Stingray Times 1

STINGRAY TIMES Volume 4, Issue 2 October, 2015

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Unity Day By: Kristi L.

1 – Unity Day

1 - Great Debate

2 – Meet the SGA

2 – Halloween Fun Facts

3- Q & A

3- Riddles

3- Poll Results

4- History of Halloween

4 – DIY Costumes

On October 8, 2015 we celebrated Unity Day

here at MMS. Unity day is a signature event of

National Bullying Prevention month, which first

started in 2011. This year to celebrate Unity Day, we

had a guest speaker, Marc Mero visit us. He shared the

story of his life and all the challenges that he

encountered. He inspired us to set goals and to make

good decisions. Following his presentation, we all

went outside to spell out “we all fit in”. This is an

important message because it shows people, that even

though we are all different, that we still are together.

Afterwards we went to first period, to continue our

door decorating. These doors were all representations

of Unity Day and all the pieces that are put together to

create things. Following first period we went to some

of our other classes. In those classes, we were doing

more activities that represented unity and how even

though we are different we can still be united. This

year, Unity Day was great and everyone here at MMS

was able to hear and participate in anti-bullying.

The Great Debate By: Kylie M. & Charlotte K.

This month………Should cell phones be allowed in school?

Yes- If there was an emergency during school hours, a student

could use a cell phone to contact someone or call for help. Cell

phones allow communication, which is very helpful. Most

teachers have one phone in their classroom, but if there was

an emergency, it would take way too long for all the students

to call their parents with only one phone. Not to mention,

some students work better when listening to music. If a

student had their phone, they could listen to music while

working in class (with teacher permission of course). Also,

cell phones have many helpful features. You can use it as a

calculator, to quickly search something, and to contact

someone if necessary. A lot of sites are blocked on our

Chrome books, so if you’re doing research or work, you can

use your phone to find good websites that may have been

blocked on the computer. If there are some students using their

phone inappropriately, then just have them loose their

privileges, not everyone.

No- Having phones in school would likely cause students to

be distracted from their work. Students are not responsible

enough to use their phone appropriately. Students wouldn’t be

focused on school because they would be focused on what is

going on, on their phone. Some students may start slacking

and not completing their work because they were on their

phone. Students may also get off task by going on social media

or other sites. Some students may even go on inappropriate

websites during class or break other rules. Plus, a student

could use a cellphone to cheat during a test. Not to mention,

Wi-Fi needed for the chrome books would be used by people

using phones. Yes, some students would use their phone

appropriately, but others may abuse their privilege.

What do you think? This month we got a whopping 245 responses! Thank you to all those people who responded, it really helps us write the article. We know there are more yes quotes than no, but out of the 245 people that responded, 86.1% said yes and only 13.9% said no.

Check out the full results and comments from our poll on page 5

5- Book Nook

5- Short Story

6- Salem Witch Trials

6- Navy Football

6- Dance

7- Cooking

7- Candle Holder

7- Poll Results

8- Fall Things

8- Halloween Decor

SGA Fright Night- October 30th- 6:00-9:00

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Z

Meet the SGA By: Jessica S.

Seth McLaughlin

Position: President

Favorite Subject: Math

Reason for Running: He wants to help MMS’

students get their requests heard.

Plans for MMS: He plans to try his hardest to get

the music websites back

Tess Cool

Position: Vice President

Favorite Subject: Medical Detectives

Reason for Running: She wants to make school

more fun.

Plans for MMS: She wants to make school less

dreaded by students, so they will actually look

forward to coming to school.

Kristen Good

Position: Secretary

Favorite Subject: Science

Reason for Running: She had been part of SGA

last year and really enjoyed it.

Plans for MMS: She wants to make things more

fun and create more events that are enjoyable.

Collin McCracken

Position: 6th Grade Representative

Favorite Subject: Reading or math

Reason for Running: He was the secretary for

his school last year and really enjoyed it

Plans for MMS: He wants to get students more

involved and make the SGA budget bigger

10 Fun Facts about

Halloween By Harper R.

1. Black Cats are bad luck in America, despite

being good luck in Japan.

