The Bobcat's Meow

New Magazines

2010-10-25T07:41:00.000-04:00

Hello Bobcat's Meow Fans!

Our blog will be taking on a new look in a new place very soon. We will be branching out into two blogs called Shout! which will be news and events at GBS from an 8th grade perspective, and Game Face, which will be all about active kids at GBS and what they do.

We're in the planning stages of those blogs right now, but we hope to launch them both ASAP! Stay tuned!

SEE YOU IN THE FALL!

2010-06-22T10:17:00.002-04:00

HAVE FUN AND BE SAFE THIS SUMMER!

Marvelous Mariposa

2010-06-17T08:28:00.001-04:00

By: Matt Davis

On Thursday June 10^th, Mrs. Blanchette's and Mrs. Ripley's classes headed off to the Mariposa Museum in Peterborough. The 6^th grade went to the Mariposa to learn about the history of our area and South America.

Ms. Cullinan was telling me some info on the Mariposa and this is what I got. A lady named Linda Marsella went all around the world picking up artifacts. Linda Marsella loved kids, she traveled all around the world just for kids to learn and respect other cultures. On January 1^st 2001 David Blair and Linda Marsella built the Mariposa. It was finally done and open by January 1^st 2002.

Our grade learned about South America. There is almost a whole floor with folkart and artifacts from South America. The Mariposa is very hands on. For example, there is a sign that reads, “Please try on costumes!”. There are also a ton of puppets to go along with the costumes. The most hands on part of the museum is the instruments. The have hundreds!

That's all have to say about the Mariposa.

Summer Vacation

2010-06-16T12:07:00.008-04:00

By Emma Kendall & Julia Cooper

Summer vacation is finally here! Places to go, people to see, things to do... We asked lots of people what they are going to be doing over vacation. Here is what they had to say...

Ashley Ruston said " I am going to MA to visit my Gram's cottage."

"I am going to Maine to hangout with the pigeons!" Anonymous exclaimed.

Another kid said, "My dad is planing a secret vacation for us [ our family ] ."

"I hope to visit my new nephew in Florida, go to Chicago with my daughter, and visit the beaches of Maine, " Mrs. Ketchum replied.

Reilly McCarty told us "I am going to field hockey camp, working with my dad, camping, going to Maine, going to Hampton, and hanging with Ivy and friends."

"[I'm] hanging with her best friend Reilly, camping, going to Hampton," Ivy B. said.

Lexie also said, ''I am going camping, going to Hampton and Maine."

"I am going to Boston then flying to LAX then to Sidney Australia then to Brisbane Australia then to the Australia Zoo, then back again for my make a wish!" Julia Cooper exclaimed.

''I'm going crazy,'' exclaimed Mr. Ketchum.

Chelsea B replied, ''I am going to Maine and Pennsylvania."

"I am riding four wheelers and dirt bikes,'' said Jeffery P.

Collin B. stated, ''I am going camping in Maine."

''My mom is doing Days of Summer [Camp at the Rec] so I am doing that,'' commented Carly S.

''I am going camping and horse back riding camp for 2 weeks'' said Brianna L.

Hannah F. stated, '' I am going to Florida for 2 weeks''.

Cameron said, '' I am having a friend come from far away''.

''I am going to sleep in late,'' replied Zoey.

Emma said, ''I am going to Maine, Vermont, and horse back riding camp.''

Well we got lots of replies on where people are going. From all of the people we have heard from, Julia is going the farthest. The closest place people are going is their home. What ever you do this summer have fun doing it!

Hope you have fun in the sun!

Summer Fun

2010-06-15T09:41:00.001-04:00

by Andrew Hunt

What do you like to do during the summer? Well, there are many things that you can do. There's biking, swimming, and roller hockey. Those are just a few out of the dozens that you can pick. I think that all of the summer sports are fun so you should try some too. Colin, a 5^th grader, says “ I like to swim and go on bike rides.”

