By: Avital Nozic

In November, Thomas

Jefferson Middle

School’s seventh grade

went to the Fair Lawn

High School, along

with Memorial Middle

School, Glen Rock

Middle School, and

Paramus Middle

School, to see Lizzie

Sider perform. The day

before, Thomas Jeffer-

son’s sixth graders went

on the same trip to watch

Lizzie Sider. In addition,

fifth graders attended the

same trip two days before

the seventh grade. The

event incorporated several

fun and entertaining parts,

as Lizzie would sing and

dance for her audience.

However, she also

conveyed a very

significant message that

day: Keep climbing. There

will be struggles and there

will be pain, but as Lizzie

Sider has said, “there will

always be light at the end.”

You just need to find

yours. After the perfor-

mance and conversation,

students had an opportuni-

ty to meet Lizzie in person

and get an autograph or

picture.

Volume 5, Issue 1

2018-2019

THOMAS JEFFERSON MIDDLE SCHOOL NEWSPAPER

By Katie Bazela & Christina

Hemsley

The Addams Family is a play

which revolves around plans made

by Wednesday Addams.

“In the kooky, upside-down world

of the Addams Family, to be sad

is to be happy, to feel pain is to

feel joy, and death and suffering

are the stuff of their dreams.

Nonetheless, this quirky family

still has to deal with many of the

same challenges faced by any

other family, and the spooki-

est nightmare faced by every

family creates the thing all

parents are scared of: the Ad-

dams kids are growing up.

The Addamses have lived by

their unique values for hun-

dreds of years and Gomez and

Morticia, the father and mother

of the clan, would be only too

continued on page 2

Lizzie Sider in Fair Lawn

Drama

Tj happenings

BRINGING YOU NEWS FROM ACROSS THE HALL, ACROSS TOWN, & ACROSS

THE WORLD.

It was a very entertaining day for

the seventh through fifth grades,

to listen to music as well as a

time for students to see a new

perspective on life. Seventh,

sixth, and fifth graders heard

Lizzie Sider sing her well -

known song “Butterfly” but also

understand that there is never a

reason to give up hope.

P A G E 2

The Addams Family Cast/

Understudies:

Morticia Addams-Madison

Haug/Giana Ingrati

Gomez Addams– Chase Rosen-

blum/Alexey Baranov

Uncle Fester- Alexey Baranov/

Simon Szotak

Wednesday Addams- Prema

Maringanti/Ariel Alania

Pugsley Addams- Joshua Bach/

Donavin Perez

Grandma- Audrey Naples/Jacey

Angerson

Lurch- Owen Abrams/Natan

Tsyrlin

Mal Beinecke- Simon Szotak/

Sam Kagan

Alice Beinecke- Giana Ingrati/

Katie Bazela

Lucas Beinecke- Assaf Izhar/

Jorden Patino

Cousin It- Donavin Perez/Mia

Marchan

Ancestors-Ensemble (6th, 7th,

and 8th graders)

more photos on page 6

happy to continue living that

way. Their dark, macabre, be-

loved daughter Wednesday,

however, is now an eighteen

year-old young woman who is

ready for a life of her own. She

has fallen in love with Lucas

Beineke, a sweet, smart boy

from a normal, respectable Ohio

family — the most un-Addams

sounding person one could be!

And to make matters worse, she

has invited the Beinekes to their

home for dinner. In one fateful,

hilarious night, secrets are dis-

closed, relationships are tested,

and the Addams family must

face up to the one horrible thing

they’ve managed to avoid for

generations: change.”

-stageagent.com

Drama continued from page 1

Lizzie Sider continued from page 1

Now, let’s move on to 2018

hurricane season. In September,

Hurricane Florence crushed

the Carolinas with buckets of

rain, and in October,

Hurricane Michael devastated

Florida, Georgia, Virginia, and

yet again, the Carolinas.

A hurricane even hit Portugal!

(Seeing a hurricane hitting

Portugal is as rare as

seeing a camel walk down

Morlot Avenue).

