Lights, Cookies, Action!

Lights💡, Cookies🍪, Action 🏃

By Hannah and Riva, 4-5 School News Team

We all know Christmas is a holiday of giving and receiving. This is a time where we can get to know family and friends better thus, build strong relationships. Yet, we seldom think of how others celebrate Christmas at D39C. Many families at D39C came from different parts of the world to America earlier on in their lives with diverse cultures they believe in. For this reason, many cultures celebrate Christmas, and the people who believe in these have very different celebrations during the duration of the holiday season.  

D39C News and Blog wants to find out more.

D39C Holidays❄

Christmas is a fun and important holiday to most 4-5 students at D39C. How and why do they celebrate the holidays? Many people cherish their time during Christmas with family and friends. During christmas there is not only time to spend with family and friends, there are also delicious recipes. Many recipes the 4-5 students described to us as we were interviewing them, are ordinary Christmas desserts such as cookies and gingerbread. In spite of this, there are some intriguing delicacies that grabbed our attention, such as jelly-filled cookies, jelly thumbprint cookies, and rhubarb pie.

Paris, a 7th grader said, “Christmas is important so we can celebrate Christ.” With the many people we interviewed who celebrate Christmas, many D39C students that came from other countries do not actually celebrate Christmas. Omar, a student who moved from Kuwait, (A country in the Middle East) said, “I don’t celebrate Christmas, yet there is a similar holiday called Eid. Eid is a holiday in October and September where you give gifts, eat food, and gather with family and friends.”

Riva, a 5th grade student in Mrs. Rader’s class, said, “My mom celebrates Christmas, yet there is another holiday that is like Christmas that is more important to our culture. This holiday is called Diwali. This holiday is a festival of lights. There is no date exactly because it is the alignment of the stars in the sky that tell us when the date is. People decorate all of the streets and houses with lights. They burn fire crackers and eat food. This is our family celebration.”

Many people also celebrate a holiday called Hanukkah during the holiday season. This holiday began this year on December 6th. Mrs. Rosie, a substitute for Mrs. Rader, said, “Hanukkah is a holiday that celebrates an event in history  and most people spend this with their family. This holiday marks the dedication of a temple in Jerusalem and a small group of people winning their land back from invaders. Also, when they relit the menorah in the holy temple they found a jug of olive oil. They used this to keep the candles lit for a long duration of time. They only thought the olive oil would last them 1 day but, it lasted for eight. That is the origination of the eight days of Hanukkah.”  Kailey and Ellie in the 4-5 span both celebrate Hanukkah and said they eat mainly latkes during this time.      

The majority of students that D39C News and Blog interviewed, have a good ol’ traditional Christmas. For example, setting up a tree, putting out cookies and milk out for Santa Claus, and opening presents, and spending time with families. Putting up a tree has been a Christmas tradition for many families.  Also, many families who are Catholic or Christian go to mass at a local church. Hannah and Luke 5th grade students in Mrs. Rader and Lamb’s class said, “We pick and open one present on Christmas eve.”  Many of us enjoy and believe Christmas is necessary in many ways!

D39C News and Blog have found out a lot about the holidays yet, there is more to find out! So get ready for lights, cookies, and ACTION!

How Far Are You Going?

How Far Are You Going?

By: Anjali and Meghna, 4-5 School News Team

Did you know 91.7 percent of the 4-5 grades are going on a vacation for Christmas break.

          Many 4th and 5th graders at Design39Campus are going on vacation over this Holiday Break. Where are they going and why? That is what Anjali and Meghna from the 4-5 School News Team are wondering! Time to discover how far people are going and why! Time to explore the world of vacations, come join us!

The first person we interviewed is a 5th grader at Design39Campus named Laurel McCrary. She has a tradition of going to a Hawaiian island every Christmas break. Can you guess which island she is going to this year? The hint is it starts with a K. She is going to Kauai! Kauai is the 4th largest island and stretches a wide 552 miles.

Wow!  Another 5th grader at Design39Campus is also going to Hawaii, although she is going for a different reason.  Her family wants to go because they all love activity and what this island has to offer. They thought Kauai would be a great adventure and they are so excited to go! This student stated, “I am so excited for all the new experiences the island holds!” A few activities you can do at Kauai would include swimming,snorkeling,hiking and mountain tubing.

