BLUE NOTES - Corvallis School District #1

BLUE NOTES
November * December 2013 Volume I
Corvallis Middle School Student Newspaper
The meaning behind Thanksgiving What does
By Andrea Stevens * 8th Grade
Thanksgiving
Have you ever wondered how or even why Thanksgiving exists? Well let me explain.
mean to you?
Thanksgiving began when the Pilgrims and Native American gathered together to
celebrate a successful harvest. The first Thanksgiving was held in the fall of 1621,
sometime between September 21 and November 11, and it was a three day feast.
By Emily Seifert * 7th Grade
“Getting together with family, eating
pumpkin pie and turkey and hunting.”
Christian Easley, 5th Grade
The Pilgrims were joined be approximately 90 of the local Wampanoag tribe, including Chief Massasoit. They ate fowl and deer for certain and most likely also ate ber“Spending time with my family.” Madison
ries, fish, clams, plums, and boiled pumpkin. Though the current holiday of ThanksBierer, 6th Grade
giving was based on the 1621 feast, it didn’t immediately become an annual celebra“I like to be with my family.” Kaitlin Irwin,
tion or holiday.
7th Grade
The very first national day of Thanksgiving was held in 1789, when President George
“I get to travel to places.” Caylin Diaz, 7th
Washington proclaimed Thursday, November 26 to be “a day of public thanksgiving Grade
and prayer,” to especially give thanks for the opportunity to form a new nation and
“Eating pumpkin pie and turkey with my
the establishment of a new constitution.
family and hunting.” Josh Easley, 7th
Everybody has many things to be thankful for even if they don’t know and appreciate Grade
it or if they don’t have as much. It is a way to show thankfulness through trials, oppor- “Eating a lot of food and playing Apples to
tunities, and life.
Apples with friends.” Kyran Hughes, 8th
Grade
All those things are lessons and messages to you and others that you can make it.
That in my opinion is the meaning of Thanksgiving and frankly eating all the food is
“It’s the time to get together with all your
just a plus!
friends.” Bryant Brown, 8th Grade
Modern Thanksgiving thoughts
By Emmalee Patterson * 8th Grade
Thanksgiving is never about eating food. It’s never
about Black Friday shopping and getting more
things that you don’t need.
Thanksgiving is about spending time with family and
friends and being thankful for what you have.
Thanksgiving is meant to be a holiday for thanks. To
me it means you should be thankful for the roof over
your head, clothes on your back, and the food and
supplies you have to survive.
People should be playing games with their families
and rejoicing for the life they have. These are things
you should be thankful for all the time and not just
on a holiday. To me Thanksgiving is meant for love
and happiness.
Turkeys fleeing the feast
photo by Mercedes Covert * 6th Grade
SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
We flip for
gymnastics
By Celicia Jessop & Hannah
Hutchison * 6th Grade
Have you ever wondered what it
means to be a gymnast? It’s a lot
more than you might think. Gabi
Douglas, Olympic gold medalist,
talks about gymnastics like this:
“Hard days are the best because
that’s when champions are made.”
“Hard work beats talent when talent
doesn’t work hard.”
That means that you don’t have to
have talent to be successful, you
just have to work at it. That is so
true when it comes to gymnastics.
We get so close with our team so
we can be honest about performances during competitions and no
one gets offended.
8th grade boys basketball
By Allie Auch * 8th Grade
Another season of boys basketball is starting up, and they are very excited to make
Corvallis proud again. The team is looking forward to another great season! But
they can’t do it alone. The team needs your support, so come to their home games:
Monday, November 25 at 4pm; Monday, December 2 at 4:15pm and Tuesday December 3 at 4pm.
When I talked to some of the boys, I found out that they are wanting to improve on
free throws, staying in shape and overall shooting skills. Their favorite professional
players are Kevin Durant and Michael Jordan.
Many boys started playing because it looked and sounded fun and they had family
members teach them the game so it was special to them. They also knew it would
help to keep them in shape. They are excited to see you support them. Hope to see
you there!
