The Penguin Post

Vol. 2, Issue 1 February 27, 2015

Custodians in the Cold by: Tanya Datta, 4th Grade

You won’t believe what Mr.Gill does for the school in the winter for PFE. He shovels all sidewalks, bike path, and playground for when people forget their snow boots. These past few days, we have had horrible snow storms that have caused delays, early dismissals and closed schools! Thanks to Mr. Gill we don’t have to worry about slipping on ice. The second shift of the custodians come in whenever school is canceled, because of the snow to help so they get done. These are some of the question I asked Mr. Gill about the snow at PFE.

TD: What time do you arrive at PFE? MG: “4:00 depending on the weather 5:00.” TD: What is your favorite hobby out of school? MG: “My favorite hobby outside of school is hunting!” TD: Who plows the snow? MG: “I do it most of the times.” TD: What is your favorite thing about PFE? MG: “All of the good kids!” TD: If there is a two hour delay do you stay home or work? MG: “I go to work to plow the snow.”

Mr. Danny Gill, ready for snow!

Art Contest by: Fiona Dundon, 4th Grade

Do you like art? Well if you do, you are in luck!

The Penguin Post is going to have an art contest for all of you! We have an art box in the Main Office for you to submit your drawings. You can draw with markers, colored pencils, or crayons. Please put your name and room number on the BACK of your paper. You will have one week to submit your drawings. This weeks subject is penguins! We will have two lucky winners. The winners will get their drawings in the paper for everyone to see. Remember, to turn in you picture on time, so you can be a part of the contest. We will judge by neatness and creativity. Submissions due by March 20, 2015.

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Getting to know… J.K. Rowling by: Christopher Cole, 5th Grade

J.K. Rowling’s full name is Joanne Kathleen Rowling. She added in “Kathleen” because her UK publishers thought that ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone’ (now known as ‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone’) would appeal to boys, so using the initials J.K. Rowling was a (failed) attempt to conceal her gender. After finishing the 7th Harry Potter book J.K. Rowling felt as if she had been living with Harry for 17 years.

J.K. Rowling wanted to be a writer as far back as she could remember. She believes that she has the perfect temperament to be a writer; “perfectly happy alone in a room, making things up.” When she was six she wrote a book about a rabbit named Rabbit. J.K. Rowling said, “I gave it to my mother and she said, ‘That’s lovely’, as a mother would, ‘that’s very, very good.’ I stood there and thought, ‘Well, get it published then.’”

Many people ask J.K. Rowling the same question: Will there ever be another Harry Potter book? Ms. Rowling’s answer to this question is: “I have always refused to say ‘never’ to this question, because I think it would be foolish to rule out something I might want to do in a few years­time. However, I have no immediate plans to write another novel, and I do think that I have rounded off Harry’s story in the seven published books.”

Ms. Rowling’s favorite character from her popular series Harry Potter, is Mr. Harry Potter himself. Ms. Rowling believes she is different in

this opinion because Ronald Weasley is usually more popular. If she had to choose one character from her books to sit down and have dinner with, she would choose Dumbledore. The house she would choose to be in is Gryffindor because she values courage above all.

Is Ms. Rowling’s answer to the commonly asked question: where do your ideas come from? is, “I wish I knew where ideas came from, because I would go and live there. It is a mystery to me where it all comes from, but I’m quite pleased I don’t know; it might spoil the fun if I did.”

J.K. Rowling’s piece of advice for young writers is: “When writing, I think a good starting point is what you know – for instance, your own feelings or subjects you know a lot about. The most important thing is to READ as much as you can. This will teach you to recognize good writing, and by analyzing what you like best, you can find out how to improve your own writing.”

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Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 by Ryan Fenchak, 5th Grade

Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1 is a film based off the novel Hunger Games: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. It’s the third book of the trilogy of the Hunger Games series. The Hunger Games is a story about a girl named Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) And a boy named Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson) who are chosen by their government to participate in a “game” where they select children from ages 12­18 to fight to the death, where the last person standing is the victor.

