The Writing Warriors Present

THE KP COURIER

THE KP COURIERMay 2011

A Newsletter for 5th Graders by 5th Graders about what matters to us!

EVER WONDER WHAT KP 5TH GRADE TEACHERS ARE LIKE OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL?

INTERVIEW WITH MRS. READY

by Paige ChasePaige wanted to know more about Mrs. Ready. Read her interview!

Continued on Page 2

MYSTERY TEACHER INTERVIEW

by Paige Chase

Paige was curious about some of KP’s 5th grade teachers, so she wanted to see how much you know about your teachers. She put together a MYSTERY TEACHER INTERVIEW.

Continued on Page 2

ANOTHER MYSTERY TEACHER INTERVIEW

by Annabelle Poersch and Kate Reary

Annabelle and Kate interviewed a popular 5th grade teacher at Kensington Parkwood Elementary School to discover what she likes to do in her free time.

Continued on Page 2

Issue No. One kpnewsclub@gmail.com

KENSINGTON PARKWOOD ELEMENTARY

4 7 1 0 S a u l R o a d

K e n s i n g t o n , M D 2 0 8 9 5 - 4 2 5 1T E L E P H O N E(301) 571-6949 W e b : h t t p : / /w w w . m o n t g o m e r y s c h o o l

s m d . o r g / s c h o o l s /p a r k w o o d e s /

Check Out Grace’s Fashion Flair on p.5

Check Out Ryan’s Radical Sports Page on p.8 Check out our recipes on p.3!

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MYSTERY TEACHER INTERVIEW (CONTINUED)

How many years have you been at KP?5 years

What are some of your hobbies?I like running, hiking and yoga! I used to play piano when I was little.

Do you have any funny times teaching?Water started leaking out of the ceiling during MSA’s

Do you live with anyone else?Yes. I live with my 2 year old daughter and husband!

ANOTHER MYSTERY TEACHER INTERVIEW (CONTINUED)

They put together some interesting questions. Here are this great teacher’s answers:

Do you love teaching? If so, why?YES I love teaching because I get to see kids learn something new everyday.

Is anyone else in your family a teacher?NoWhat is your favorite pass time activity?Spending time with my family and running!

Do you do any sports?RUNNING!!!!!!!!!!!!

What relaxes you the most?Running, reading and watching a good movie!

What is your favorite football team?Pittsburg Stealers

INTERVIEW WITH MRS. READY

How many years have you been teaching at KP?I have been teaching 12 years!

How many kids do you have?3 kids

Have you had any funny times teaching?I came into school dressed as Ms. Viola Swamp

What is your favorite part about teaching?I like it when I can see kids feel proud about something they accomplished

What are some of your hobbies?Yoga, Camping, and Reading

Can you tell us a little about the costumes for the opera this year?There are a lot of animals!

WHO ARE OUR MYSTERY

TEACHERS?

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THE KP COURIER

We would like to share these delicious dessert recipes with you! Have fun making these delectable recipes with your families and friends!

MERINGUES Ingredients:

• Nonstick vegetable oil spray• 1 cup powdered sugar• 1 tablespoon cornstarch• 3/4 cup cocoa nibs* (about 2 1/2

to 3 ounces), finely ground in spice mill or small coffee grinder

• 1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt• 3/4 cup egg whites (about 6 large)• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar• 1/4 cup sugar

Preparation:Preheat oven to 300°F. Line bottoms of two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 1 1/2-inch-high sides with parchment paper; spray parchment with nonstick spray. Sift powdered sugar and cornstarch into medium bowl; whisk in ground cocoa nibs and 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in large bowl until thick and foamy. Adding 1 tablespoon sugar at a time, beat until stiff but not dry. Fold in cocoa nib mixture. Divide meringue between prepared pans, spreading evenly. Bake meringues 1 hour. Turn off heat. Keeping oven door closed, leave meringues in oven overnight to dry (meringues will deflate slightly).