Do you get bored during the summer? Then you should go for a bike ride. Biking is a great way to get out of the house away from all distractions. If you don't like biking, you could get a pair of roller skates and roller skate around for a little. It may be hard at first, but it is also fun to try out. Cameron, a student here, said “I like swimming because if it's a hot day, you can cool off.”

Don't like the sports we just mentioned? Then try taking a walk. It's fun to see all the different things that are outside. You can see birds flying above your head and hear woodpeckers hitting trees. Mrs. Gnade, a teacher at GBS, says “Hiking is my favorite thing over the summer because I like being outside in nature.”

Anything there that interests you? Then try it when you have time over the summer. I heard it's going to be great.

We Can't Be Silent About Silent Movies!

2010-06-15T09:24:00.004-04:00

By Colin Brinkley

Do you like movies? I am sure you said yes, but how about SILENT movies? If you're in E.L.P, than you had a free ticket to see Buster Keaton and other people in 3 funny, old movies that are silent, with music by Jeff Rapsis! We watched Lizzies of the Field, Mooney Mariner and the last is Cops. Hope you were able to come 7^th and 8^th block on Monday, May 24^th!

So, who is Buster Keaton anyways? Buster Keaton was an old actor who was famous back in his days. He was born on October 4^th, 1895 and died on February 1^st, 1966. So that means he was 70 years old! Buster Keaton was married 3 times. He was married to Nataline Talmadge (1921-1932), then Mae Scriven (1933- 1936) and Eleanor Norris (1940-1966). He was acting from 1898–1966. So he was a actor around the age of 3 until around 68. Thats around 65 years!

Now, lets see who Harold Lloyd is! We didn't get to see Harold Lloyd, be he was famous, too. Harold Lloyd was like Buster Keaton, a old actor who was famous a long time ago. He was born on April 20^th, 1893 and passed away on March 8^th, 1971. So that means he lived to be 77, and would be 117 if he was still alive! He was married to Mildrid Davis from 1923, February 10^th – 1969, August 18^th, sadly her death. Harold Lloyd was an actor from 1913-1969, exactly 50 years! He also got the “1953 Lifetime Achievement”!

We know who our actors and performers are, so how what did people think about the movies?

“Very fun and interesting” said Andrew Hunt, a member of E.L.P. Magazine.

“Good sound affects, and basically, the actors faces told the story.” said Arielle Garner, another member of Magazine.

So movies, quiet and loud, all came from the silent movies, which are all # 1!

When Students Fly

2010-06-10T09:04:00.002-04:00

by Emmasae Hallen

Students flying? Do they have wings? No..... Do they have jets? No...... Do they have Mr. Bolduc to teach them to fly a plane? YES!

Aviation Club, which is run by the fantastic Mr. Bolduc, it is almost over and there is only one more meeting to go, June 15th. Mr. Bolduc wants to set up a field trip for the club to go to a Young Eagles meet sometime this month.

What is Young Eagles? Young Eagles is a program that if you are between the ages of 8 and 17 years old, wants to offer you the chance of the lifetime. Learn more at http://www.youngeagles.org

Did you know that Aviation club is open to ALL kids.?The club has had kids that were home schooled and even kids is 3rd and 4th grade. This year he has one 5th grader, three 6th graders, one 7th grader and three 8th graders. “They can come when they want,” Mr. Bolduc said, “I know they have sports and things so if they can't make it than thats fine with me.”

Aviation Club introduces the principles of flight, and puts students in the cockpit with Microsoft Flight Simulator. “It's a great experience for learning the techniques of flight,” Levi Clark said.

So join Aviation Club, students really can fly.

A Silent Movie ?

2010-06-10T08:30:00.005-04:00

Yes, a silent movie. On Monday the twenty-fourth of May, 2010, some of Great Brook School walked down to the town hall to see three silent movies. One of the movies was the Moony Mariner. The Moony Mariner was about a guy going to the moon. It was a great movie even though it was silent.