So what makes a

hurricane so deadly?

Hurricanes bring three

main components. Wind is

the one that most people

think of when they think of

hurricanes. Wind can greatly

impact a region. In fact, on

vacation, I got a chance to see

hurricane damage on the

island on Tortola. The

devastation was

unimaginable. Roofs were

torn off houses but

reconstruction was underway.

Rain is another factor that can

make a hurricane have more

or less impact. Finally, storm

surge, or really high waves

because of the storm, can

wipe out beaches, but won’t

impact inland areas like Fair

Lawn.

There are many things you can

do to prepare for hurricane

season. First off, you should plan

By: Jonathan Murray

Over the past few years, the

planet has been experiencing a

global phenomenon. I am talking

about hurricanes continuing to

get stronger. The world has seen

a rise in the strength of

hurricanes over the past few

years.

Hurricane Harvey made landfall

on August 25th of 2017. This

storm dropped massive amounts

of rainfall in Texas and

Louisiana, with totals nearing

four or five feet for some areas.

Not even a month later, there

was Hurricane Irma. Irma

reached a mind boggling 185

miles per hour wind speed

before hitting Florida on

September 10th with 130 miles

per hour wind speed. Finally, on

September 20th, Hurricane

Maria crushed Puerto Rico. The

island has been almost

uninhabitable in some spots

since. Puerto Rico has never

seen such a strong hurricane and

is currently rebuilding.

an emergency route. Know

where you would go in the event

of an emergency. Secondly, have

non-perishable emergency items

such as batteries and candles.

Lastly, make sure to make

copies of all your important

documents. That’s all folks!

P A G E 3

Hurricanes

V O L U M E 5 , I S S U E 1

By: Michael Vornovitsky

Elon Musk was born on June 28,

1971 in Pretoria, South Africa.

He is the co-founder and CEO of

Tesla, the co-founder, CEO, and

lead designer of SpaceX, the

CEO of Neuralink, and the

founder and CEO of The Boring

Company. You may not know

this, but he has done a lot to

make our lives better and he has

bigger plans for the future.

On December 18, 2018, Elon

Musk’s Boring Company opened

a test tunnel as part of a larger

plan to help alleviate traffic. In

this plan, a car would be

lowered into the the tunnel by an

elevator. According to BBC

News, it would then be “slotted

into tracks on the ‘loop’.”

According to BBC News, Elon

Musk wants electric cars to be

able to travel through the

tunnel at speeds of 150 mph and

hopes to have a complete net-

work of tunnels by 2028, even

though it only reached about 50

mph in

the test

tunnel.

The

current

proto-

type

tunnel

is located in Los Angeles and is

about a mile long.

According to Musk, there would

be “main arteries that are

travelling at 150 mph and when

you want to go to an exit, you

will have an off ramp.” He said

were able to land safely at

Landing Zones 1 and 2, but the

central core, which was

supposed to land on the drone

ship Of Course I Still Love You,

but instead

plunged

into the

ocean after

running

out of

propellant.

This

matters

because

SpaceX’s

rockets are

reducing

the cost of

space travel. According to the

United Launch Alliance (ULA)’s

Rocket Builder website, an Atlas

V 551 (a 5m fairing, 5 boosters,

and 1 Centaur engine on the

second stage) costs about 180

million dollars and, according to

the ULA, has a payload capacity

of 41,570 lbs to Low Earth Orbit

(LEO). On the other hand,

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has a payload

capacity of 50,265 lbs to LEO

and costs just 62 million dollars

(this is in a fully expendable

configuration).

Overall, Elon Musk, has done

many things to improve our

lives, and continues to find way

to reduce traffic and make the

cost of space travel just one third

of what it was!

P A G E 4

that the tunnel was built by the

Boring Company for just ten

million dollars, even though a

tunnel built with traditional

technologies would have cost up

to

one billion dollars.

