THINK Week

By Nate Allen

Three weeks ago Wood Hill hosted a fantastic THINK Week! It made us 6th graders think more about being safe online and kind to others. Everyday we would have a different article to read and a question to answer based on the THINK acronym (T: truthful, H: helpful, I: inspiring, N: necessary, K: kind). There was a lot of very interesting information that I didn't know. An example of this is that Google's age restriction is 13 and older. We also watched the Screenagers movie trailer and I can't wait to watch it in seventh grade. Ismael, a 6th grade student said, “I think it was really nice that the teachers, principal, and staff thought of this and I think it would be good to unplug for a bit.” Raj, another 6th grade student, said, “I think THINK Week was a really nice time to unplug and think about the important things like being kind to others and ourselves.”

One article we read was about kids in high school that used Twitter to post positive tweets about their fellow students. This is amazing! The fact that they're using a social media platform that can spread bad remarks about others to be kind to their fellow peers is very cool. One tweet read, “Shadow Warrior Okay, hands down. You have the COOLEST name out our school. It is very powerful and courageous, you hold such a high authority it seems with such a name as Shadow Warrior! Good luck and the BEST of wishes to you in your future!” I think that this is one of the ways we should be using social media. Social media is a really good way to be kind to others! Wood Hill students can submit kindness tweets in The Hub to be posted to our Twitter wall bulletin board. Thanks to all of the people that made THINK Week happen and remember be safe online.

Yankee Candle Fundraiser

By: Pritha Yalakkishettar

Please support Wood Hill Middle School PAC! PAC stands for Parent Advisory Council, they organize all the school’s fundraisers and after the cookie orders we now have a Yankee Candle fundraiser! Wood Hill PAC teamed up with Yankee Candle which is a huge company that sells a wide variety of scents, decor items, and premium candles. Wood Hill wants you to get some amazing smelling products for yourself and to call all your friends and family to get some for themselves too! You can order online or through catalog shopping.

Here are some important dates you should know for this fundraiser. The sale starts Oct. 20, and end Nov. 3. Delivery of orders come 2-4 weeks after placing your order. When you’re ready to place your order, checks should be made out to Wood Hill Middle School PAC. Fill out the pink sheet with the number of items that you want, you will get the sheet and more information in the Yankee Candle envelope that your homeroom teacher will pass out. Hurry up and get those orders in now!

Mt. Major hike review

By Abinaya Ganesh and Christina Ilie

Last Saturday, we went hiking with Mr.DeFusco and Mrs.Sullivan up Mt. Major in Alton, NH. Mrs.Sullivan’s two dogs, Nemo and Pepper, joined us too! A group of nine students on the 14th of October met at 8:30 a.m. at Wood Hill. We split into two groups, got in the car, and started the 2 hour drive up to New Hampshire. When we got there, it was very crowded. People swarmed around like bees, just people everywhere! We finally started our trek up the mountain. Pepper and Nemo seemed the most enthusiastic to start hiking. The scenery was beautiful that high up. We kept stopping to take pictures, and we weren’t even at the top yet!

When we got to the top, we ate lunch, with the company of many bees and wasps. We waited about 15 minutes for Mrs. Sullivan and her dogs. We later found out that they lost the easy trail and had to come up with the hard one. We took a 30 minute lunch break, then started back down the mountain. Going down was harder than I thought it would be. At one point, we had to walk sideways to get down. Going down, we met a very friendly dog. He tried to pick up my friend, but she fell off the dog. To get to the cars, we had to walk along the very busy road. Unfortunately, Nemo and Pepper are TERRIFIED of cars. We got back school cheerful but tired. Overall, I think we all had an awesome experience.

Cultural Cuisine: Crêpes

By Grant Moore

This week in the Wood Hill Gazette, we are featuring a new section for Cultural Cuisine. Now, each week we will interview students around the school for their cultures cooking recipes and ideas. Cultural cuisine will also have a little history lesson right before each recipe! It will also include what might happen on weeks to come. We want all types of recipes from the simplest to the most complicated.