You could actually know what the movie was about. The movie is about a sailor who sailed the seven seas. When he comes back to marry a woman he loves he has to go to the moon. The one twist is he does not know that it is a rocket ship, he thinks its a regular ship. On the way to the moon something goes wrong with the ship and lands in a Turkish spa.

The sailor thinks he is on the moon. When he sees people in the spa he thinks they are aliens. He accidentally went into the girls part of the spa. After that the cops start chasing him. When he gets out of the spa he runs into a blast zone and gets blasted all the way back to the house.The people there think he came back from the moon and he ends up marrying the girl.

Ms. Cullinan said “I thought the movie was really ridiculous. I liked seeing a Turkish spa since we don't really have those anymore, and I enjoyed the movie”. A student from 7th grade named Andrew Hunt said, “That movie was really funny”. Everyone thought that Billy Dooley's makeup was girly but that was because it was stage makeup and was not made for movies. That was about Moony Mariner.

Fun In The Sunshine

2010-06-08T09:41:00.003-04:00

by Angie L.

Everyone here at GBS is getting geared up for a tidal wave of fun at the end of the school year! Nobody is more anxious than the eighth graders, who are ready to say goodbye to Great Brook. Most of us will be going to ConVal High School in Peterborough.

Upcoming events this June are:

June 9^th – Fly up day. Fifth graders give their fourth grade buddies a tour of GBS.

June 10^th – Student congress elections. Seventh graders eligible to run for president!

Also on June 10^th, sixth graders will visit the Mariposa museum.

June 11^th – Students flaunt their talents at the variety show!

Also on June 11^th, the eighth grade semi-formal dance.

15^th – Sixth graders go to Adam's Playground as an end-of-year special.

17^th – Students of the Year (SOY) go to Canobie Lake Park.

18^th – Eighth graders go to Seven Maples Campground (which has an arcade and a heated pool!)

21^st – Eighth grade celebration (a.k.a graduation) and the last day of school for eighth grade.

22^nd – Finally, the much-anticipated...

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL (for 5, 6, and 7)!!!

“I'm not coming to school on the 21^st OR the 22^nd, because technically I'm a freshman and I don't have to come to an eighth grade class!” eighth grade JT Clough said. “But I'm coming to the celebration because there's food.”

When asked how he felt about eighth graders graduating a day earlier than him, Colin Brinkley said, “Normally I wouldn't mind, but since I have some friends in eighth grade it kind of makes me a little mad.”

It isn't just the kids who are ready for vacation – lots of teachers feel like they need a break from school too! “It's been a great year,” said Ms. Cullinan, the ELP teacher. “Now I'm looking forward to spending lots of time with my daughter at Gregg Lake.”

Although no teachers are retiring this year, there will be some changes. Ms. Bundy, one of the fifth grade teachers, will be teaching sixth grade. Ms. Darling, the eighth grade language arts teacher will be leaving because there are a lot less eighth graders next year, therefore less demand for teachers. Many kids are hoping to see her at ConVal.

Several eighth graders are experiencing mixed feelings. Triston Spaulding said, “I'm kinda glad, kinda not because we're going to a new school and we'll be the little guys again.” Lots of eighth graders feel this way. “It's going to be weird going to school with the same towns we've been in competition with for four years,” said an anonymous source.

Regardless of what's going to happen next year, we all deserve a nice, relaxing break. So have fun in the sun, but don't take it for granted, because the beginning of the next school year will be here before you know it!

Silent Movies Review

2010-06-03T09:06:00.003-04:00

by Liz Chase

What are silent movies? On Monday May 24, almost half of the students at Great Brook went to the Antrim Town Hall to see silent movies. Silent movies are just movies from the 1920's without sound and people come and play music for the movie.

The silent movie that I liked was Cops staring Buster Keaton, and the other movies were A Mooney Mariner staring Billy Dooley and the last one Lizzies of the Field staring Billy Bevan.

