Totoket Valley News. Barbara Bush Teleconference. Inside this issue:

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1 Totoket Valley News Luke Scala, Grade 4 Barbara Bush Teleconference by Charlie Langlan, Grade 4 MARCH 2014 VOLUME 2 ISSUE 2 Luke Izzo talking to Barbara Bush On January 15, 2014, Totoket Valley Elementary School got to talk to first lady Barbra Bush, the wife of George Bush and the mother of George W. Bush. We were very lucky to talk to her because many schools could not have that chance. 19 schools were chosen to do the teleconference along with Canada and France. The 45 students, including myself, had to enter 3 questions to the Magic Mailbox in the library. Luke Izzo in Mrs. Ayotte s fourth grade class got to talk to Mrs. Bush during the live teleconference. Luke asked, When you lived in the White House was it fun or just work? This was her answer: Mrs. Bush got to play and learn golf and played tennis. She got to meet many of the people in the White House. We were proud of Luke. There were problems with the camera connection, but we were still able to ask the questions. With the technology problems we got an ice cream cake party about a week later because Dr. Lindsay said that we were waiting very patiently. TVN Reporters Molly Lacroix, Grade 3 Alex Shadman, Grade 3 John Stannard, Grade 3 Charlie Langlan, Grade 4 Saoirse Burke, Grade 4 Luke Scala, Grade 4 Mikey Ricci, Grade 5 Mr. Amodio, Grade 3 Teacher The Totoket Valley Newspaper was written and designed as part of a special project of our After School Enrichment Newspaper Club. Article ideas, artwork, and other features in this newspaper are all original ideas of our student writers, editors, and designers. The following newspaper is a result of their hard work over the last 6 weeks. We hope you find this information useful Inside this issue: Upcoming Events Feature Teacher: Mrs. Pantalena Creative Corner Sports Center

2 Upcoming Events: Read Across America Day March 7th Daylight Savings Time March 9th St. Patrick s Day March 17th First Day of Spring March 20th TVES Art Spot March 21st-31st TVES Invention Convention March 28th TVES Eco-Fair April 11th Spring Vacation April 14th-April 18th *compiled by Molly Lacroix and Alex Shadman Jada s American Girl Doll Experience Written by Saoirse Burke, Grade 4 Jada is a regular 5 th grader that does an acting company in Connecticut and was chosen to do a special photo shoot with the American Girl Doll company. Jada went on a spectacular adventure and will be in a lot books at the American Girl Doll Company. Jada went to Brooklyn and Manhattan to do a photo shoot for the American Girl Doll Company. Jada thought it was really fun even though it was a long day. Jada thought the photographers were very nice. Hair and makeup combined took about 2 hours. She had to pose as a back in the day girl. She thought it was very cool. For Christmas Jada got a Rebecca doll. She had to wear old fashion clothes. She had to do 2 photo shoots; 1 was on a school day in June and the other one was during the summer. She was really excited because it is a once in a life time opportunity for her. Branford Compassion Club by Molly Lacroix, Grade 3 The Branford Compassion Club (BCC) is a cat shelter which is located in Kelly s Plaza, 2037 Foxon Road in North Branford. The club takes in cats that are hurt, lost, or that do not have a home. The club takes care of these cats until they find an owner. Everyone that works there is a volunteer. I got involved when my uncle asked me if I wanted to volunteer with him. I started going every Saturday morning, and I love it because I get to help cats that really need it. I clean the rooms, clean litter boxes, and socialize with cats that aren t good with people to make them better pets. If you like cats and can t adopt one, there are many ways you can become involved. You can make a donation to help pay for doctor bills or food. Any donation helps Another way to help is to become a foster parent until a cat is adopted. The BCC also cares for feral (wild) cats. Once again you can become involved by becoming a feeder or an animal advocate for these types of cats. 2

