Cub Chronicles, February, 2011

Volume I Issue 3 2010-2011 Lower School

Building Community

Newspaper Staff

Cub Chronicles

Mikhaila Archer Adriana Arias Emma Butler Emma Cooney Caroline Featherston Patricia Gerli Maggie Hall Catherine Hamilton Isabella Hamilton Riley Hicks Camila Hirani Brooke Lange Clare Maleeny Sara Micciulli Margo Muccia Grace Mullen Emma O’Connor Anna O’Malley Lorraine Rinaldi Georgia Ryan Natalie Sanchez Katherine Santoro Isabella Santucci

“January Holidays Around the World”

By Georgia Ryan and Riley Hicks We all know New Year’s as a holiday in January, but who knows the other holidays around the world in January? For example, Australia Day is on the 26th of January. They celebrate their country on this holiday. Another interesting holiday in January is New Year’s Day on the 3 rd for countries like Ireland, New Zealand, the UK – the United Kingdom and Australia. They also celebrate a new year. In France, they celebrate La Fete des Rois Magees on January 6th, but we know it as Three Kings’ Day. So when you are celebrating a holiday, maybe you should think about what other countries might be celebrating at the same time !!

The December 2010 Blizzard

By Anjali van Biesen and Caroline Featherston

Dr. Ann Marr

Inside this issue: “January Holidays Around the World”

Pg. 1

The December 2010 Blizzard

Pg. 1

What’s Your New Year Resolution?

Pg. 1

Fundraiser for St. Jude

Pg. 1

Sugar Bowl 2011 Interviews

Pg. 2

US Marine Visits 4A

Pg. 2

Book Review

Pg. 2

History of St. Valentine’s Day

Pg. 3

Interview w/ Mrs. Kerstein

Pg. 3

Fan Mail Someone We can all look up to

Pg. 3 Pg. 4

The December 2010 blizzard was one of the worst blizzards in 60 years! Lots of flights were canceled all over the world. In New York City a 400 passenger train was nearly frozen. The passengers were stuck in the train for 8 hours. The blizzard hit Norfolk, Philadelphia, New York City, Hartford, Providence, and Boston. The original storm formed in Western Texas.

Snow was as high as 12-32 inches. Lots of cars were blocked by snow in NYC. Winds were over 30 miles per hour causing floods in Massachusetts.

What’s Your New Year Resolution?

By Anna O’Malley I asked three girls in the Lower School what their New Year’s resolutions are. I asked Belli Santucci from 4A, I also asked Bridget Hamlet from 3A, and Mariah Hesser also from 4A. Belli said that her New Year’s resolution is to get better at math. Bridget said that she would really like to try and keep her desk clean. The last girl I asked was Mariah Hesser. Her New Year’s resolution is to read different books.

Fundraiser St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

By Margo Muccia & Clare Maleeny

This year Mrs. Bercovici, our Math Specialist, asked all Lower School classes if they wanted to participate in a math -a-thon fundraiser to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Hospital. She sent a permission slip home to every student, and if they wanted to do it, they got their parents to sign it. After that, the students who applied went into the theater and played math games and did a math packet. We raised over $200!! That was our fundraiser.

Sugar Bowl 2011 Interviews By: Lorraine Rinaldi

With Carrie

Lorraine: How was it meeting marching bands and cheerleaders ?

Carrie: We were never in contact with the marching bands. The Did you know that one of the Upper School girls at Sacred Heart classes the students took were mainly geared towards their group. danced in the Sugar Bowl half -time show? Rose Rinaldi, a junThe few times that the dancers and cheerleaders were together, ior at CSH, traveled to New Orleans with her dance studio and choreography wise you could tell the strengths of each group. For was one of nearly 400 girls involved in the show. I got the example, the dancers were clean in their movement and showing chance to interview Rose and two of her dance teachers, Carrie technique and the cheerleaders were strong with their precision. and David, about this experience. The following are the interLorraine: Was the Sugar Bowl a different experience for you and views. why?

Carrie: Yes, it was a different experience compared to last year's With Rose Orange Bowl. This year the weather was warmer, we were in a super dome stadium instead of an outdoor stadium. Last year's Lorraine: Were you excited for the Sugar Bowl and why?

