The Cougar Post

Volume 4 February, 2020_______________________________________________________________

THE HISTORY OF VALENTINE’S DAY

By: Mattea Hilliker

Have you ever wondered how Valentine’s Day got its name? One explanation is that the holiday comes from the Roman festival of Lupercalia. It is held in the middle of February. The festival celebrates the coming of spring. During this day the Romans held religious rituals. At the end of the 5th century, Pope Gelasius replaced Lupercalia with the name St. Valentine’s Day. Another story explaining where the name comes from is the Roman Emperor Claudius II executed two men who both were named Valentine on Feb.14. They were honored by the Catholic Church with a celebration called St. Valentine’s Day.

How to make Newspaper Valentines

By Catie RussellSUPPLIES

● Newspaper● Computer paper● Stickers (optional )● Scissors● Markers, Crayons, ect● Sparkles (optional)● Ribbon (optional)● Glue

DIRECTIONS 1. Get all your supplies ready 2. Open up the newspaper 3. Use a marker to draw a heart on the newspaper (Big) 4. Cut out the heart 5. Cut a rectangle out on the computer paper (about the size of 3 fingers) 6. Glue ribbon around the rectangle 7. Glue the rectangle anywhere on the newspaper heart 8. Use a marker to write on the white paper 9. Write To: and From: on the white paper 10. Use stickers, sparkles, and anything else to decorate 11. Repeat all steps for however many cards you want to make

YOGA FOR YOGISBy Maddison McLane

The Cougar Post

Volume 4 February, 2020_______________________________________________________________The instructor is Mrs.Hale for the Cougar U class called Yoga for Yogis. The location of the class is in Mrs.Hale’s classroom. There are about 8 students that are taking the class. First, the students start on the floor on a mat while Mrs.Hale puts on some calming music. The music helps to make sure they are relaxed throughout the class. During the class they do different yoga moves which look like stretching. Some moves they do are downward doggy, child's pose and the bridge pose. Also, they do a pose called candlestick. They compete for a piece of candy by seeing who can hold the candlestick pose the longest. The winner held the candlestick pose for 10 minutes and 10 seconds. That’s quite a long time! At the end of class everyone did a relaxing coloring sheet. If you would like to learn how to do yoga this class is for you.

GIRL POWER! By Ruby VanValkenburg

What is Girl Power? Well, Girl Power is a Cougar U class in session 2. The Cougar

U instructor for the class is Mrs. Holfman. There are approximately 9 students in the class. In the beginning, the students all meet on the front carpet in the art room. They chat about the day and some nice things they’ve done for someone. They also have a word to think about, for example, strength or gratitude. Everyone shares what that word makes them think of or means to them.After sharing, they move to the art room tables to do a project. The project on the day when I was there was making a color palette. It is like a sheet of paper for when you paint your walls to see what looks best. The students wrote motivational sayings and drawings. They spent most of the time doing their color palette project and talking to one another. At the end of class they do another circle and talk about a new word to think about. I was a student in this class before and I love this class and I wish I could do it again.

CONFUSEDBy Addisyn Grissom

There was a boy named Jack and he liked to play sports. He played football, soccer, basketball and baseball. He also

The Cougar Post

Volume 4 February, 2020_______________________________________________________________loved dogs. They were his favorite animal. He enjoyed traveling too. He traveled to 7 places in his 12 years of living. They were New York City, Texas, Georgia, Arizona, North Carolina, Hawaii, and Bora Bora.

One day Jack wanted to go to the grocery store. He rode his bike for 15 minutes to get to the store. He needed some chocolate to make some chocolate chip cookies for an event. Then out of the corner of his eye he saw a dog and it was a pitbull. It was a white and black, male dog. It did not have a name tag so it must have been lost. He did not really think anything of it and just rode his bike home.

The next day, he was riding his bike to the playground and he saw what he thought was the same dog. This time the dog was not alone, but with a kid. Jack was confused because he was 100% sure that it was the same dog. However, it had a leash, harness and

most surprising of all was that he had a nametag. His name was Axel.

The following day seemed to be just a normal day. On his way to school he

walked past the dog shelter. There he saw what he thought was Axel, but it turned out not to be him, because as he was walking away he saw another dog that looked the same.. Sure enough it was Axel. He was so confused by the two dogs that looked alike.

THE END

The Cougar Post

Volume 4 February, 2020_______________________________________________________________

SOCCER HOT SHOTS By: Angelica Mullen

Recently, I was a reporter for the Cougar University class, Soccer Hot Shots. It is a great Cougar U class directed by Mr. Smith. It is in the gym with 12 students enrolled currently. It’s very active and a lot of fun. At the start, the students all made a circle at the center of the gym and Mr. Smith took attendance. Then, Mr. Smith asked different questions to get the students to share their thoughts. Once the meeting is finished, everyone has to get a soccer ball and dribble around the gym until Mr. Smith tells the students to do a specific dribbling exercise. After the warm ups, everyone does lots of stretching and running. Then, there are more dribbling drills of course since it is important to learn how to handle the ball with one’s feet. Towards the middle of class, there is practice at shooting at the walls and being a goalie. Short breaks to get water are given. At the end, I got to join in a REALLY LOOOONG 5 on 5 game. It was a lot of fun! Before they left to go home, they did a group huddle. You should think of joining Soccer Hot Shots when it is offered again.