3 Feature Teachers Mrs. Pantalena by Alex Shadman, Grade 3 Mrs. Ayotte by Charlie Langlan, Grade 4 Here are some of the questions I asked Mrs. Ayotte. I asked her these questions because she is ONE of my favorite teachers that I have this year. Question1: Why did you choose to be a teacher? Answer: I became a teacher because I always enjoyed learning new things and now I can learn them with others. Question 2: What is your favorite subject to teach? Answer: Reading/Writing and Science Question 3: Was this your favorite subject when you were a kid? Answer: Yes. It would be Science because I like to see how things work. Question 4: What do you like to do on weekends? Answer: I like to take my dog Peanut for long walks and cook for my husband Mr. Pantalena. Question 5: What was your favorite thing to do when you were younger? Answer: I liked to ride on the back of my brother s motorcycle. Question 6: Where have you traveled and what was your favorite trip? Charlie: When is your baby girl due? Mrs. Ayotte s: April 5, 2014 Charlie: Where did you go to school when you were younger? Mrs. Ayotte: Durham Regional District 13, Castleton College of Vermont, master s degree, from Quinnipiac. Charlie: What are some baby s names you re thinking of? Mrs. Ayotte: Brooklyn because of the Brooklyn Dodger s baseball team, and Sarah. Charlie: Why did you want to be a teacher? Mrs. Ayotte: When I was young I had a hard time in school. Teachers would help me and I thought how much teachers help kids learn. That s why I choose to be a teacher. Charlie: Who is your favorite teacher? Mrs. Ayotte: Mrs. Pantalena because I was a student teacher in her class. Charlie: What is your favorite color? Mrs.Ayotte: Blue. When I was getting married my wedding colors were blue and orange. Orange is my husband s favorite color. Boys wore orange and girls wore blue. Charlie: How was teaching chorus? Mrs. Ayotte: I loved teaching chorus because when I went to school I was in chorus and dance. Answer: I ve traveled to New York City and that was my favorite because my son John and my daughter-in-law Misha live there. We go to wonderful restaurants and watch Broadway shows. Question 7: What year did you get your dog Peanut? Answer: I got Peanut in Question 8: Do you read every day? Answer: Yes I find reading very relaxing. 3

4 Recess by Alex Shadman, Grade 3 Things to keep you safe Do not play tag on the wood chips. Play tag on the blacktop or the field. Student Senate members can sweep the wood chips. Which recess side do you like be0er? People like the Map Side be=er because it has swings, a table, and you can play state tag. People like the Big Toy side be=er because it is bigger, and it has more equipment. Teddy Kennedy, Jr. by Mikey Ricci, Grade 5 About a couple months ago, I had to go with my mother to a Democratic Party barbecue. It was held to give people an opportunity to meet the people that were running for political offices in our town. I got very lucky, as I was able to meet another very prominent person in the Democratic Party, Teddy Kennedy, Jr. He had come to support the local Democratic candidates. Edward "Teddy" Kennedy was born in Boston, Massachusetts on September 26, 1961 to Senator Edward Kennedy and his wife Joan. He is also the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy and the late Senator Robert Kennedy, both of them were assassinated in the 1960's. In 1973 when he was just 12, he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (a bone cancer) in his right leg and had to have his leg amputated, and uses a prosthetic (artificial) leg to walk around. He attended a number of schools in Connecticut, Wesleyan University, Yale University and the University of Connecticut where he received his law degree. He married Katherine Gershman, who is a doctor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven. They have two children and live in Branford. I thought he was a really nice person when I met him, but I did find out one thing that I didn't like about him, HE IS A RED SOX FAN I found this out when I was getting my picture taken with him. He looked down at me and said that he was disappointed in my choice of wardrobe since I was wearing my Yankee jersey I was disappointed that he was a Red Sox fan, too. I guess we can't like everything about a person The information in this article came from personally meeting Mr. Kennedy and from background research on the Internet. COMING SOON: VARIETY SHOW AUDITIONS Interested in showing off your talent to TVES? Start thinking about what you would do. Auditions will be held for fourth and fifth grade students in the beginning of April. Stay tuned for more information regarding sign-ups and audition dates 4

5 CREATIVE CORNER MOVIE REVIEW: Madagascar 2 by Alex Shadman, Grade 3 Kittens and Flowers by Molly Lacroix, Grade 3 by John Stannard, Grade 3 This is a movie review about Madagascar 2: Escape to Africa. The movie is about walking, talking animals that escape to Africa from the Central Park Zoo in New York City. The problem is the plane crashed and now the animals are stranded. My opinion is kids should w a t c h i t b e c a u s e i t w i l l b e entertaining. My favorite part was when the New Yorkers tried to eat Alex the lion, the king of New York. This is my favorite part because there is action. In the spring kittens are born, and seeds are planted. Kittens grow into cats, and flowers bloom big and tall. After a few weeks the kittens can go out and play in the green grass, and the flowers let their petals open with their colors. Kittens run in the green grass, and the flowers dance in the wind. In the spring kittens are born, and seeds are planted. 5