Cole, a 5th grader at Design 39 Campus is going to Chicago,Illinois this winter break. It’s a tradition in his family to go there every winter break. They have family that lives at Chicago and they enjoy going there to visit family.They always see a movie or go sledding. Some other things that can be done there are, ice skating, go to the Lincoln Park Zoo and see the zoo lights, or you can even go to their famous art museums.

Finally, we have Izzy, a fifth grader at D39C who is going to Connecticut. Izzy loves going to Connecticut because all of her father’s side lives in Connecticut. She enjoys going to her grandmother’s house and her grandmother lives on a lake. Some activities that Izzy loves to do in Connecticut would include the following, ice skating and sledding. A few things you can do other than what Izzy likes to do would be, look around the tourist attractions like Yale university. So if you ever go to Connecticut, have fun!

          Many people love winter break to have a vacation and relax. I hope you enjoyed this article and whether you are traveling near and far always remember that the holidays are  a time to celebrate with your family and friends. Enjoy your holidays and have a Happy New Year!

DIY Holiday Ornaments

DIY Holiday Ornaments

By: Carolina Gadberry, Yulianna Galvan and Sophia Rad

 

 It’s finally the month!  What I mean by that is Christmas! Have you ever wanted to make a DIY ornament, well we’re about to show you two  really fun and easy DIY christmas ornament. Let's get started. Our first ornament is a...

Snowman Hand-print Ornament

Materials needed:

1. Ornament (color optional)

2. Paint (white, black and orange)

Steps to make it

1. Get a color ornament.

2. Take the white paint and paint the palm of your hand

3. Place painted hand onto the ornament, making a hand-print around the ornament.

4. Remove your hand slowly off of the ornament. You now have the body of the snowman.

5.  Set the ornament out to dry.

6.  When dry, use the orange paint to paint the nose of each snowmen (5 total).

8.  Use the black paint to paint on the faces and the buttons for each snowmen.

9.  Set it out to dry.

When it is done drying, you have a cute little Snowman ornament!     

 

Our next ornament is a …...      

                  

Pixie dust ornament!

Materials needed:

1. Clear ornament

2. Glitter(any color)

3. Paint Pen (any color)

Steps to make it

1.Take the clear ornament and fill it with glitter.

2. Once filled, take the paint pen and write pixie dust on the outside of the ornament.

3.Set the ornament out to dry.

When it is done drying, you have a magical Pixie Dust ornament!     

  

         

                        

  

                                                   

DIY School Supplies

DIY School Supplies

By Teagan Schirmacher And Alyssa Fousek, 4-5 School News Team

 

  Do you ever get tired of losing your pencils and pens? Well if you do, you have come to the right people to help you. We have come up with an idea. Our idea is for you kids to make a toilet paper roll pencil pouch.. It is really easy to make, so little kids can do it too. This pencil pouch could be for anyone. The materials and instructions are down below for you to start your adorable pencil pouch. Ready, Set, GO!

The first thing that you will need to do for this project is get out all of the materials. The materials that will be needed for this project are: paint, paint brushes, toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls, a hot glue gun, newspaper (or something else to cover your work surface) and scissors. You can get these supplies at any crafts store like Michaels.

1st step: Paint the toilet paper roll with whatever color paint you want.

2nd step: After painting, wait for the paint to dry. Once the paint is dry, get another piece of cardboard and cut a circle that can fit on the end of the toilet paper. 

 

3rd step: After putting on the smaller piece of cardboard, cut around the edge of it to make it fit with the toilet paper roll. Make sure that the piece of cardboard is glued on tightly.

4th Step: Next you will need to put any of the materials that you would like to keep inside of the pencil pouch.

                                           

NOW, enjoy your toilet paper roll pencil pouch!

What Sparked Design39's existence

What sparked Design39's existence  

                     By Anisha and Riya, 4-5 School news team

Have you ever wondered why Design39Campus is even the way it is?  

We all know that Design39 has a different environment than the other schools in Poway, but how was D39C even created? Was there something that caused the existence of this wonderful school?