On February 6th, 2018, SpaceX

launched their Falcon Heavy

rocket for the first time with an

unusual payload. The rocket was

carrying Elon Musk’s red Tesla

Roadster which was playing

David Bowie’s song “Space

Oddity” with a mannequin

named

Starman.

According to

WIRED, “it

planned to

chase Mars

around the

sun, sharing

the same

orbit—forever approaching the

red planet, but never actually

reaching it. In the end, the

Roadster slightly overshot its

trajectory, so it will instead head

toward the asteroid belt.” The

Falcon Heavy’s two boosters

The rocket was carrying Elon Musk’s red

Tesla Roadster which was playing David

Bowie’s song “Space Oddity” with a

mannequin named Starman.

Elon Musk’s Plans for the Future

P A G E 5 V O L U M E 5 , I S S U E 1

Our Favorite Disney Movies

By: Trinity Patlori and Samantha Gauthier

Over the course of several weeks, we interviewed twenty-five students from TJ on their favorite Disney

movie. While many of our results were repeated answers, we were surprised by the variety of different

movies among our fellow peers. According to the outcomes, we found that certain movies are more

popular than others. For instance, Incredibles 2, Moana, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and

Cinderella were all answers that were favorites among our age group.

By Reilly Guy

Several sixth and seventh grade

teachers were interviewed to

discover what profession, other

than teaching, they are

interested in.

Here are the results!

6th Grade

Mr. Trento- 6th grade math

teacher- Pro Musician or Screen-

play writer- “I have always been

into writing scripts . . . I also

Mrs. Taormina- 7th grade social

studies teacher- Work in theater-

“I would work backstage or even

on stage. I even help out with

my local community theater

sometimes.”

Mr. Geib- 7th grade social stud-

ies teacher- Political campaign

manager- “I find it interesting

and I would like to help some-

one become president.”

P A G E 6

play the guitar.”

Mr. Altorfer- 6th grade science

teacher- Park Ranger- “I love the

outdoors.”

Mrs. Goldberg- 6th grade sci-

ence teacher- Veterinarian- “I

really love animals and like car-

ing for them.”

7th Grade

Ms. Forsythe- 7th grade science

teacher- Chef- “I would definite-

ly be a chef.”

Teacher 411 : If You Can Have Any Other

Profession, What Would It Be?

The Addams family play

pand our area into the grass and

make it larger. Five people said

that we don't need the extra

space and “The Jail Yard” is fine

as it is.

When speaking with the

20 students, several points were

brought up. One argument that

continually came up was the fact

that the school will change any-

way with the fifth grade coming.

Some students wondered why

bother; what’s the fuss? To

counter that point, we need an

appropriate recess space for

students. We should care today

because it is our recess time.

Another argument is that the

recess time is short, and it would

be more difficult for the lunch

aids to get the attention of the

kids playing in the grass. There

is a very easy solution to this

though; we spread out the lunch

aids. They could still communi-

cate with each other through the

walkie-talkie. Another person

also argued that the grass will

get wet and slippery and become

a tripping hazard. We could

By: Kate Garval

Thomas Jefferson Middle School.

It’s the place we call home for six

hours a day, five days a week, nine

months a year. Our school is just

like any other school. There are

nine periods a day, nice teachers,

and a recess period. However, there

is one difference. Our recess is

spent in a place the kids refer to as

“The Jail Yard”. The reason for

that? It is a fenced in area with no

grass, a few tables with benches,

and some slightly bad basketball

hoops. It is basically your quintes-

sential jail yard. So I took a poll. I

asked 20 7th graders whether they

wanted the school to expand and

reorganize “The Jail Yard”. Fifteen

people said that we needed to ex-

solve this by having blacktop

recess, where the students can’t

go into the grass when the

ground is dangerous.