We want to know other cultures food, not just the boring normal food like a hamburger or a chicken wing. The Wood Hill Gazette wants to see interesting food from all countries like Germany, China, Italy, Sweden, South Korea, Japan, France, Canada, America, England, Ireland, Denmark, Russia, Mexico, and all the rest. We hope to put your family’s cultural cooking recipes in the Wood Hill Gazette this week, and weeks to come!

For our first weeks recipe, we will have a recipe from the author of this article, me, Grant Moore. I love the idea of French cooking; flavorful, elegant, and most of all, delicious! I will have a recipe on crêpes. The history of crêpes goes back to the 1100’s. Crêpes were invented in a place called Brittany [brit-n-ee] that is located in the Northwest region of France. That century, buckwheat was introduced to Brittany. Buckwheat is one of the key ingredients in buckwheat flour, which is used to make crêpes and is also used to make pancakes and other foods like that. Buckwheat is not a wheat, it is a seed. It is also gluten free! The word “crêpes” is derived from the Latin crispus meaning “curled”. Crêpes can be curled and rolled. I like to put Nutella in my crêpes, and then dress it in whipped cream and maple syrup. This recipe is sure to make your mouth water. Bon Appétit!

Ingredients:
1 cup cold water
1 cup cold milk
4 eggs
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups flour
4 Tbs melted butter
A rubber scraper

Making the Crêpes:
After finding the ingredients you need, put the liquids, eggs and salt into an electric blender. Add the flour, then the butter. Cover the blender and blend it at top speed for 1 minute. This recipe should make 25 to 30 crêpes if you make each one 6 to 6 ½ inches in diameter, to make half, put half of each ingredient in the blender. Take a skillet or pan that is 1 inch larger in diameter than the crêpe, rub butter on the pan or skillet, and pour an amount of the batter equalling the directed diameter onto the pan or skillet. Put the pan or skillet on a stove and put on medium heat and wait until the pan or skillet is just beginning to smoke then take the crêpe off. Finally, the crêpe should be all set and ready to eat. But don't forget to roll those crêpes!

Recipe Facts

• To test if your crêpes will be light and thin, like they should be, you can use the first crêpe as a test subject.
• Crêpes can also be used as a lunch, also known as a savory crêpe. Instead of stuffing the crêpes with strawberries, Nutella or whipped cream, you can stuff them with ham, cheese or turkey.
• A lot of the times people forget to put the top on the blender…

[Recipe from Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”]

Cookie Dough Orders

By Pritha Yalakkishettar

Cookies? Who said cookies? I want cookies! Then order the amazing flavors of different cookies from the Otis Spunkmeyer Cookie Dough and Lyman Orchards Crisps! Support Wood Hill’s latest fundraiser. Order your cookie dough by Oct. 24. That’s next week, so you better get your order forms ready! Have any questions? You can express your doubts by calling this number: 978-247-8800. The delivery date is Nov. 15, 2017. Guess what? The homeroom with the most cookie dough order forms wins...wait for it...a PIZZA PARTY!

You can order all kinds of different flavors, chocolate chip, strawberry shortcake, oatmeal raisin, and more! Plus they’re not only selling cookie dough, they’re also selling crisps! Apple crisps, peach crisps and even bumbleberry crisps! So, what are you waiting for? Get those orders in, and get them in fast, so that your homeroom can win a pizza party!

Music of the Night

By: Shannon Chu

On Monday, Oct. 30, the night before Halloween, the Music of the Night concert will take place at Andover High School at 7 p.m. At the concert, all three middle schools and the high school’s choruses will be singing. Middle school chorus members will sing “The Raven Watches Me” and “And the Night Shall Be Filled With Music.” The high school will feature additional songs.

Joke of the Week!!

Joke of the Week!

Baby Werewolf was eating dinner. He asked Mama Werewolf, "Mama, can I eat my vegetables with my fingers?" Mama Werewolf replied, "No. You eat your vegetables. Then you can eat the fingers."