GIANT CHOCOLATE TOFFEE COOKIES

Ingredients:• (Makes about 18)

1/2 cup all purpose flour• 1 teaspoon baking powder• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 pound bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter• 1 3/4 cups (packed) brown sugar• 4 large eggs• 1 tablespoon vanilla

extract• 5 1.4-ounce

chocolate-covered English toffee bars (such as Heath), coarsely chopped

• 1 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped

Preparation:

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl; whisk to blend. Stir chocolate and butter in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Cool mixture to lukewarm.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs in bowl until thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, then toffee and nuts. Chill batter until firm, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment or waxed paper. Drop batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto sheets, spacing 2 1/2 inches apart. Bake just until tops are dry and cracked but cookies are still soft to touch, about 15 minutes. Cool on sheets. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)

ENJOY!

Ally and Taylor with a Wooden Spoonby Ally Leonardo and Taylor Harris

Yummy yummers

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THE SPICIEST SPRING SHOES

Everyone needs shoes. A popular shoe for girls are Converse. Boys can also wear them but they are more common for girls. They have low tops, high tops, and some that go up to your knees. Some Converses have really cool designs some are just plain colors and laces.

If you can go online to converse.com you can design your own. You can wear them with almost anything. They look cute with skirts, shorts, dresses, and pants plus they are pretty cheap and last a really long time.

So if you are looking for the PERFECT Spring shoe, converse might be the shoes for you!

PERFECT PLACES

Well, let’s see, now that I told you about some shoes we should talk about places.

One of them is H & M it is pretty cheap and has clothes for boys and girls for almost any occasion.

Justice is more of a store for when you want to go out and hang out with some friends this store is mostly for girls!

Forever 21 is for girls to and it is more of fancy. No sweat pants there.

Areopostale is for let’s say, everyone everywhere!

I am going to put in some sport places now: Sports Authority, Dick’s, Foot Locker, and many more!

All these places are good for almost anything.

Grace’s Fashion Flairby Grace Birk

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GETTING YOUR FIRST PET

Having a new pet is a really awesome experience but definitely should not be taken lightly. It’s not as easy as it seems. For anyone who hasn’t gotten a pet yet and wants to have one, you might want to first try:

A hamster (It doesn’t matter what age, just be sure to clean the cage and feed it plenty.)A cat (Particularly an older cat, kittens might be cute but are a lot more work They need more attention so if you get one play with them a lot!) A dog (Definitely an older one, maybe one or two years old and even then you absolutely need to walk them and take care of them.)

THE TOP TEN CUTEST ANIMALS

Here are the pictures of what we think are the top ten cutest animals:

KATE AND CHRISTINE’S

CARING CORNERALL THE LATEST NEWS ON NEW PETS, THE TOP TEN CUTEST ANIMALS AND ADVICE ON BEING A VEGETARIAN

by Kate Reary and Christine Tenorio

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THE KP COURIER

ADVICE ON BEING A VEGETARIAN

by Christine Tenorio and Kate Reary

Most of you might think that giving up meat would be impossible or seriously difficult, and that’s ok. No one said you had to give up meat and if you don’t want to that’s totally fine. But on the other hand, if you do want to stop eating meat then here’s some first advice:

If you don’t want to stop eating meat to suddenly, try gradually eating less and less every day until u finally are used to eating like this.

If you don’t want to stop entirely, then just cut down on the meats that you don’t want to eat and just keep eating the others.

Switch to different types of meat for the foods you like. For example, switch from normal bacon, to turkey bacon if you don’t want to eat pigs.

If you want to know how it is to not eat certain meats or be a vegetarian, we can hopefully help you sort things out with a personal story about what helped or inspired us to be this way.

Well, first of all, I do not eat pigs. I will eat beef, turkey and every other meat than pig. Why did I come to this decision? Well one day I was looking at a picture of a pig and cat together. Now, this pig was only a piglet and

it was incredibly cute which made me think, how can people eat this?

I then was curious on this little pig’s life so I looked up how much bacon is consumed in a year and it turns out that 737 million pounds of bacon was eaten in 2010. That is A LOT of slaughtered pigs. So I thought about it and I wanted to make that number go down this year so I decided not to eat bacon or any pig.

How to Survive Middle Schoolby Sophia Poersch

You will need good friends to stand by your side

Organization

Don’t be a goof in front of teachers

Keep all cheat sheets that teachers give you

Do sports Listen to music to stay relaxed

Bring deodorant (advise from Miss. White)

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QUINCEY: GIRL WITH THE GOLDEN PEN’S MUSIC LISTby Quincey Poersch

Most people love music so I am presenting you with my favorite songs musicians!