It is apparent that there

are a lot of opinions when it

comes to this area. However,

there is one big announcement

that we can share today. The

“Jail Yard” will be disappear-

ing! Yes! Since the addition of

new classrooms will go into the

teachers’ parking, they have to

move the parking area further to

the back. Mr. Weaver told me all

of this when I interviewed him

in March. He explained that be-

cause of how much space will be

used for new construction, we

will have to expand recess into

the grass. Finally! Not only that

but people aren't forced to be

outside anymore. If they want to

stay in, they are allowed to. Al-

so, Mr. Weaver is trying to make

it so that there are no assigned

seats, so you can sit anywhere

you want.

Continued on page 8

P A G E 7

Say Goodbye to the Jail Yard!

We should expand and

add more tables and

flowers or something to

make it more fun and

amusing for students

before school, during

lunch, and special

events.

5 said no- their arguments–

centered around the

following:

There is already enough

space and it will cost a

lot of money for some-

thing unnecessary.

It is pointless because

we don’t spend a lot of

time on the black top so

it wouldn’t be necessary.

construction for the new

fifth grade will change

everything anyway.

By Reilly Guy

25 8th grade students were

interviewed

20 said yes- their arguments

centered around the

following points:

We need more room,

especially for walk-a-

thon and special events

to fit everyone.

Should the blacktop be expanded?

P A G E 8

Our school community came

together to raise over $7,000

Tj cares volleyball

tournament

February 15th was Thomas Jefferson's Annual TJ cares event.

Each year, the event raises money for a charity of choice.

This year, the recipient was Fair Lawn's Opportunity Center,

a year round day program for adults with developmental

disabilities. Events included a parent-teacher-student

volleyball night and an in-school TJ Cares volleyball

tournament. With over 55 teams participating, and a large

amount of donations, our school community came together to

raise over $7,000 for this amazing program. The physical

education staff would like to thank everyone who donated,

participated, attended and ultimately helped make these

events a success!

Also a shout out to this years winners!

6th grade: TBH

7th grade: Aces

8th grade: The Big Doors.

In the interview, Mr. Weaver told me a story that

happened to him. He was at the doctor and when his

nurse asked him what his job was, he told her a princi-

pal. She then asked what town, and he said Fair Lawn.

Surprisingly she was also from Fair Lawn and her kids

had gone to T.J. She also said that when she drove past

the school, every time she would be disgusted by the

terrible “Jail Yard”. So, that gave him even more moti-

vation to improve this dreaded space. Even though by

the time these changes happen I will be in the high

school, it still makes me happy to think that other kids

will get to have a fun recess, so that is all, until next

year. T.J. out.

Recess continued from page 7

getting involved, unlike all the

odd experimental pieces of the

past that sound like they come

straight off lead singer Thom

Yorke’s own solo albums.

However, the intricacy and

delicacy of their previous work

is still their, with each element

playing a vital role.

“15 Step” slowly fades away

into the aggressiveness that is

“Body Snatchers”. The song

angrily builds to a climax to end

all climaxes. Slowly the song

fades into the warm strings and

sweet vocals of fan favorite

“Nude”. Yorke’s haunting

falsetto delicately wafts over the

orchestral backdrop.

At first it was unknown whether

the song would ever make it

onto an album, with it appearing

in some live shows here and

there. But it did, and the studio

version is amazing. Yorke’s

vocals shine once again, flowing

and almost becoming one with

the strings section at some

points. The strings give a

warmer atmosphere, and the

quiet, pretty guitar line

hangs around in the back of

the track.

Another fan favorite,

“Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”,

follows “Nude”. Once again

the arpeggios give one a

slightly dizzy, euphoric

feeling. “In the deepest

ocean, in the bottom of the

By Ulee Koslow

When Radiohead ended their

contract with EMI after releas-

ing Hail to the Thief, it appeared

as though they had reached the

end of their six album creative

streak. After having reinvented

themselves each album, some

2006 live releases seemed to

hint that they wouldn’t be

pushing themselves much

further. But then In Rainbows

was announced.

It had none of the crazy

elaborate marketing of preceding

albums. It was simply

announced, and that was that.