This movie Cops is based on Buster trying to impress a girl that he likes, but she rejects him because he is not wealthy, so he tries to find away to get the girl that he wants. But, his plan fails and he is chased by a whole town of cops. My favorite part of the movie was when Buster is turning a corner and as he is putting his hand out. A mean dog bites his hand!!

8^th grader Jt Clough said “I liked it because it had no stuntmen, it was all true.'' A lot of the students liked the part of the movie when buster is on the ladder and the cops play seesaw and Buster stays right in the middle were he thinks he is safe ,but he isn't, so all the cops come after him again. 8^th grader Angie LaFave said, “ I liked how Buster stole the wallet and did tricks so that he could keep it.” 7^th grader Andrew Hunt said, “I thought it was really funny, especially since none of the cops could catch Buster.” So that is what this movie was about, hopefully next time we can see other silent movies like those.

CO2 Cars

2010-06-03T08:43:00.004-04:00

by Andrew Hunt

Are you wondering what kids have been doing in Mr. Sweeney's room? Some kids in 7th grade have been building Co2 powered cars. What is a Co2 powered car and how long is the track? Well this article is talking all about Co2 cars. Joel, a 7th grader, said “[It was] very interesting [and] definitely fun.”

A Co2 powered car is a type of car that uses a Co2 cartridge that, with enough pressure, will launch. The cars are made with wood and the Co2 cartridge goes in a hole in the back of it. You are the one who designs your own car so if you haven't been in 7th grade yet you may want to start thinking, especially if you're in 6th grade.

The cars have two screws with loops in line on the bottom of the car which helps steer it. There's fishing wire that the cars have on the bottom of the screws and that makes the cars stay in control. The track is 65-70 feet long and the average car goes 20mph or more. The race track is in the gym and this race there are 30 cars and 95% of them will actually make it to the finish. The track has two lanes which have fishing lines to control the car to the finish.

Dillon, a 7th grader, said “It was fun and just fun to learn how to make CO2 cars.”

Some of the designs were really creative because one person made a rainbow that looked cool but kept getting disqualified by falling over. Some other creative designs were a skateboard ramp, swiss cheese, and a soda bottle.

And they're off! The Co2 cars were great. The fastest car was Mr. Sweeney's car and it traveled the whole distance in just a half a second! The fastest car made by a kid was Joel's car that went the whole distance in 57 hundredths of a second. The average speed for his car was 71.77Mph.

I asked Mr. Sweeney about why he does this project and he said “[It is] so kids can learn to use the machines, and to learn about materials. It is also to learn about aerodynamics, mass speed and drafting and it is also fun.”

The kids in 7th grade thought that the Co2 cars were really fun and it was a cool project.

The 4 most wacky Activities Done by G.B.S. Students Over April Vacation!

2010-05-27T08:40:00.006-04:00

by Colin Brinkley

So, did everyone enjoy April vacation? What are somethings you did? Were they fun, exciting, sad (I hope not!), or even just plain out weird? Well, what this is all about, The 4 most interesting, wacky, weird, or silly things done by our local G.B.S. Students!

Number 4: Cameron Ibach called his friend, who lives all the way down in Illinois, that he met in a game called LittleBigPlanet! [Editor's note: Please see disclaimer at bottom of page!]

Number 3: Jamie Ammon played game called Narnia, based on the hit movie, with 7 other girls!

Number 2: Austin Stacy was watching daycare children. He said a word, and all of them kept on repeating it over and over!

And... what you have probably been waiting for... put your Bobcat paws together for...

Number 1: Jack Vance had seen a man on the street singing Frosty the Snowman!

If you did anything interesting, wacky, weird, or silly things that was not put here, I am sure your friends would love to here about them, if I did not put them in. But congratulations to the kids who are in here! You had SUCH a weird vacation!

