the right, to live there, work, vote, and

pay taxes! Citizenship comes from the Latin

word city, because in the earlier day of

human government, people identified

themselves as belonging to cities more than

countries. Citizenship also is when you

respect, care, be kind, helpful, and a lot

more. So remember to be a good citizen.

Parents Corner

Parents this website is for you with

many ideas and activities to promote

better character in your children. The

very easy, free resources can be

incorporated daily into your family

life. It is specifically for parents to use

with their children.

Thanks for visiting

MomentsADay.com - a website

dedicated to sharing ideas for parents

and kids to connect with each

other, grow as individuals and make a

difference in their communities. Find

new blog posts below or browse the

categories of my articles using the

menu bar above. I hope you enjoy

your time here and find something

positive to use at home with your

kids! Sign up for the newsletter to

receive tips and tools every month. ~

Chelsea Lee Smith, author + blogger http://www.momentsaday.com/

ST. JUDE MATH-A-THON

By Anya Singh

Clarendon School recently held the

St. Jude annual Math-a-Thon on the

100th day of school. St Jude Children’s

Research Hospital, founded in 1962, is

a pediatric treatment and research

facility focused on children’s diseases

(like cancer). The St. Jude Math-A-

Thon is America’s largest education-

based fundraiser. To participate, kids

in grades K-8 ask family and friends

for pledges to solve math problems.

So far, Clarendon has raised over

$250,000. We are number 1 in the

state and number 6 in the nation. This

year, Clarendon’s goal is to raise

$28,000. Our school holds many

events for helping St. Jude, such as

Jeans Day, Wear a Fancy Suit or

Dress Day, and of course, our main

event the Math-a-Thon. The founders

of our Math-a-Thon are Mrs. Ortiz,

Mrs. Bartletta, and Mrs. Falco, who

spend a lot of their time in organizing

this event. As always, it turned out to

be a great event again this year. Help

St. Jude and do your part by beating

cancer with love and heart!

SPRING ACTIVITIES

By Samyan Mangat

Spring is a season full of fun

activities. Some cool places are right

next door and we didn’t notice them. A

great example is the Great Falls in

Paterson, an awesome experience for

people of all ages. In upstate New York

the Corning Glass Museum provides

glass blowing demonstrations and if

you pay a little bit extra you have an

opportunity to make glass of your own!

Another great spot to visit is the

Delaware Water Gap Recreation Area.

A hike to the top of the mounds

provides a mesmerizing view of below.

A great area to experience the natural

beauty of NJ is the New Jersey Pine

Barrens, or Action Park. Action Park is

located in Vernon Mountains. It is my

personal favorite because there is a

neighboring a wooded area. A great

place for the spring break is the Finger

Lakes because its warmness welcomes

visitors to the unique cultures and the

stunning scenery. Another great idea is

to stroll through Menlo Park and

remember all the inventions Thomas

Edison made there. If you need a place

to stay Southern Mansion is great.

Another hotel is Rodeway Inn near

Great Falls. Or you could stay home

and enjoy time with your family. You

could plant flowers, bike, bike ride, or

have a picnic. Whatever you plan, well,

I am sure your vacation will be great.

You can get more tips at njmonthly.com

Click the shore & travel button and then

click the getaways button.

The Golden Disaster By: Maya A. Geller

Watch out! There is an island

called “Gold Island “. The leprechauns live

there. On St. Patrick’s Day (Their favorite

holiday), they go to a house and take

everything gold. I have always heard the

stories. They were really funny, but it

wasn’t really funny when it happened to

me…………………………

On the day of St. Patrick’s Day I

ran home to get ready for my cat Marsh’s

birthday. The theme was “Gold”. When I

got home, I went to the attic to get the

decorations but guess what………The

golden decorations were missing. After I

realized that the decorations were missing,

I told my mom and she said that she will

pick up some more on the way out from

work, so I decided to go get ready for the

party. When I was ready to put on my

golden earrings, bracelets, and a necklace,

all of those things were gone! I knew

something was going on, but I wasn’t

going to let it ruin my party. I went down

to the kitchen and heard some clatter.

When I was getting out the food the golden

plates were also gone! First the

decorations, then the jewelry, and now

this, this was no accident. This was the

leprechauns!

Soon I noticed a piece of paper

with words on it. Not just blank. Then, I

took the piece of paper and read it aloud:

“Dear Gellers,

We are sorry for all the trouble

we caused today, from the decorations to

the plates. I hope you have heard about us.

We are the leprechauns and we choose a

special house each year to take gold from.

This year we chose you. We have

informed your mother and she will pick

everything up at a store. The reason we

chose your house was because you had a

lot of bad luck throughout the year and

after the gold was stolen you got good

luck. We’re sorry about the gold, but enjoy

the good luck!

Spring Activities By Chloe Lin

Spring is an awesome season. You can

play many activities, from playing by

yourself to going on a family vacation.

You can enjoy sports, play with your

friends, and other activities. You can

finally go out without a jacket to play. If

you are thinking, “What should you do?”

Go take a walk instead of playing video

games. It is a great idea because your

body needs to warm up after the long

cold winter. You can play ball, or ask

your friends to play outside. You can

jump rope too. If you want to play by

yourself, you can make up a game.

There are lots of things you can do. Your

brain just needs to do all these things.