Apart from its unique pay-what-

you-want system its release was

not notable in any way. Every

Radiohead fan was repaired for

what would likely be a decline in

the bands activity. It would

become a side project,

something separate from the

band members solo careers. But

despite all this, the album is

likely their best so far.

The album embraces much

warmer and accessible tones

then its predecessors, but fails in

no way when it comes to

creativity. When you first start

the album and hear the dizzying

drums and Jonny Greenwood's

lively guitar line it immediately

strikes as you as different. It

immediately strikes you as a

Radiohead song. This first song,

“15 Step”, shows the band being

a band, with all five people

sea, your eyes.” The next song,

“All I Need”, which starts out

simply consisting of a small bit

of bass and minimal drums,

slowly evolves into an epic,

crashing finale. Late in the

album, the song “Reckoner”

features a backdrop of clanging

percussion and a looping guitar

line, upon which sits Thom

Yorke’s vocals and, yet again,

the orchestral section.

As the album draws to a close,

we arrive at the final song,

“Videotape”. A syncopated

piano accompany minimal

percussion and a small bassline.

It almost feels like Thom Yorke

and his piano are locked in a

rhythmic battle with the

percussion. For most of the song

it seems as though it is going to

build to a climax, but, in a

welcome change of form, it does

not. The beat is working against

the melody here, but Thom

Yorke continues to sing, “You

are my center when I spin

away/Out of control on

videotape.”

P A G E 9

Review of Radiohead’s Album in Rainbows

V O L U M E 5 , I S S U E 1

By Kiernan Anderson

Wow, look! A game from the

90’s! Bet you didn’t expect that

on a school newspaper. Donkey

Kong Country is a 2D

platformer for the Super Ninten-

do that blew everyone’s minds

when it came out in 1994. These

3D-looking graphics were

thought to be impossible on the

system, until the developers

from the UK, Rareware, used 3D

rendering software used

generally for movies, and

transferred them into the Super

Nintendo, pushing the console

way past what it was originally

thought to be capable of. When

the game was released, it was

met with critical acclaim, and for

a short time, Donkey Kong took

the spotlight as Nintendo’s

mascot, instead of Mario. Was

this praise deserved? Or was this

just because the beautiful look of

the game made people flock to it

immediately? Let’s find out!

The game opens with DK

bursting out of his home.

Immediately you can tell what

this game is about, a 2D

platformer that has this sort of

flow to the levels with plenty of

secrets to find. You can go back

into DK’s house and find an

extra life, you can go into a cave

in the back and find out that

DK’s banana hoard has been

stolen by King. K. Rool, who is

the king of the kremlings (these

crocodile looking things that

stand on two feet), you can jump

onto the trees that look like

bad.

In every world, you can find

other members of the DK fami-

ly. There is Cranky Kong who is

said to be the original DK from

the arcade game, and the Don-

key Kong you are playing as is

his grandson. There is Candy

Kong who will let you save your

game. Finally, Funky Kong, who

is the funkiest of them all, and

my personal favorite. He lets

you travel to previous worlds

you have visited. Then there's

the soundtrack. It’s absolutely

beautiful! It was composed by

the legendary David Wise and is

an absolute blast to listen to!

One of the big reasons David

Wise’s music is so brilliant is the

fact that a lot of the tracks start

out slow and extremely quiet,

but then build up to become

louder and bigger and then truly

show how amazing they are. I

recommend going on youtube

and listening to it all, heck, I

recommend you get the game

right now!

It isn’t out for too many con-

sole’s people own. It’s out on

Nintendo 3DS and Wii U Virtual

Console, the Super Nintendo

Classic, or on the original Super

Nintendo.

Overall, just play this game

as well as the sequels and see

what I see in this outstanding

series. It’s a fantastic time that

controls great, plays wonderful-

ly, looks great even for today,

and is just overall amazing.

P A G E 1 0

background objects but are

actually interactable and you can

skip parts of the level by doing

this. There are so many more

secrets in just the first level!

This is one of the many reasons

why I love this game. The

platforming is rich, and if you

get to know the level design, you

can breeze through it and create

this true flow to the levels.

