Redland

Bulldogs

What is Mediation? 2

The Redland Dog

Pound

3

Name The Bulldog

Contest

3

Tech News 4

Grab a book and

Read

5

ABC Party 6

What to do if you

feel sick at school

7

In this issue...

Bulldog Spotlight

Bulldog Spotlight

Greek Gods and Goddesses at RMS!

By: Melanie DePamphilis

The 6th grade reading classes of Mrs. Harrison, Ms. Borsody and Mrs.

Roberge brought Greek Gods and Goddesses to life at Redland Middle

School with the Greek Wax Museum. Each student in those classes

picked a character from Greek mythology, wrote a speech about that

character, and made a costume to wear so they would look like that

character. Other students were invited in to hear the Greek characters

tell about their lives and to also see how they

would have looked back then. It was really fun

and interesting to see Aphrodite, Zeus, Poseidon

and Hera. The costumes were very creative.

Ecaterina Tau was Andromeda and she had a 2

1/2 foot rock that she made out of newspaper and

duct tape. Also, Kendall Cassi-

dy was Medusa and had fake

snakes coming out of a well-

made hat. Avery Walton was

Helen of Troy and it was very interesting hearing her

tell why she was known as “the face that launched a

thousand ships.” You could tell all of the students

and teachers worked very hard to give everyone a

great wax museum experience.

January, 2012

2

I BET YOU

DIDN’T

KNOW THIS!

By: Melanie DePamphilis

There are so many use-

less (yet interesting)

things that you don’t

know!

Hershey's Kisses are

called that because the

machine that makes

them looks like it's kiss-

ing the conveyor belt.

12 newborns will be giv-

en to the wrong parents

daily.

A cat has 32 muscles in

each ear.

All porcupines float in

water.

Peanuts are one of the

ingredients of dynamite.

In England, in the 1880's,

"Pants" was considered

a dirty word.

A cow produces 200

times more gas a day

than a person.

A cockroach can live sev-

eral weeks with its head

cut off.

What is Peer

Mediation?

By: Sophia Wooden

What is peer mediation? It’s when you and

your friend or someone else get in a fight

(not big ones or physical ones) and you need

someone to help solve an issue. Here’s the cool part, peer me-

diators are kids just like you who go to Redland Middle School. These peer mediators

were chosen to attend a 3 day training with Mr. Megary. This is how it works. You

come to the counseling office and let a counselor know that you have a problem and

you would like a peer mediator to help. You will then go into a room and tell your side

of the story to a peer mediator. The peer mediators will dis-

cuss the issue and help you solve it. The peer mediator will

not solve your issue for you. They will help you think of ways

to solve it and you have to solve it yourself. There are certain

rules you have to follow such as no foul language or name call-

ing, you can’t interrupt another student when they are talking,

and the meetings and discussions are confidential, which

means you can’t tell anyone else about it. If you do, you could get detention.

PAJAMA PARTY SOCIAL By: Ecaterina Tau

Redland’s first social of this year was the pajama par-

ty. Tickets were sold during lunch for $3 or at the

door for $5. If you were there, then you probably

hung out on the dance room, had fun playing all of

the sports, had a snack at the food table, and bought

some really cool things at the store! In the dance room, there was a DJ that

played favorites and requests from students. At the snack table, they sold a vari-

ety of candies, nachos, pizza, and drinks. You could also play basketball, soccer,

and hockey! You could have bought some really cool things, too! They sold cool

glow in the dark necklaces, bracelets, shades, stuffed animals, flip-flops, and so

much more! If you didn’t go, then you missed out A LOT! It was lots of fun, and

we’re all looking forward to the next one on Friday, January 27th!

3

The New Redland

Dog Pound By: Matthew Pease

Have you visited the new store to redeem your Bulldog

Bucks? That’s right. The NEW Redland Dog Pound

(formally known as Bulldog Boulevard) is up and running!

The Dog Pound opened on September 20, 2011 with a lot of new and exciting things

for you to use your Bulldog Bucks on. There are new donations every week so keep

your eyes out for anything that may have been donated that you might like.

Ben Ramos, a seventh grade student who was talking to parents about the Dog

Pound during back-to-school night said “we have different things varying by the do-

nations we receive, but right now we have accessories, stuffed animals, little trin-

kets, and big items. You never know what you can find at the Dog Pound.” Ben also

told me that the prices currently range from 1 Bulldog Buck (school supplies, small

toys, etc.) to 100 Bulldog bucks (a green remote control car). The Dog Pound has so

many things that it won’t run out of merchandise any time soon. However, that

doesn’t mean you can’t donate to make the store even better.