Katniss and Peeta have somehow miraculously survived the first two Games that they were forced into. In the third movie the leader of the rebels asks Katniss to work with them and be their signal of hope for all the Districts to fight against President Snow and his evil Hunger games. But Katniss thinks about her loved ones and how it would affect their safety and her own safety. Meanwhile Peeta’s whereabouts are unknown and the rebels are wondering if he betrayed them and allied with President Snow and his government against the rebels. But Katniss thinks he might have been forced to betray the rebels by President Snow and his government against Peeta’s own will.

This movie has a few “jump­out­of­your­seat” moments. I personally liked the special effects and the acting in this movie and I thought they were very realistic. Overall I think this was a great movie and I would definitely recommend this to anyone who has seen or read the first two books of the series because you would not know what was going on if you didn’t read/watch the first two books/movies. But I still think the movie would be entertaining even if you didn’t watch/read the first two books/movies.

This movie was directed by Francis Lawrence because the other director (Gary Ross) stepped down from the position. The stars of this movie are, Jennifer Lawrence (Katniss) Josh Hutcherson (Peeta) and Woody Harrelson (Haymitch).

Pinstripe Bowl by Quinn Murphy

5th Grade

The Penn State Nittany Lions put the Boston College Eagles to shame. After the tragic loss of 31­30 in Overtime for BC, it sent PSU home with the win. The game was held at Yankee Stadium in New York. It was sponsored by New Era.

The most exciting moment in the game happened with less than ten seconds left. With the score 30­28 and BC in the lead, Penn State was ready to attempt the field goal. Ficken was able to hike the ball up and aim it straight through the uprights. The score was then 31­30 with Penn State winning the game. The MVP was Christian Hackenberg. He completed 34 of 50 passes and threw for 371 yards and four touchdowns. I think everyone went home happy with the big win over Boston College.

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Puzzle by Michael Downs, 5th Grade

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PFE’s First Fictional ‘Serial’ in print by Maddie Rowe, 5th Grade

Louie the Mischievous PART 1

We pulled into a steep driveway and my owner got my sister and I out of the car. My new home is

big. Much bigger than my old one. I was greeted by three kids. One boy with red hair and promising green eyes. The second child I met

is another redhead. Her corkscrew curls bounce as she runs over to me. She rubbed my head powerfully, but gently. The last child I meet is a small little girl with frizzy brown hair and sharp green eyes. Her lips red and cheeks pink. Her mouth curves into a slight smile. Even though I don’t know what they’re saying, I already feel like a part of the family.

My owner carried me up the steps, the kids following. I noticed a tiny black ball of fur laying sound asleep. I can’t believe he didn’t wake through all the commotion. His tail is tucked under his black body. His eyes hidden. His fur is porcupine like sticking up in all different places.

Later that evening, I soon learn the mysterious dog is known as Gus. He has a wise old look in his eyes, and the same white spot on his chest as me.

I spend my night whining and crying in my crate. I didn’t miss home or anything. I just sorta did it. I dozed off soon after 1:00 am.

I woke up to a full bowl of puppy chow. I scurry over and gobble my yummy breakfast. Gus has his own bowl and my sister shares with me. I let her in whenever I’m finished, which is when it’s all gone. The redhead boy, who I learned his name was Jordan, filled our bowl back up for her.

I’ve learned a lot of names over the last night here. I found out corkscrew was actually Ashley, the frizzy hair is Maddie, other redhair was Jordan, my sister was Lizzie, my owner was Mom, and of course my name became Louie, Louie, or Lou. I’ve also heard Bear. I answer to all. I’ve also heard Gramma often. Who is she?

My family is all doing there own thing this morning, so it’s just Lizzie, Gus, and I. I’m out in the kitchen, slopping water all over the kitchen floor. I hear the creak of Mom’s bedroom door open. She comes out, sits down some weird thing, and goes back in. The sound of my claws on the kitchen tile ends when I step on the white carpet. It’s not white anymore since Gus, and I are here.

I scurry over to the ledge, and stuff my face inside her bag. I find lots of things that I’m curious to eat like, a key thing with buttons on it, a square box that lights up, and some green rectangles. I decide to pull them out and try a little bit of each. I make sure Lizzie is sleeping, which she is, and Gus can’t see. Once again, his eyes are hidden. My grasp on the light up thing is not to good. I bite it a couple times and it tumbles back into the bag. I decide to be smart right then. I hurry to the other side of the bag and push it over with my stubby nose. I hope it grows. Aha. The light­up comes out with all the other objects I wanted.