Bowl game was geared towards dancers only, which allowed stuRose: I was really excited to go to the Sugar Bowl because coldents to take classes from well known teachers/choreographers. lege football is a huge deal in the south and since it was going to This year, because the half -time show game was geared towards be in New Orleans, it’s definitely thrilling to dance in front dancers, cheerleaders and dance teams, the classes weren’t as exof excited fans. citing.

Lorraine: Was this a different experience for you and why?

Rose: No, because I danced at the Orange Bowl last year so I With David was more prepared on what to expect this year.

Lorraine: Was it nerve-racking to go on T.V. and why?

Lorraine: How hard was it to teach other people’s choreography?

Rose: No, because I was dancing with nearly 400 other girls, so David: It wasn’t that hard because this was my second year doing I was comforted in telling myself that it wasn’t likely that I’d be this so I already was used to it. caught individually on T.V. Lorraine: I understand they sent you a DVD of the dance beforeLorraine: I heard you were working with marching bands and hand. How hard was it to learn and teach a dance from a DVD? cheerleaders; was that hard for you and why?

David: At first it was difficult because I had to figure out Rose: Yes. It definitely made it harder to dance when combining which way the hands and feet go because film reverses them on two different groups of talent into the mix. We had to have practhe mirror. tices just to go over how to dance, play and cheer without getting in each other's way.

I hope you all learned something new about this year’s Sugar Bowl and get a chance to meet Rose somewhere in Sacred Heart!

US Marine Visits 4A By: Brooke Lange & Mariah Hesser On December 16, 2010 Ben Kiernan, a Marine who was stationed in Afghanistan, came home after being severely injured in a bomb explosion. He came to visit 4A and his cousin Mariah Hesser who is in 4A. Also he came to thank 4A for the get well cards they sent him while he was in the Naval Hospital recovering.

Check out Reviews From The Heart. Since it is password protected, you need to log on to Parent Net, Tiger Net or Faculty/Staff Intranet.

Once logged on, click Reviews From The Heart

They also have a son named Dudley, who is as a matter of fact the meanest boy ever to live on this planet!

In this book Harry gets taken to Hogwarts which is a magical boarding school for young witches and wizBook Review ards. Along the way in Harry’s adventure, he finds

By Natalie Sanchez two friends and discovers the murderer of his parents!

All in all, this book is a very fun and adventurous The book I reviewed for this book as you can see. So I recommend it to anyone issue is called Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone. who thought this book review was very amusing and This is a wonderful tale about an 11-year-old boy interesting. named Harry Potter who finds out he is a wizard! His parents died when he was not even a year old so he was sent to live with his mean uncle and aunt.

Do You Know

Someone We Can All Look Up To

The History Of Valentine’s Day? By: Sara Micciulli Back in third century Rome, Italy, an emperor named Claudius II ruled Rome. Not everyone liked Claudius. His main focus was to have a big army.

However, most men did not want to fight in the wars. So he made a law stating “ALL UNMARRIED MEN HAVE TO JOIN THE ARMY INSTEAD OF GETTING MARRIED” Many people did not appreciate that new law, including St. Valentine. St. Valentine was a priest and did believe in love. So he secretly held marriages in a room fit for 3-4 people, until one day he got caught. He went to jail and the guards told him that his punishment was death!

Many friends visited him in hopes of cheering him up. One young woman who visited him was the prison guard’s daughter. Before St. Valentine’s death, he wrote a note to the prison guard’s daughter thanking her for her friendship and loyalty. Eventually he signed it, “Love your Valentine”. It is said it was written on February 14, the day he died. Today we still follow the tradition of exchanging love notes and candies after St. Valentine.

By Katherine Santoro

I am reading a book called Three Cups of Tea. It is about a man named Greg Mortenson and how he climbs a mountain called K2. He gets lost and almost dies; then he stumbles into a village called Korphe. They nurse him back to health and he decides to take a walk around the village. He later finds out that the children scratch their multiplication facts into the dirt.

Greg also finds out that the village can only afford a teacher three times a week ! That's when Greg promises the chief of the village , Haji Ali, that he will build a school. He ends up building a school and a bridge for that village, but the one thing he asks for is that the village send girls to the school . Greg later starts a business that builds schools all around the world for girls in poor villages. I think Greg is someone we can all look up to. He is a true American hero. I would definitely recommend this book.

