Volume 8, Issue 1 December 2011

Curwensville Elementary School

Tide Talk Special points of interest:  Student Council is up and running.  Curwensville Elementary School students show generosity in many ways.  Curwensville athletes make us proud!  TIDE TALK IS ONLINE! BE SURE TO SUBMIT YOUR BLOG FROM Mrs. Miller’s WEBSITE.

Tide Talk Goes Online by Jayna Vicary

The Tide Talk 2011-2012 staff has been busy getting their first issue ready for you! The Tide Talk staff is Caleb Bloom, Shawn Miller, Brennen McCracken, Hunter Ullery, Mi-

kayla Warren, Ally Hoover, Jayna Vicary, Jacob Hoover, Ashleah Bradley, Jaide Collins, Matthew Carter, Madison Olson, and Nate McClure. As you are seeing, Tide Talk has

changed. Typically, the staff would make a school newspaper, publish paper copies, and sell them in the sixth grade hallway. For this year, Mrs. Melanie Miller, the advisor, decided to do something different. Tide Talk is now “green” and saving paper by publishing on the internet. Another thing that is good about this is that, in the past, only students or people working in the school could buy the paper, but now everyone can go to the website. In addition to reading the newspaper online, readers can also voice their thoughts about the paper by visiting the

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Sixth Grade News Sixth Grade Student Council Organizes

by Allison Hoover and Jaide Collins

We interviewed Josh Terry about Sixth Grade Student Council. Here is what he said. We asked Josh, “What is student council all about?” He answered, “Doing volunteer work for the school and doing cool activities.” We also asked, “Do you think people in student council should get treated differently?” He answered, “No, we all have the same rules because we are all the same.” The last question we asked Josh is, ”How do you feel about student council voting?” He answered, “I thought it was fair, but some people got in because of popularity.” So, that is what Josh said about student council.

Sitting: President Makenzie Anderson, vice-president Josh Terry, Treasurer Victor Rohrbacker, Secretary Macin Sheeder Kneeling: Brennen McCracken, Alan Collins, Caleb Bloom, Garrett Hryn, Bryce Timko, Noah Holt Standing: Alea Vogel, Jerrica Strong, Katie Hartman, Adena Civils, Anne Hoover, Molly Tobias, Hanna Shaw

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Sixth Grade Vacations by Mikayla Warren Anyone like Disney? Well I interviewed two 6th graders who love it. Here is what I found out from Alea Vogel and Garret Hryn. How was Disney from the scale of one to ten, and why? “I would give it a ten, because it’s an amazing place where dreams come true!” exclaimed both Alea and Garret. How were the rides; any favorites? “Awesome and my favorite was Splash Mountain,” said Garret. “Good, but the lines were too long, and my favorite was the Haunted Mansion,” exclaimed Alea.

How was the food? Any recommendations? “Excellent and I would recommend eating at the Crystal Palace and the Cinderella Castle; the chocolate cake is the best,” informed Alea. Garrett added about the food, “Excellent, and Tony’s would be a good place to eat; my favorite food was the ice

Visiting after Lunch

by Allison Hoover and Jaide Collins We recently interviewed Shianne Collar about students visiting each other after lunch. We asked Shianne, “What do you think about the other students visiting each other? “ She answered, “It is fun, but some people get left out. “ We also asked, ”Do you think everyone gets along with each other? “ She said, “No, not all the time. Some students do not talk to others. “ The last thing we asked is, “How do you feel about seating arrangement? “ She answered, “Some people will not let others in their groups, but I will always be willing to do that. “

While the sixth graders enjoy this extra privilege of having social time in the gym after eating lunch, it is important to remember that everyone should feel included. Sixth graders, try sitting with someone different next week. Watch for people who are sitting alone. Include them. Make everyone feel included.