*The Bobcat's Meow does not endorse calling strangers! Ask your parents before exchanging any personal info with people you meet online!

Football's Back!

2010-05-27T08:29:00.002-04:00

By: Matthew C Davis

Football's back in 6th grade! On April 26th, at recess, we got the nice surprise of being able to play football.

Mr. Ketchum was waiting for us to get outside. All the footballers met Mr. Ketchum in the new field for football. He explained all the new rules then we started playing.

Kevin Foley said, “Football's fun, but I dislike the new rules.”
The new rules for 6th grade football are pretty different.
1.No contact
2.Flags not 2-hand touch
3.Ten yards for one first down
4.Only five players on each team
5.Others will be subs
6.Subs go in after every four plays

The reason we lost football in the first place was because we played too hard and tackled. After that, some students met with Mr. Elder and Mr. West. They told Mrs. Ketchum to have students write out some new rules and she would show them at the teachers meeting. The other 6th grade teachers accepted the rules. The next day in class Mrs. Ketchem told us that after the upcoming April vacation, we could play football at recess.
Eli Rokes said, “ It was worth the effort!” If we follow the rules, we can all keep playing.

To this day, I play football just like 10 to 20 others!

The All-State Music Festival

2010-05-25T09:45:00.002-04:00

By Emmasae Hallen

Saturday, May 15, 2010, eleven lucky students were chosen to go to the All-State Music Festival. Unfortunately 4 student didn't go because of the funeral of the loving Bekah L. Warren.

So what is All-State? All-State is a concert that a few kids from band, chorus and orchestra in each school are chosen to go to. Each musical group will get kids from in the Southwest District in NH. Hundreds of students go and play the songs they are assigned. This year we have some GREAT musicians. Here are the students.....

Band: Ben Wescott (8), Baritone Sax
Tyler Aborn (8), Tenor Sax
Emmasae Hallen (8), Baritone Horn
Joe Edwards (8), Trumpet
Alternate:
Beth Cheaney (8), Alto Sax (didn't go)

Chorus: Sally Paquette (8), Soprano
Nicole Tatro (8), Soprano (didn't go)
Liz Durgin (8), Alto (didn't go)
Ty Doncaster (8), Bass
Joel Barwood (7), Bass

Orchestra: Timothy Hollingsworth (8), Violin (didn't go)

What does alternate mean? Beth Cheaney is the only alternate this year. An alternate is if a musician does not show up or if they can't go the alternate will go instead. Beth is doing this because she went last year as well. But, she didn't go anyway because of the funeral. Beth said, "I went last year and I had a good time, so I went to the funeral instead this year."

What music did they play? Each musical group plays different music.

Band- Grizzly Bear Rag, A Day at the Zoo, Normandy Beach
Chorus- Cantante Domino, Jubilant Song, As Long as I Have Music, United We Stand
Orchestra- Blue Fire Fiddles, Bossa Verde, Rondeau, Hungarian Dance No.5

They played for 6 hours on Saturday, then they had their concert! "I had so much fun that I didn't want to leave!" Joel Barwood said. They did an amazing job and they all had a blast! "They sounded awesome! I can't wait till next year to hear them play," said Ms. Moran.

Great job All-State kids!

Independence Can Be Fun!!!

2010-05-25T09:34:00.005-04:00

by Jt Clough

What is a independent study project? And where do you make them? Independent study project is a project that you work on by yourself or with an adult that you know. The independent project has to be very creative. Some of the projects already done are a sculpture out of cardboard and paper, a painting, collage and a bag made of CapriSun pouches!

The independent study projects are made in Ms. Bando's room. Students only make them in 7 and 8th grade.The independent study projects are really fun but they require a lot of work. Ms. Bando gives you ideas and supplies for your project. She encourages you to think outside the box.