Keep Respecting Self, Others and School and keep earning those Bulldog Bucks so

you can buy things from the Dog Pound. The Dog Pound is open on Tuesdays and

Thursdays in the morning from 7:30 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. and on most Fridays. Come

see the cool things at the Dog Pound!

What’s

My

Name???

4

Tech Facts

By: Matthew Pease

Computers are a big part of our lives in this day and age. However, there

weren’t always computers to surf or play games on. At the Redland Middle

School Book Fair in December, I got the book Cool Tech Gadgets, Games,

Robots, and the Digital World. Here are some things I learned.

The first Apple computer (see above) was made in 1976 and cost $666.66

new, but was later sold at auction for $178,000. There are only 200 in existence.

Sergey Brin and Larry Page invented GOOGLE the most powerful search engine in the world. Also, Pizza Hut

was the first company to offer online orders for delivery.

Shigeru Miyamoto is the inventor of Mario, Donkey Kong, and Zelda! He is considered the “Walt Disney of

the Video Game Industry.” The Nintendo WII (as of 2010) is the top selling gaming console in most of the

world.

We probably wouldn’t know how to get along without emails. Did you know that an average of

247,000,000,000 e-mails were sent PER DAY in 2009? IN THE TIME IT TAKES YOU TO READ THIS FUN FACT,

AROUND 20 MILLION (20,000,000) E-MAILS HAVE BEEN SENT!!!

On E-Bay every 3 seconds a woman’s handbag is sold, every 9 seconds a CD is sold, every 21 seconds a mo-

bile phone is sold, and every 120 seconds a soccer shirt is sold. There is a web service called the Wayback

Machine that lets you see web pages from a long time ago.

RMS Has Spirit, Yes We Do! By: Ben Ramos

RMS had their first pep rally in October. The students and staff members seemed

to have a really good time. There were a lot of relays between 6th grade, 7th

grade, 8th grade and the staff. The Redland mascot, the Bulldog, had each grade

screaming and clapping for their peers. At the end of the pep rally the scores for

each team (grade/staff) would be added up and the team with the most points

would win. The first activity was a puzzle that each team had to complete. After

that, a team of 8 for each grade level and staff members were chosen to blow a tis-

sue with a straw down the line. The pressure was intense, but the teachers won. There were bouncy ball relays, dress up

relays, and the classic popcorn relay. However, at the end of the popcorn relay, an 8th grader took the whole trash can

full of popcorn and disqualified all grades. The last event was the tug of war. Grades 6 and 8 were eliminated and the

final was between 7th grade and the staff. In a tremendous wave of support the 7th grade students won. The final rank-

ings were: teachers, 8th grade, and 6th and 7th grades locked in a tie. Overall, it was great fun for everyone, and a wel-

come break from the hectic life of class. Everyone hopes we have more pep rallies. They are certainly a favorite part of

all grades, as well as staff.

5

Pick Up A Book and

Start Reading! By: Melanie DePamphilis

There is a series by Suzanne Collin which includes three books: The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mocking. The Hunger Games starts off the series and is the best book of all three, in my opinion. It’s full of action and adventure. My favorite character is Katniss. She is courageous and loving with a hint of mean. When her sister Primrose is chosen to go and enter the hunger games, Katniss steps in for her. The hunger games are where one boy and one girl get chosen from each of the 12 districts. District 1 is the best and district 12 is worst. Katniss comes from District 12. All 24 competitors will fight until only one person re-mains. When you win the hunger games you get riches and endless food. In the story, Katniss has many allies and has to face many losses. The movie is going to be such a hit that tickets go on sale at Fandango on February 22 even though the movie doesn’t come out until March 23, 2012. Read the book now and I guarantee you’ll never stop reading.

Do You Know How To Get SSL Hours?Do You Know How To Get SSL Hours?

By: Matthew Pease

Have you heard about the Student Service Learning Hours Program (SSL Hours)? You need 75 SSL hours before you can graduate from high school in Montgomery County. These service hours can be earned when you volunteer at a pre-approved nonprofit organization or a nursing home. For example, you can help clean a playground, make lunches for people in nursing homes or peo-ple in homeless shelters, or hundreds of others volunteer services. You can earn up to 8 SSL hours every day. There are also two awards you can get for earn-ing a lot of SSL hours. One award is the Superintendent’s Student Service Learning Award. You can get this award by getting 75 hours before the first Friday of April of any middle school year. The second award is the Certificate of Meritorious Service, which is earned by getting 260 or more SSL hours by the first Friday of April of your senior year in high school. If you receive this award, you get to wear a purple service tassle on your graduation cap when you gradu-ate. Go to the MCPS SSL website http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/ssl/ for more information.