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Sixth Graders Become Tech-Savvy by Nathaniel McClure Tween Tribune is an interactive news/blogging site where anybody around the world can blog about different news stories. The tweens here at Curwensville Elementary School go online and love to blog about “odd news” and “entertainment.” Tweens here in Curwensville sixth grade communications classes go to the computer lab and get on every week. They get to have fun reading current events news articles of their choosing, and they can blog their thoughts. They don’t get to say anything bad; it gets approved by their teacher, Mrs. Melanie Miller, before their blogs are posted on the website. They have fun posting different comments to different stories and having laughs with different classmates about what they read and posted. (Some of the news stories are quite unique!)

Tweens can laugh and can enlighten spirits about the stories and their teachers’ spirit if they’re having a bad day. Mrs. Miller was having a bad day one time, and Taylor Bloom brought her spirit up with the funny comment she posted. Mrs. Miller was happy the rest of the day. The tweens were happy about this new website their teacher showed them. Many of them get online at home and read stories too. Mrs. Miller is excited that kids are enjoying reading. She can tell that they are comprehending, making connections, gathering information, and using other reading skills based on the comments the students submit to the blog. If you would like a Tween Tribune account, all you have to do is set up a username and password that only you know, and there you have a Tween Tribune account and you can start posting.

Nick Stewart, Victor Rohrbacker, Madison Olson, and Mason Guelich

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Waiting for the Harvest Festival to begin...

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Student Council members with Veteran’s Day posters

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School News Fall Food Drive a Success by Shawn Miller

I am writing about the food drive that we do at Curwensville Elementary by collecting canned food and other non-perishable items. When we collected the items, we counted them and we got 615 things donated. We then donated the cans and other items to the Curwensville Food Bank. These items are made available for FREE to homeless peoples and to people who cannot afford to buy all of their groceries at the store. The winners of this year’s food drive contest were Kindergarten—Mrs. Witheritte, and Fifth Grade— Mrs. Sutika. Their classes brought in the most items. Each of those classes will get pizza parties paid for by Sixth Grade Student Council.

These are some of the students who helped with the food drive: Anne Hoover, Brennen McCracken, Bryce Timko, & Jerrica Strong.

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Olweus Anti-Bullying Program by Brennen McCracken Recently, the Curwensville Elementary OLWEUS award winners have been announced. This award was given to the elementary students who do not bully and for committing one or more acts of kindness. It also makes our school a friendlier, more caring community. This is a great program to help prevent bullying. Congratulations to the students who have won. You can see their pictures on the home page of the Curwensville Area School District.

Generous Faculty & Staff Donations by Hunter Ullery

I just heard about our elementary teachers and staff giving money to good causes and wondered about it. Therefore, I decided to interview Mrs. Linda Shaffer, sixth grade teacher and student council co-advisor, about what this is. Me: What are faculty donations? Mrs. Shaffer: Elementary teachers and staff donate $2 to dress down each month. This amounts to $18 each year per teacher. (Most give $20.) The donations are then given to needy people. Me: Who has the money been given to so far? Mrs. Shaffer: This year it has been given to the Auditorium Renovation Project and to the Curwensville Ministerium’s Fuel Aid Fund. We were able to give $500 to both organizations.

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Veterans Day Assembly by Jayna Vicary On Veteran’s Day, November 11, 2011, the students of Curwensville Elementary gathered for an assembly that the Sixth Grade Student Council hosted. The music teacher, Miss Bungo, led the students in singing a song to honor all branches of the U.S. military. A guest speaker, First Lieutenant Adam Bell, came dressed in his military garb, and he stated to all of the students, “On top of thanking a service person for representing our nation, be the best you can be every day.” That is just one of the things Curwensville Elementary School has been up to.

Coat and Boot Drive by Shawn Miller

I am writing about the coat and boot drive. In November, the Curwensville Elementary Sixth Grade Student Council sponsored its second coat drive. Also, fifth grade RAK sponsored a boot drive at the same time. When they collected coats, they all came to Mrs. Miller’s room. Nine teachers/staff people volunteered to take home the coats and wash them. The fifth graders cleaned the boots that were donated. In addition to coats and boots, snow pants, gloves, mittens, hats, and scarves were donated. The “shopping” day was held on November 18. All of the cafeteria tables were covered with the items that were collected. Many Curwensville students and families came to shop. We were able to give away about 75 coats to different kids. Almost all of the boots and other items were given away, but some coats remained. Everybody should donate coats and boots to children in need. This is a great way to help our community.

