Volume 2, Issue I December 2016 - January 2017

Panthers on the Prowl Editor-in-Chief: Mrs. Hoehlein

Staff: Grade 5 : Dylan Alves, Janie Labbe, Victoria Lewis, Sophia Lyons, Alanna Meyer, Thiago Oliveira, Andrew Rosenblum, Amelia Williams, Lila Wolf-Wagner

Poetry in Motion by Thiago Oliveira

Poetry in Motion is about the Winter Solstice on December 21st. On that day, the 5th graders performed winter poems on the Potter Road stage. Parents came too, you know! Fifth graders worked hard to memorize their poems and plan their props. The poem I did with my friend Jack Silva was “Ice Cubes” by Rebecca Kai Dotlich. To me, it is a great poem.

❄The Winter Solstice ❄

By Amelia Williams and Victoria Lewis The Winter Solstice or the mid winter, is the longest night and the shortest day of the year. It happens on December 21st, every year. It happens because the Earth sits at a tilt instead of upright. The word solstice comes from the Latin word “sol” meaning sun and “sister” meaning to make to stand still. So if at four o'clock on that day, it’s pitch black, you’ll know what happened.

Ƙ What’s Cooking at Potter Road Ƙ

By Janie Labbe

Do you like to cook? I do! Cooking is something that adults and even little kids can do. When you cook, you are doing math! You might not think that, but all the measuring is math. Cooking is good to do on a rainy day or a day off of school. Cooking is fun even if it is just a regular day and nothing special is happening. Baking is like cooking, but it is just for sweet things like cookies and cupcakes. `

How to Make a Peppermint Milkshake Prep: 5 minutes Serves: 2 INGREDIENTS 2 cups Peppermint Stick Ice Cream 1 cup milk Toppings: Crushed red & green starlite mints or candy canes Hershey's chocolate syrup Whipped cream DIRECTIONS Process the first two ingredients in a blender until smooth. Pour into glasses, and serve with desired

toppings. By Sophia Lyons

How to Make a Gingerbread House

By Janie Labbe

This is a fun and easy activity to do at your

house. Hope you enjoy! Ingredients for One House

● 1 stick of butter ● ½ cup of dark brown sugar ● ¼ cup of light molasses or dark corn syrup ● I tablespoon of cinnamon ● 1 tablespoon of ground ginger ● 1 ½ teaspoons ground cloves ● I teaspoon of baking soda ● 2 cups of all- purpose flour ● 2 tablespoons of water ● 7 pieces of graham cracker for one house

Assembling and Decoration

● Melted white chocolate or Royal icing ● Gumdrops, licorice and peppermint, as

desired Icing

● 1 pound (3 ¾ cups) powdered sugar, sifted if lumpy

● 1 to 2 large egg whites, or substitute 4 teaspoons packaged egg whites and ¼ cup water

● 1 teaspoon almond extract, vanilla or lemon juice

How to Make a Gingerbread Man Cookie

By Janie Labbe

These cookies are easy and fun to do at home!! Serves: Makes 2 dozen or 24 (1 cookie)servings

● 3 cups flour ● 2 teaspoons Ginger, Ground ● 1 teaspoon Cinnamon, Ground ● 1 teaspoon baking soda ● 1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg, Ground ● 1/4 teaspoon salt ● 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened ● 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar ● 1/2 cup molasses ● 1 egg

Directions for Baking First: Mix flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt in large bowl. Set aside. Beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add molasses, egg and vanilla; mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Press dough into a thick flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 4 hours or overnight Next: Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness on lightly floured work surface. Cut into gingerbread men shapes with 5-inch cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake: 8 to 10 minutes or until edges of cookies are

set and just begin to brown. Cool on baking sheets 1 to

2 minutes. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

Decorate cooled cookies as desired. Store cookies in

airtight container up to 5 days.

Winter Holidays Around the World By Sophia Lyons

In Japan, the New Year is known as お正月. It is one of the most important holidays of the year. In Japan, people celebrate this holiday from January 1st to January 3rd. Many people visit family and shrines. Children receive money from their parents and older relatives. Elementary school children receive about ¥3,000 to ¥5,000 (about 30 to 50 dollars.) Middle school children receive about ¥5,000 (about 50 dollars.) High school children receive about ¥10,000 (about 100 dollars.) Children get excited about this because it only happens once a year. In Italy, the winter holidays start with the Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th, which ends on the 12th day of Christmas. Italy celebrates Christmas. They celebrate Christmas and winter through different festivals. South Africa is in the southern hemisphere, so Christmas is very warm. People in South Africa do some of the same traditions that we Americans do. People in South Africa put up Christmas trees. They also put up stockings for Santa Claus. Because the weather is so warm, camping is a popular activity to do during the Christmas season. Christmas meals are often eaten outside and cooked on the grill.

This Month We Remember… .

