The Denver Post • 1

CK Reporter of the WeekSneha Muthe, Highlands Ranch

Ruff ! Ruff ! Meow! Meow! Tweet! Tweet! “The Secret Life of Pets,” directed by Chris Renaud and Yarrow Cheney, was amazingly good!

Have you ever wondered what pets do when you’re not home? Well, this movie stops your wondering. Max (voiced by Louis C.K.) had the perfect life with his owner Katie (Ellie Kemper) until a big hairy dog, Duke (Eric Stonestreet), is introduced into his life .

Max is not happy! He starts doing bad things and blaming them on Duke, but revenge is sweet.

Duke separates himself and Max from the rest of the dogs and they get lost!

Problems keep coming up. As they’re running from dog catchers, Max and Duke

get help from Snowball (Kevin Hart), a cottontail rabbit who was abandoned by his magician owner and is the leader of The Flushed Pets.

Snowball leads them to the sewer that contains the base of all the abandoned animals seeking revenge from their original owners.

The moral of the movie is friendship. The movie shows it between Max, Duke and other

apartment animals in ways like, how Max and Duke save each other in diff erent situations and how Max’s

friends Gidget, Chloe, Buddy and Mel save himfrom trouble.

I saw this movie in 3D and it was defi nitely worth it. With the 3D, it makes the beginning feel like you’re riding a rollercoaster, which is awesome foryounger kids.

The pictures were so real, it made me feel like the animal was actually there in front of me.

However, seeing “The Secret Life of Pets” without 3D would still be fun: The artists captured the personality of a dog and cat really well.

I think this movie is appropriate for all ages from a couple months to 100. The theater was constantly erupting with laughter and several grownups around me kept cracking up. I also found myself laughing occasionally from little side remarks.

Before the movie starts, they also show a short fi lm of “Minions” that was hilarious!

And don’t leave immediately after the movie is done, because part way through the credits you’ll get a little something extra.

After the movie ended, all I heard was good comments from the other viewers. As dogs would say, this movie is a ball!

July 12, 2016

See beauty on the wing at Chat� eld Farms“The Butterfl ies of Chatfi eld” exhibit at the Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfi eld Farms will be

there until fall, approximately September, when the temperatures drop. But don’t wait and risk missing it!

This exhibit is a butterfl y house that contains approximately 200 butterfl ies from nine or 10 species. The week I visited was Pollinator Week, which was perfect, since butterfl ies are pollinators.The types of butterfl ies in this exhibit live only about a week or two. They are actually farm raised

and are shipped in once a week in wax envelopes with one butterfl y in each envelope. They put them in cold containers so that they will hibernate. They wake up once they arrive and

warm up.There are multiple sets of doors where you enter and exit to ensure that none of the butterfl ies get

out. You must also check your clothing and hair to ensure no butterfl ies are on you when you exit.Since the butterfl ies are farm raised, it is really important not to let them get out because they are

genetically weaker due to having been bred in captivity. Most of the butterfl ies in this exhibit are native species but some are not, which is another reason to

be careful: They don’t want to introduce new species to our environment. My favorite species of butterfl y there was the Spicebush Swallow Tail (scientifi c name papilio troilus).

This species is mostly black with blue dots around the edges and a beautiful hint of blue in the black.There were many people who visited, however, despite it being a Saturday morning, it wasn’t packed

and you could still see everything well. It is great for kids. Alex (age 5) and Zachary (age 3) Hwang from Louisville were checking out the butterfl ies when I was

there, using one of the fi eld guides that are provided to visitors to identify the butterfl ies as theywere found.

Each butterfl y has a specifi c type of plant that they like. If you are interested in having butterfl ies in your yard, you can Google what types of plants specifi c

ones like and choose those plants to infl uence which butterfl ies come to your yard. For example, monarch butterfl ies like to lay their eggs on milkweed plants.I recommend this exhibit for all ages: Everyone will love it.For details, go to http://www.botanicgardens.org/chatfi eld-farms/butterfl ies-chatfi eld

Youth-written stories that appear here also appear on

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HEY COLORADO KIDS!Visit YourHub.com/nextgen for more stories, movie reviews, school news, blogs and polls. Join the conversation today.