6 What is your favorite video game? by Luke Scala, Grade 4 Delaney Norman, Grade 4 Carl Jackson, Grade 4 My favorite video game is Minecraft because you get to build things. Kirby, because there are cool physics in the game. Luke Izzo, Grade 4 Monopoly, because the game teaches many life lessons. Other people are saying Any of the games on coolmathgames.com because I use it a lot at school and at home.. - Caroline Shadman, Grade 5 Just Dance, because it is fun and I love to dance. - Julia Angelini, Grade 4 Minion Rush, because I love MINIONS - Abby Vollono, Grade 4 Need for Speed: Rivals, because I like to drive. - Dylan Brown, Grade 5 6

7 SP RTS CENTER The 2014 Winter Olympics By: Mikey Ricci, Grade 5 I wanted to write this article to tell you about some of the events and performers and I thought you would like to learn more about the Olympics. The 2014 Olympics are being held in Sochi in Russia. The first Winter Olympics first took place in 1924, in Chamonix, France. There were only 11 women out of 258 participants. The events were 4- man bobsled, Biathlon, Curling, Figure Skating (men's, women's, pairs), Hockey, Cross Country Skiing (18k, 50k), Ski jumping, Nordic combined skiing, and Speed Skating (500m, 1500m, 5000m, 10,000m, combined). The events for 2014 have many more events than in the past and they are going to be Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Bobsled, Cross Country Skiing, Curling, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Ice Hockey (men and women), Luge, Nordic Combined, Short Track Speed Skating, Skeleton Ski Jumping, Snowboard, and Speed Skating. Here are some performers known for the Olympics: Shaun White (USA) Snowboarding Lindsey Vonn (USA) Ski Racing Super Bowl XLVIII By: Mikey Ricci, Grade 5 The two teams that were in Super Bowl XLVIII (48) were the Seattle Seahawks and the Denver Broncos. I thought that it was entertaining because I actually had a team (the Seahawks) playing in it that I was impressed with. Also, it was held for the very first time ever in New Jersey on February 2, I thought that was really cool. It wasn t a very exciting game for the Denver Broncos since the final score was 48(Seattle) to 8(Denver). At the half time show Bruno Mars performed. He is a singer, songwriter, producer and musician. The Red Hot Chili Peppers performed with him. They are a band that s been around for a while. Here are a couple plays that I thought were amazing. I thought the 87 yard kick return touchdown from Percy Harvin of the Seahawks was pretty awesome. Another play was when Malcolm Smith made an interception and returned it for a touchdown in the second quarter. He was named the MVP at the end of the game for this play. Overall I was happy with the outcome of the game, since the team I liked, the Seattle Seahawks, won the Super Bowl title Alex Ovechkin (Russia) Ice Hockey Sidney Crosby (Canada) Ice Hockey Kim Yu- Na (South Korea) Figure Skating Torin Yater- Wallace (USA) Freestyle Skiing 7

8 What You Do in Newspaper Club By Charlie Langlan This paragraph will be about the things you do in Newspaper Club. First, the instructor, Mr. Amodio, will take you to his classroom. When you first walk into the classroom you put your bags on the ground and go get a snack from the tables with the chips, or popcorn. Then, while you are eating Mr. Amodio asks what you will be working on in every class. In Newspaper Club you think of at least 2 ideas for the newspaper, then Mr. Amodio will ask you why you want to do the article and what you will put it in the article. After that, you tell Mr. Amodio and he will hopefully approve it. You start to draft it on a piece of paper. After that you show Mr. Amodio the work you have done. After her looks at your draft, he says you can go on the computer and work on the computer to type your newspaper ideas and articles. When you are done Mr. Amodio looks at it and helps you to make some changes, like paragraphs, spelling, grammar, and other things. Then he will say to save it to his file, and get it ready to be published. P.S. We hope you liked our newspaper since it has school information and other articles. All of us worked so hard on this newspaper. Thank you for taking the time to read our work By: Saoirse Burke, Molly Lacroix, Charles Langlan, Mikey Ricci, Luke Scala, Alex Shadman and John Peter Stannard 8