2. Snickers is the most popular Halloween

chocolate bar.

3. Pumpkins are not only orange, they can also be

white, blue and green.

4. Halloween candy sales average two billion

dollars per year in the U.S.

5. Black cats were once thought to be the familiars

of witches and people thought they protected the

witch’s powers.

6. Jack-o-Lanterns were originally from Ireland

when people hollowed turnips and put candles in

them to protect them from ghosts on the holiday

Samhain.

7. The “Count Dracula Society” was founded in

1962 and was founded by Dr. Donald A. Reed.

8. Fear of Halloween is called Samhainophobia.

9. Halloween is thought to have originated in 4,000

B.C., meaning it is about 6,000 years old.

10. Halloween has also been referred to as All

Hallow’s Eve, Witches Night, Lambswool, Snap-

Apple Night, Summer’s End, and Samhain.

KEEP TRACK OF YOUR GRADES AT THE PARENT

PORTAL LINK ON THE MMS WEBSITE!

USE YOUR SCHOOL USERNAME AND PASSWORD.

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Monthly Poll:

Favorite Candy

231 Responses

Q & A w/ Mrs. Kovach

By: Zoe Q. & Lauren B.

Q: Do you decorate your house for Halloween?

A: I decorate for Halloween some years more than

others. Unfortunately, it depends how busy I am. I

used to decorate more and dress up to hand out

candy. I enjoyed that :)

Q: What was the best part of Halloween for you as a

child?

A: My mom would always help me find a nice

costume and then she would rush home from work

to make dinner before we went out Trick-Or-

Treating. When my brothers and I would get home

we would compare candy and trade for what we

liked the best. It was a fun time :)

Q: What is your most memorable Halloween costume?

A: When I was in 3rd grade my aunt made me a

witch costume that I absolutely loved! I had a

Halloween costume party that year for my friends

at school and wore my new costume. I had just

moved to a new school so it was fun to invite new,

and old friends

Q: What is your favorite Halloween candy?

A: Crunch bars. I just saw an advertisement that

they have Peanut's character shaped Crunch bars

this year for Halloween. I will have to get some!

Q: As an adult, what do you enjoy doing on

Halloween?

A: We now have a tradition of all gathering at my

daughter and son-in-law's house to pass out candy

together as a family - my adult children, husband

and grandchildren. We set a big screen up in the

driveway and use a projector to watch old, scary

movies while the kids are out Trick-or-Treating.

We make a bonfire and have lots of food and just

enjoy the evening together as a family watching all

the Trick-Or-Treaters with their interesting

costumes.

Halloween Riddles From enchantedlearning.com

1. Why didn't the mummy have any friends? 2. What road has the most ghosts haunting it? 3. Where do ghosts go when they're sick? 4. What monster plays tricks on Halloween? 5. What do you call a skeleton who won't work? Answers on page 6

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DIY Starbucks

Depending on what type of drink you’d like to

be, choose a plain outfit, either plain dress,

matching t-shirt and pants, etc. I suggest wearing

a brown dress or shirt to be a coffee, hot

chocolate, or mocha, or a pink dress or shirt to

be a strawberry smoothie. Print out a picture of

the Starbucks logo on either printer paper, in

which you can pin onto your shirt or dress, or

you can print the logo onto transfer paper (read

the instructions for your transfer paper first) and

iron it on to your shirt/dress. Then, you can paint

any cylinder green (i.e. paper towels) and glue

them onto a headband to represent your drink’s

straw. Wrap a white boa or scarf around your

neck to represent the whipped cream, and you’ll

look a latte like a Starbucks drink.

DIY Fire Fox

Put on a plain orange top and bottom. Get

orange felt (orange construction paper will work

as well), cut the felt into two triangles, and glue

them to a headband. Take more felt and fold it in

half. Cut out a fox tail shape (don’t cut the

crease). Then hot glue or sew the ends together,

leaving the top open. Stuff the tail with stuffing

(the material you would fill a stuffed animal

with) or old newspapers, and sew or glue the top.

Then just safety pin the tail to your pants or skirt.