New Guinea Pig in Ms. Fargeorge's Classroom

By Pritha Yalakkishettar

There’s been a new member added to the 7 West family! She is really small, with black and white fur, long nails and a cute button nose, can you guess what animal she is? Well if you guessed guinea pig, (or just looked at the title) then you’re correct! Her name is Panda! Yup, Panda the guinea pig. (check out the pictures below)

Did you know that baby guinea pigs or ‘pups’ are born with fur and their eyes open? Also male guinea pigs are called boars and females are referred to as sows. The oldest age of a guinea pig was 15 years old and it has been recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. The 7 West guinea pig has brought lots of excitement and is a great addition to the team!

SCREAMFEST

By: Madison Dutily

BOO! Did I scare you? Well that's what happened to some of our Wood Hill students on October 13. Mr. Defusco took some kids from our school on an Outing Club trip to Canobie Lake Park for Screamfest. We arrived at 6 p.m. As soon as the gates open students fled into the park. Mr. Defusco told attendees our meeting spot and what time we needed to be there. And just like that we were off to the haunted houses as one big group. The first haunted house we did was the haunted hotel. After walking through the dark maze of ghouls and goblins, we went to the circus clown house. There were bright flashing lights, spinning rooms, and spooky clowns. As soon as the kids saw the exit from the haunted house they ran in terror. After a few haunts it was time for some rides. We split up into small groups and spread around the park. There were calming rides, rushing rollercoasters, tricky games, and more! After a few hours of frights and fun we went on the ferris wheel as a calm end to our fun night. And just like that we were on the bus ride home, ready to sleep in on the long weekend.

A Missing Trophy?

Dear Professor Fix-It,

What I need fixed is, the trophy for the middle school race isn't at Wood Hill. How can we make sure it is?

From,

Missing Trophy

Dear Missing Trophy,

The best way to get the trophy here is to make sure that you run in the middle school race. You also need to get a bunch of other kids signed up. I’m sure Mr. Saalfrank has told you that the reason we always lose to Doherty is because we never have a ton of kids. Doherty always show up with at least 50 kids, us on the other hand we show up with 10-15. If you get kids interested, we are bound to win.

Good Luck,

Professor Fix-It  

Madagascar the Musical!!

AYS - Madagascar

By Tessa Barcelo and Abinaya Ganesh

I like to move it, move it! I like to move it, move it! Everybody knows the classic movie Madagascar, but did you know it’s a musical? Madagascar is a fun, family-friendly, and hilarious show!

AYS Theatreworks is performing Madagascar in November, and if you want to move it, you should come see it! Julia Kole, an eighth grader at Doherty who plays Marty the Zebra, says, “It’s an upbeat show that will make everyone in the audience want to be crack-a-lackin’ it with us.”

Imagine living your whole life caged up, you’d want to be wild and free too. Marty the Zebra, Alex the Lion, Gloria the Hippo, Melman the Giraffe, and Mason the Monkey are living it up in the Central Park Zoo. They have adoring fans, and tons of attention. But Marty wants more. Marty wants to be able to graze on grass all day, be able to hop, leap, and jump in the endless fields of green. So when he gets a chance to escape the zoo, he takes it. Marty runs away, and all his friends go after him. Then, when a zoo transfer goes wrong, the animals end up in Madagascar! To find out the rest, come see the show for yourself.

AYS Theatreworks’ production of Madagascar features a wide range of cast members, from third to eighth graders. In fact, you may know some of them! Wood Hill sixth graders Mia D’Avolio, Nate Allen, Abinaya Ganesh, and Cole Gervais and eighth graders Jack Mohr, Alex Worthley, and Tessa Barcelo are all in the show. Jack plays Alex the Lion, the King of New York City, Tessa plays Gloria the “Hip Hip Hippo”, Alex plays Mason the surly Monkey, Cole plays King Julien of the lemurs, Nate plays Kowalski, a penguin, Mia plays the Subway Announcer, and Abinaya is a “steak soloist”.

