French Baker Comes to Wood Hill

By Lisa and Madeline

On Monday, April 24th, Victor, the owner of La Maison Navarre, a bakery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, came to Wood Hill.  With him came large white boxes copiously filled with flaky pastries varying from croissants and brioche. The pleasant bread smell was so overpowering that some students started to drool.  Bellies grumbled and crazed eyes started to appear on everyone. Victor, however, was used to smelling and seeing these delectables. His bakery, La Maison Navarre is a proud French bakery that serves authentic French food.  They sell all sorts of pastries like pain au chocolat, but their specialty are macarons.  Many seem to enjoy this tiny French treat in particular.  Perhaps it is the flavored ganache that is sandwiched between two crispy biscuits that appeals to many people.  Whatever it is, La Maison Navarre are professional macaron makers. However, they do not serve just pastries. They also make savory foods like quiches, and are opening a wine bar.  This wine bar, according to Victor, will be paired with charcuterie, which is basically assorted meats. Victor is not worried about the wine bar since his restaurant have much dexterity in their cooking.  In fact, they have a 4.9 star rating in reviews.

La Maison Navarre is some of Victor’s proudest achievements.  In the presentation, he explained that he was trying to major in industrial business while he was at college in Paris.  However, he found it very pleasing to make food. To him, the food environment was very comfortable to work with. That’s why he decided to instead put all his time and money into baking and making food.  Along his journey into the food world, he worked with Charlotte. Charlotte lived most of her life in Lyon, France, which is a place known for its food. In Lyon, you can have many gastronomic experiences. Before she met with Victor, she worked at some of the most famous chocolate businesses.  Together, they were a dynamic duo. Confident in their skills and wanting to bring some very good French food to the United States, they moved to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and started a bakery there. Why in Portsmouth? Well, Victor explained that a lot of his family lived there, so he felt that it would be nice to have their bakery there. During the presentation, Victor used this story to show that not everyone exactly gets what they expect in life.  You have to just go on with what you get. Destiny was a big topic in his presentation. After Victor finished his very inspiring speech, he answered some of the questions we had. He gave really great answers to all of them.

When we tried the food, we were amazed to see how good it was. You had four options of pastries to try. The brioche with sugar on top, brioche with chocolate on top, bread with chocolate inside, and a light croissant. Those with gluten-free allergies received macarons. These macaron flavors ranged from salted caramel to chocolate raspberry.  The croissant had an incredible bread flavor, and it's chewiness was satisfying for the mouth. The bread with chocolate, or the pain au chocolat, was the perfect balance of sugary and bread flavor.  Both pastries were incredibly flakey, so it would make a nice crunch if you bit into the bread.  The brioches too tasted like a croissant, but denser. The sugar topped brioche had a nice tingling sugar sensation, while the chocolate topped brioche made jaded chocolate lovers giggle with joy.  All in all, I could see how all these pastries were delicacies in France.

This was a very great and well organized presentation from Victor. He talked very well and gave an outstanding story about how he came to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It was a great discussion about how life can lead to very different outcomes from that you expect. Also, those pastries were amazing. No other bakery in America will ever make something come close to it. We hope that Victor and Charlotte may come to Wood Hill next year!

Run for the Troops

By Vivian Tang



Did you ever think about honoring those who died in war but never did anything about it? Well, that is what Run for the Troops is! Run for the Troops is a fundraiser that was set up to raise money to build houses for severely injured soldiers. Hence the name 'Run for the Troops, both runners and walkers qualify for this event and we encourage you to participate and to help those who have helped you

Run for the Troops is hosted every year in the month of April and as of the year 2018, this has been it's the 8th year they have hosted Run for the Troops. Run for the Troops is a 5K or 5-kilometer run, which is about 3 miles long, and raises about 1 million dollars a year. The event hostess awareness to the needs of injured soldiers, something everyone may forget unless we remind them that there is a human sacrifice behind our freedom. Participants can sign up by getting a form from Ms. Consiglio and paying $27. You can choose to either run as an individual or as a team or for five more. If you didn’t get a chance to go this year, we hope to see you next year!

Poll of the Week

By Christina Illie and Abinaya Ganesh




Pizza vs Hamburgers

14 pizza to 6 hamburgers 

Obviously pizza wins




Early Bird vs Night Owl

4 early birds to 16 night owls 

Go to bed earlier!




Books vs Movies

1 bookie to 17 movies

Why guys? Why?