With eyeliner or face paint, draw an inverted

triangle on your nose to represent the fox’s nose.

Hold a globe, or a ball that looks like a globe

(you can easily make this by painting a blue ball

with green blots) and you have a purrfect

costume.

DIY Instagram

Wear one of your favorite outfits, or any outfit

you want. Get a white poster board, and paint the

very top of the poster board white a blue stripe.

Then print or paint the Instagram banner on the

blue stripe. Cut a square in the center of the

poster board, making it large enough to see your

whole head. This will represent your Instagram

selfie. Then paint on your username and small

profile pic above the selfie. Underneath the

selfie, draw a red heart and a comment button,

and you’ll look exactly like Instagram.

DIY Zombie

Grab any old shirt and pants and make them

as dirty as possible. I don’t recommend using

real dirt, brown eye shadow and paint will work

just as well. Then rip the collar a little bit and

cut holes into the sleeves. Then, make your hair

as messy as possible, and add brown eye

shadow all around your face until it looks dirty.

If possible, add zombie circle lenses (which

you can get online with websites such as Pinky

Paradise) and you’ll be the creepiest zombie in

the neighborhood.

DIY Halloween Costumes By Hanna P.

History Of Halloween Anna M. & Mackenzie B.

Halloween is a time for celebrating and superstition, but do you know how Halloween really started out?

It is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. Where people would light

bonfires and wear costumes to scare off roaming ghosts. Halloween has always been a holiday filled with,

mystery, magic, and superstitions. We avoid crossing paths with black cats, walking under ladders, and

breaking mirrors, afraid they will bring bad luck. In 1000 AD, Some churches would make November 2

All Souls’ Day, A day to honor the dead. All Souls Day was celebrated similarly to Samhain. The All

Souls Day celebration was also called All-Hallows or All-Hallowmas. Halloween used to be called “All

Hallow’s Eve” which is now used as Halloween. Over time, Halloween turned into a community based

holiday where children and teens would do activities such as trick or treat or just dress up. Where Shorter

days and colder nights was known as a time for celebrating the winter season with friendly gatherings,

wearing costumes, and sweet treats.

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By Ellie B. …Continued from September issue

Liz went home that night. Not even her little sister Mandy could

distract her. If Mandy and her annoyingness (and trust me parrot

sounds at dinner is annoying) could not snap her out of it this was

bad.

So before bed Liz did what she believed was the best distraction

of all. She read one of her favorite books. But even her dreams that

night were filled with locker thieves and flying pigs (don’t ask).

That morning Liz met with Selena and Sasha. The girls had been

thinking about the burglary. They invited Christie to sit with them

at lunch. 1st 2nd and 3rd period were a blur. At lunch Selena showed

them a list of subjects.

Davy on one side of Christie

Genevieve on the other side

And George who helped her with her locker

That afternoon Sasha went to question Davy because he was a

trouble maker and she was tuff. She asked him what he did at his

locker yesterday. He said that he got his stuff after lunch and he

barely made it to the bus because he had locker trouble. So Sasha

went to Elsa who rode the same bus as Davy. She said, “He was last

on the bus and had to sit with Lexi.”

To be continued….

KEEP TRACK OF YOUR GRADES AT THE PARENT

PORTAL LINK ON THE MMS WEBSITE!

USE YOUR SCHOOL USERNAME AND PASSWORD.

The Book Nook By: Sydney W. & Emma V.

This month, we recommend the book The Giver by

Lois Lowry. This is a story about a boy named Jonas

who lived in a futuristic society which has eliminated

all war, fear, hatred, and pain. Everybody seems to look

and act the same, and there is little to no competition.

The society has also eliminated choice: at the age of

twelve, everybody is assigned a job based upon their

interests. Citizens may apply for a spouse, and each

couple is assigned exactly two children each. These

children were born to Birthmothers, who don’t get to

see the children. Jonas lives with his father, who is a

Nurturer of New Children, his mother, who works at

the Department of Justice, and his seven-year-old sister

Lily. As the Ceremony of Twelve rolls around, Jonas

is chosen to be the Receiver of Memory. This means

that he receives all memories of hunger, pain, and

inconvenience. Will Jonas be strong enough for the

job? Or will he crumple under the pain and poverty he

is just now learning about?

