A Valentine's day poem: A.V.

Roses are red

Violets are blue

There is someone special around here

I think that someone is you!!

How to fold a paper triangle by A.V.

 Note: Never unfold anything at any point!!!!!

Step one: Position paper vertically. (with short sides closest to you)

Step two: Fold bottom (side closest to you) up. Perfectly align it before creasing.

Step three: Fold top left corner diagonally down until it perfectly aligns with side closest to you.

Step four: Fold the right side ( or the side that has a rectangle shape) over to the left.

Step five: Flip the paper over.

Step six: Fold the smallest triangle up.


Congratulations!!! You have now folded a paper triangle!!!!!

What makes a good book a good book? by AR

Well first off the starting chapter. If your first chapter isn't good, people won't read your book. Usually people will tend to read the first chapter to get an idea of the book, so that beginning part needs to be exciting and interesting, if it's not people won't read your book. 

Second of all is character development. If a character is introduced out of the blue with no background information at all it confuses the reader. For example: Kate is the main character and you know all about her life, interests, favorites, everything there is to know.

 Then you add Becky into the story with no information, the story goes downhill from there. 

Third of all the plot. The plot might be the most important part of the book. If you have a bad plot you have a bad book. The plot has to be somewhat entertaining because it matters where the characters are going and what they are doing. Your plot needs to be complex, there needs to be a lot of aspects. That is what makes a good book a good book.

Love, then hate for playgrounds by AV

There once was a girl named Emma.
Emma loved recess. Really. She did.
But one day, that all changed.

She loved recess because of the vast space and
The giant playground. It was huge!!!
There were individual pieces of equipment
and structures. MONSTROUS structures.

Swing sets,
slides,
monkey bars,
climbing ropes,
and large, grassy fields.

But then the school started taking the equipment
away. Piece by piece. Until recess was
one swing set and the fields.
Nobody will ever know why the school took away the equipment.
From that day forward, Emma HATED recess.

My interview with DP by LM

DP’s favorite sport is Flag football, but she also does dance and swimming. If she could travel anywhere in the world, she would go to Paris because of all of the food and nice places. Her dream job is to be a surgeon. One thing that DP is scared of is getting lost in Disney World. I asked why to learn more information, and she said, “It is so big and it is hard to find people after losing them in Disney World.”

One thing she loves about Minnesota is how the summer doesn’t get super hot. If she had a super power she would have teleportation, because she can go get food and come back quickly. She likes fall because she can jump in leaves, the temperature isn’t too hot or cold, and there’s no pollen. Her favorite animal is a bunny, but she thinks Megalodons are scary.

How to get a grip on life by AR

Life is hard, we all know that because we all have a life. To get a grip it takes 3 easy steps.

1. Be aware of your surroundings. This shows a sign of intelligence and it helps you calm down. 

2. Find a hobby. It can be crafting, knitting, reading, playing a sport, you name it. This will help you have something to focus on.

3. Talk to someone about your emotions, someone like your mom, dad, significant other, a therapist it doesn't matter who it is just make sure it's someone you trust. This will help you acknowledge your feelings.

These 3 simple steps will help you get a grip on life.

How to make Hot Chocolate by: K.K.

*The first thing you should do is get permission from your parents to make it . If you do,wash your hands before you start. We will be using milk chocolate, dark chocolate, milk, and a microwavable mug.

1.Put both of the chocolates in a microwavable cup/bowl,put in microwave for 1 minute, if it is not soft or mushy, heat up for 20 seconds,keep repeating until it is nice and soft.

2.Once it is soft ,stir the chocolates together,if it is still hard repeat step 1. It will slowly start to turn into a liquid.

3.Now pour the milk into your (microwavable) mug, heat the milk up for 30 seconds, or until warm.