What type of chocolate do you like best?

5 white chocolate,13 milk chocolate,1 dark chocolate
It's such a close race!🙄

Math Team

By: Pritha Yalakkishettar

Last week Wood Hill’s math team, along with four other schools, competed in a math competition. There are five of these types of competitions every year; this one happened last week on Thursday, April 5. This was the fifth meet of the year and Wood Hill’s team got the highest score. The five schools competing were Wood Hill, Doherty, Richardson, West, and Wynn Middle school. Ten people from the Wood Hill team competed.

Richardson came in last with 86 points, Wynn came in fourth with 96 points, Doherty was third with 144 points, West Middle came in second with 148 points, and Wood Hill finished in first place with 176 points! “The people on this team work very hard, meeting every Thursday after school,” Mrs. DeBiase, the 8 East math teacher and math team coach said. This was a very exciting event for Wood Hill’s math team.

Thank You!!!

By: Emily Flanagan

How many times this year have you thanked your teachers, once, twice, ten times, never? Well on Thursday, May 3, you will get your chance. On May 3 it is Teacher Appreciation Day, PAC hosts a luncheon for all the teachers to thank them for all their hard work. This year the theme is Fiesta! So maybe the lunch served will be Fiesta! themed. Sometimes, as an added bonus, PAC holds a raffle. Here are some things students appreciate about their teachers.


“I love all the fun projects we do in ELA and Social Studies.”

~Anonymous

“I appreciate it when teachers fulfill their goals in life.”

~Lisa

“I really like it when teachers are very kind and considerate to their students.”

~Madeline

“I really like the books we read, and how my teacher teaches them.”

~Abinaya

“I love getting to do group projects in Science class.”

~Christina

6 East is seeing "A Wrinkle in Time"

By: Christina Ilie and Abinaya Ganesh

Mrs.Cavanaugh, the 6 East ELA teacher, gave all 6 East students a challenge. Read A Wrinkle in Time by March 21st, and we can see the movie. But if we got less than 70% on a quiz about it, we can’t go. The race began to read this Newbery winning book by Madeleine L’Engle. This book, like the race to read it, is full of twist and turns at every corner.

A Wrinkle in Time is about a girl named Meg whose mother and father are scientists. Her father goes on a scientific mission, but unfortunately, he doesn’t come back from his journey. One day, in the middle of a storm, an old lady comes to the Murry household and talks to Mrs. Murry about tessering. Meg’s brother, Charles Wallace, and Meg’s classmate Calvin O’Keefe must embark on the journey of a lifetime to defeat the darkness and save their father. If they fail, they will not only lose their family, but their planet will be forever in danger. Read the book to find out how it ends!

Saturday School

By Pritha Yalakkishettar

Saturday school?! Yeah, that’s a shock. But with 10 snow days it’s not that big of a surprise. What are we even going to do? Are we even going to learn anything? Maybe watch a movie? I have no idea. A lot of kids don’t like the idea, but I guess it’s a good solution to an otherwise pretty bad situation.

Do you like this plan? Some towns, like North Andover, are making up their snow days by taking away some days from their April vacation. Other towns have blizzard bags. Blizzard bags are cancelled school day learning projects. Now, these blizzard “bags” are not literally bags. When there is poor weather and school is cancelled you can take out your "blizzard bag" and do some work that has to do with the school day and the current curriculum. They’re usually long-term assignments that can take up to two weeks to do. Teachers will do periodic check-ins before the final project is due.

I like the idea of blizzard bags. Do you? Here’s a question. Would you rather: go to school on a Saturday OR do a bunch of work at home in your PJ’s?

Hopefully the school committee will pick up the alternative idea of a blizzard bag to alleviate going to Saturday school in the coming years, because we all know that Mother Nature isn’t going to stop the snow for us…;)

Whats Your Future Career?!

Emily Flanagan

What do you want to do when you grow up? What do you want to major in when you get to college? You don’t need to know the answers to those questions right now. However, Career Day is a great way to get introduced to many different professions. This program recently happened for the eighth grade. Career Day is a very exciting day for them. The PAC organizes this event every year, they also came up with the idea years ago. They believe that it is important to learn about careers, even early on. There are roughly ten to twelve careers represented, and one or two speakers come in to discuss the professions. To choose which career you would like to listen to, you get to write down three of the career’s listed. Last year students were most interested in medicine careers. PAC will reach out to eighth grade parents and others in the community with a list of possible jobs to be spoken about. Hopefully, you will have more of an answer to the first questions after Career Day. (If not though, thats okay too!)