The Great Debate Continued from page 1

What do you think? This month we got a whopping 245 responses! Thank you to all

those people who responded, it really helps us write the article.

We know there are more yes quotes that no, but out of the 245

people that responded, 86.1% that yes and only 13.9% said no.

- “I do believe that we should use cell phones in school

because it will most likely allow us students to have

study apps that will be creative and make students want

to study.” (YES)

- “It should be allowed because music sites are blocked

currently. I don't know about other students, but

listening to music helps me focus. It helps me to stop

talking to other students, and overall I think that it

would personally help a lot.” (YES)

- “Schools should not allow cell phones in school

because cell phones are a distraction and will take up

Wi-Fi needed for the chrome books.” NO)

- “Schools should not allow cell phones in school

because cell phones are a distraction and will take up

Wi-Fi needed for the chrome books. Also, students can

use their phones to cheat on tests.” (NO)

86%

14%

SHOULD CELL PHONES BE ALLOWED IN SCHOOL

Yes No

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Salem Witch

Trials By Jordan H.

It’s that time of the year again when we dress up as fictional characters, monsters, and animals. But one of the most popular symbol for Halloween is a witch. In the city of Salem in January 1692, two young girls (9-year old Betty Paris and 11-year old Abigail Williams) were accused of being bewitched. They were taken to the local doctor, William Griggs, after having fits, violent contortions, and uncontrollable outbursts of screaming. William Griggs diagnosed bewitchment to these girls and soon after, other young girls in Salem were experiencing the same symptoms as they did. Three of the girls were brought to the courtroom to be questioned in a trial, as they were accused of witchcraft. Two of the girls denied their guilt but one of them confessed and said that there were other witches as well in the city of Salem helping them in service of what they called ‘the devil’. In June, the first girl was hanged for being accused of witchcraft on Gallows Hill. Five more accused witches were hanged in July, five in August, and eight more in September. Seven other accused witches died in jail, and one husband of a witch was sentenced to death by being pressed by stones because he refused to enter a plea at his trial. Later in January 1697, the court confirmed that the trials were unlawful and were discontinued. And though the Salem Witch Trials were discontinued, Arthur Miller dramatized the events of 1692 in his play, “The Crucible” in 1953.

Navy By: Jake G. & Connor M.

Coach Ken Niumatalolo was the first

Samoan coach in the NCAA league level Stadium is Navy- Marine Corps Memorial

stadium Mascot is Bill the Goat In AAC. First time Navy has been in a

conference Division 1 First season in 1879 Has produced 20 NFL players 2 heisman trophy winners, Roger Staubach

in 1963 and Joe Bellino in 1960 Army vs Navy is Saturday December 12 at

3:00 in Philadelphia PA QB- Keenan Reynolds RB- Chris Swain

Halloween Riddle Answers 1. Because he was wrapped up in himself! 2. A dead end! 3. To the witch doctor! 4. Prank-enstein! 5. Lazy bones!

Halloween Dance! By: Taylor P.

Everyone come to the

SGA’s Halloween Dance on October 30, 2015.

The cost is only $10,

which includes everything

within the dance;

unlimited food, a candy bar, photo booth,

and a costume contest!

The price is $7 if you bring 5 or more cans of

food to school for the food drive,

and if you purchase your ticket for the dance

beforehand, you will be allowed to wear you

costume to school on the 30th!

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Cooking By Katie H.

Critter Dirt Cake

Ingredients:

1- 1 ¼ lb. pkg. Oreo cookies

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese

½ cup butter, Softened

1 cup powdered sugar

3 cups milk

1 (12 oz.) tub Cool Whip (can use chocolate)

2 (3 ½ oz.) pkg. instant vanilla or chocolate

pudding

½ tsp. vanilla

4 gummy worms and/or other critters

Baking: 1. Crush Oreos. Put ⅓ of the crushed Oreos into a

new clean dish. Set aside.