4.Pour the chocolate (sauce) into the mug with the milk. Stir them together. Let it cool,(st.5 enjoy)

words by AR

words
words words words
so many words
overwhelming
mind, spinning
breath, quickining
head, hurting
calm
be calm
okay
I am okay

Sometimes by AR

sometimes you get lost in your minds eye
sometimes you get lost in a good book
sometimes you get lost in your neighborhood
sometimes you get lost in memories
sometimes you get lost in thought
sometimes you just get lost.

And you can't find your way out.

Horses run the U.S. government!!!!!! Is President Trump secretly a horse?!??? by AV

Something that a social media influencer posted triggered the FBI to search the White House for any sign of Trump acting like a horse. They searched throughout the entire estate, but did not find anything until they requested to search Trump’s room. During the search, they found a pile of notebooks and diaries. They flipped through the pages of every single one and found nothing until the most recent notebook. Trump wrote, “Neigh, neigh, I want to eat hay all day!!!” Well that pretty much gave it away and now law enforcement, the CIA, and the FBI are discussing how to deal with the situation. What will our nation do now with a horse as our president? Are other government officials horses too?

Donald Trump Abducted by Aliens!!!!! by AR

Today, Donald Trump the current president got abducted by aliens. He infuriated them by saying they didn't belong here. On some accord he was right, those aliens belong on Junilation, the newly discovered planet!

Trump's secretary was a witness. He said (while trembling) that they were orange and had 7 eyes all along their stomachs. He described a scene where the aliens took off with Trump, probably going back to their home planet Junilation.

Bunnies Are Taking Over The Whole World! by LM

This is a disaster; beware of the bunnies taking over the whole world, France has already been destroyed and we believe they are planning on attacking China next so do not go to China no matter what!

This month we have seen many bunnies sneaking around and plotting out their next attacks. France has fallen and the few people who escaped are going to the moon. In the next two weeks we are planning on all going to the moon. Make sure to be armed whenever you see a bunny, or you could be eaten by a bunny. This is not good for us.

Interview with A by KK

Q: How old are you ?

A: “11…”

Q: How many siblings do you have?

A: 3 brothers

Q: Oh… um, what was your favorite vacay, and why?

A: “When I went to Colorado to see my brother.”

Q: Who are some of your closest friends?

A: “…uh..K, G, and B…”

Q: What is your favorite animal ?

A:”A red panda.”

Q: Favorite food?

A: “Oh…uh..alfredo?”

Q:What um…okay. Where is your favorite place to be?

A: “At school, because I get to see my friends!”

Q: Ok, what are 3 traits that describe you?

A: “… smart, intelligent,f unny.”

Q: If you had to teach a class full of adults what would it be?

A:” Um… ecology.”

Q:Do you have a secret talent?

A:” Well my thumb is double jointed.”

Q: What! Wow! That’s super cool! Okay, who do you see as a role-model, and what did you learn from them?

A:” Hmm…my mom, because she taught me how to be successful.”

Q:Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

A:”Having my first job and getting to be independent.

Golden Retriever Becomes The New Top Goal Scorer In FIFA World Cup After His Game Against Uzbekistan by AY

The Golden Retriever Von just set the FIFA World cup goal record after scoring his 19th goal, surpassing Messi in all time goals, and is now widely known as the best soccer player to ever exist.. This has sparked a revolution amongst the cats because Tac the Cat only has 16 goals and is considered the best cat soccer player of all time, but now some of the cats are questioning whether the dogs are better than them at soccer, and are debating whether or not to become a dog. Sports commentators like the fox Smith A. Stephen and the turtle Sharpe Shannon have even said that Tac the Cat is arguably the best player to ever play soccer, but after Golden Retriever Von set the goal record they seem to think otherwise, going as far as to even put out a public statement on Tweeter (now known as Z) saying that they were wrong and that Von is superior to everyone.