FUN AND GAMESBy James Mullen

Hi, I’m James Mullen and I am reporting on the Cougar U class Fun and Games. The teacher is Mrs. Sherlock and the class is about having fun while playing games. What they do at the beginning of class is take attendance. Then they play the Name Game which is when one person from the left side of the circle says their name and then it goes around the circle. Then the person on the right of the circle says their name and it goes around to the other side of the circle. After that the people on both sides say their name and everyone will have to say their name twice. Next, they review what games they have learned and Mrs. Sherlock usually makes popcorn. During the middle of the class they usually play a game they learned or they learn a new game. For that class we played Clue. Near the end of the class they usually talk and learn a lesson about life. That is what happens in the class Fun and Games. It seems like this is a class you would take if you like to play board games and want to learn new ones too.

MASTER CHEF COUGAR U CLASS

By Anna Burligame

Have you ever thought about doing Cougar U? Well, one of the best classes is Master Chef. Mrs. Kelly is the class instructor with about eight students

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Volume 4 February, 2020_______________________________________________________________currently participating in the class. It is held in Mrs. Kelly’s classroom. You work on teamwork, following instructions, learning how to use different equipment, and best of all cooking!!!!!! There are many things you do in the class. If you want to learn more about this class, keep reading.

For this class you must first wash your hands. Then you get the equipment and hook up your skillet. You get to pick your partners. Then Mrs. Kelly will pass out the recipe to your station. You will get your materials (a knife, cutting board, spatula, wooden spoon, etc.) and bring them to your station. You then get your fresh fruits and veggies along with some other ingredients. You and your partner will then start chopping up the fruits and veggies, which will eventually be put onto the skillet to cook. You will then get the rest of your ingredients, including spices, and prepare them to put into the skillet.

You will then wait and cook the meat, veggies, etc. While the meat and veggies are cooking, you open up containers to take the meal home. You’ll then take your

food off the skillet and add spices. Then they are dished into the containers to take home and enjoy. Afterwards, you turn off the skillet and start cleaning up your materials along with your cooking workspace.

I talked with some students who are doing the class, and it seems as if everybody’s favorite step is cutting. A favorite dish of the majority of kids is the Italian Chicken Skillet. You can look up this recipe online, or can ask Mrs. Kelly for a copy of the recipe.

This class is one of the best Cougar U classes. I encourage you to sign up for this class whenever it is offered. This class seems like lots of fun!

THE BUFFALO BANDITS GAME

By Jocelyn Wintersteen

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Volume 4 February, 2020_______________________________________________________________

The most recent home game for the Buffalo Bandits was January 18, 2020. They played Toronto Rock. They are one of thirteen teams in the National Lacrosse League. They play at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, NY. The team colors are orange and black. The Bandits game is known for yelling “B-O-X, B-O-X, BOX, BOX, BOX, YEAH!” when the opposing team gets a penalty and is going into the penalty box.

There are 4 quarters throughout the whole game. There is also a half time. This is when my family and I go and get One Buffalo ice cream and popcorn. They also play music throughout the game and do special camera shots of the audience. During the most recent home game they actually did a t- shirt toss out of the tube. When the game was over the outcome was in our favor. The Bandits won!

HOTHEAD BOOK REVIEW

The Cougar Post

Volume 4 February, 2020_______________________________________________________________

By: Gabrielle Cunningham

Hothead written by Cal Ripken, Jr. is a book about a boy named Connor, who loves playing baseball. He's really good at it too. But when his dad gets laid off from his job at the car dealership, Connor starts to get really stressed and embarrassed. In one of his baseball games, Connor drops an easy catch, gets super mad, and throws his glove on the ground. One night he heard his mom talking about their family possibly losing their house. His mom already works late and takes extra shifts at the hospital. While his dad still can't find a job. That makes Connor even more stressed. Now whenever he makes a mistake during one of his games, he gets really upset. He feels that if he can do a good job, he can make his parents proud and take their minds off their worries about money. After a few incidents, he gets told if he has more blow-ups, he's off the team. Then he really messes up. He slams his bat on the ground, and it hits one of his teammates in the knee. He gets suspended from playing in the next game. When a reporter for the school newspaper, Melissa, films him having one of his

break-downs, they make a deal. If Connor can go the next game without freaking out, she won't post the video on the school website. Now he has to stay calm or he’ll get kicked off the team, and everybody will see his tantrum. Read the book to find out what happens.