PUSD has stated that Design39Campus is the, “first public school of it’s kind.” There is always learning going on everywhere here! From the imagination studios, to the maker spaces. In traditional schools you probably will run into a library, a lab, or maybe even a multipurpose room. Here, at D39C, we don’t have any of those! We have a Loft, instead of a library, Makeries instead of labs, and a Showcase instead of a multipurpose room. And we never run into teachers, instead we run into LEDs!  Design39 decided that teachers should be called LED’s which stands for Learning Experience Designers. Also, LEDs are a type of light, and they wanted it to be as if the LEDs are lighting up a student’s learning path.

Design39 wants kids to maximize their potential at their own learning pace. They want kids to be challenged and motivated in a small class size. In 2013, Mrs. Wrisley came to Dr. Collins, our superintendent, with the idea to reimagine traditional schools into a school where the learner was at the center.  “How would this look like? How would it work?”  With the vision in mind, Mrs. Wrisley gathered up five teachers to explore some of these questions. As soon as they got a image in their heads, they asked even more parents and educators!

We wanted to know more, so we went to Mrs. Eveleth and asked her a few questions. “Once you had got this idea in vision, how did you tell yourself it could be a real thing?” When asked this, Mrs Eveleth said, “We knew that anything could happen if we believe and let it happen. Mrs. Wrisley already had a vision of this school. So, we looked at every aspect of the design process, We took some aspects from the traditional schools like PE and asked ourselves, ‘How can we make this activity fun for kids?’”

Mrs. Eveleth and her team did not have any problems. She said that there were just boatloads of challenges! They had a challenge everyday and these became challenges mainly because during the testing and evaluation stage of the process, they didn’t have any students to see if kids would enjoy any of it. So they had to find their inner-kid, and ask themselves, “Would they really want this?” The design process continued throughout the first year. They added anything that would make the kids feel a new experience.

When Design 39 was first thought of, you can see that it took a lot of determination and belief to make, but nevertheless they stuck to it and made it happen!

Thanksgiving DIY Crafts Video

Thanksgiving DIY Crafts

By Bella and Fiona, School News Team

The Giving Tree

The Giving Tree

By Kolby Bradshaw, Bella Watson, and Lauren Medley

School News Team

Design39Campus is feeling generous this Christmas and has set up a Giving Tree. The Giving Tree is a fake tree where you take a piece of paper that has an item that a family in need requested. You can donate the item through the Welcome Center and they will help by giving it to the families that have fallen upon hard times.

The Giving Tree has items that can be purchased for everyone, including toddlers, children, and parents. Some items that were requested consists gift cards, clothing for small children, shoes, nail polish, and even microwaves!

Remember, this is all for a good cause, so come on down to the Welcome Center and lend a ‘hand’ to help those in need.  If you want to donate, just make sure you give the items to the Welcome Center before Dec. 18!

Elf on the Shelf

Elf on the Shelf

By: Cadence, School News Team

Elf on the Shelf is a popular Christmas family tradition. The elf on the shelf comes in a box sent from the North Pole. After you open the box, you read the elf on the shelf story and give your elf a name. Popular elf names are, Buddy, Elfie, Jingle, Snowflake, Chippy and so many more! Every day in December when you wake up you run around your home looking for your elf(s). Every night your elf flies to the north pole to report to Santa if you have been good or bad. You must not touch the elf or the elf will lose it’s power to fly and the elf will not be able to report to Santa and you may not get any presents! Elf watches to see if your good or bad.  I hope you look into this tradition and have an Elf of your own.

Holly-Jolly Christmas DIY’s

Holly-Jolly Christmas DIY’s

By: Cadence and Malak

Christmas!!! ‘Tis the most wonderful time of the year, therefore you MUST have astonishing decorations! Let’s get started!

Reindeer Christmas Cards! These cute cards will definitely shine their way into your heart. The things you will need to make these cards are one blank card, a brown, red, and black marker or  paint, a pen, glue, and googly eyes. First, take your blank card and write your message onto it. Next, draw or paint the shape of the reindeer heads onto your card along with the antlers. Finally glue on the googly eyes and paint the noses of your reindeers on. All that’s left to do is give this to a family member or friend. This cute card is perfect for Christmas and is pretty easy to make.