In this game there is DK’s

cousin, Diddy Kong, who is

superior to DK. He runs faster,

he throws barrels faster, he rolls

longer, so when you try to roll

into multiple enemies at once,

the timing to roll is less strict.

He is just a better character than

DK all around. When you take a

hit, you lose the character you

were playing, so if you ever get

hit, you end up playing as DK.

You know that we are on the

topic of getting hurt, let’s dis-

cuss the difficulty of this game.

The difficulty is well, difficult.

It’s not the toughest game ever,

but it can be a challenge. Despite

my love for this game, I can’t

defend… world 5. It’s not

terrible, but more than half the

levels are filled with off-camera

enemies that can kill you easily,

considering you lose either DK

or Diddy in one hit. If you lose

the other character you die. It’s

the cheap kind of difficulty that

is going to get you a few times

and is just unfair. This can make

for some frustrating moments. It

does pick up in world six

though, so at least it doesn’t end

(Super Nintendo 1994 Game Review)

play basketball. I knew that he

loved the sport, and he even

managed to have a basketball

with him on the Europe trip and

was able to "pick up a game" in

Barcelona with the local boys. I

told him that he should do both

,and that it could work out. He

did in fact continue to do both

and when he was a senior he

asked that "Madame Blair" be

asked to wait for him after the

show was over. I always try to

go see my former students in the

H.S. productions. I did remain

and he proceeded to tell me that

I made a difference in his life

and that because of "me", he was

able to pursue both passions and

he wanted to thank me. That was

a defining moment and was a

memory that I will always

cherish!

MS. NAIK

How long have you worked at

T.J?

Including my first 2 years of my

voluntary services, I have

worked 22 years at T.J

Plus, 5 years of voluntary

services at Warren Point with

Mrs. Lesser.

What is your favorite part about

working her at T.J?

Meeting, greeting and working

with wonderful students and

staff of T.J is my favorite part at

T.J. Also, working with Ms.

Collins, Mrs. Murray and Mrs.

Parkinson all these years have

Madame Blair and Ms. Naik were

deservedly acknowledged as this

year’s Teachers of the Year. We

asked about this experience.

MADAME BLAIR:

How long have you worked in

TJ?

I started in September of 2000.

What is your favorite part about

working here at TJ?

I would have to say my

colleagues and my students.

What was your initial thought

when you heard your name an-

nounced for Teacher of the Year?

I was shocked! I was writing on

the whiteboard, with my back

turned to the students and heard

my name. The students were

cheering and I started to get teary

eyed and tried to keep it together!

What is your favorite memory at

TJ so far?

This is a difficult one to answer

because I've been here so long. I

love hearing back from my former

students. It means so much to

hear that I might have touched

their lives or made a difference.

Not just with the language in-

struction, but with the personal

aspects. I'll try not to be too

"wordy". For example, one 8th

grade student was staying after

school for extra help and we were

talking about how great he was in

the school plays at TJ. I asked

him if he was going to continue at

the H.S. and he said that he

couldn't because he wanted to

P A G E 1 1

been a wonderful

experience. They have taught me

so much that I would not have

been able to learn on my own.

What was your initial thought

when you heard your name

announced for teacher of the year?

I was shelving books when I heard

my name announced as,

Educational Specialist of the Year

Award. My initial reaction was,

“Why was my name announced” I

could not believe what I

heard. Ms. Collins stood up and

said “Yay!! Did you hear your

name?” She gave me a very very

big hug. I had tears in my eyes. I

cannot explain how I felt but it

really meant a world to me.

What is your favorite memory so

far at T.J?

T.J. has been part of my life for

22 years. The wonderful stu-

dents, staff and the very

environment of T.J. will be my

lasting memories.

Both of these amazing women

are appreciated for all they give

to the TJ community. They are

always seen with a smile and an

enthusiasm that makes each day

a little brighter.

V O L U M E 5 , I S S U E 1

Tj Teachers of the year!