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Band & Choir by Ashleah Bradley If you join band or choir, you will have so much fun! In band, you can start in fourth grade with Mrs. Bruck. In 5th and 6th grades, you get to be in elementary band with Mrs. Penvose, or we just call her Mrs. P. Band will meet once a week at 2:30. If you stay in band the whole year, Mrs. Penvose will get everybody in band ice-cream! Band is such a great experience; I hope kids will think about joining, because they will have such a great time. In choir, you can start in 5th grade. Miss Bungo (also the elementary music teacher) teaches choir. If you join (or are already in), you’ll meet once a week at 2:30 in the high school choir room. At the end of the year, Miss Bungo also brings ice-cream. I hope kids join because it will make them more responsible! Band and choir are such great experiences; I hope kids join!

Kindergarten Play by Jacob Hoover

The kindergarten classes recently had a play for Thanksgiving. They performed for grades 1 through 6. The kids practiced very hard, and for a long time, but they finally got it right. I recently interviewed Mrs. Fulton, a kindergarten teacher, and one of her student in her class. The student’s name was Teagan Harzinski. Mrs. Fulton was very happy with the way the kids learned their parts and songs in just a couple of weeks. Mrs. Fulton also said it was very memorable and was quite an interactive experience. She rated it a ten (on a scale of one to ten) because she loves to see the kids have fun. Teagan Harzinski, a student in Mrs. Fulton’s class told me that she and her friend Lauren Polites liked the, “Yeah, yeah, yeah” song because it was funny. On a scale of one to ten, she would give it a 12 because she loved it. In conclusion, the kindergarten play was a great success to both students and the teachers. I’m sure that next year’s program will be just as enjoyable.

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Fall Festival by Jacob Hoover Recently, the Curwensville PTC had a Fall Festival for kids in kindergarten through sixth grade. It was a fun-filled day with costumes, activities, and music. There was a wide variety of costumes by the students. Some dressed as princesses, while others dressed as superheroes or their favorite characters in a book. The festival also had face painting and games. One of the games, guessing the weight of the pumpkin, seemed to be challenging, but one of the students actually guessed the exact weight. Another favorite was guessing how many eyeballs were in a jar. Yet again, this was a difficult game for everyone who chose to play it, but one of the students had the exact guess of how many eyeballs were in the jar. As the DJ continued to play music, some of the students danced, others stood around and talked with their friends, and activities continued and snacks were provided. In conclusion, every one seemed to have a smile on his or her face like they had a great time. We will be looking forward to next year’s Fall Festival.

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Pet Visits to Sixth Grade

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Sports Tide Football by Nathaniel McClure

The Tide football team pushed shoved and talked their way to the district 9 quarter final, where they were beaten by Coudersport 28/27. The Tide started out their journey on September 2, 2011, winning their first game out of nine and earning the right to celebrate their victory. The Tide lost three games throughout the season. They lost to Port-Allegany, Brockway, and Coudersport. The Tide’s star running back, Alex Holland, ran for 2,334 yards throughout the season, carrying the ball 295 times and averaging 259.3 yards a game. The Tide had some encouraging help from the Curwensville High School band playing “On with Curwensville”, “We Are the Tide”, and the Penn State fight song. Even when it was cold outside, they used their talents and gave power to the team and encouragement to the crowd

to give the team some power, too. The band and crowd gave encouragement and pushed their way to get touchdown after touchdown. The star guard, Todd Munchak, made it to the Allegany Mountain League (AML) alongside his school mates Alex Holland, Jessie Zorger, Spencer Smeal, and Brad Coudriet. Hunter McCracken had some amazing passes throughout the year, throwing most of them to Holland. He ran about 30/40 yards a play, scoring a touchdown

for the Tide about half the time. The Tide’s head coach, Andy Evanko, said, “The team did their best, and I wouldn’t change a thing about how they played.” He was proud of how they played and was happy to finish the season with only three losses. The Tide was happy to come home with three losses and six wins out of the nine they played, coming home sad but still had a smile on their faces.

