Meals on Wheels In October, the sixth grade visited the largest single site for Meals on Wheels, an organization that helps provide food in our community for more than 4,700 shutins. Shutins are elderly people who don’t have the ability to exit their homes. The manager of the Dallas program, Kim L. Peters, says their goal is to “provide others the ability to live independently in their homes.” Meals on Wheels delivers food to seniors in Dallas and Terrell counties, houses multiple programs like creating Christmas gifts, and distributes pet food to owners of cats and dogs that can’t provide food for their pets. To make this possible, they have over 5,000 volunteers! One of the most interesting things about the Dallas Meals on Wheels facility that the sixth graders visited was that it has one of the largest kitchens in the USA for a nonprofit community service organization. Some things in their kitchen are oversized ovens, pots, pans, and other items found in normalsized kitchens. Imagine your kitchen ten times larger than before. That’s about how big the kitchen is. They also have two enormous freezers, one at sixteen degrees Fahrenheit, and the other at just six! The lunches go through a big process they call a “meal’s journey.” Every morning, the kitchen at 4:30 A.M. WAs the food is prepared for delivery, they first package all of the hot items into one set of coolers. Then, they put all of the refrigerated items into another set of coolers. Next, they load the items into bags and put them into a truck to be taken around Dallas and Terrell counties. A typical delivery run can take from thirty minutes to one hour. When the sixth grade went to the facility, they helped with the Christmas Gift Program. First, they decorated paper bags for gifts with ribbons and markers. On the bags they wrote
words like “Happy Holidays” and “Season’s Greetings.” Then, they wrapped the gifts and tied ribbons onto them. The gifts were things like mini Kleenex packages, toothpaste tubes, and shampoo bottles. It was a really fun and interesting experience for them. The sixth graders enjoyed the project, and they thought it helped a lot of people. For them, it was nice to pack gifts for people that aren’t so lucky to have a gift on Christmas. All in all, Meals on Wheels is a terrific organization that has a boatload of opportunities that you can help out with. The St. Mark’s School of Texas’s food drive is a drive that has been going on for 25 years. The food drive was organized by the director of the community service program, Mr. Correa. We interviewed him to learn more. INTERVIEW WITH MR. CORREA Q. How do you choose which drives to do during the school year? A: With the holiday or season. Q: How successful was this year’s food drive? A: This year we had about 100 boxes of food with only 94 advisories, meaning some people went above and beyond. Q: How successful was it compared to last year? A: About 10 fewer boxes. Q: What is the purpose of the food drive? A: To bring awareness to people that they are lucky to have such privileges to have good food to eat. Q: Where does the food go? A: Mainly to The Salvation Army.
Facts About Hunger in America ● 41.2 million Americans are food insecure, meaning they are often forced to skip meals, eat less at meals, buy cheap nonnutritious food and/or feed their children but not themselves. ● 12.9 million children in the US are food insecure. ● There are 15.6 million U.S. households suffering from food insecurity – 12.7 percent of all U.S households. ● 6.1 million U.S. households suffer from severe food insecurity, which means the people who live in them are often hungry. ● 3.1 million households with children are food insecure at some time each year. ● Many families suffering from hunger and poverty live in areas where fresh, unprocessed, healthy food is not available or is expensive, while the food they do have access to is nutritionally deficient. ● There are 40.6 million people living in poverty in the US, including 13.3 million children. That’s 1 in 6 American children Info Taken from whyhunger.org
A Short History of Grandparents’ Day Did you know that Grandparents’ Day has not always been around? Grandparents’ Day was first proposed by Marian McQuade. Marian had a lifelong mission of supporting senior citizens. She began her campaign for a day to honor grandparents in 1970. In 1973, she achieved her goal when Grandparents’ Day was finally celebrated in Virginia. Five years later, it became a national holiday in the United States. Other countries all around the world have established their own Grandparents’ Day. Poland led the way, holding their first Grandparents Day in 1965. Since then, twelve other countries have followed its lead. From Australia, to Italy, to Hong Kong and
Singapore, grandparents are nationally honored and recognized every year on Grandparents’ Day.
Fun Facts: ● In the United States, there is a Grandparents’ Day flower. It is known as the ForgetMeNot and as the Scorpion Grass (its real name is the Myosotis). ● There are over 65 million grandparents alive today! ● The official song for Grandparents’ Day is “A Song for Grandpa and Grandma” by Johnny Prill. It’s depicted in the point of view of a grandchild as he sings about how much he loves his grandparents.