Another cool DIY is a Pine Cone Card Holder. This is a very simple idea to hold a card with just a couple of materials.

You will need a card, a pine cone, a sharp knife, and some paint if you would like it to be a specific color. First, take your knife and and cut a slit through the middle. Try not to break or crack the pine cone while doing this. Next, paint your pine cone if you would like to, then leave it out to dry. Finally, place your card into the pine cone. It the pine cone can’t stand on its own, cut the bottom so that it’s flat. This simple yet adorable creation can also be used after the holidays to hold papers so don’t just throw it out.

The last merry DIY is a Mini Christmas Tree. This delightful DIY is a Christmas present for everybody in your family. To make this you will need a pine cone, green paint, white paint, paintbrush, styrofoam, scissors, glue, gold glitter, and a miniature pot if you would like it to appear as a plant. First, paint your pine cone green. Make sure that the pine cone is completely covered, then let it dry. While the pine cone is drying, take your styrofoam and cut it into a star shape. Lightly put a sliver of glue on the star then sprinkle it with the gold glitter. Leave this out to dry too. When the pine cone is finished drying, take the white paint and only paint the edges of the “leaves”. Before you leave the pine cone out to dry, take your star and glue it onto the top. Then, wait until it dries. Finally, you have your tree. If you have a miniature pot, place your tree into it. Now place your Christmas tree wherever you would like it to be and enjoy the outcome.

Now you have three amazing, and adorable Christmas DIYs. These can be used as presents or decorations. We hope you try some of these and have a Merry Christmas!!!

Pictures Adapted From:

Reindeer Christmas Cards-http://studio5.ksl.com/index.php?sid=2217519&nid=118

Pine Cone Card Holder-jamiebrock.hubpages.com

Mini Christmas Tree-http://www.techku.com/awesome-homemade-pine-cone-christmas-tree-ornaments/awesome-homemade-pine-cone-christmas-ornament-with-pine-flower-put-in-small-pot-colored-with-green-and-white-paint/

The Fitness Test

The Fitness Test

By: Alex Nelson, Natalia Teta, and Lauren Cox, 4-5 School News Team

Are you in fifth or seventh grade, and nervous about the Fitness Test? Well here is some information about the fitness test that you should know! It starts in February and ends in April.

What is the Fitness Test?

The Fitness Test includes six areas. You will get multiple choices for 3 of 6 tests. Students will be tested on each and the best score is the one that goes to the State of California. These tests determine if you are in the Healthy Fitness Zone. You will be scored on each of the 6 fitness areas. The goal is to pass all 6 out of 6.

How Many Tests are in the Fitness Test?

• Aerobic

1. PACER (Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run)

2. One-Mile Run

• Upper Body Strength                

1. Push Ups

2. Flexed Arm Hang

• Flexibility

1. Sit and Reach

2. Shoulder Stretch

• Curl Ups
• Trunk Lift
• Body Mass Index (Height and Weight)

How Can You Keep Yourself Prepared

Here at Design 39, 4/5 grade MiM teachers have been preparing the students for the Fitness Test. Students are practicing curl ups, push ups, & trunk lifts. One day out of your MiM, the fitness teacher, Mrs. Zingg, will visit your MiM class. She will help you practice all the tests in the fitness test. Since this will only happen once in each of your MiM classes, you should practice these at home.

If you are willing to devote your time to practice at home, then feel free to practice doing 10 or more push-ups, curl-ups, and trunk lifts. Try and see how high you can get with trunk lifts. If you don’t do more than 10-12 inches for the trunk lift; don’t worry, you will still get a lot of time at MiM to do exercising.

Fitness Test Scores

To completely be in the Healthy Fitness Zone with other students of your age and gender, you will need to pass all of the 6 tests. Your results will then go to the State of California if you are in 5th or 7th grade.  

Last year, here at D39C, only 53% of our school passed 6 out of 6 tests. 26% passed 5 out of 6 tests. The fifth and seventh graders really need to step it up this year. 

“Being healthy when you’re young leads to a healthy lifestyle. The goal at D39C is to have 80% of our fifth and seventh graders pass 6 out of 6 this year.” -Mrs. Zingg.