This time I decide to go for the green rectangle. It has a 2 on it, followed by a 0. Some person’s face is on it, also. Freak.The green is easy to pick up, but not to let go of. I pierce my teeth through it and gobble it all up, leaving nothing but tiny shreds. It has a weird smell to it, but it tasted delicious.

I look at the button thing. I figured out that the silver part is super hard. The thingy tasted weird in my mouth. I was up at the top with all the buttons, when suddenly, a faint fire alarm went off. My owner stormed in. Her eyes bulged. I was in trouble.

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Her voice was unexpectedly soft and caring, instead of mean and angry. “Lou, blah blah blah blah. What am I gonna do with you. Blah, Blah, Blah, Cute.” That’s all I could figure out.

Later that day, Lizz and I were put back inside our crate and carried outside. The warm sun made me pant. My little tongue turned a darker pink. Lizzy didn’t seem to mind.

I was put in the same back seat in the same car, then when I came here. The all black inside didn’t seem to help the heat. Maddie tumbled in at my side, and Jordan in Lizzie’s side. Ashley jumped in up front, in front of Jordan. Mom got in, in front of Maddie and started the ignition. She backed out of the driveway waiting for a huge bus that said CATA on the side. Cats. Eww.

“Are you, blah, blah, vet?” Maddie asked me. Vet? I thought they were my family! How dare they make me get shots and get squeezed and squished. How come Gus doesn’t have to come!? He’s a dog too. The rest of the way there I let my anger out at them by barking and barking. Somehow, my bark doesn’t seem to affect them. They just say “Aww.” and “How cute.” I admit, my bark isn’t as threatening as I thought. But mark my words Mom, it will be.

Ashley opened the rusty door. I lead my family inside with my small harness. The smell off other dogs fill my black nostrils. Urg. Lizzie skips in and sits right down. How could she be so calm about this? It’s the VET.

“Louie and Lizzie.” The vet’s ready for me. Ready or not doctor, here I come. Mom takes me around the corner and has me stand on a metal square. The cold metal freezes my bare paws. A screen is calculating numbers overhead. 12 lbs the screen read. Lizzie weighs 6 lbs. Oh boy. I already know I’m overweight.What else is new? The last 8 weeks of my life have been filled with puppy chow and spaghetti.

The vet takes me back into a cramped room and immediately swept me off my feet. I was soaring up high. I landed on a silver table. Again, it’s metal so my paws are cold. A black lab stares back at me. I scour the office and find tons of weird things. A jar of cotton balls, popsicle sticks, splints, treats, and stuff I have no knowledge of. The vet comes at me with a silver needle, ready to inject. Uh­oh. This is gonna hurt. I growl awkwardly. Mom shoots up in shock. “Louie!” she says. “I’m so sorry. He’s never done this before.” I calm down when mom starts rubbing my back like she did when I first met her. I close my eyes, and let her insert the needle into my body. The fluid runs rapidly through me giving me an eerie chill.

Lizzie and I trot out of the office. We enter the car, mom begins revving the engine. We cautiously, back out of the parking lot, dodging a great mastiff.

We pass the exit that we came out of and continued going straight ahead. The car’s tires bounce over pebbles and rocks as we turn into a long driveway. The house looks welcoming with its off white front and a gate guarding the porch. Mom gets us out of the car and walks us down a narrow walkway, Ashley holding our foul­smelling crate. Its odor is as bad as Templeton’s rotten egg.

We are greeted by a short old woman, the smell of a vanilla candle wafts in from the kitchen. “Hi honeybuns!” she says in a loving but babyish voice.

“Here’s your dog!” Mom says handing her Lizzie’s leash. Her Dog!? What is she talking about. I bark at her and she ignores me. Maddie walks out into the kitchen and I follow. Soon, everyone is gathered around the island except for Maddie and I. We can’t see over the island so we have no other choice really. Maddie sits criss­cross on the floor and I balance my head on her knee. It forces my right eyelids together. My other eye starts to close. I can barely keep it open when I decide just to let myself sleep.

Check out Part 2 in next month’s Penguin Post.

*Thank you Park Forest Elementary for caring about each other and working to make this world a better place!

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