‘Secret Life of Pets’ unleashes laughs

photo/Tyler Vanourek

By Tyler Vanourek,13, a CK Reporter from Littleton

By Haley Deison,12, a CK Reporter from Arvada

The Denver Post • 2

Americans the most likely to die in highway accidentsIt sounds good to say that the US

lowered deaths in automobile accidents by 31 percent between 2000 and 2013.

But in the same period, 19 other wealthy nations lowered their death rates by an average of 56 percent. Spain lowered its death rate by 75 percent.

The rate of death in automobile accidents in the United States is the worst among those 20 na-tions, according to the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention.The report doesn’t simply count

traffi c deaths. An average of 90 Americans die

in automobile accidents each day, but the United States has a larger population than many other nations, so you would expect a larger number of people to show up in most comparisons.

But the report took popula-tion, number of automobiles and number of miles driven in each

country into consideration.According to researchers, the

main diff erences they found were that Americans were more apt to die in alcohol-related accidents than average, as well as in acci-dents caused by speeding.

If you’re not the driver, you may not be able to do much about those things, but Americans were third from the bottom in using their seatbelts. Everyone in the car can take care of that. photo/Jusmar

“The Inn Between” by Marina Cohen, starts out with a normal road trip. Quinn goes with her best friend, Kara, and Kara’s family to California.

Kara is moving and they have been best friends for a very long time and so, before Kara moved, the girls wanted to get in some quality time together.

While driving through the desert, they come upon a Victorian inn that houses unusual people.

The hotel is called “The Inn Between,” meaning the inn on the border of two states, but that’s not all it means.

The people that work at the hotel wear creepy smiles and all of the guests have an unusual, dark look in their eyes.

When the girls wake up the fi rst morning, Kara’s parents are missing and then, as they are looking around the hotel for them, Kara’s brother also disappears.

Kara and Quinn have to go on a wild goose chase for the parents and brother only to fi nd something else is going on.

This book made me feel like it almost betrayed me because

the description didn’t tell me at all what the end was going to be about and, because of that, it surprised me very much.

Throughout the book, the author leaves things unfi nished, making me want to keep reading to fi nd out those details. Because of that, I fi nished this book in about three hours.

Overall, the beginning of the book was great but then the end was not as good (to me), although the author still had great description throughout.

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes horror stories because the end of the book is a bit terrifying. It also made me sad because of the emotional connection that the author built up during the story.

Characters, reader � nd unexpected horrors

By Amelia McAnally,12, a CK Reporter from Aurora

“Rocket and Groot - Stranded on Planet Strip Mall” by Tom Angleberger is a hybrid novel, half pictures and half words, from Marvel.

In it, heroes Rocket and Groot, from the movie “Guard-ians of the Galaxy,” are shipwrecked on a strange, unusu-al, and annoying planet with no supplies, money, food, or water.

They do have one companion with them: Veronica, the totally awesome, super intelligent, tape dispenser who turns out to be a great friend.

Planet Strip Mall is unlike any other planet because its crust is a strip mall!

Instead of materials like methane, earth, rock, gas, fire, and water, this planet is made of stores like dry cleaners, 99 cent stores, 98 cents stores, 43 cent stores, 41 cent stores, candy stores ... you get the idea.

However, in addition to the lack of food and water, danger also existed in every single shop’s lavatory! Read the book to understand why a lavatory is dangerous (if you dare!).

The main theme of the story is escape. Obviously, Rocket and Groot are determined to leave this living hell as soon as possible.

One problem, though, is that their ship is in one of the shops and is heavily guarded by maniac robots!

The character Rocket is a bit different in this book than

his character in the movie. For example, instead of being a “blow everything up

and get out” guy, he is now a “think about it and then cleverly escape” guy.

Don’t worry, though, he still has the same cute looks and funny personality!