WHIP YOUR HAIR by Willow Smith

FORGET YOU by Ceelo Green

E.T. by Katie Perry ft. Kanye West

READY by Rihanna ft. Lady Gaga & Britney Spears

FLY by Niki Minaj ft. Rihanna

CHECK IT OUT by Will.I.Am & Niki Minaj

Well, that’s it for now!

ANNABELLE’S BOOK REVIEW

by Annabelle Poersch

Canterwood Crest Academy is a very funny series and very suspenseful.

Warriors is very suspenseful and it is about cats. If you are a cat person, you will love this series.

Maniac Magee is a funny story but also a little sad.

THE CHILLIN’ SPOTTHE LATEST IN MUSIC AND BOOKS FOR SMART 5TH GRADERS’

DISCRIMINATING TASTES

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CAPS STATS

Capitals vs. Canadiens on March 15

WSH-4 MTRL-2Winning Goal-Marcus Johansson

Capitals vs. Blackhawks onMarch 13

WSH-4 CHI-3Winning Goal-Mike Knuble

Capitals vs. Flyers onMarch 22

WSH-5 PHI-4Winning Goal-Alexander Semin

NATIONALS- BRYCE HARPER

National’s rookie player, Bryce Harper is looking good. In 2008, he played for a team in Las Vegas. He hit a home run at 570 feet. In 2009, he was at Tampa Bay’s hitting in an event for young players.

He hit the longest ball at that field. He hit the back wall, which no one had ever done before. In the district finals for the National Junior College Athletic Association World Series, Harper hit like crazy. Now he’s playing rookie for the Washington Nationals.

MARCH MADNESS BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

Many people were excited about the March madness basketball tournament. But who was expected to win? These teams were the top seeds.

Ohio State- The number 1 seed in the East division has a real good chance at winning its bracket which would mean increased publicity for this great team.

University of North Carolina- The number 2 seed in the East division has won five national titles and reached the final four 18 times and their trying again.

Duke- This number one seed in the west division is a defending NCAA champion has a really good chance to win the west bracket.

But none of those teams made it. The final game was Butler vs. Connecticut. In the end, Connecticut was victorious.

SPORTS TRIVIA

Who are the Capital’s Rivals?Who is number 11 on the Nationals?

What really good player left the Terp’s basketball team last year?

Penguins

Ryan Zimmerman

Grievous Vasquez

RYAN’S RADICAL SPORTS PAGEby Ryan Holland

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THE KP COURIER

Anyone scared of Middle School? Like: What if I get lost? Or what if I don’t do something wrong? Or what if I won’t be able to make it to my classes? Most people have all these worries + more ‘what if ’s’. Well guess what? Everyone does! So for your sake, well actually everybody’s I interviewed someone:

• “How did you feel about Middle School?

• I like it and it’s cool. It’s complicated.”

How do you like Middle School now?

• “I like being in middle school because I have more privileges.”

• Do you have any suggestions for upcoming Middle School?

• “Get 2 binders not 1. 1 for period 1, 2, 3”

• Is the food any better?

• “Yes much better and more cool choices.”

• How is it having more than 1 teacher?

• “Hard but it’s OK!”

• What is the best part of Middle School and what is the worst part of it?

• “I have more freedom, that’s good and the teachers aren’t all that great.”

• Is Middle School hard?

• “Yes homework is hard but I’m good at the transitions.”

Middle School Tips for 5th Gradeby Zosia Cieslak

THE KP COURIER

May 2011

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Issue No. 1

Keep your browsing fun and cool.

Always be sure to talk to your parents or an adult you trust before entering any new websites you have not seen before.

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Fun, Cool Sites Approved by Parentsby Dani Genco and Sophia Poersch

You know how parents do not approve of most websites? Why? Sometimes they are INAPPROPRIATE so there is sometimes a SAFE side to other websites.

Websites like:

Poptropica and Prezi, for those who are on the creative side

There’s also games2girls, Friv, Fantage, Sonicshack, Adictinggames and bored.com

These are the approved websites kids should go on as for the rest BE CAREFUL!! You can always ask your parents for permission, too! ;)