A Webster Elementary School Publication Issue Date: November 2015

Be Proactive By: Lily Dykstra

“ Be proactive, you’re in charge! “ For the past few weeks, the school has been learning about how we can be proactive. One of our students, 3rd grader Olivia Aylsworth, showed a great way of being proactive in school. The 3rd grade vocabulary enrichment group have been learning about a website called Free Rice more information below and how it works. Olivia was proactive by making a poster to introduce the website to other people in order to help in the cause of eliminating world hunger. She made a poster to tell everyone what Free Rice is, so more people can go on the website. Olivia’s idea inspired

Mickey Mouse’s Birthday

By: Cooper Hardersen Everyone knows the mouse with big ears, red

shorts with white spots, and yellow shoes.

That is Mickey Mouse! Mickey Mouse’s birthday

is November 18, 1928. The creation of this

hilarious character was made by Walt Disney

Studios and still is their mascot. He was first

shown in a film called Steamboat Willie. A comic

strip of Mickey Mouse ran for 45 years starting

in 1930. This famous character usually appears

with Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Donald Duck, Daisy

Duck, and Goofy. The first voice actor for

Mickey Mouse was Walt Disney himself. His

second voice actor was Bret Iwan. Mickey

Mouse’s third voice actor and still the actor

today is Wayne Allwine. Mickey is one of the

most loved cartoon characters of all time and

has been going on for 88 years. Happy birthday

Mickey!

her peers and they decided to make more posters. They are hoping to inspire students to engage with Free Rice online.

Free Rice is a website where you can answer questions and help in the fight to end world hunger. You can do any subject so you are learning while playing. Whenever you get an answer correct, you give 10 grains of rice to people in need. Try freerice.com yourself today!

Spooky Story Contest

By: Maria Long

Four authors wrote their stories not knowing they were going to send chills to other people’s bones. The last few weeks the judges toiled so much over the spooky stories that shivers got the best of them! It took the judges a while to decide, but they finally decided on the winners. The winners are; Charles Malone from second grade, Addeline DeBoer from third grade, Jordan Sturdivant from fourth grade, and Ana Mamola from fifth grade. Those are the contest winners! Now a little bit about the stories.

Veteran`s Day

By: Jaiden Lovell November 11 is a very important day.

This is a day to honor all of the Veterans that served our country. On Veteran`s Day, we honor all of the the Veterans, including all of the working moms who are Veterans of a military service.

This holiday began in 1918, as Armistice Day, when the World War I allies signed an agreement with Germany to end the fighting. This agreement is called an armistice. An armistice is when opposing sides in a war agree to stop fighting for a certain amount of time. The armistice was signed by the German, French, and British representatives, at 5:00am on November 11, 1918. The armistice was signed in 1918, although the official end of World War I did not take place until the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28th, 1919. The terms of the Armistice forced Germany to surrender 1,700 airplanes, all of their submarines, 25,000 machine guns, 2,500 field guns, and 2,500 heavy guns. This made it impossible for Germany to restart a war in the future. The terms of Armistice also forced Germany to pay for the damages it caused. This debt of approximately $35 billion was only paid off in 2010. This holiday was originally called Armistice Day, although in 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a legislation so that this holiday would be called Veteran`s Day to honor Veterans of all American wars. The name was changed to

Charles Malone: The Christmas Creature Something was downstairs. Tate and Trum went to find out. There were zombies everywhere. Tate grabbed his nerf guns that go through zombies. It’s up to them to save Christmas. Will they do it? Will they save Christmas? Addeline DeBoer: Zombies There are three girls. One of them turns into a zombie because she touched something she wasn’t supposed to. The other girls go to the doctor and find out that she has been poisoned. But the other girls don’t believe that she is poisoned. Is she poisoned or not? If she is what will they do? Jordan Sturdivant: Something Scary Joe goes into a forest and finds a cabin. He hears a voice and someone is behind him. He ran away and found his dad take off a mask that he saw the person in the cabin wearing. Was it his dad that was trying to scare him? Or was it a stranger? Ana Mamola: The Mystery of Room 13 Becky has gone to Ohio and she was going to swimming but, a voice kept whispering to her. It keeps whispering the same thing over and over again about a girl. Who is this girl the voice keeps talking about? Thank you everybody for entering the spooky story contest.

Veteran`s Day, but some countries around the world call November 11 Armistice Day, while others call it Veteran`s Day or Remembrance Day.

Veteran`s is a very important holiday. During World War I, nearly 15 million people died. November 11 is a day to honor and remember all the veterans that died, or survived, serving our country. On Veteran`s Day, always remember to honor those who are serving or have served making sure our country is still standing.

FINISH THE STORY CONTEST

By: Teagan Harris and Kate Perman

It was a dark and stormy night on Harney Peak. The wind howled like a lonely wolf. The sharp needles on the pine trees were piercing Kate´s skin. She was alone and afraid. The hike on Harney Peak had been exciting until

Thanksgiving By: Megan Mann

Do you love turkey? Well then you should be thankful for that on Thanksgiving. Just like how you should be thankful for everything else in your life on Thanksgiving.This month, I decided to fill readers in on Thanksgiving, so let’s start with when it is. Thanksgiving in the USA is on the fourth Thursday in November but in Canada it is on the second

an angry mountain goat separated Kate from her family. Now, she was lost and didn’t know what to do. She franticly looked around hoping to find her family, or at least some shelter to get her through the night. Then she saw a dark, dry cave. She fell asleep. This is only the beginning of a terrifying journey through the woods. How will she survive? You choose the adventure she takes to escape the woods. To enter, write an end to the story. Put your name and grade on the paper. Then put in a box in the office near Mrs. Briggs. The box will say FINISH THE STORY CONTEST. Make sure your entry is one page or less or it won’t qualify! A few story endings will be featured in the next Webster Word. Remember, you can’t win if you don’t send it in.