Swish! Sixth grade girls travel team
By Kaycee Brown & Mikayln Brickley * 6th Grade
The 6th grade girls select team is a traveling basketball team that travels around
Montana. The select team is a group of girls that are selected to play on a traveling
basketball team. We will play in tournaments at Missoula, Anaconda and maybe
Florence. The head coach of our team is Coach Brown. We interviewed some people on our team on why they enjoy basketball:
Gymnastics takes dedication courage and to want the skill extremely
bad. It’s a way of life.
Ashlynn Nixon said, “It’s competitive, it’s a sport, and you get to play aggressive.”
We start competition in January and
end in March. Gymnastics is a
combination of strength, speed, and
coordination.
Maria Hickey said, “It’s fun, I like to play it and it’s competitive.”
Brooklyn Wirt said, “My parents played it in college and they got me to play it; and
it’s competitive.”
Mikayln Brickley said, “You can play aggressive and it’s a competitive sport.”
Failure we can live with, not trying
is what we can’t handle. When you
are so close to getting what you
have wanted your whole life and it
is time to make the decision whether to do whatever it takes to succeed, will you let it slip on by? Or
will you work for it? This is the definition of a true gymnast.
Kaycee Brown said, “I love basketball because it’s really fun, aggressive and I like
that it’s competitive and it’s a challenge.”
If this inspired you to become a
gymnast then you get the point.
Look for Velocity Gymnastics Academy: 1269 S. 1st Street Hamilton,
Montana. 406-363-5398.
My book review is on Vector Prime by R.A. Salvatore. It is about the Star Wars galaxy when aliens from another galaxy invade it! This book is best for the people who
like action, Sci-Fi and adventure books. I think you should read this book because it
is funny, adventurous and dangerous at the same time. Also, it includes all your favorite Star Wars characters and more. In conclusion, I think Vector Prime is a great
book!
Brianna Letzig said, “It’s a way to get active, you can be aggressive and competitive.”
Book review: Vector Prime
By Cody McCartney * 5th Grade
SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Montana youth football
By Kendra Hendrickson * 8th Grade
Schools from Missoula all the way down to Darby are in the Montana youth football. The
league play started September 14 and went
through October, continuing with the playoffs
and ending with the championship game at the
Montana Grizzly stadium.
Grades 5th through 8th played. Corvallis’ 5th
grade team, The Dolphins, played in the league.
They didn’t make it to the championship, but
they will hopefully make it all of the way next
year.
Youth football provides a great outlet for kids. photo by Kendra Hendrickson * 8th Grade
The amazing experience of being in 3rd grade
and running with a giant football helmet, the
thrill of having that adrenalin and playing your
heart out; this is what this program is all about.
My favorite
Thanksgiving
The Thanksgiving turkey: A
short story
By Hannah Martin * 6th Grade
By Briar Welling * 6th Grade
My favorite Thanksgiving was five years
ago. We usually have Thanksgiving at
our house. Our relatives from Drummond, Missoula and Corvallis came to
celebrate with us.
It was the night before Thanksgiving and all through the woods the turkeys were
rushing through the trees scared out of their wits. The hunters will be here at 12
o’clock and they will be hunting. The turkeys will have to hide and fly away before
they can be shot by the hunters.
There was one turkey named Pete. He was not the brightest light bulb in the pack.
This particular Thanksgiving was very fun He had one eye that was missing and he often got shot at during turkey season but it
because we had lots of snow— one of
was remarkable because he never got hit. Hunting season opened at 12 o’clock
the only times we had snow on Thankssharp so they had to hide fast.
giving.
Pete was thinking, “I wonder what is going on.” He just watched and observed.
Our family ate, laughed, and played inWhen it turned 12 o’clock they heard the first gun shot and everyone fled except
side on that bitter cold holiday. Then, it
Pete. He just decided to stay right in the open in the meadow. The hunters knew of
was time for our game outside. As a
this turkey and they shot but it never seemed to hit him. It always went over him or
Thanksgiving tradition, everybody plays a to the left or right of him. It was like he was protected by the Turkey God or somegame of any kind of sport. Sometimes
thing like that.
it’s basketball, kickball or baseball.