Groot was exactly the same, probably because all he can say is “I am Groot!”

This book has 220 pages and, as said, is 50/50 on words and pictures. This was the perfect length for the book.

The pictures do a good job of showing and describing the scenes.

It is an exciting and funny story with some twists and turns. It is really, really fast to read. I think it took me maybe an hour.

I definitely recommend this book for ages 9-12 or anyone who enjoyed the movie.

‘Guardians’ novel has adventures in store

By Jack Vanourek,10, a CK Reporter from Littleton

The Denver Post • 3

Rules: Every row across, every column down and each of the six smaller boxes must contain numerals 1,2,3,4,5 and 6, one time and one time only.

The solution to this week’s puzzle is on Page 4.

Malala Yousafzai turns 19 years old today, so our answers this week will begin with “E” for “Education.”

1. The nation where the Nile fl ows into the Mediterranean Sea

2. He was commander of Allied troops in World War II, then became the US President

3. The largest of the antelope

4. The tallest mountain in Colorado

5. Mythological woman who could only repeat what she heard others say

6. First name of the mystery-solving young hero of books by Donald J. Sobol

7. Just south of Denver, this municipality is home to Swedish Medical Center.

8. Also called a “spiny anteater,” this Australian animal is one of only four mammals that lay eggs.

9. This relative of the tomato and potato has purple skin and white fl esh and is found in many Indian and Middle Eastern dishes.

10. In Southeast Asia, a mahout is a trainer of these animals.(answers on Page Four)

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The Denver Convention Center recently hosted the 2016 ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) conference.

Over the course of a few days, many people, mostly educators, attended this large conference and went to educational sessions with guest speakers from around the world, attended workshops, visited vendor booths, and discovered new technologies in the conference playgrounds, which were hands-on areas for adults.

I had a lot of fun meeting many people, trying new things, and getting some free stuff . (Who said pigs can’t fl y? More on that at the end!)

In the ISTE Ignite sessions, guest speakers shared fi ve-minute speeches about various topics. My favorite was Al Pajek talking about helping students become “purple cows:” In other words, helping them become remarkable, based on the best-selling business book by Seth Godin.

I was also impressed with the ISTE Playgrounds which contained a variety of child-friendly technology for educators to play with.

I played with Bee-Bot robots, interactive robots for kids that teach coding.

I also met with team members from Data Force FTC #6929, a group of high school students who enjoy working with challenges related to designing, building, and programming robots in head-to-head competitions.

And I had fun learning about numbers from the “Numbers Lady,” Rebecca Klemm.

Inside the large downtown building with the Big Blue Bear were also many booths featuring everything from robots (Vex Robotics), to educational raps (Flocabulary), to touch screen computers (Impero) that will improve the future.

Other well-known tech companies there included Google, Microsoft, Sphero, Minecraft, Samsung, and Brain Pop.

Vex had robots on display that people could play with.

I tried controlling one to collect balls and put them in a basket. It was hard to master but fun to play with.

Their robotic kit for grades 4-8 is called Vex IQ, it has

more than 850 components available, and they even have a yearly international competition for it called the Vex IQ Challenge.

Flocabulary helps kids learn with videos featuring educational rapping.

I spoke with Chris Payne, who told me about their company, which is based in Brooklyn, New York. He also introduced me to one of their rappers, Dillon Maurer.

I watched one of their science videos about the food chain, and I found it to be quite entertaining, a fun way to learn, and easy to follow along with the main concepts.

Prowise, a company based in Holland, makes touchscreen computers that have very large screens with “10-points touch,” allowing up to 10 students at once to draw/tap/touch the screen.

This would be great for a classroom environment. It is a cloud-based company that integrates the computer into the screen and their software into the computer.

I found their large screens interesting to use and easy to navigate.

Finally, the free stuff at the conference - many of the company representatives were giving out free items such as fi dgets, pens, stuff ed animals (like those fl ying pigs from Get Waggle!), tasty popcorn, and my favorite, astronaut ice cream, the dehydrated type that does not need to be kept cold.