Panda has Fallen

By Lisa and Madeline Shin



A few months ago, the 7th graders at West got a guinea pig in their science classroom. Panda, as it was named, resided with Mrs. Fargeorge and was adored by many. She was popular for being docile, yet brimming with enough energy to endure being handled by many students. One of the best qualities of Panda was that she was very sociable. In just some weeks, she soon adjusted to being picked up by students and did not dart away when a human came near.


Unfortunately, on March 20th, Mrs. Fargeorge and some students noticed that Panda was trembling. It was rather unusual behavior, especially from a guinea pig who actively runs throughout the day. When we saw it, it was evident that her immune system had been compromised. She appeared to sneeze frequently and had symptoms of lethargy and hyperventilation. Eventually, through diagnoses from multiple students, teachers and a vet, it was determined that Panda had a respiratory disease called pneumonia. Pneumonia is usually caused by an infection from bacteria or a virus. A person with pneumonia has lungs partially filled with fluid, which causes shortness of breath and other flu-like symptoms. Although it does not have to be treated immediately, it can become quite deadly if treated too late. In many cases, the disease can be fatal for guinea pigs.


For Panda, we believe we caught it very early, so we thought she was very fortunate. However, the vet revealed that Panda might’ve had the disease for quite some time. From a perspective from science, prey animals like Panda hide that they are ill when they become sick. Why do prey animals do this? Well, out in the real world, predators stalk the sick and the weak, since these diseased animals are easier to hunt and kill. So what prey animals would do is hide their ill symptoms and appear strong and healthy. This may be shocking to many, because why would Panda, who is in a controlled environment with all the necessities she could use, act healthy? Well, the problem was, her natural instincts were still deeply rooted inside of her. So when she caught the illness, she pretended she was never ill. Eventually, the illness took too much of a toll on her body, and Panda could not pretend any longer.


Mrs. Fargeorge and the students immediately took action when they saw Panda’s weird behavior. They separated Panda from Peanut, another guinea pig who recently arrived a month ago. Panda was put in another cage and was given clean water and food. To keep her warm, she was given a fluffy, thick red blanket. Mrs. Fargeorge even shrouded the cage with cloth to keep heat from escaping. Mrs. Fargeorge has also announced that she will be taking Panda to her home for a whole week because during the night, the school becomes very cold. Peanut remained in the original cage where Panda had come to Wood Hill months ago.


Fortunately, Peanut did not have any signs of also having the disease and is doing well. Panda, however, appeared to be dying from agonizing pain. Her chest would go up and down, as if she had run two marathons. Panda was so still that she seemed like an inanimate stuffed toy! What was more worrying was that Panda was not trying to hydrate or feed herself. The most important thing for an animal with an illness is to drink water to replace bodily fluids. During an event of illness, the body desperately needs the bodily fluids to fight off the infection and keep other bodily functions normal. That is why it is important not only for animals but for humans to drink water when they are sick. It was after many hours when Panda finally started to move slowly around her cage and drink some water.





It was 3:00 pm. We were writing on Panda’s sudden illness, and her hopeful recovery. During this time, Ms. Fargeorge found Panda lying on her side. She was as still as a lonely rock on a mountain. The next morning, the dreadful announcement came from Ms. Desjardins. The unthinkable had happened. Panda was dead. Anyways, all our prayers are going out to Panda, the lovable and always adorable guinea pig. We miss you Panda and we hope that you are doing well, wherever you are now.

Senor H.'s NEAL 7th grade project

by: Aimee Li and Vivian Tang

Senor Hernandez’ NEAL 7th grade presentation was an outstanding and extraordinary performance. The presentation was done on Tuesday, March 20th from 9:30 to 11:00 am in the Hub. Students in the 7th grade worked from the theme of “Identity and Communication” They were given the question, “Who are you?” Each student interpreted this in their own unique way starting with, I am more than what you see ... They worked in three different workshops (pottery, poetry, and water colors).

The 7th grade students had the privilege to learn from many visiting artists in addition with their Spanish, English, Music, and Art teachers. The artists include Mary Guerrero (Poetry), Muddy Girls Studio (pottery), and Kim Dowell, a Wood Hill staff, (Watercolor Illustration). They also visited the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. There, they got to see works of art from many famous artists.