McDonald’s Week For over 25 years, the week of November 12 to November 16 has been a cause of major celebration in St. Mark’s. That week has been and still is a fundraiser for the Austin Street Center. The Austin Street Center is an emergency shelter for the vulnerable and homeless: men aged fortyfive and older, and women who are eighteen and older. They are provided a safe place to sleep, showers, clothes, and meals. Once their basic needs are met, they can begin working on other important aspects of life so that they can get out of homelessness. Every morning, during the St. Mark’s McDonald’s week, from 7:15 to 7:50 AM, in front of the friendly, neighborhood McDonald’s, the class of 2020 hosted a wide variety of events; contests, chemistry shows, a modified version of Quiz Bowl, and a DJ dance battle were all on the list. In addition to these events, on AllDay Day, which was Tuesday, November 13, some teachers brought their entire
classes to McDonald’s or Nothing Bundt Cakes. 15% of the profits made by Nothing Bundt Cakes went directly to the Austin Street Center. There was also a participating Sports Clips, who donated five dollars per haircut. In addition, Arepa TX donated 10% of every meal to Austin Street Center. There were also additional chances to donate money every day. On Wednesday, November 14, 2018, Cantina Laredo donated money if people from our community dined there. On Thursday, November 15, 2018, Fish City Grill donated 15% of their profits that day including from people not directly associated with St. Mark’s. Overall, McDonald’s Week is an opportunity to give to those in need, and to get something back. The events are fun, and our community gets to give back while we’re at it. In about five years, the class of 2025 will be the ones to stand out in front of the McDonald’s and host the events. At that moment, we will know what it really means to serve.
Clubs in Middle School Clubs. Anyone can start one, and anyone can join them. Starting from this issue, this will be a constant article telling you about the most popular clubs for the sixth grade.
Magic: The Gathering™ Club/ Board Game Club In this club, members play with other people in the exciting game of Magic: The Gathering. In this card game, players use their cards to make the opponents’ health go from twenty to zero. Whoever does it first wins! Don’t have your own cards? Its okayyou can just use the cards of someone who has an extra deck. The sponsor of this club is Mr. Crews. It meets officially on Tuesdays, but you can play any day, and on Monday or on any other days if Mr. Crews isn’t here we usually meet in the Science Building.
Pickleball Club In Pickleball Club, members play the game of Pickleball. The game is essentially PingPong combined with tennis. If you have your own equipment, you should bring it, but don’t worry if you don’t have it. We have extras! The club was started by Amar Kakkar, and it is sponsored by Mr. Crews. It meets on Mondays on the tennis courts at 12:10.
Hello, St. Mark’s A boy. A bully. A well. The Newberry Award winning Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly was a breathtaking story. Although it was a relatively easy to read book, it was very descriptive and Kelly’s writing truly brought it alive. The book is about a young boy named Virgil who gets trapped in a well. It has mix of Filipino folklore and discovery. Kelly got her idea while driving in her car, just thinking about a boy trapped in a well. Later, this idea bloomed into the book Hello Universe . Erin Kelly makes this 4th grade level book an amazing read. Erin Entrada Kelly is an incredible author who has written other great books such as You Go First . In many of her books she adds aspects of her life such as her Filipino heritage. Erin has earned her MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in creative writing from Rosemont College and loves writing. She has even won a Newbery Award for Hello, Universe . Even after all of these successes, she still remembers where she came from. In elementary school, she started off writing small stories and she still has those stories to this day. Erin Entrada Kelly’s performance at St. Mark’s was a little disheartening for some. She started off with one topic and then slowly traveled through to the next without really giving us that much detail on any of her thoughts. In the end, her performance left a couple of us guessing what her book Hello Universe was even about. Even though her performance was not the greatest, she still is an excellent
writer, and her book is spectacular. She is an incredible author and Hello, Universe is a must read. She is proof that what you want to become when you grow up can be started at a young age. When asked about how she left her previous job she responded with “The Newbery brings a ton of opportunities to serve on panels (groups of authors that judge books), conferences, do school visits, I had to make a choice: Am I going to limit that and continue my fulltime job, or am I going to take the bull by the horns and go for it? This is what I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid, so I'm going to go for it.” Copyright: Across the Universe by Kara Yorio, an SLJ news director
Sports NFL ● Los Angeles Rams, New Orleans Saints, and Kansas City Chiefs have all qualified for the NFL playoffs. ● Cowboys come out of their losing streak and win 3 in a row Amari Cooper has a monster game and gets 8 receptions, 180 receiving yards, and 2 touchdowns. ● He now has the longest receiving touchdown in the entire NFL: 90 yards. ● Todd Gurley now has achieved the honorable 1,000 rushing yard mark. ● Even though Todd Gurley has 1,043 yards, rushing leader for the NFL is Dallas Homeboy Ezekiel “Feed Me” Elliott. ● Matt Ryan leads the league in passing yards with 3638 yards. ● Darius Leonard leads the league in tackles with 114 tackles. ● Julio Jones leads the league in receiving yards with 1305 yards. ● Aaron Donald leads the league in sacks with 14.5 sacks. ● Damontae Kazee leads the league in interceptions.