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U-12 Girls Curwensville Soccer by Mikayla Warren The Curwensville U-12 girls’ soccer did an amazing job this fall. They had a four-win, two-loss season. I interviewed Coach Schall; here are some tips and information I found out from him. Any tips for soccer players that play now? “Yes, practice and run a lot.” Any information for incoming soccer players? “Yes, it’s a tough sport that is fun and easy to learn.” What positions do your soccer players play in? “Well, my goalies were usually from Curwensville: Taylor Bloom 6th grade or Sarah Mcgarry 5th grade.” Defense: From Curwensville, ”Mackenzie Anderson 6th grade, Jena Royer 6th grade, Daphne 4th grade, Macin Sheeder 6th grade, and Mikayla Warren.” Offense: From Curwensville, “Taylor Bloom 6 th grade, Mya Greene 6th grade, Ally Hoover 6th grade, Anne Hoover 6th grade, Sarah McGarry 5th grade, Madison Mcquin 5th

grade and Jalee Patterson from Clearfield.” Middle Field: “Madison Weber 5th grade or Anne Hoover 6th grade. Last Question: Are you proud of your team? “Yes, I’m very proud of them.” A few of the U-12 players commented on the season as well. Allison Hoover: “It was an awesome season!” Taylor Bloom: “I love soccer and to have a winning streak is great!” Jena Royer: “I had a lot of fun with my team mates, and we worked together more!”

Enjoying Basketball by Caleb Bloom

The three elementary basketball players from sixth grade are Josh Terry, Matthew Carter, and Bryce Timko. When I interviewed them, I found out several things. Bryce said they are practicing two plays and have been practicing dribbling too. Matt said they haven’t played any games yet. Josh explained that the plays they have learned are Zone or 1-3-1, and Man.

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Lady Tide Makes History by Matthew Carter Record after record the Curwensville girls soccer team broke this season. For the first time in school history, the girls won a District 9 Soccer Title, Sarah Geisler has the most goals scored in a single season, Tiffany Carter has the most shut outs, and they have the most number of players to assist in the goals, and many, many more. They never gave up on the team’s goal to win D-9 title. Being on the sidelines as ball boy, I saw how much hard work and good talent, speed, good team work and good sportmanship they put into this season. I was amazed how hard these girls had to work to win

the D-9 game, as the other team, Karns City, was a good team, plus the referee made some real bad calls that made it an uphill battle to win the game. I remember how the girls were so excited when they won, and all of us ran out onto the field with the team jumping up and down and hugging each other. The fans at that game were loud and cheering on the team throughout the whole game and never gave up. The team also did something that no other District 9 team had done; they won the first round playoff game against Avonworth. Even though they lost the next round against Greensburg CC, they were able to score on them and

no other playoff team against them had yet. Watching these girls this season made me proud to be from Curwensville, and I will never forget the hard work they put in to be where they are. I am looking forward to next year to see where they can go. Congratulations, Lady Tide Soccer Team 2011.

You make us proud!

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Odds & Ends The Lost Pencil

(a silly story, just for fun) By Ashleah Bradley One day, Jeffy and Bob were practicing for their play. They thought the play would be better if they changed a few things. So Jeffy went to the desk to write, but he forgot where he put his pencil. Bob suggested, “Maybe it’s downstairs.” So they went down stairs and looked. They tore up the whole house, but couldn’t find it anywhere. Jeffy said, “Let’s just go to the park and look!” Bob asked, “But what about this mess!?!?” So they went to the park. They looked through the whole entire park. They even dumped all the sand out of the sand box just to find a pencil! That pencil was nowhere to be found. When they got home, Jeffy acted like a really big bully! He smacked Bob! Bob got up and yelled, IT’S JUST A STUPID PENCIL! YOU DON’T NEED TO BE MEAN JUST CAUSE YOU LOST YOUR STUPID PENCIL! YOU CAN JUST GO TO THE STORE AND BUY A NEW ONE!” Jeffy said calmly, Then let’s go to the store.” They walked away. When they got to the store Jeffy picked out these pink sparkly pencils. Bob said, “Dude, don’t buy those.” But