A new hunter came to town. He was a famous hunter and had his own T.V show,
This year it was football. Playing football magazine, etc. He went out to hunt this turkey, “Pete,” as they call him. He brought
in the snow is extremely fun because
his best gun sighted and all. When he found the turkey he got all ready and shot. He
when you fall, you don’t fall on the solid
missed and the turkey just sat there. He shot again. He missed again, and again
hard ground; you fall onto the fluffy, pow- and again. He just kept missing. He finally walked up to the turkey and Pete just sat
dery snow.
there. He raised his gun and went to hit the turkey. When the gun collided with the
turkey, the meadow had a giant explosion and the hunter went flying. He landed in
To me, Thanksgiving is a time to gather
another town.
with friends and family; to laugh and play
together. It’s also a time of giving thanks After that incident no one went to hunt the turkey named Pete. And that is the story
for everything you have.
of the Thanksgiving turkey.
So eat, laugh, play and give thanks.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Nutcracker performance in Hamilton
Two weeks of bliss
By Kaylee Evans * 8th Grade
By Kyran Hughes * 8th Grade
This year’s Nutcracker will be playing at the Hamilton Performing Arts Center on
Saturday, Nov. 30 at both 2pm and 7pm and Sunday Dec. 1 at 2pm.
Christmas break!!! Everyone’s excited for the two weeks of Christmas
break we get this year. What
brought this on? This is the first
year, as far as we know, that we get
two weeks of vacation. Kyran
Hughes asks Mrs. Rodewald why
this is so.
Playing the role of Clara this year is Josie VanDenburg, a freshman at Hamilton
High School. Prices for the performances are $20 for adults and $10 for 6-10 year
olds. Children under 5 years old are free if they are with a paying adult.
Molly Gale, Corvallis 8th grader, will also be performing in the Nutcracker. “The Nutcracker is fun and time consuming,” Molly said, “But it is all worth it in the end.”
Shared holiday traditions
By Chloe Stanley * 6th Grade
Thanksgiving…
“We have a big dinner, say what we are thankful for, and we play
board games!” Austin Medlar, 5th grade
“We have a huge Thanksgiving dinner. Also we give food and clothing to charity!”
Willow Whitewolf, 6th grade
“We try to interact with holidays here, we roast a big turkey with family recipes.” Carlos Paredes, 7th grade
“We have a huge feast, have family members over, and have family time as in
watching TV and relaxing.” James Gladden, 8th grade
Christmas…
“We have a family Christmas party and give clothing to charity!” Kailee McCready,
5th grade
Kyran: Why do we have two weeks
of Christmas vacation this year?
Mrs. Rodewald: Well, this is because of the position of Christmas
this year. It’s on Wednesday so the
calendar committee decided to give
us both weeks off. The calendar
committee includes someone from
the middle school, high school, and
primary school who form a committee to see which days we have off.
They meet up and make two calendars and let the staff vote on which
they like best.
Birthdays!
By Kaylie Wilson * 8th Grade
Elsie Read – Nov. 27th
Kamri White-Nov. 27th
Kitana Carson- Nov. 29th
Ethan Mull- Nov.29th
“We wake up at six o’clock in the morning, open presents, and have family time!”
Bridger Williams, 6th grade
Isabel Jessop- Nov. 30th
“We have a huge breakfast, wake up early in the morning take turns opening presents, and play board games with family, and also make snowmen!” Chloe Nevin,
7th grade
Cham Weizmann- Nov.27th
“We stay home, watch Christmas movies or shows. We have this type of bread
called “Stollen” which is bread with nuts, candy fruit, and raisins etc.” Kyran Hughes
* 8th grade
Justin Sieber- Nov.30th
Bill Nye- Nov.27th
William Blake- 28th
Ed Harris-Nov.28th
Andres Bello-Nov.29th
C.S Lewis-Nov.29th
Jonathon Swift-Nov.30th
Billy Idol-Nov.30th
COMICS
The World of Mishaps
By Sammy Shegrud * 7th Grade
I’m a Chemist
By Kiley Mullen * 8th Grade