ARE DINOSAURS BACK TO DESTROY THE WORLD ...OR TO HELP IT? by AD and DP

It was a warm day in southern Mexico, and everyone was excited over the upcoming holiday, Cinco de Mayo.  Grandmothers were busy in their kitchens making the best tacos, children were playing, adults were talking , until… There was a loud ding ding ding and the whole town erupted with cheers of joy. The Loud bell initiated that the Cinco de mayo celebration has officially started. All of the families started walking down to town hall for the celebration. Once every family had arrived the celebration began, festive songs played and food was shared. Every one was having a blast but then there was a humungous ROAR and a rampage of dinos swept into town hall. 

Everyone screamed, children ran, chaos and fear ran throughout  southern Mexico as large creatures emerged from the valleys. The dinosaur growled and roared, everyone was terrified by these creatures. Then one man named  Bob screamed the question everyone was asking, "AREN'T YOU SUPPOSED TO BE EXTINCT?”.  

Then all the dinos went silent and came to a halt and then one dino said” Hello there my name is Fred and we were never extinct” and then joined in another dino “Hi the names Joe, and you have no proof we weren't extinct.” “yeah” the other dinos roared. And then again Bob spoke up “well if you weren't extinct why are you just appearing now?” “Yeah,” some villagers said. “Well  we made some food we wanted to share with you on this super special day Cinco de mayo,” said Joe the dinosaur. “And we’ve been living underground for a while.” he murmured. But Bob wasn’t done talking. “ Well how come we haven't noticed you’ve living underground.” Bob declared. And forced a sweep of agreement over the land.

 “Well, you do notice during earthquakes, tsunamis, wildfires, you know, and that minor stuff,” said Joe. The crowd looked stunned. “MINOR” they screamed. MORE LIKE LIFE OR DEATH” Bob and finished “AND YOU CREATE THOSE DISASTERS” they yelled again. After a long pause. “But now we’re above the ground, you guys won’t have to deal with that anymore.” Joe quickly added. The people of southern Mexico nodded and murmured in thought. There wouldn’t be any more disasters ever again. So the real question is. Are dinosaurs back to destroy the world… or to help it?

An Interview With LM by DP

 Questions:

1.What is your favorite book genre to read?

2.What is your favorite book genre to write?

3.What is your favorite color, why?

4.What is your favorite restaurant to eat at, what do you order there?

5. What is your favorite subject in school?

6.What is your favorite vacation spot?

7.What is one way you like to spend your free time?

8.What is one of your favorite hobbies?

9.What is your favorite book, why?

10.Who is your favorite author, why?

11. What grade are you going into?

Answers:

1.Realistic fiction, History

2.Fiction any type of fiction 

3.Blue because I just like any shade of blue cuz it's always so pretty.

4.Italian and Japanese food

5. Math it's just like I'm just not like good at it and like yeah it's fun

6.Germany, France, Ireland, Italy 

7.I like playing softball I like Hanging out with friends

8. softball  I love it  it's a fun sport I play on team 612

9.Hunger games I love all the bloody murder and realistic fiction books and the giver.

10. Susie Collins, Judith Kerr  Lois Lowry 

11. 6th I feel happy I don't really know yeah

The Normalization of Sexism: Internalized Misogyny by HS

We pick up misogynistic themes from our everyday lives, involuntarily internalizing this ideology that men are superior or more deserving than women. Girls and women are forced to live in a world that has been molded for men. 

 Although women are less likely to be risky behind the wheel, they are more likely to die or suffer injuries from car crashes, due to the fact that safety seat belt tests used male crash dummies until 2011, and when they finally did use female crash dummies, they are just a smaller version of a male dummy instead of molding it after the average woman's weight distribution, and were often only tested in the passenger seat. 

According to the article “Various Aspects of Sex and Gender Bias in Biomedical Research” medicine is less likely to work for females, because when testing scientists only use male cells, even for diseases that mainly affect women. 

There is even something called the Pink Tax. This Pink Tax is the unseen tax added to products specifically targeted towards female consumers. Women, on average, spend about $1,800 more than a man for the same products due to the Pink Tax. As reported by the article “The Pink Tax: The Cost of Being a Woman” this adds up to about $80,000 to $18,800 just from the Pink Tax in the average woman's lifetime.