The performance was part of the New England Arts for Literacy (NEAL) program, funded by a grant from the US Department of Education through the Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination Program. The students of Senor H.’s class have worked really hard to make this possible and we hope that   you had the chance to come and see their hard work paid off!

Meet Kelci From Kieve

By Madeline and Lisa Shin

Each year Wood Hill 7th graders visit The Leadership School at Kieve Wavus, or “Camp Kieve” for a week. At Camp Kieve, they acquired leadership skills to assist them in the future. Kieve is a Celtic verb meaning to strive in emulation of - to work hard to acquire skills, knowledge, and attitudes from others so as to improve yourself. Students also got to play fun games and hang out with their friends. When they returned, they definitely had a feeling of community. Now, a few months later, we had a visitor from Camp Kieve come to Wood Hill. Her name is Kelci O’Neill, and she is a bright bulb scintillating with delight and enthusiasm. She is a great socializer who is always generous to any student. 

Q: Kelci, when did you come to Wood Hill?
A: I came on Jan. 2, 2018.

Q: What do you hope to achieve at Wood Hill?
A: Well, Mr. Bucco and I have came up with plans to achieve goals in all the three grades. My goal is to be a mentor, and make sure people are treating others nicely and respectfully.

Q: What do you hope to improve around this school?
A: Well, during lunch, I see a lot of people speaking to each other in a mean way, and I hope that I can fix that. I would also try to improve on making sure that the eighth graders have something to look forward to next year. I also want sixth graders ready for Kieve because they are new to the middle school. Another goal I have is for the seventh grade to be ready to become leaders. I don’t want them to forget their experience at Kieve. I hope they’re thinking about how they’re impacting their school community and why they are doing it and who they are doing it for.

Q: What have you acquired from being here?
A: I had to do a lot of blog posts every week, so I definitely improved on writing. For example, I learned how to spell Massachusetts. Also, I learned a lot about some great role models the eighth graders could meet. Not only this, I learned how to meet students at their energy level and how to get them engaged. Plus, I learned some engineering skills from one of Mr. Tisbert’s engineering classes. Lastly, I learned that students cooperate with each other better when they are deeply compassionate about this one idea.

Q: Tell us a little about your background.
A: I worked for Kieve for three years now. Camp Kieve is in Maine and so am I (from there). This is actually the first time I’ve actually lived in another place for this long. I went to school from the University of Maine and got an Education degree. I want to become a science teacher. Well, I want to become a science teacher because my science teacher in high school was really boring, and I wanted to prevent this from happening from other students. I spent time with Ms. Kouletsis, the 7th grade science teacher, and I learned about volcanoes and earthquakes. In addition, I studied abroad from Costa Rica. It was a fun experience. College, however was hard for me.

Q: What’s your favorite food? If you don’t have one, what is your least favorite?
A: I love blueberries, and Maine blueberry pie, but I hate pickles. I hate pickles because in middle school, one of my friends would try to get a pickle in front of my face and make me eat them. I hate seafood, like lobster and oysters. In addition, I like to eat frozen yogurt.

Q: What was your favorite experience at Camp Kieve?
A: I did go there as a kid, and now I work there. It was very rewarding. My favorite experience as a staff member would be feeling like doing something for a greater good and changing lives in a small way.

Q: Who do you admire the most and look up to?
A: A celebrity I look up to is Eleanor Roosevelt because of a quote that she said. It was, “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.” Also, I look up to my older brother, and he is always up for advice and listens to me. He was the first in my family to go to college, and inspired me too.

Q: What subjects interest you do the most? For example, I like mathematics and French.
A: I always loved science and I always liked art even though I wasn’t good at it. I was in chorus when I was a kid. Plus, I think math is beautiful even though I’m not good at it.

Q: What is your favorite animal?
A: I like all turtles, but I would prefer sea turtles. In fact, I have a sea turtle necklace around my neck. I’ve always loved sea turtles since I was three.

Q: What is your opinion for how we could improve Wood Hill?
A: I feel like you [student body] could break out of your groups a little more, and I see people who are comfortable with other people. For this reason, these groups won’t allow others to come into their groups. Maybe you guys need to be more nice to each other. I see microaggressive behavior with each other. Even like lunch or in the hallways, where I see students hide things from each other, or say that others can’t sit in their friend’s seat because it is saved. Kieve’s golden rule, which in my opinion is better than the golden rule, is that everyone has the right to treat each other with kindness and respect. It’s not happening all the time because I hear each other call each other mean names. I also hear people say shut up. We don’t know what others are going through, so wee should be kinder to them.