Anthony Morgante, a seventh grader at West Middle who plays Maurice, says, “Hooray everybody,” which is one of his lines. Sadie Rooney, also in seventh at West plays a lioness and Lee the Lemur, and she says, “Meet the king! -Lee, and Eat me. -Steak,” which are also lines from the show. On a more sentimental hand, Anthony chimes in again with, “I love being in the show with all of these people. We truly do become one big family.”

If you can’t wait to see more, go see Madagascar. Performances are at the Doherty Middle School Auditorium the first weekend in November. Tickets are $10, available at the Youth Center and at Learning Express.

Chinchillas

By: Madison Dutily

Not many people have heard about this furry little rodent -- the chinchilla, the world's softest animal. These little rodents live in South America with their colonies called herds. Chinchillas are so tiny, they're smaller than ground squirrels. These animals are popular pets, but, you should only purchase one if you are an experienced pet owner. Chinchillas are herbivores, which means they only eat plants. If you travel to South America you can find chinchillas in Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, and Chile. Personally chinchillas are my favorite animal, do some research on them! You might just find a new favorite animal.

Ms.Fargeore, the new Science and Math teacher

By: Madison Dutily and Emily Flanagan


There is a brand new science and math teacher on 7-West, Ms.Fargeorge!
Her favorite animals are, Polar Bears and Giraffes. Since there are only two teachers on Seven West, they both take on two subjects. Ms.Fargeorge said that her favorite subject to teach is science but her favorite subject to actually do is math. In order to teach math and science she had to graduate high school and college. Ms.Fargeorge went to Triton high school, which is about twenty minutes away. After completing her 4 years of high school, Ms. Fargeorge went to Bowdoin College, she then went to Simmons to get her Masters Degree.Her favorite movie is To Kill a Mockingbird, her favorite book is A Separate Piece. “I've always loved learning, and I've always loved helping my peers learn the things that I love. And teaching felt like a great way to be around kids and teach them the things I love” she says. An interesting fact about Ms. Fargeorge is, she lived in Guatemala for 3 months and lived in Spain for 7 months. She was a nanny for toddlers, which shows how much she likes being around kids.

Dodgeball Tournament: Help the Hurricane Victims

Dodgeball Tournament: Help The Hurricane Victims

Pritha Yalakkishettar

Calling all Wood Hill Middle School students to the dodgeball tournament on Wednesday, October 4th! $5 per member and 5 members per team. There is even a spirit award for the team wearing the best costumes! All donations go towards benefitting the victims of the hurricanes.

The tournament is from 2:30 - 3:30 PM and there will be drinks, snacks and other refreshments. The winners of the tournament will receive gift cards to Orange Leaf! If you aren’t able to make it but you would still like to help the hurricane victims you can always just donate some money, every little piece counts! Mrs. Rodgers and Mrs. Gross, the two teachers that are running this great event, wants anybody who can to participate!

Music Man!

2018 Play: Music Man!

By Tessa Barcelo

Ya got trouble, folks, right here in River City! This year’s musical is The Music Man! It is a six-time Tony Award winning comedy by Meredith Wilson. It is about Harold Hill, a traveling salesman, who tries to trick the town of River City, Iowa into buying instruments with the promise of helping them organize a band, a promise he doesn’t intend to follow through on. However, Harold doesn’t even know the difference between a trombone and a treble clef. But some of the citizens, especially librarian Marian Paroo, don’t quite trust his story. While Harold tries to keep his plan alive, he finds himself becoming attached to the town-- and falling in love with Marian. Some of the most famous songs include Ya Got Trouble, Seventy-Six Trombones, Wells Fargo Wagon, and Gary Indiana.

If you want to be involved in the show without actually being on stage, don’t worry! There are tons of fun opportunities for you. You could join stage crew and help with sets, or tech crew, where you can help with the lights and sound. Or if you are musically inclined, you can try pit band and be the soundtrack of the show. Sign ups for auditions, stage crew, tech crew, and pit band are on Mrs. Murray’s door.