of course knowing Jeffy, he bought them anyway. When they arrived at the cash register, the cashier said, “You’re really manly.” Jeffy said, “Thank you,” then walked away. When they got home again, Jeffy and Bob went to revise their play, and when Jeffy sat down, he felt something in his pocket. Jeffy reached in his pocket and pulled out the pencil he had lost. Jeffy screamed,” I JUST SPENT ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS ON THESE STUPID, PINK, SPARKLY PENCILS WHEN THIS ONE WAS IN MY BACK POCKET!!!!! Then a llama with a green hat appeared and said, “Dude calm down.” The llama disappeared, and Jeffy just said, “Let’s finish the play.” In the end, the play got millions of hits and Jeffy learned to never put his pencil in his back pocket and that llamas have anger issues.

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Fake Snow, a fun craft to do at home by Hunter Ullery

Ingredients: Disposable diaper Pair of scissors Container x2 ½ cup of water Food coloring (optional) Instructions: Slice open the diaper with the scissors. Take the sodium polycrate (small white beads) out, and put them in the container. Pour water into the container with the sodium polycrate. If you choose to add food coloring, add it now. Tips:  Hot water makes snow faster.  Adding more water will make more snow.  If you add too much water, it will become spongy.  This will sting if it gets into your eyes. If this happens, flush eyes with water.

Did You Know? Fun Christmas Facts By Caleb Bloom

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The word CHRISTMAS is an Old English word for “Christ’s Mass”. Rudolph was actually created by Montgomery Ward in the 1930’s for a holiday promotion. “Jingle Bells” was first written for Thanksgiving and then became one of the most popular Christmas songs. If you received all of the gifts in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas”, you would receive 364 gifts!

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Advice for You by Madison Olson

What are somethings we can do for sixth grade? You should always do your assignments because if you don’t, then you could get red squares. A red square is when you don’t bring homework or do your homework and you get a square on the grade book; if you get four, you get a detention. Another helpful thing is to keep things organized because if you have just one folder, it can get very messy. You should have a folder to keep everything in that you get from the classes. The most important thing is your attitude because with a mean attitude, you won’t have any friends. Nobody likes attitude. So you can see, these are the types of things that you should use when you’re in sixth grade.

What should we do if someone gets bullied? If someone is getting bullied, don’t just stand and watch. DO SOMETHING ABOUT it! You could ask the person (who is getting bullied) to be your friend and stick up for him or her. Or if they are sitting alone at a cafeteria table, sit by them or get a teacher. Always tell a grown up or help them yourself. What are some good ideas to do for school? You should stay in school because in later life you will be able to get a good job. You also need to do your homework because you need good grades to pass school. On the other side from doing homework and getting good grades, you should spend time and have fun with your friends when you get to. It isn’t just about grades and work; it matters about the friends too.

You may ask Maddy a question and see an answer in the next issue of Tide Talk. You can do this by submitting a question via the BLOG page on Mrs. Miller’s web site, OR you can write a question and give it to Maddy in Mrs. Miller’s classroom at the end of the sixth grade hallway.

Curwensville Elementary School Bryce Timko, Owen Hynds, Steven McClure, and Matthew Carter wrote and performed a CONVENTIONS Cheer. They had some interesting moves!

Students in Mrs. Miller’s sixth grade communications class recently wrote raps, songs, or cheers. The goal of the project was to demonstrate their understanding of one of the Qualities of Effective Writing. Each group performed in front of its class.

We’re on the Web! www.curwensville.org

Tide Talk Goes Online, continued from page 1 READER BLOG on Mrs. Miller’s website. The Tide Talk staff would love to hear compliments, questions, and constructive criticism. Matthew Carter said, “I think the paper will be more of a success because people won’t have to pay for it.” Allison Hoover agrees, thinking that more people will read it online. Madison Olson suggested, “Teachers can get online and show their students the paper. They could use their white boards to do this.” Mikayla Warren added that she hopes for tips from readers, so that Tide Talk writers can improve each edition. As you can see, Tide Talk has changed in many ways.