A Reflection by Mrs. Hoehlein

On Monday, January 16th we honored and celebrated one of America’s true heroes, Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King used his words to persuade others to join him in shaping a society that judged people “not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

Today Dr. King’s legacy to social justice and equal opportunity are familiar to children across the United States and much of the world. That was not true on April 4, 1968, when I was a fifth grader at Shaw Avenue Elementary School in Valley Stream, NY. On that early spring evening when MLK was assassinated, he was a mostly unknown name to the students in my classroom. He was familiar to our parents, but someone not seen as important to their lives or their futures. Little did they know that MLK would become one of the most recognized, remembered and admired leaders in the next quarter century and onward. May his dream continue to serve as a beacon of hope and promise for the America we imagine. I say to you today, my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I Have a Dream speech

August 28, 1963

4th Grade Mall By Lila Wolf-Wagner and Victoria Lewis

Every year, the fourth graders put on a mall in the Rainforest Cafe for the third graders. This year it was on January 26, 2017. There were 22 stores in total! There were 2 craft stores, 19 service stores, and 1 flea market. Students form a group to do these “stores” or “services”. Craft stores have handmade goods, made by the students. Service stores are games, or something that gives to the public. And flea markets are stores where the students running them bring in old items from home to sell at the mall. The mall in general is all about selling and making profits.

Published Poets at Potter Road

Twelve students from Mrs. Hoehlein 5th grade class had their original poems selected for publication in the Spring 2017 Poetry Anthology by Creative Communications. The winning poets are: Mitch Goldberg, Alana Gordon, Samuel Grossman, Julissa Jean, Janie Labbe, Eleanor Lynch, Luke Poole, Abigail Russo, Anthony Venezia, Amelia Williams, Matthew Zolock and Alanna Meyer.

Congratulations Poets

What’s New in Second Grade? Chromebooks!

By Victoria Lewis, Amelia Williams, & Lila Wolf-Wagner

This year, the second graders got chromebooks! They are using them to do Zearn, which is a math program that teaches math in easier and more detailed ways. Some ways that it teaches math is by doing videos, so that the students feel like they are having a “chat” with a teacher. That’s probably why it’s called the “Math Chat!” Here’s an interview with second grader Hannah Grossman:

So, what are you working on, Hannah? “I’m working on adding numbers from 1,000.” What is your favorite thing to do on Zearn? “I like to do the Sprints, because they challenge me, and I like to look at the scores and try to get better than the last socre. And I try to do them faster than the last time.” Thank you, Hannah. That was really nice for you to give up your Zearn time to talk with us.

POETS CORNER The simplest of words can inspire the poets at Potter Road School. Gray By Alanna Meyer Gray, gray, gray That is all I see Out the window today The rain blurs my window Good There's nothing to see except gray. Gray cars Gray buildings Gray highway Gray

Ode to Bubbles .By Alanna Meyer Grade 5 I watch with amazed eyes these glassy orbs With rainbow colors dancing inside them. They float up, up, up, until they are gone Disappearing, with a surprised pop. I once ate a bubble It was gluey, like soap Not at all like the beauty That it held inside it. They are fragile, hollow, And they will not let you touch them. You reach up, hypnotized, in awe But when you reach for them They are gone, and so Is the magic inside them.

MOVIE Critic’s Corner by Andrew Rosenblum, Grade 5

The new Star Wars movie, Rogue One is about a girl named Jyn. Like most star wars movies, a lot of people die. But there's no Jedi in the whole movie. There's one sith that's Darth vader. Of course you know I liked it cause I gave it 4 stars. They started with a backstory. The movie is about taking the death star plans, but you never see it. It was really good. You should really see it.

I give it a rating.

Moana Movie Review By Lila Wolf-Wagner

Want to see a new movie? Check out Moana, a new Disney movie based off of old legends of sea voyagers. One of the main characters is a girl, who is the daughter of the chief, named Moana, and the future chief of her village. The other main character is a demi-god named Maui, who is trapped on an island without his magic fishhook, which holds his powers. Moana hears a legend about restoring the heart of Tifi Ti, which Maui stole to get more powerful, but just ended up starting the death of the world. As Moana goes on a journey, she realizes Maui does not want to restore the heart. Watch the movie to find out what happens next! I would give this movie a ★★★★★ rating!

StormBreaker BOOK Review By Thiago Oliveira

The book Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz, is the first book in the Alex Rider series. It’s a mystery/action series. This book is about a 14 year old boy who is told his uncle, Ian Rider, died in a car crash. But Alex knows that is a lie. His uncle had been trying to stop the Stormbreakers. When Alex finds his uncle’s car, it has bullet holes everywhere. After that Alex turns into an undercover spy. He needs to stop the Stormbreaker computers from being shipped to the English government. If you want to know more, read the Stormbreaker book and the Alex Rider series!

Breaking News! The New England Patriots won their 5th super bowl ring in an amazing game on Sunday, February 5, 2017. Although they were losing 28-3 at one point, they tied the game 28-28 with seconds to go. The game went into the first ever overtime in super bowl history, and the Patriots scored a fast touchdown to win 34-28! Tom Brady was named the most valuable player. Mr. Wolpe declared Tuesday, February 8th Patriot Celebration Day at Potter Road.

Band Concert by: Sophia Lyons

The 5th grade band concert was Wednesday, January 25, 2017.It was afterschool at 6:00 PM. The Band played along with the Chorus, singing club and recorder club. Those other clubs had also been working very hard on their songs. This is the second concert the 5th grade band has done this year. The first one was at the turkey trot. The band worked really hard at school and at home practicing for the concert.

Looking ahead WINTER BREAK ~ February vacation is Mon., February 15 - Fri., February 19th. Visit the Danforth Art Museum, design a futuristic building, take a hike in Callahan State Park or spend an afternoon helping a neighbor. Be safe and happy wherever you might be.

Sincerely, Your friends from the Panthers on the Prowl staff

“The time is always right to do what is right.”

Martin Luther King Jr.

Potter Road ~The School of Lifelong Learning