The Penguin PostVol. 1, Issue 1 February 28, 2014

Are You Sure You’re Sure?by: Tanya Datta

Are you wondering what those “Are you sure?” signs are all about? They are all around the school! The signs mean, are you sure you are terracycling the right items. According to Mr. Reitz, “Terracycling is when you take an item that normally can't be recycled using conventional means and reuse it or recycle it through other means.” In other words, are you putting or throwing away the right stuff?“Before throwing anything in the garbage,

we should always ask ourselves if we're sure it really belongs in the landfill. Most of the time the answer is no! Right now the biggest thing students and teachers can do to help with terracycling, aside from remembering to do it in the first place, would be to always squeeze your capri­sun pouches out until they they are completely empty. When kids leave juice in the pouch it attracts fruit flies and gets moldy.” Mr. Reitz also has more information if you want to know more.

An Original by Lori Savage

An Artist in Park Forestby: Fiona Dundon

Lori Savage is an artist and art teacher right here in Park Forest! She started art in 1979. She got into art because her mom worked at an arts and craft store and the owner gave painting lessons.Ms. Savage likes art because, “you can be individualistic.” Her favorite artist is Vincent Van Gogh because she says his art does not look like a photograph. She thinks you should be able to choose your own colors in your paintings and let people have their own ideas about your work. She says music is very important to being creative and there is always music playing in her studioShe teaches kids art because she loves that her old art

teacher took the time to teach her art. If you are interested in lessons, email her at lsavageartstudio@yahoo.com.

Page 1

Getting to Know...Ms. Stoicovyby: Christopher Cole

Ms.Stoicovy is our principal and lead learner at Park Forest Elementary. The Penguin Post had the chance to get know her better on Tuesday, January 28, 2014. We found out that she loves to be a principal and to work with the kids and teachers at PFE. “I can’t think of a better place to work,” she said when we talked with her.When she was in elementary school, Ms. Stoicovy

wanted to be a writer when she grew up. But then she changed her mind and thought she would like being a teacher. She started her career as a sixth grade teacher, then decided she could make a bigger difference by being the leader of a school. Another reason she was interested in being a principal was because her dad was the principal of her school when she was in middle and high school.She says some of her favorite things about being a

principal at PFE are working with all the fun people we have here ­ the kids, the teachers, and the parents. When we asked what her favorite thing about being a principal was, she answered, “The best part of my job is spending time with kids.”Ms. Stoicovy loves being our lead learner, but there

are some parts of the job she doesn’t enjoy as much. Cleaning up after kids get sick, dealing with bus referrals, and giving state tests like the PSSAs are some of the less enjoyable parts of her job.Some goals Ms. Stoicovy has for our school this year

are having kids feel good about being in our school, being included,and being in our classrooms. She would also like to make sure that we keep our service learning projects going throughout the year. The zero­waste project, working with homeless shelters, and doing things for the troops (like stockings for troops) are some of Ms. Stoicovy’s favorite service

learning projects.When Ms. Stoicovy isn’t busy being our principal at

PFE she enjoys outdoor activities and being in nature. Some of her favorite outdoor pastimes include, canoeing, kayaking,running, and bicycling. Did you know that Ms. Stoicovy’s favorite animal is a loon? Sometimes when she’s canoeing she makes loon calls, and she has even had them answer her! Her favorite flower is the lupine, which reminds her of the book Miss Rumphius.

Ms. Stoicovy has met several famous people including authors, football players,and even the new Penn State football coach’s wife. When we asked her who the most famous person she’s ever met was she said, “The kids here in our school because everyone is going to be somebody some day.” She also said that it’s important for kids to know they can change the world. “Look at how we have changed our school with the zero­waste project. They used to pick up our trash every day, and now they pick up only twice a week, that is a lot of money saved,” said Ms. Stoicovy.

Page 2

Recapping Frozenby: Michael Downs

The movie Frozen is a good movie for people ages four and up. I rate this movie adventurous and funny with very little violence at all.My favorite character is a magic snowman named

Olaf. I think he is funny because in the middle of the movie he starts singing of how good he thinks summer will be. He doesn't know that he will melt into a puddle. His body also falls off a lot in the movie.Two sisters, Anna and Elsa, made Olaf when they were younger. Anna’s older sister Elsa, who is queen, has special powers to shoot ice. She left the kingdom because she got in an argument with her sister, Anna, and accidentally shoots ice at Anna. Anna went out to look for Elsa and met an icebreaker named Kristoff. He helped Anna find her sister. When Anna tried to find her sister, she finds Elsa in an ice castle she made. Anna tries to get Elsa to come back and rule the kingdom, but Elsa struck her with ice. Anna finds out that Kristoff has a family of rock trolls.The trolls are really funny, but I don’t think they are

funny enough. I wish they had better jokes. At some points the movie got very boring, but it was really exciting overall. I give the movie Frozen four and a half stars overall.

How to Make an Origami Swan by: Isaac Haar

1. Fold your paper in half so you have a triangle 2. Crease 3. Unfold 4. Place your paper so the crease is vertical 5. Take the left corner and fold upwards to match middle crease 6. Repeat on right side 7. Flip over and repeat 5+6 8. Fold bottom up to the top

9. Fold in half along middle crease so the bottom is larger

10. Rake the top and pull apart and hold to make neck to make distance between neck and tail 11. Flatten middle joint 12. Flatten thinner half 13. Fold middle down halfway and re­crease 14. Done!

Page 3

Middle School Wrestlers Winning!

by: Quinn Murphy

The State College middle school wrestling team has a winning season with a record of 19­1 and have won 2 tournaments. This team is coached by Steve Kurzinger.

Coach Kurzinger says that, “We have a lot of wrestlers having good seasons this year.” Two of the best wrestlers for the team this year, Jake Pammer and Trey Millward, both have a record of 18­0. Jake Powers and Ian Barr have one loss and are 17­1. According to the coach, “A few wrestlers like Conner Patterson, Adam Stover, Cole Urbas, Pete Haffner, and Drew Linnes have 2 losses on the season and are 16­2 respectfully.”Their practices are usually 1 hour and 30 minutes.

They start off with 20 minutes of warm up doing various wrestling specific drills. Then they work on wrestling technique for 30­45 minutes. The remaining time of their practices are just spent wrestling and conditioning.

Words of the Month!

Intrude: Verb; to trespass to enter uninvited

Shibboleth: Noun; a slogan a catchword

Crevice: Noun; a narrow opening in a surfaceresulting from a split a cleft a gap

Prognosticate: Verb; to predict to plan for the futureto foretell

Letter to the EditorIf you would like to submit a letter to the editor youwill have to write us things that you want thenewspaper to cover. For kindergarten, first, andsecond, there will be a box in the front office whereyou can put your letters in for the newspaper. For 3rd,4th, and 5th you can either email mjd26@scasd.org orcmc35@scasd.org.

Page 4