Ms. Bando said, “There is no common project, everything is different”. She says she loves seeing the potential in the kids. Ms. Bando gives the kids 8 weeks to do the project. Most of the kids get their projects done in 4 to 30 hours. One of the most creative things Ms. Bando has seen was a sculpture made out of gas cans. An 8^th grader, Emmasae Hallen said “ I liked them because they are challenging”. Another 8^th grader Liz Chase said, “ I liked them because it gives you a chance to make stuff you don't make in school”.

Kids make all of these amazing things and they actually like doing this. They love making paintings, sculptures and everything in between. Now you know what an independent study project is.

Victory At Mount Monadnock

2010-05-25T09:23:00.005-04:00

by Angela LaFave

Imagine trying to balance on the top of a mountain while 60-mph winds buffet you from all sides. Picture battling winds that can knock down a 200-pound grown man. That's exactly what happened on Thursday, April 29, when the eighth graders who stayed back from Washington DC had a memorable trip. We hiked Mt. Monadnock, which, at 3,165 feet tall, is the second most climbed mountain in the world.

The trail we took was called the White Dot Trail, which is shorter, yet steeper than its parallel trail, the White Cross Trail. There were many steep cliffs and walls we had to climb. Sometimes the cliffs were smooth from water runoff, and those were very difficult to scale.

As we neared the top, many were exhausted from carrying backpacks up the steep parts of the trail. Luckily, we had plenty of water and snacks to go around.
The terrain was getting rockier and much more slippery. Since it had snowed the previous day, there was a steady stream of water trickling slowly down from the summit, covering most of the footholds in cold water. We had to be careful not to slip as the climb grew steeper. A strong wind blew, which knocked some off balance. The wind was a dangerous enemy for those balancing precariously on narrow cliffs. Luckily nobody was hurt.

We were stopping to take a break when a man walked past, panting. The man was more than twice my weight. He said, “I was there for about a half hour but the wind was really throwing me around up there, so I came down.” This news caused most of the remaining hikers to turn back, leaving only me and my dad. We were exhausted after taking turns carrying the backpack, but we were determined with less than a mile to go. The wind knocked us over several times, and sometimes we accidentally stepped in small pools of water, unable to see the ground through the inch-thick blanket of pure white snow. However aggressive the traction on our shoes, it didn't matter because they were wet with slush.

We were supposed to turn back at 11:30, and it was 11:29. But the summit was in view, so near yet so far. Determined to reach it, we climbed faster up the steep rock face. Everyone who had made it was walking past. The “caboose” (Ms. Brown, guidance counselor) was right there in front, and you weren't supposed to go behind her.

This was it. We hadn't made it to the top. I turned around, defeated and exhausted.

Then Ms. Brown said, “Hey, the summit's right there if you want to keep going.”

When I heard those hopeful words, all the adrenaline rushed back and I sprinted for a few yards until I came to a steep chunk of rock with no footholds. It was surrounded by two walls of stone. With my back against one wall and my feet planted on the other, I crab-walked straight up the cliff.

Within minutes I was at the summit. I surveyed my surroundings, feeling triumphant. It was a beautiful view; the lavender mountains in the distance, the lush green of the golf courses, and the sparkling blue lakes. I could see every car on the highway below, and our school bus parked miles away – a tiny yellow line amongst thousands of miles of view. It was a beautiful day. The sky was blue, streaked with white clouds that were lined with golden sunlight. “Okay,” my dad said. “This has to be way better than DC.”

A wild gust of wind came out of nowhere and knocked me flat on my back. I quickly stood back up and positioned myself so that the next gust of wind wouldn't do the same as the last one. When the next gust came, I stood my ground. Tiny chips of rock and glass struck my face. I stumbled over to a flat rock and crouched behind it, where the wind couldn't do any more damage. After a few quick snapshots my dad followed, along with Ms. Brown.

We were ready to climb back down. Panting, my dad said, “I think going back down is even more difficult than climbing up!” All the twisted ankles we endured on the way up came back at once when pressure was focused on them.