In the beginning of spring, it

might be cold outside still. You can take

a walk instead of playing a sports

because it is still cold outside. If you are

bored, you can bring a few toys out to

play with instead of doing nothing, or

you can take a walk. If you see a friend,

say hello and ask to play. In the middle

of spring, you can start playing a sport

like tennis, soccer, and any other sport

you can think of, and of course you can

still ask a friend to play with you. If you

want to play by yourself, it is best to

take a walk or go outside to bike. At the

end of spring, it is almost summer. Now

the pools are opened and you can go for

a swim.

Since it is spring, that doesn’t mean

you can’t go sledding, you can do other

sports now. If you don’t know what to

do, think of what other people do in the

spring and try it out. Have a great

spring!

Tis the Season

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Pancakelandia:

The Great War By Saloni Singh

There is a land called Pancakelandia,

with beautiful chocolate chip fields, high

strawberry hills, enchanting maple syrup

ponds, and some of the universe’s best syrup

shops. Sadly, we have not been there to see

its beauty.

There is also another land called

Wafflelandia. Pancakelandia and

Wafflelandia have been adversaries forever.

However, there is always French-

Toastlandia to mediate between them and

help them solve their problems.

One day, the evil Wafflelandians tried to

trap the Pancakelandian king by smearing

super extra sticky syrup on his throne.

Fortunately for the Pancakes, the cleaning

crew caught on. Soon war was declared!

The next day, both lands decided to attack

each other. But the Pancakes didn’t find the

Waffles, and the Waffles didn’t find the

Pancakes and they ended up destroying each

other’s lands. And that was when their

mediator, French-Toastlandia, came up with

a plan. They each had to rebuild not their

own, but the others land. This made each of

them realize the extent of their destruction.

After that lesson, they declared peace and

invited each other to a great breakfast!

EASTER

By Nicholas Viggiano

Easter is a very religious holiday that is

also a fun day for young children. Easter is

the most important holiday in the Christian

faith. It was the day that Jesus rose from the

dead, also known as his Resurrection. The

Easter season starts with Ash Wednesday

and lasts forty days until Easter Sunday.

Those forty days are known as Lent. Easter

is also the time when the Easter Bunny visits

little boys and girls. He hides Easter baskets

that are filled with chocolate, usually in the

shape of a bunny. He has been known to

also hide eggs. A tradition at Easter is for

children to color hard-boiled eggs with food

coloring. Every year, the kids of Secaucus

can eat breakfast at the egg hunt.

Seasonal Sports!

By Ava Formisano

We all have a favorite sport, but they

might not be in season right now. The

sports that are in season are, tennis,

baseball and soccer. I bet a lot of you

are soccer fans. I am too! There are

more sports in spring like softball,

lacrosse, and swimming. There are a lot

of swimming fans out there. Swimming

is good exercise and really fun.

Lacrosse is becoming a popular sport,

maybe Secaucus will get it soon!

What’s a sport you would like to play in

the spring?

LIGO By Ayush Argawal

LIGO (Laser Interferometer

Gravitational-Wave Observatory) is a

national research facility which has two

interferometers – one in Hanford,

Washington and the other in

Livingston, Louisiana, working together

to detect gravitational waves. On

September 14 2015, LIGO detected

gravitational waves which originated

from the collision of two black holes

and these waves traveled 1.3 billion

light years to reach Earth. These waves

cause matter to stretch and shrink

distorting its shape a little. LIGO spots

the gravitational waves by detecting

these small distortions. In 1916, the

famous physicist, Albert Einstein,

predicted gravitational waves existed

from his theory of general relativity.

Now, it has been proven by LIGO.

These waves are a great discovery

because they can tell us more about the

universe.

The Olympics By Tia Hussain

The Olympic Games are an

international sports festival that began

in ancient Greece. The games are held

every fourth year. I found out that

there are five types of Olympics,

Summer, Winter, Paralympics (for

disabled people), Youth, and Special

Olympics. The city of Rio de Janeiro

in Brazil has been the elected city for

the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in

2016. The last Summer Olympics held

in 2012 included 26 sports. Two

additional sports will be added to the

2016 Summer Olympics. The 2014

Winter Olympics included seven

sports. America last hosted the

Summer Olympic in 1996 in Atlanta,

GA. and the Winter Olympics in

2002, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The top 4 countries are: 1st United

States, 2nd

Russia, 3rd

Germany, and

4th Great Britain. The United States is

leading with 2,406 medals won.

Second is Russia, with 1,528 medals.

Third is Germany, with 1,305 medals.

Some American stars are Michael

Phelps, Gabby Douglas, Serena

Williams, Missy Franklin, Allison

Schmitt, Kayla Harrison, Bob & Mike

Bryan, Allyson Felix, LeBron James,

Claressa Shields and many more.

This year’s Summer Olympics will

start on the 5th of August, and end on

the 21st of August. Be sure to watch it!

Interesting Olympics Facts:

In the first Olympic Games, the winners

got a silver medal and the runners-up

received a bronze.

At the 1912 Games in Stockholm,

Sweden, the longest ever Olympic cycling

race took place over 200 miles. The

winner finished in just under 11 hours.

Some Olympic teams are tiny, with two

or three athletes. The biggest teams

usually have more than 600 athletes.

The Munich Olympics introduced team

mascots.

At the Youth Olympics the judges and

officials at the Games are young people,

as well as the athletes.

Tis the Season

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