If you liked the

Hunger Games

by Suzanne Col-

lin, check out the

new Unofficial

Hunger Games

Cookbook that is

in stores now.

Yummy recipes

from the book

such as French

Bread from the

Mellark Family

Bakery, Katniss’s

Favorite Lamb

Stew with Dried

Plums, Wild Rac-

coon Sauteed in

Bacon Drippings,

Mr. Mellark's

Favorite Fried

Squirrel, or Mrs.

Everdeen's

Breakfast of

Mush and Por-

ridge for the

Poor. I’m getting

hungry just

thinking about

it!

6

ABC PARTY By: Ecaterina Tau & Melanie DePamphilis

Did you go to the ABC Party? If you didn’t get a chance to go, you missed out on a lot of fun!

The ABC Party is a reward for students who make straight A’s or who have a 3.0 grade average or above. If you made straight A’s then you were given a yellow band. The yellow band group got to enjoy a piece of cake and hang out with all of their friends! If you had a 3.0 grade average or higher you got a purple band. The purple band group got to enjoy ice cream with all of their favorite toppings. That wasn’t all, each group got to enjoy all kinds of sports and you could get your face painted some really cool designs! You should have seen the people with their faces painted, it looked so cool! It was a really fun way to celebrate how hard everyone worked to get good grades.

Everyone has an opportunity to go to an ABC Party. All you have to do is work hard by studying for upcoming tests, assessments, and quizzes! Oh,

and don’t forget to always remember to turn in your homework on time! If you need help with any of your assignments, talk to your teacher.

They are always there to help you. There is also homework club after school that you can go to. Do your best! The rewards are a lot of fun!

By: Ecaterina Tau

Have you heard about the big fruit sale going on in Mrs. Young’s class? The band and orchestra have a fundraiser every year to raise money to fix used or damaged instruments, and also to go on field trips where they compete. The students who play an instrument in either band or orchestra get to participate in this fund-raiser. We are all trying our hardest to sell as much fruit as possible, not only for the good cause

but because students get prizes for how much they sale.

If your family wants to buy some delicious fruit, find a band or orchestra member and order some today! We all thank you for helping the band and orchestra.

7

By Elise Choi

Do you have a runny nose, stuffy nose, achy muscles, a fever or feel sick to your

stomach? This is the time of year when people get sick. What happens if you

feel sick and you are at school? I talked to Mrs. Ruffner, our school nurse at Redland Middle

School and she had some good answers to some commonly asked questions. Mrs. Ruffner said a lot of sick-

nesses start out with a fever over 100 degrees, vomiting, nausea, stomach ache, pale or red face, coughing,

earache, pink eye, or a rash. She said if this happens to you, please get a pass from your teacher and come

to the health room. She said if you have any of those symptoms before school, then you should talk to your

parents about it. Coming to school with a lot of those symptoms could make other people sick. I asked her

if she could tell when students are faking sickness. Mrs. Ruffner said, “sometimes students don’t know that

taking their temperature is a good gauge to tell if they are really sick. Also, their overall appearance and

whether or not they come to the health room a lot lets us know if they are really sick or not.”

Mrs. Ruffner is a really nice lady and Mrs. Will, the health tech, is also very nice. They are happy to help you

anytime you don’t feel well.

Lady Pirates of

the Caribbean

Ahoy Matie! Do you like pirates, the caribbean, and ad-

venture? If so, we hope you saw the RMS drama club’s

performance of “Lady Pirates of the Caribbean.”

Full of lively songs, comic dance, and plenty of

action the “Lady Pirates of the Caribbean” is

about a band of lady pirates who out think and

out match their male counterparts. Nine zesty

songs add energy and fun to the story of how

the lawless ladies recover the Queen’s chest of

gold doubloons sent to feed starving orphans.

8

ESOL Thanksgiving Feast:

A Feast to Remember

This year’s ESOL Thanksgiving Feast was filled with good food from different parts of the world. There were

several Central American specialties from parents such as pupusas and tamales. There was also some Korean

food. Mr. Snyder generously supplied the turkey and all

the trimmings and a lot of people brought wonderful desserts.

Mr. Oliver Fajardo, the ESOL parent contact and Mrs. Lejah Han, the ESOL counselor were

also there to enjoy the

good food. As always,

Ms. Jimenez was a huge

help with setting up

the tables and cleaning up. Everyone seemed to have a great time visiting and enjoying the Feast.

The Bulldog

Spotlight Staff

Pictured: Damien Pierce, Matthew Pease, Avery Walton,

Melanie DePamphilis, Ecaterina Tau, Sophia Wooden, Michelle Hoang, Emily

Johns, and Elise Choi. Not pictured: Ben Ramos and Avery Biggers.