Woody Times

In this issue...Sochi OlympicsDating Violence Awareness MonthTop Ten Most Shazamed 2013

Winter 2014

A Woodland Hills Junior High Publication

Immigration FestivalMr. Bostard A poll was taken by Mrs. Schulte’s history class in the WH Junior High, asking teachers if they thought today’s cultural make-up of the United States was a “melting pot” or a “salad bowl.” In overwhelm-ing fashion, the WHJH staff believes that today’s cultural make-up of America is that of a “salad bowl.”

Me And My GrandadKaiya Caldwell My grandad showed me a lot of things in his life. One thing he showed me was art. He loved art so much that he took the time out to show me. He showed me everything in art making that I know now and I love him for that. My grandad showed me how to make stamps. Recently in art class we did a printmaking project which uses a similar technique. It was fun to know things that other students didn't know yet. My gran-dad showed me how to use clay as well. Art is a part of me now just because of my grandad.

Lino-Cut Prints completed by Kaiya Caldwell

Mrs. Schulte and students at the Immigration Festival

On Monday, January 27, 2014, Room 205’s im-migration festival served food and performed music from countries the students researched. Over the course of a week, Mrs. Schulte’s history students did immense research on the many factors why people im-migrate to the U.S. continued on page 2

Winter 2014 page 2

... Immigration from cover Among some of the reasons were Germany’s religious differences and China’s mass killings. The vast majority of people came to America for the oppor-tunity of work and to have a new beginning. When the immigrants came to the U.S., they brought with them several pieces of their culture. The Ger-man’s brought beer and sausage. The Chinese were famous for their rice dishes. The Ital-ians have contributed pizza and the Irish immigrants brought po-tatoes.

“I learned a lot at the immigration festival. I

made Italy’s pizza rolls,

it was a lot of fun. The

staff enjoyed the food.

The best part was we got to eat the food!”

-Ikyra Fowler

“WHJH staff decided overwhelm-

ingly that Americans today resem-

ble a “salad bowl” with a vote of

14-1. I made a display board for

the Irish.” -Callen Holmes

“I learned there are a lot of Mexican

actors and singers (in the U.S.).”

-Brandon Filko

“I liked that I learned about the German

culture and foods. That is what I am happy

about.” -Michael Roskov

“I learned Monday that different countries have different foods. I had to chop bananas with the peel still on and put tooth picks in them. My experience was that this is what people in other coun-tries make.” -Joshua Parker

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Teen Dating Violence Month Activities

Wear Purple Days(you could win a $50 gift card)

Thursday, February 13thFriday, February 21stFriday, February 28th

Sign the Pledge Banner (on display in the cafeteria mid-February)

First 200 students to sign receive a purple ribbon!

Poster ContestWinner receives a $50 gift card

Dating Violence AssemblyFriday, February 28th

Teen Dating Violence AwarenessNurse Matelan February is “Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month”. Students and staff at Woodland Hills Jr. High will be promoting awareness of “Teen Dating Violence” largely due to a three-year grant received from the Pennsyl-vania Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Teen dating violence is a big problem, affecting youth in every community across the nation. Dating vio-lence can occur in relationships between people from ages pre-teen through adulthood. Studies have shown that teens who are 13-18 years old are at high risk as they are beginning to explore dating and intimacy. This age group is also at risk because statistics have shown that they are the least likely age group to disclose warning signs or abuse to a friend, family member, or trusted adult.A basic definition of Teen Dating Violence or Abuse is “a pattern of physical, emotional, and/or sexual abuse caused by a teenager against a current or former dating partner.” Abuse may include insults, coercion, social sabotage, sexual harassment, threats, hitting, etc. The abusive teen uses this pattern of violent and coercive be-havior in a relationship in order to gain power and maintain control over the dating partner. Nearly 1.5 million high school students nationwide experience physical abuse from a dating partner in a single year! That equals approximately one in five high school females reporting being physically and/or sexu-ally abused. Violent relationships in teens can have serious consequences by putting the victims at higher risk for substance abuse, eating disorders, risky sexual behavior, and further domestic violence. If you are concerned about your relationship or concerned about a friend, please tell a parent, teacher, principal or nurse right away. More information on Teen Dating Violence can be obtained from www.loveisre-spect.org or National Teen Dating Abuse Helpline at: 1-866-331-9474.

TOGETHER WE CAN PUT AN END TO TEEN DATING VIOLENCE!!!

Contestants begin creating their posters for the contest.