It took less time to get down, but it seemed like an eternity of pain and strained muscles. Finally we reached the spring, which was a meeting point for all of us. Everyone around me was exhausted, even the people who hadn't even reached the halfway point. I asked how far my friend had made it. “I was within 100 yards of the summit, and I am exhausted!!” she boasted. She told me where she stopped and turned around... which was more like a mile from the summit.

The next day, most people who climbed the mountain were absent. All the people who did go to school that day went around Antrim to pick up trash.

Out of 20 who stayed behind from DC, only 14 actually tried to climb the mountain. Out of 14 climbers, only 3 boys and 2 girls made it to the summit. So, congratulations to:
Corrine Frosch
Sean Campbell
Aaron Lakus
Storm England
and me.

Anybody who hasn't climbed Mt. Monadnock should at least try. It's a big challenge, a beautiful view, plus bragging rights!

FUN FACT: There are many people, young and old, who set aside time to climb the mountain every day!

Dragon Aid (the Play with the Fiery Kick)

2010-05-20T09:01:00.018-04:00

by Arielle Garner &
Emma Kendall

Did you see the play Dragon Aid? What did you think of it? The play was about a prince who turned into a dragon. 16 years later, the sister finds out her older brother is the dragon and he's in cahoots with the fake knight who is trying to marry her!

There were about 35 people preforming the play. We started practicing it on March 17th then we performed the play at the town hall in Antrim on May 16th and May 17th. We felt very rushed but it turned out great. Kids from GBS in the script writing class had written the entire play. Another group of kids in the costume design class had made, bought, found and borrowed every thing that was needed to put all the costumes, including the big dragon. Here are some comments of what people thought of the play:

''Back stage was really fun and I liked hearing the audience cheer.” said Arielle Garner.

"It was exciting to be able to be a part of the play. It was awesome to be able get up on stage'' said Emma Kendall.

"I thought it was pretty fun. I liked performing in it'' said Brittany Labatt.

''I thought it was astounding! The actors where fantastic and the script writers and costume design did a great job'' said Mrs. Ketchum.

The play seemed to be a big hit! Everyone liked it. Everyone in the play enjoyed being a part of it as well. And the costume designers scriped writers did a fabulous job on evry thing.

Marching Band Is Marching on!

2010-05-20T08:33:00.004-04:00

By Liz Chase

Marching band is when the concert band marches in different towns each year. The three towns we march in are Bennington, Antrim and Hancock. This years Memorial Day Parade is in Hancock. Mrs. Moncrief told us that we are going to get shirts that are red and we have to wear them with black shorts (if its hot out!).Also you need good marching shoes, and drink plenty of WATER and sun block and bug spray is required.!!!

What is marching band you ask?. Marching band is for all 6^th- 8^th concert band students. If you would like to do marching band you need a permission slip from Mrs. Moncrief and your lyre, a lyre is sheets that hold your music so it doesn't fall out while your marching. If you do not have a lyer you need to tell Mrs. Moncrief A.S.A.P! Because she is putting in orders for them very soon.

On Tuesday May 25^th there will be an after school rehearsal for marching band from 2:30-4:00. On May 3,1 for the Memorial Day Parade, all marching band students must be at the Hancock elementary school at 1:30 to warm up, then the parade will start at 2:00. Mrs. Moncrief says that, '' I have been doing this for years now, and I think that all the students will remember this for awhile.'' 8^th grader and flutist Daviana Penny says '' I love doing band and chorale''. Also 8^th grader flutist Katrina Manalouise says '' I like band, but sometimes it's really hard with the notes.'' I am a flutist myself and I have been doing marching band for three years now. So, a reminder, there is marching practice on Tuesday the 25^th. So come march with us, if it's too late, join next year.

Students of Excellence

2010-05-11T13:59:00.001-04:00

By: Matt Davis

At 7:30 AM on Friday, April 2^nd there was an assembly. There were a couple things that happened at that assembly. I'm writing about the students of excellence portion.