Fan Mail

INTERVIEW WITH MRS. KERSTEIN

By Patricia Gerli and Belli Santucci

Dear Georgia,

We interviewed Mrs. Kerstein about Reviews From The Heart, CSH’s book reviews on line.

We asked her how she thought of the idea of putting book reviews on line. She replied, “I was giving a mini-lesson about writing book reviews and shared some examples from the Spaghetti Book Club website. All of my students got very excited about the idea of writing a book review and putting it on line.

I decided I had to make it happen here at CSH! So, I spoke with Mr. Rotondo in our Technology Department and Reviews From The Heart’ was born!” After that question we asked her

Thank you so much for sharing your Lower School newspaper with me. I truly enjoyed reading the articles. You have a very talented newspaper staff! I am going to share the articles with my students. I know they will be excited to learn about your school.

how long it has been on line. She replied, “Two years.”

Katie Komos SHCOG Visiting Committee

I had a wonderful time visiting your school. You have a very special community.

The Good Samaritan

By Izzy Wise The theme of our Mass is creating a better world in 2011.

The parable of the Good Samaritan gives us clues how to do that. Jesus teaches us to love God and our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. He explains that in order to love our neighbor we need to be kind and show mercy especially to those that are suffering.

In 2011 we should all try to be Good Samaritans FIRST to each other here at school. I once heard the saying, “Charity starts at home.” I think this means that in order to make a unified and strong community, one which is better able to help the outside world, we must first be loving neighbors to each other within our own community.

Have you ever been on the playground and watched as someone is left out of a game? Have you ever been in a situation where someone comes up to a group you’re playing with on the playground and asks if she can play, and one of the girls in the group says, “No! we have too many people, already,” or “No, we want to play alone?” Have you ever watched as that girl walks away sadly with her head down and no-one does anything to include her or comfort her?

This is the time when you and I can be a Good Samaritan to this girl. Have you ever been at gym class when the gym teacher tells you to pick partners? Have you ever seen someone who continually is left out? One who never seems to quickly get picked to be a partner? Couldn’t we be a Good Samaritan by saying to this girl, “Hay, do you want to be partners with me?” Would you ever choose that girl first instead of last? Once we establish that we are Good Samaritans to each other we can more effectively work together to be Good Samaritans to the world outside our Lower School Sacred Heart community. This will help us achieve one of our five goals, goal 3, which is “social awareness which impels to action.”

For our fourth grade non-fiction reading unit I am currently reading Three Cups of Tea. This is a story about a man named Greg Mortenson who travels to Pakistan to climb the mountain K2. While there, he almost dies and wanders into a village called Korphe. The people of Korphe have very little food and material items but nevertheless they generously nurse Greg back to health. They share what little they have with him. They are Good Samaritans to Greg.

After Greg gets better he learns about the village of Korphe.

He learns that the nearest doctor is a week’s walk away. He learns that one out of every 3 children in Korphe dies of malnutrition. He also learns that the children in Korphe have no school building and scratch their multiplication tables in the dirt with sticks. Greg decides to help the people of Korphe by going back to America and raising funds to build a school in Korphe. One way Greg raises money is by going to an elementary school that starts the “Pennies for Pakistan” project. The children collect $623.45 worth of

pennies to help in building a school there.

The story of Three Cups of Tea is inspiring because it is an example of how to be a Good Samaritan in the larger world. Here at Sacred Heart in the lower school we raise money for Uganda through our Jump Rope for Uganda fundraiser. We also collect Christmas presents for needy children through Operation Christmas Child. The upper school is currently collecting toilet tree items for their annual mid-night run. One of our first graders, Rachel Pyne, is also currently collecting pens for soldiers who are based in Afghanistan because children always ask them for pens. Also, remember last year when we responded to the crisis in Haitii with donations?

In 2011 we should continue to support our existing programs to help those less fortunate, and it should be our goal to make these existing programs even stronger.

This year new needs will be uncovered and it should be our mission to recognize these needs and to develop strategies to be Good Samaritans and to make positive differences in the Wider world. I know that you will join me in supporting these projects. But will you join me in another project? The project of being a Good Samaritan right here in our Lower School; in the classroom, in the hallway, in the lunchroom, in the gym and especially on the playground? Let’s all remember that “charity starts at home.”