Climbing at Kieve

Book Review: We Are All Made of Molecules

Book Review: We Are All Made of Molecules

By Tessa Barcelo

This summer, I read We Are All Made of Molecules by Susin Nielsen. We Are All Made of Molecules is about two kids, Stewart and Ashley, whose parents are dating, so they have to move in together. For Stewart, who has always wanted a sister, it’s a dream come true. But Ashley is horrified of nerd-eriffic Stewart, who is just another person from whom she has to hide the real reason her dad left.

They are polar opposites in every way. Those opposites, however, come in handy when Stewart helps Ashley with school and Ashley helps Stewart with social stuff. But as they navigate social issues, sibling-hood, and high school friendship, they discover that they do have at least one thing in common - they are both made of molecules.

I would rate it five stars. It was extremely well-written and I really enjoyed it. However, the content is a little mature, so I would only recommend it to kids in seventh grade and above. If you enjoy realistic fiction and real-life problems, or just a good story, definitely read this book

.

Back-to-School WEB Event

Back-to-School WEB Event

By Tessa Barcelo

For some people, going back to school is super fun. For others, not so much. But I think that all the sixth graders and WEB leaders can agree that the back-to-school WEB event was definitely on the fun side of things.

The event took place in the Wood Hill cafeteria on Friday, September 15. There was food, dancing, games, karaoke, and tons of fun. Everybody was rocking out to great tunes like Feel It Still, I Like To Move It, and Rude. The WEB leaders organized some games, too, including Find the WEB Leader, Limbo, and Freeze Dance.

Some other fun from the night was a raffle, whose winners were given a ten dollar gift card to Mr. Gelato, UBurger, and Orange Leaf. There was also a dance battle circle, in which participants did their craziest dance moves. A few brave souls stepped up to sing in front of their classmates for karaoke, and even more danced their hearts out to the music. All in all, it was definitely a fun night.

Camp Kieve

By Lisa and Madeline Shin

Are you a seventh grader?  Did you sign up for Camp Kieve last year?  Then you are in for a blast!  Starting next week, seventh graders will ride on a luxurious coach bus heading towards Nobleboro, Maine.  The destination they will be heading to is Camp Kieve, the camp where the seventh graders will get memorable lessons on leadership.  They will be taught numerous things that would help them in realistic scenarios.  These various lessons will be helpful to the seventh graders because they might face the same situations in today’s world. For example, at Camp Kieve, you might be taught about working with strangers that you’ve never known! You’ll have to learn how to be supportive of your teammate, despite the fact that you’ve never even talked with the person in your entire life! This will probably be a paramount moment in your work life. At work, you might have to work with people you generally don’t find pleasant.  This will help seventh graders learn vital skills in teamwork.  

Camp Kieve will be an experience to the seventh graders, but they must prepare in order to fully enjoy it.  They must bring certain personal items-shampoo, sunscreen, and extra socks, e.t.c.  Mostly items that would be helpful in the household. Think about it. You do not want to stink the place up with your odor.  While you do have tons of things to bring, however, you cannot bring electronics or any school supplies.  Just for your sake, don’t bring any expensive things like the non-cheap variety of shoes.  Especially if they are the high heel variety.  They are going to be ruined since we go outside everyday, no matter the weather.  Trust us.  You do not want to mess with Mother Nature.  Your shoes might look like you came from a warzone. Other than that, just make sure you keep your memories with you!

At Camp Kieve, you’ll be assigned to different cabins. Each cabin is cozy and are in good condition. They have indoor plumbing, electricity, and over 16 bunk beds.  Homesickness may occur as these cabins are much different than your home, but adjusting to your new surroundings is easier than most people think. Your window might also have a nice view of the lake!  That’s great!

That’s all folks! Camp Kieve will probably be the best time of your life, so for sixth graders, better sign up!  You will regret not taking the decision to make another good opportunity to yourself for the future.  As the Butterfly Effect goes, one little choice in the past greatly impacts the future, no matter how small.  Think of what I said as you will.  The world you see today was impacted by the smallest choice, so joining Camp Kieve will also impact the world too.  Seems impossible, but is true.  See you next year or next week in Camp Kieve!

We got this photo from the Camp Kieve cite.

https://kievewavus.org/camps/kieve-camp-for-boys/view