Ed Tech shows o� at ISTE Conference

By Ben Vanourek,10, a CK Reporter from Littleton

Students from Data Force FTC #6929 showed their stuff in robotic competition at the ISTE Conference Photo/Ben Vanourek

“Get Waggle,” from Triumph Learning, off ers interactive activities for ELA and Math, as well as stuff ed fl ying pig mascots. Photo/Ben Vanourek

In ancient days, Korea was known at “The Her-mit Kingdom” because it did not encourage communications with other countries.

It was invaded and taken over by Japan in 1905 and did not regain independence until World War II ended in 1945, but then was split by war into two nations.

South Korea has become quite familiar to the world as a democratic, free society with good relations with Western nations, particularly in recent years when its automobile industry has become strong.

North Korea, however, is still a “hermit,” having little to do with the rest of the world. Since the Korean War, it has been ruled by the same family and there is little freedom for its people.

Kim Jong Un, the grandson of North Korea’s fi rst leader, has focused on developing nuclear weapons in recent years.

Although he says he wants to improve the nation’s economy, most North Koreans rely on international aid for food. Hunger and poverty are large problems there.

China and Russia have ties with North Korea, but many other countries have very limited relations with the country, which only joined

the United Nations in 1991, nearly a half century after it achieved independence.

North Korean people are desperately poor, and are often forced to work there or in other countries as slaves. They can be imprisoned, tortured and even executed without fair trials.

However, those leaders and their government organizations make money dealing with other nations while their own people suff er.

Now the Treasury Department has announced that, because of their cruel treatment of North Korea’s people, Kim Jong Un and several other powerful people, as well as some organizations within the nation’s government, will no longer be allowed to do any business with American companies.

To add more force to these limitations, called “sanctions,” companies in other countries who do business with them will no longer be wel-come to do business with the United States.

Congress passed a law allowing the Treasury Department to place sanctions on Kim and oth-ers in the government, in hopes that, if they can no longer become wealthy dealing with other nations, they will ease up the human rights violations in their own country.

US cuts o� business with North Korean leaders

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un raises his Party Membership Card to vote during North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly. AP photo/KRT

The Denver Post • 4

is produced by Denver Post Educational Services

Executive Editor: Dana Plewkadplewka@denverpost.com

CK Editor: Mike Petersoncoloradokidseditor@gmail.com

We welcome your comments.

For tools to extend the learning in this feature, look under “Youth Content” at:

www.ColoradoNIE.com

eEditions of the Post arefree of charge for classroom use.Contact us for information on all

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Stories without bylines were written by the editor.

(see Page Three)

10 right - Wow!

7 right - Great!

5 right - Good

3 right - See you next time!

1. Egypt 2. Eisenhower 3. eland 4. Elbert 5. Echo 6. Encyclopedia (Brown) 7. Englewood 8. echidna 9. eggplant 10. elephant

Hot Links to Cool Sites!

NASA’s Space Placehttp://tinyurl.com/ckspace

NIE Special Reporthttp://tinyurl.com/ckniereport

Headline Geographyhttp://tinyurl.com/ckgeography

Pulse of the Planethttp://tinyurl.com/ckpulseplanet

How to become a NextGen Reporter!http://tinyurl.com/colokidsreporter

To read the sources for these storiesNorth Korea Sanctions

Highway Safety

go to http://www.tinyurl.com/ckstorylinks

Chapter Nine -- Rallying the ForcesOur story so far: General Brown’s militia panicked and ran away, and the British forces are advancing against the

remaining American defenders. Now someone has set fire to the shipyard, which was only supposed to happen if the Americans lost the battle.

“Who gave that order?” General Brown shouted, then shouted at Caleb. “You go tell them, by

thunder, that we’re not beaten yet!”Caleb raced up the slope, then past Fort

Tompkins and down to the shipyard. “Put it out! Put it out!” he shouted, but the flames were already racing through the barrels of tar and the crates of muskets.