Q: What is your favorite experience at Wood Hill so far?
A: I really like the people that I got to meet with. My interactions with other students and how welcoming they were. They put me into their community even though I wasn’t here. Playing gaga ball was fun, and playing board games with the students at 7th grade was really great. However, it was mostly building relationships with other students. Oh, and I have more to add. Spirit week was really, really fun. I organized that, so it was fun to see it go so well.

Q: What is your advice for keeping pet fish?
A: Put a small amount of salt in their tank even if they are not salt water fish. This will irritate the fish enough to make them cover themselves with a protective mucus. This mucus will protect them from bacteria, which will prevent deaths.

MCAS is coming, So get ready

By: Emily Flanagan

I know everyone is thinking the same thing, do we have to? Yes, we do. MCAS testing will take place at Wood Hill and throughout the Andover Public Schools in May. This year though MCAS will be on our computers.

ELA MCAS will be week one of testing and will take place on May 1-2. Science MCAS (for the eighth grade) will be week two of testing, taking place on May 14-15. Math MCAS will be the third and final week of testing. Testing days are May 21-22. 

If you think about these tests though and how they don't affect our grades, what they're really testing is if we are learning. These tests are testing our teachers to make sure they are teaching us everything we need to know. Have you ever noticed how on the paper that comes home they compare your grade against your school, your state, and the country. That is because they want to make sure the teachers in every school, in every state, in the country is up to standard for their grade. Andover has historically done well in these categories. 

The Music Man hits the stage

By: Christina Ilie

Do you know what the 2017-18 Wood Hill play is? The Music Man! The Music Man was first performed on Broadway in 1957. The musical was directed by Morton DaCosta, an American theater and film director, film producer, writer, and actor. The musical was written by Meredith Willson.

The Wood Hill play was performed on February 9 and 10th, 2018. The main role, Harold Hill is played by Jack Mohr who is in 8th grade.

Other roles include: 

School board members- Esme Ashworth, Mia D'Avolio, Abinaya Ganesh, Cole Gervais, Amanda Kim, Arianna de Lima, Lauren Mahoney, Elica O'Sullivan

Marian Paroo- Nicole Trubskyy

Mrs. Paroo-  Tessa Barcelo
Winthrop Paroo- Nate Allen 

Mayor- Jacob Moore

Mayor's Wife- Sakshi Nandan
Zaneeta Shinn- Ellie McGrath

Marcellus Washburn- Sam Pinard
Tommy Djilas- Hudson Fraser
Ethel Toffelmier- Eliana de Lima
Amaryllis- Madison Dutily

You might be wondering how The Music Man went. The Music Man was AWESOME in my opinion. The acting was amazing and the play is so much fun! It is very interesting and keeps you thinking, "What happens next?” Overall, I think the play was the best it could be. Congrats to all of the students that participated in the play!

Sorry if we missed some cast! We know you did a really good job!

Joke of the Week

What's an astronaut’s favorite candy?



A Milky Way!

Brain teasers

The answer to "A man pushes his car to a hotel. He tells the owner that he is bankrupt. Why?" was "He was playing Monopoly!" This week's is "A farmer has 17 sheep and all but nine die. How many are left?"

A Year of Awesome

By: Emily Flanagan

Have you made some great memories this year? Did you do something super fun with your friends or classmates? Well, you can hang on to all these memories for as long as you’d like. Sure it’s great to remember awesome times, but what if you could have photographs of all the fun things you did this year? Order a yearbook, they are a great and exciting way to remember things, and they are fun to look back at when you get older. You can also have your friends sign your yearbook, and wish you friends a good summer in a memorable way. They cost $35 for each and order forms are due by March 19. Don't count on just ordering an extra when they come in, because they order two or three extras and once they run out, that's it. Order them now, to remember your awesome year!

Another Guinea Pig in Ms. Fargeorge's Class

By: Pritha Yalakkishettar

Do you guys remember Panda the guinea pig down on 7 West? Well guess what? 7 West believed that our little Panda was getting a bit lonely, so Ms. Fargeorge decided to bring another guinea pig to the family. This little critter is so small and cute! She is the color of honey and as soft as a bed of feathers.