Soccer
● New York Red Bulls have the most points in the MLS. ● The Top 5 in Goals are 1. Josef Gonzales; 31 goals, 2. Zlatan Ibrahimovic; 22, 3. Bradley WrightPhillips; 20, 4. Mauro Manotas and Gyasi Zardes; 19. ● Sevilla leads La Liga Santander with FC Barcelona one point behind them. ● Top 3 scorers are Christian Stuani 10, Lionel Messi 9, Luis Suarez 9. ● Top 3 teams in The English Premier League are Manchester City, Liverpool, and Tottenham Hotspurs. ● Top 3 scorers are Sergio Aguero and PierreEmerick Aubameyang 8, Raheem Sterling, Eden Hazard, Mohamed Salah, Harry Kane, Aleksandar Mitrovic, and Glenn Murray with 7 goals.
NBA ● Los Angeles Clippers, Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Portland Trail Blazers, Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Lakers, and the Dallas Mavericks are the top 8 teams in the Western Conference. ● Toronto Raptors, Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Boston Celtics, Charlotte Hornets, Orlando Magic are the top 8 teams in the Eastern Conference. ● Cleveland Cavaliers are in the last place with 4 wins and 17 losses, what’s the difference no King James.
College Football
● Ohio State scores most points they have ever scored in regulation time. ● Dwayne Haskins passes Drew Brees for most touchdown passes in a season in the Big Ten. ● The Aggies beat LSU in the 7th overtime with the 2 point conversion. ● Kendrick Rogers is literally the new Odell Beckham Jr. hair, catches, everything. ● For the playoff bracket #1 Clemson plays, for the first time in forever, the #4 Alabama on the other side of the bracket #3 Oklahoma plays #4 Georgia.
College Basketball
● Duke’s starstudded starting lineup is killer going up against any team Cam Reddish, Zion Williamson, Tre Jones, RJ Barrett, and Marques Bolden. ● Top 10 for college basketball is Gonzaga, Kansas, Duke, Virginia, Nevada, Tennessee, Michigan, Auburn, Michigan State, and Kentucky.
Extras
Identify the color of the words: Yellow Blue R ed P urple G reen B lack White Brown G rey Green Yellow B lack P urple Green Red B lue P ink O range R ed Purple P ink B lue G reen Y ellow O range W hite G rey Red Green Purple B lack B rown Add a straight line to 5+5+5=550 to make it true. (You are not allowed to change the equal sign) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Bob puts a nail in a tree to mark his height. 5.71+2.117 years later, he comes back and is ten inches above the nail. Throughout the year, the tree grew at a constant rate of 1.9 inches every two weeks. Also, the tree’s trunk gets 5 inches thicker for each 20.2 inches it grows taller. There is a 12.9% chance that the tree will grow double its normal growth in just one week. 6. There is also a 41.6% chance that the tree will ignore #5 and grow normally. 7. A bug lands on the tree every time it grows 3.15 inches. 8. For every 7 bugs that land, the tree grows an extra inch.
Using the average growth for #5, how much taller is Bob, given that he cannot be taller or shorter than exactly ten inches taller than the nail?
The answer: Bob grows only ten inches. The tree only grows at the top!
Jokes, Riddles, and Puns Three doctors have a brother named George. George does not have any brothers. Who is lying? Answer: No one, the doctors are females. One day, Susan talks to her friend. Susan says, “Yesterday, I saw your twin brother, Jerry, at the movies!” However, the name of Susan’s friend is Jerry! He didn’t go to the movies. And his twin brother’s name wasn’t Jerry. Everything said here is true. How is this possible? Answer: Susan is talking to Jerry when she says “Jerry.” Jerry has a twin brother. One day, Bob tells the police that his money was stolen. He tells them: “As I was walking through the park, I was hit on the head by something. I fell to the floor, but I remained conscious. I saw the thief run away and disappear into an alley and vanish from sight. Then, I realized that my wallet looked a bit empty. I opened it and realized that the thief stole ten thousand dollars from me.” The police find three suspects who are most likely to be the thieves: Jim, Bill, and Scott. Jim says, “I was sitting on the bench minding my own business. It couldn’t be me!” Bill says, “I was playing with my dog, Rover.” Scott says, “I was waiting for work. Don’t suspect me!” The police ask Bob what the thief looked like. Bob says, “The only thing I know was that the thief was wearing a bow tie.” The police then arrest Bob. Why did they do this? Answer: Bob said that he saw a bow tie on the robber, but Bob only saw the robber running away and therefore couldn’t see a bow tie on the front of the robber.
What fourletter word can be written backwards, forwards, or upside down and still be read from left to right? Answer: The word “NOON” You are driving home, depressed that you had a bad day. You forgot breakfast, there was no time for lunch, and dinner fell off the table. Not a drop of liquid touched your lips for the past nine hours. Someone stole your wallet, which contains all of your money. Suddenly, you realize that there are three doors on the side of the road. There are no more cars out this late, so you stop and take a look. The first door has all the food you ever need. The second has all the water you ever need. The last one has all the money you ever need. Which door do you open first? Answer: Either the first or the second. You don’t need money! :(
Art Terraria
Dragon