NOW GO FINISH THAT STORY!

The deadline for the “Finish the Story Contest” will be on Friday, December 11th.

Monday in October; That’s earlier than Halloween! So your next question about Thanksgiving might be who celebrated Thanksgiving, and why? Well the first People to celebrate Thanksgiving was the pilgrims and Native Americans. The pilgrims and Native Americans hosted the first Thanksgiving to celebrate the first successful harvest. The pilgrims were also thankful for life after food had been scarce on the Mayflower to the point where only half survived. Now your last question might be who decided when Thanksgiving should be celebrated? Well, first George Washington declared it would be on the 4th Thursday in November, and then throughout the years Abraham Lincoln did the same thing, and so did Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 then finally in 1941, it became a law. Now when you bite into that delicious turkey, remember the hardships and the history that started our tradition.

Teacher Spotlight By: Lily Dykstra

November is here and we have another teacher for you. Last month we put the spotlight on Mrs. Jorgensen. Congrats to the people who got it right. This month, our teacher will be a tough

Scholastic Book Fair

By: Ana Mamola and Hannah Neyens

This year, Webster had it’s 10th annual Scholastic Book Fair. Hannah Neyens and Ana Mamola decided to interview the PTO representative that made this amazing Book Fair possible. We asked Beth Huizenga some questions and this is how she responded: What was your highest selling book this year? The eighth Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School What is your average amount of money you raise every year? On average, we sell about $9,000 in books and merchandise. The library receives a

one. She has 2 kids. They are both girls and their names are Sam [Samantha] and Haley. This teacher has 3 pets- 2 dogs and 1 rabbit, their names are Frisco, Marley, and Buster. She went to UNI and studied elementary education. Her favorite team is the Pittsburgh Steelers because she used to live in Pittsburgh during the years the Steelers played in the Super Bowl. This teacher has been teaching for 19 years. Her birthday is on December 29. Her favorite food is pizza, animal is elephants, and her favorite candy are Skor Bars. Some of her hobbies are bike riding and reading. She enjoys these in her free time. Something no one knows about her is that she used to be a cheerleader at UNI. So there you have it folks. Those are some facts about this month's teacher. I will put a container in the office for you to guess. The teacher will be announced in next month’s paper. Good luck to everyone!

portion of these funds back. On average, the library gets $6,000 back. Is it difficult to get all the materials that you need? No, everything comes from Scholastic or we use school materials. Are there usually a lot of volunteers for the Scholastic Book Fair? We have a group of 7 to 10 consistent volunteers, but we always need more. When did you start managing the Scholastic Book Fair? This is my third year co­chairing. My co­chair this year is Kara Wishman. Our conclusion is that we have some very dedicated workers that put a lot of time and effort into pulling off a good Book Fair. Next year, if you go to the Book Fair, think about the effort that is put in to provide the books and merchandise that you enjoy!

Contest Winners

By: Hayden Weber And Kate Perman

PRIZE PRIZES PRIZES! Remember that costume contest we had? Well, the results are in! We have our top three winners! The

prizes are: YUMMY CANDY!

1st Place: Maleficent, by Ashley Molis

November Birthday Highlight: Emma Brockman By:Katelyn Knight “ Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear…” Do you know who’s going to celebrate her 8th birthday November 20th? Take a guess. Are you stumped? Fine, I’ll tell you, Emma Brockman!

For her birthday, Emma will be going to build­a­bear, her family is coming over, she is having two birthday parties, one with her cheer friends, and one with her friends. For

2nd place: TinkerBell, by Lyla Fulton

3rd place: Jack Skellington, by Cael

Gronau

Thank you to everyone who entered!

Everyone did an amazing job! I hope you all had a great Halloween!

her birthday, she would like to get another American Girl Doll. So, remember to wish Emma a happy birthday on November 20th! “ Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Emma Brockman, happy birthday to you!”

American Education Week

By: Drew Hamilton

In case you may or not know the week of November 15-21 is a holiday!

First Grades Favorite Movies By: Kaitlyn Molis

What is your favorite movie? I asked

the first graders their favorite movies with the help of Kate Perman and Megan Mann. Here is what we found out:

Actually it’s 7 holidays. All in one week! It’s American Education Week. American Education Week is a week to celebrate public education and to honor the people who teach and help kids with their education. This week was made by the NEA (the National Education Association) and the American Legion (a group of people that help past veterans). It was 1921, the middle of World War 1, and 25% of all the army men did not have any education. The American Legion was worried about the men, and the NEA was worried about the future generations. So they came together and decided to make a holiday to celebrate and honor education and it’s workers. And then they came up with American Education Week. They sent their idea to Washington D.C., and a holiday was born! Now, 94 years later, it’s as big as ever! This is the biggest chance to highlight public education all year! Have a good American Education Week!

10. Hotel Transylvania 2 9. Inside Out 8. Beauty and the Beast 7. Descendants 6. The Lion King 5. Frozen 4. Jurassic World 3. Spongebob The Movie 2. Big Hero 6 Now last but not least first grades favorite movie

1. Star Wars! Thank you for reading my article! In the next Webster Word I will be finding out 2nd graders’ favorite animals so be sure to read the next issue!