“No order was given!” he shouted at the first officer he met, and then his eyes fell on Alex, standing a few feet from the burning building where the new ship, the General Pike was being built. They looked at each other for a moment, and Caleb turned back to the officer.

“The volunteers and regulars are holding at the drainage ditch,” he said, then added, “I come from General Brown! There was no order given to fire the shipyard!”

The man stared at the flames for a moment, then began to shout orders to start fighting the fire.

Caleb ran back down to the long ditch, where he found General Brown kneeling next to Colonel Backus, who was badly wounded. “It’s all right, sir,” he said. “They’re putting it out.”

“There, you hear, Backus?” Brown said. “Everything will be fine!” He stood and ran, ducking, back up the slope towards the fort.Caleb stayed near the colonel, whose face looked gray as he lay on the ground, waiting

for the men with the stretcher to finish binding his wound and lift him onto it. “It was just a mistake,” Caleb said. “Someone made a mistake. They’re putting the fire out.” Colonel Backus moved his lips, but no words came out, and he just nodded his head

slightly.Six mounted dragoons charged past from the fort down to the woods at the edge of the

field, with General Brown running behind them. Caleb joined him, and, as the mounted men reached the forest, they began to shout, “Hurrah! Hurrah! They’re retreating!”

Caleb looked back. The Americans had left the ditch and were ducking into the log barracks as the British began to move forward again. Now that they were in range, the smaller cannons of Fort Tompkins joined Big Sow in firing at the British, but most of the fighting was being done with bullets and bayonets.

Still, the dragoons shouted joyfully about victory, and, as they celebrated, militia men began coming out of the woods. Most still had their guns and, before they realized the battle had not ended, General Brown formed them up into a line, informed them that they would be shot if they deserted again, and led them back into the fighting.

And now the Americans got lucky: When the British commander saw those 300 men coming towards the battlefield, he mistook them for fresh troops and decided their arrival would tip the balance against him. Retreat was suddenly sounded and the redcoats ran down to the shore, piled into their boats and made for their ships.

By evening, the British were gone and clean-up had begun. There were wounded to be treated, dead to be buried, and the remainder of the fire to be extinguished. The blaze had destroyed a half million dollars worth of supplies, but the General Pike, its wood still green, was only slightly scorched.

Caleb and Alex joined one of the burial parties. It was grim work, but the men all thought about their own families, and it wasn’t hard to feel they were doing something important.

They worked together in the small cemetery, Alex for once keeping up with Caleb, but neither of them speaking as the day faded into a gray, damp dusk.

Finally Alex paused, wiping his brow and planting his shovel in the bottom of the grave they were digging.

“I didn’t give that order,” he said.“I know,” Caleb said. “It came from the ship. They had lookouts watching the battle.

Somebody panicked.”“I would have, though. I was sure we’d lost.”“We were all scared,” Caleb said. “You’re not the only one who ran.”“You didn’t,” Alex said, and now Caleb jabbed his own shovel into the ground to rest for a

moment.“Maybe I was too scared to run,” he said. “Maybe, next time, you’ll stick and I’ll bolt.”“There won’t be a ‘next time,’” Alex replied. “I’m going home tomorrow.”Caleb still didn’t say anything, and Alex went on.“You’ve covered for me since we were kids, Caleb,” he said. “But you’ve found a home and I

don’t want to mess that up for you. We both know I don’t belong here.”Caleb wiped his brow and looked around the cemetery at the fresh graves and, beyond

them, to the torn-up grounds that had been the battlefield just a few hours before. He wanted to argue, but he knew Alex was right. “I’ve got a letter you can take to Ma,” he said. “I’ve saved up a little money you can take to

her, too.”Three days later, the fleet returned and General Brown went home to Brownville, taking

Colonel Backus with him. Caleb rode with them in the carriage and stayed to act as an aide to the General.

A few days later, Colonel Backus died of his wounds.

by Mike Peterson, c. 2012 - illustrated by Christopher Baldwin, c. 2012

For a teaching guide, go to http://tinyurl.com/ckserial

Freehand

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