7 West has not decided on a name yet, but some of the options are Honey, Mocha, Nougat, Peanut and Ginger. This new guinea pig is pretty chill, she loves to be held and is very calm when in someone’s hands. What would you name this new guinea pig? Check out the pictures below to take a closer look at this cute little pet!

Photos by Emily Flanagan

Joke of the Week

Why did the melon jump into the lake?



He wanted to be a watermelon!

Brainteasers

The answer from last week was "Meat!"

This week we have a hilarious brainteaser which is:

Q: A man pushes his car to a hotel. He tells the owner that he is bankrupt. Why?

Joke of the Week

Where do you learn to make a banana split?

Sundae school!

Brain Teaser

Time for the brain teaser of the week! Last week's was ,"Who is bigger? Mr. Bigger, Mrs.Bigger, or their baby?" The answer is the baby. Because he was a little bigger.

This week's is "Mike is a butcher. He is 5'10". What does he weigh?"

Snow Day Situation

By: Emily Flanagan, Aimee Li, Vivian Tang


Wait, we have to go to school on weekends? As you know we have had five snow days already, this means that we are going to June 27th, 2018. As of right now January 16, 2018 there is a 91% chance we will have no school tomorrow and an 18% chance we will have no school on Thursday. If we have another snow day that is going to result in another day onto the month of June, (June 28) and it sure looks like the chances of having school on Wednesday is extremely low. If we have a seventh snow day we will go on Good Friday (March 30) for a half day. We will also have a full day on May 4 instead of a early release day. If we have an eighth snow day, school would now be extended to June 29th, which is extremely likely if we have any more snow days. If we have a ninth snow day we will go onto Saturday April 28. A tenth snow day and we will result on Saturday May 12. No one wants to go to school on Saturdays including Mr.Bucco.


After interviewing Mr.Bucco, he said that he was going to send a email out to the teachers so that they could “Bring the Energy up”. That would definitely help get more learning done in the end of June. His opinion on weekend school and more school going into our summer vacation is that next year we should start school before Labor Day and come to school on a few of the religious holidays. Of course if you celebrate some of these holidays, you could still observe the holiday as you usually would with your family traditions. The decision about Labor Day and holidays are just what Mr.Bucco’s opinions are and no decision has been made impacting them.

Exchange Students from South Korea

By: Pritha Yalakkishettar

On Monday, Jan. 8. South Korean exchange students came to 7 East and West. Their names are Albert, Kevin, Hyun Jin, and Joe. They are here to experience the type of education we get here in the United States. Hyun Jin and Joe are on 7 West while Kevin and Albert are on 7 East.

Kevin and Albert are here in the U.S. until Feb. 5 and Hyun Jin and Joe are most likely here until the end of January. These students are really awesome, they have so much interesting information to share with us about their home and their school. We need to be kind and respectful to them. We have just as much to learn about them as they have to learn about us.

Brainteaser

The answer of last weeks was the match because you don't have a lamp, candle, fire, or newspaper.

The new brainteaser is: 

Q: Who is bigger: Mr. Bigger, Mrs. Bigger, or their baby?

Joke of the Week

Where do you learn to make a banana split?



Sundae school!

Giuseppe Spark And All Things Cars

By: Emily Flanagan

Seventh Grader Joe, has a famous youtube channel under the search of Giuseppe Spark. The name has a very interesting story, Joe’s Italian and Joe in Italian is Giuseppe, when Joe was about seven he thought that he was super fast hence the name, spark. Joe’s channel discusses cars and gaming. He has 509 subscribers and 1,343 videos. He has a total of 199,447 views on his videos, and the number continues to rise. Joe even goes to car dealerships (such as the Mercedes dealership) and will rate cars he sees there.He does short video blogs (vlogs) about cool cars he sees. He also has a dog named Buddy who has appeared in some of his videos. If you are into cars, gaming, or even the occasional dog, subscribe to Giuseppe Spark for some awesome videos.

The Man Who Invented Christmas

By: Aimee Li and Vivian Tang

Charles Dickens desperately needed money. The movie 'The Man Who Invented Christmas' is about Dickens adventures, troubles, and struggles in completing his new bestselling book ‘A Christmas Carol.’ Through his struggles and troubles, Dickens didn’t realize that he is not alone on his mission. His family members and friends were also trying to help him. Not only did the movie reveal his fears and troubles, but it also revealed his childhood, his past life, and his relationship with his father making him realize that he was not the only one with doubts.