According to the article “13 Shocking Facts About Gender Inequality” 1 in 3 women experience sexual or physical violence in their lifetime. Many women experience discrimination in their workplace just because of their gender. Stated by the article “Sexual Harassment in Our Nations Workplaces” women get penalized in the workplace for being mothers, men get extra pay for being fathers. Studies show that women who mature in countries with less gender equality, have less ability to control their stress and emotions. Despite how far we have come, the article “Why Young Men Are Turning Against Feminism" states that young men hold more misogynistic views and beliefs than their ancestors. 

 This just shows that women and girls all over the world can’t escape sexism and misogyny from the car, to their medication, to the workplace. 

Biologically assigned genders is one of the biggest dualistic concepts that divides us as a society. 

At a young age boys are told that they can get away with fighting, bullying, and harassment, due to the term “boys will be boys”. This term just perpetuates rape culture and the ideaology that men are superior to women. We as a society need to bring more attention to this pressing matter. Instead of teaching your girls to protect themselves from men, teach your boys how to respect women and view them as equal. If our society taught our children (especially our boys) in their adolescence in this manner, we could speed up the feminist movement immensely. The interpersonal biases would be gone in just 20-30 years. Institutional inequalities would take around 50-80 years to change due to the fact that sexism and misogyny is etched into every aspect of our society.

SOURCES 

• https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/shocking-facts-gender-inequality-international-wom/ 

• https://www.weforum.org/stories/2022/12/female-crash-test-dummies-road-safety-gender-equality/ 

• https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8603716/ 

• https://now.org/blog/the-pink-tax-the-cost-of-being-a-woman/ 

• https://www.eeoc.gov/data/sexual-harassment-our-nations-workplaces 

• https://www.americansurveycenter.org/newsletter/why-young-men-are-turning-against-feminism/ 

Katherine Applegate is the best middle grade fiction author by AR

Katherine Applegate is the best middle grade fiction author

Katherine Applegate is THE BEST middle grade fiction author ever. In 2025 when I was 10 I met Katherine. She was doing a meet and greet with her co-writer Gennifer Choldenko for their book DogTown. Gennifer was interviewing Katherine at that specific meet and greet. She asked her how long she had been writing. She said something along the lines of that she had been writing for too long to count. She also mentioned that she was a ghostwriter for the book series’ The Sweet Valley Twins, Girl Talk, a lot of different animal books, and even Disney books like The Little Mermaid! 

Katherine and Gennifer’s series DogTown has 3 books (at the time of this essay only 2 were published) these books had 1 year to be done then they moved on to the next book. The books were released in September of 2024, 2025, and 2026. Originally Katherine was supposed to write in the perspective of Chance the real dog and Gennifer was supposed to be writing in the perspective of Metal Head the robot dog, but eventually it got really messy and they ended up writing in the same chapter in one dog’s perspective.

Katherine also mentioned that she was writing a series with her husband. That series was the Animorphs in which there are 54 main books and other prequels and sequels. This series took them 5 years to complete the main novels. They wrote a book a month and roughly 6 pages a day for 24 days, took a couple days for planning and then started on the next book. 

I have to mention her book Wishtree because it is my favorite book that she has ever written. Wishtree was published in the summer of 2016. The book only took her 2-3 months to write, edit, revise, the entire process only took her 2-3 months and it is an amazing book! Her deep frustration with global events fueled her writing. She just wanted people to listen. Her poetic way of writing this book helped it flow. This is my favorite Katherine Applegate book!

All of these series and books show that Katherine puts a lot of time and effort into her work. She took 5 years writing the Animorphs series, 3 years writing the dog town series, 7 years in total ghostwriting, and more from all of the other books I couldn’t mention. In all she has spent 38 years writing. This is why Katherine Applegate is THE BEST middle grade fiction author.