Amani Barnes The Sochi Winter Olympics are here and athletes from 88 nations are geared, trained and ready. Go U.S.A!! But this year the Winter Olympics aren’t all fun and games, as some unexpected things have popped up. One month before the Winter Olympics begin in the Russian resort town of Sochi, a huge security operation has swung into action. This is the result of the deadly bombings in Volgograd. Only specially marked Sochi vehicles and emergency or specially accredited intelligence service cars will be allowed into Sochi areas. Air traffic and sea access will be restricted. No group has claimed respon-sibility but most suspicion has been pointed on Chechen separatist groups. About 40,000 police officers will be on duty while the games go on. More than 5,000 surveillance cameras will be installed. This is also the first time surveillance drones will be used at an Olympic Games. Enough with the sad and depressing things about the 2014 Olympics! Sochi was elected on July 4, 2007, defeating Sal-zburg, Austria and Pyeongchang, South Korea. The games officially began on February 7 and run until the 23rd. An estimated 2,500 athletes are expected to compete. In my opinion the most interesting event in the Win-ter Olympics is the bobsled. It’s just funny seeing three people lie down in a moving crib-like sled while going through loops and turns. The most exciting games of the year are the Summer Olympics because the summer games are more suspenseful and plentiful. This year in the Winter Olympics there are more women’s events than ever before.In later years, the Olympics will no longer let professional athletes compete in the Olympics. I think that this isn’t a good idea because they have trained hard just like the other competitors so why shouldn’t they be allowed? What do you think? I hope everyone has their gear ready and suit up for the big event.

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Social Media in the Class RoomColleen Malecki Earlier this year we did a “Social Media in the Classroom” project in Mr. Ptaszkiewcz’s (Mr.P’s) Software Applications class. We had to get online and look up facts about advantages and disadvantages of social media in the class room. An advantage is, it’s easy to communicate with everyone. The project re-quired students to make a 6 slide PowerPoint presen-tation of what we found online.But before you could do that, we had to make a chart on Microsoft Excel. Common tools referenced were YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and email. Titled “Social Media Advantages and Disadvantages." After that you had to make your PowerPoint presentation. The first slid was a title . Next was your advantages and disad-vantages. And your opinion. We did this to show how social media effects the classrooms.

2014 Motor Trend Car Of the Year:

Cadillac CTS

CarsKristofer Brozio Cars are our favorite types of transportation today. We use cars to get around everywhere we want to go. Cars are used to move around and travel where we want to go. We use cars in our daily lives for sev-eral things, for instance, going to school, going to the doctors, moving to a new area or town, or just going to Kennywood and having some fun! My parents use a car all the time to go to the store or to take us out to a movie or a play. Our cars are our best transporta-tion at this time, and we take great advantage of them. I know if I didn’t have a car at the moment, I would just grab my bike to go somewhere, but when I do have a car as a mobility choice, I’ll take the car. The cars are the most used transport item of the world! 82.18% of the world use cars most often! Cars are definitely our favorite means of transportation!

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Popular Books of theJunior High 2014Cayla Cosner and Oanh Nguyen We interviewed Librarian Ms. Lis about the most checked out books for this school year. So far the top two trilogies are The Hunger Games and Di-vergent. Those books are usually checked out before breaks and are hard to keep on the shelves for long periods of time. We also asked a small group of kids from our classes to see what their favorite books are. They favored The Fault in Our Stars and Divergent. Our favorites would have to be the same as our fellow students. Now we can’t forget our teachers! They also have favorite books. The most common book named is The Book Thief. It’s a very good book and almost half of the teachers that we interviewed chose it. An-other book most teachers like is the Divergent series. So the top rated book in this school would have to be the Divergent series.

Famous February and March Birthdays

Carrie Underwood March 10 Hines Ward March 8 Michael Jordan Feb. 17

Queen Latifah March 18

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Steve Nash Feb. 7

Top 10 Most Shazamed Music Tracks In 2013: Global

1. Robin Thicke – Blurred Lines2. Avicii – Wake Me Up3. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Thrift Shop 4. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Can't Hold Us 5. P!nk – Just Give Me A Reason 6. Daft Punk – Get Lucky 7. Rihanna – Stay 8. Lorde – Royals 9. Passenger – Let Her Go

Top 10 Most Streamed Musicon Spotify in 2013: Global

1. Can't Hold Us – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis2. Wake Me Up – Avicii3. Thrift Shop - Macklemore & Ryan Lewis4. Get Lucky – Daft Punk5. Radioactive - Imagine Dragons6. Let Her Go – Passenger7. Blurred Lines – Robin Thicke8. Just Give Me A Reason – P!nk9. Ho Hey – The Lumineers10. I Need Your Love – Calvin Harris

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