2. Mix butter, cream cheese and sugar and vanilla

together. Set aside.

3. Combine milk and pudding mix. Fold Cool Whip

into the pudding.

Fold together pudding mixture and butter-cream

cheese mixture.

4. Layer this mixture (about ⅓ of it) onto the

crumbled cookies in the dish. Next, add another

layer of the pudding mixture, then another layer of

the cookie crumbs, continuing until all ingredients

are used.

5. As you’re layering the ingredients, decoratively

place several gummy worms and critters in the

“soil” so they will be seen emerging.

6. Chill in Refrigerator for 3 to 4 hrs. before serving.

“PINK OUT”

October 28th

Wear as much

pink as possible.

Win a Prize!

Autumn Leaf

Candle Holders By: Elizabeth C.

What you need:

Leaves

Jar

Craft Glue

Sponge Brush (optional)

Rope (like seen in the picture)

Battery tea lights

How to make:

Take the sponge brush or your finger

and start lightly putting glue on the

leaves. Once you are done, lay them

gently on the jar. Once you put a few

on wait for them to dry. After they

have dried wrap the rope below the

top rings. When you are done put the

fake candle in. Then you have your

autumn leaf candle holder. Place

lighted battery candles inside.

Source: Spark and Chemistry

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We need your ideas for the

newspaper! If you have anything

you want to see in the Stingray

Times, email your idea to

tracey.armiger@qacps.org.

Halloween Décor

Ideas By: Abby C. & Molly W.

Boo Burlap Sign Take a piece of paper and cut it how you want, then you

take your piece of burlap and trace the piece of paper on

top of the burlap, cut on the trace lines (do this step three

times). The paint B. O. and O. on the burlap then decorate

it how you like it. Hot glue the pieces of burlap on the

string. Your finished product should look like this.

Spooky Door

Take any door you would like in your house and if it is not

the color you want you can get a really big piece of paper

and cut out big eyes, mouth, and if you want a nose. When

you are done it should look like this

Cat In The Window

You take any color paper you want and you cut out a cat

and prop it in your window. When you are done it should

look like this.

Candy Corn Cones

You would take a piece of paper and roll it up into a cone

shape. Then at the bottom you rap yellow string then rap

orange string in the middle and white string at the top.

When you are done it should look like this.

Ghost Milk Jugs

Take an empty milk jug and clean it out. Take a permanent

marker and draw a ghost face, then you fill the milk jug with

water and put a glow stick in it so it will glow at night and

you can see the face when you walk by and it is dark. When

you are done it should look like this

Things to Look Forward to

This Fall By Ellie B.

1. Football has started- It is a fun way to get exercise and

show competitive spirit. If you don’t like to play football you

can watch the game and root for your favorite team.

2. The weather is great- With cooler climate it is a great

time to play outside. Make a leaf pile for your sibling or race

your dad around. You may even have a good time walking

the dog. If you aren’t the big outdoors person just try taking

a walk and enjoying the scenery.

3. There are lots of fall events going on- Some are

Halloween or Thanksgiving themed, like the Zoo Boo at the

Maryland Zoo or the Falloween Family Festival at Port

Discovery. Others are just fall things like Weber’s Farm

which has lots to do.

4. The events at school - We had spirit week and there are

other events coming up too such as the Halloween dance.

5. Thanksgiving- I know it is a while a way but it is still

something to look forward to, I mean who doesn’t love

getting together with their family and giving thanks for what

you have then stuffing yourself with food.

6. Fall isn’t just about Football there are other sports too.

- Go to your local high school and attend a sports event

there. Or maybe you play sports yourself, good for you

you’re getting exercise and having fun too.

7. Not only is the weather great so is the scenery. - Fall is

awesome for natural beauty with the leaves turning gorgeous

colors and the cool air, not to mention the bugs going away.

It just makes you want to take a walk.

8. There are Halloween and Harvest parties to have and

attend. – Whether you are having a haunted house party at

your own house, attending the pumpkin patches harvest

hayride and party, or getting your friends together for a

spooky playground party you’ll have a great time.