On December 18, 2017 the 7 West team went on a field trip to the AMC Loop in Methuen. There, we watched “ The Man Who Invented Christmas”. The field trip tied in with the ELA curriculum, “A Christmas Carol”. “The Man Who Invented Christmas” showed Charles Dickens ‘thought process’ throughout the writing of “A Christmas Carol.” The language in the book is complex and hard to decipher what the words mean. Seeing Charles Dickens’ thought process helped us understand the book more. It was a great way to begin the book!



We thought that the plot of the movie was well thought out and that the scripts were very well written. It showed a lot of how the characters in “A Christmas Carol” came to be. The language in the book was complex and hard to decipher out what it meant. I felt really bad for Dickens when his father got in jail and Dickens was sent to a factory to make shoes. Overall, the movie was pretty good!

The Christmas Carol

By Lisa and Madeline Shin





On December 14th, the entire 7th grade went to Merrimack Repertory Theater in Lowell to see the play The Christmas Carol. The students had to go to the play because the ELA teachers believed that the Christmas Carol book contained vocabulary that was a little difficult for seventh graders to comprehend. The ELA teachers were concerned that if the vocabulary was too hard for the students, the students wouldn’t grasp the story. So with a little plotting, the ELA teachers were able to get a field trip to a Lowell theater.


When the seventh graders first arrived at the theater, they had to wait a few minutes outside before entering. Even though it was a little bit cold, the wait was worth it. Once the students entered the building, they were escorted to their seats. The stage was a little bit small, but the size let you focus on just the center. After some time, the lights started to dim. Eventually, the lights dimmed to the point where the room turned pitch dark. At that moment, the play started. An actor who was impersonating Charles Dickens, who wrote the Christmas Carol appeared on the stage. Back in the old times, many authors would act out their own books. However, in modern times, you would see multiple actors acting out the books, not just one author. Interestingly, this play followed the tradition of just one actor acting out most of the characters.


The actor who played Charles Dickens was also accompanied by two other actors. Those actors played some instruments to go along with the play. In fact, one of the actors played a total of 11 instruments! Moving on, the actor mimicking Charles Dickens started to impersonate the characters in the Christmas Carol book. His imitation of Scrooge was impeccable, and his depictions of different characters were pretty good too. The play retained most of the original story of the Christmas Carol-albeit a little humorous scenes now and then-and the actors were gold.





Overall, the play was amazing. The two actors playing the instruments had great skill and were very versatile. However, the only criticism that some students had was that it could be a little confusing at times. This may be because one person was acting out all the characters. Despite this, it was a great performance and most of the students understood the story well. We can not wait to read the book Christmas Carol!

Pottery Artists

By: Pritha Yalakkishettar

Next Tuesday two artists from MuddyGirls Studio specializing in pottery are coming to Señora Hernandez’s 7th grade Spanish class. Señora Hernandez’s class is going to participate in making their very own pottery pieces like vases and pots. Seventh graders that are participating should try and bring yogurt containers for holding water and paintbrushes, and rolls of paper towels, this would really help Señora Hernandez. Also the 7th graders make sure you bring in some cardboard boxes to put your pieces in. This group is also coming to Wood Hill on Feb. 6.

We Are Here To Change the World!

By: Emily Flanagan

We will rock you! That is one of the songs the Wood Hill Chorus will be singing Thursday, January 11. The Wood Hill Band and Orchestra will also be participating in the concert. The orchestra will go first playing Allegretto by Luigi Cherubini and Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen and Robert Longfield. The band will follow playing Academic Festival Overture by Johannes Brahms, We Are Here To Change The World by Michael Jackson, and finally The Tempest by Robert W. Smith. The chorus will end the show by singing Bonsai Aba, Wayfaring Stranger, and We Will Rock You. There will be a dress rehearsal for the school from 1:00-2:00pm. The actual show will begin after school at 7:00pm. Everyone is invited to the after school concert, but only students and staff will see the in school show. The band, orchestra, and chorus have been working hard all year for this concert and are excited to showcase their stuff.

Joke of the week

What do you call a group of disorganized cats?

A cat-tastrophe!

Brainteasers

The answer to "There are three houses. One is red, one is blue, and one is white. If the red house is to the left of the house in the middle, and the blue house is to the right to the house in the middle, where is the white house?" is Washington D.C.

Now for this week's. You are in a pitch dark cabin. All you have with you is a match. What do you light first, the newspaper, the lamp, the candle, or the fire?