Students of Excellence is a way of pointing out the students the excel in academics. Mrs. Ketchum keeps track of it. She has all the lists of previous assemblies. You can earn a excellence certificate from showing craftsmanship, academic achievement or citizenship. Each grade has a teacher who selects 5 or 6 students from there grade. The fifth grade teacher is Mrs. Bigford, sixth is Mrs. Ketchum. For 7^th grade it's Ms. Leclerc and Ms. Darling for eighth. There is even a teacher for specials. That's is Mrs. Moran.

For this assembly's Students of Excellence there was a couple kids from each grade. Here's a list of the names:

Fifth grade – Dexter Ingalls, Michael Belliveau, Joshua Fowler and John Hardwick.

Sixth grade – Allison Fife, Michael Whitney, Courtney Lowe, Chance Brekka, Makenzie Christiansen, Russell Warren and Jordan Robertson.

Seventh grade – Jamie Ammon, Shauna Myers, Dominique Tarr, Matt Metzemaekers and Shauna Driscoll.

Eighth grade – Shania Langlois, Daviana Penny, Kelsea Colburn and Jesse Edwards.

That's all the students of excellence from April 2^nd!

GBS Play This Weekend!

2010-05-11T11:34:00.000-04:00

Come see Dragon-Aid, The Flavor with the Fiery Kick! this Sunday, May 16th @ 2pm at the Antrim Town Hall!

It stars some of our own journalists, as well as many other GBS students

Costumes, set crew and scriptwriting done by our own GBS students as well!

Exchange City

2010-05-03T21:15:00.007-04:00

By Julia Cooper

Exchange City finally came for the 6^th graders on May 12, 2010. 6^th graders had to learn a lot of things before they go to Exchange City. For example how you interviewed for a job – everyone looks at a list with all of the jobs on it and choose your 3 favorite, then you interview for them. Some of the jobs are Policeman / Policewoman, DJ, Reporter, Mayor, Judge, Health Care person and others. You pretend you are a towns person and try things to make items sell for your business.

Some items are ‘hot’ so they sell faster because everyone wants it. ‘Not hot’ items sell slower because no one wants it. You might try to lower your price so that people will buy it. Because of that you have to choose a good price for things so you make a profit and sell the item.

You also learn how to make a check, deposit money, endorse a check, ands how to write all of this down in your checking account. You can only go to Exchange City one day in 6^th grade. Exchange City is on 25 Granite Street in Portsmouth NH. When the 6^th graders go to Exchange City they will get paid for the job they do in Exchange City money. You will get paid twice and be able to have a time to shop around and buy things from other shops.

According to the Exchange City Website, “Students will: Create job resumes and job applications, Have real job interviews, Become part of a business team, Develop a business plan, Develop a marketing plan, Make materials purchases, Produce real products, Price real products and services, Market real products and services, Calculate payroll expenses, Take on business accounting services, Use a personal checkbook, Make bank or credit union deposits and Make bank or credit union withdrawals.”

“Students and their businesses also: Fill out a business loan application, Take out a business bank loan, Write radio advertisements, Write newspaper advertisements, Design business signs and logos, Create business slogans, Pay taxes, Pay utilities, Pay rent, Repay commercial bank loans, and Make payroll.”

I talked to a few people in 6^th grade to see how they felt about Exchange City.

“[It] is really an incredible hand’s on experience [and] is one of the best ways for kids to learn about economics” Ms. Rice said.

“My favorite part [of Exchange City] is to watch students to do their jobs and to shine in ways they do not in the class room,” Ms. Rice stated. “I love [Exchange City] but it is a long and exhausting day [for the students],” Ms. Rice added.

“I think it’s was fun because we acted like adults. It think it also help us understand economics better. I hope every 6^th grade gets to do this it, was so fun! ” Anonymous exclaimed.

“I thought that it was a lot of fun because we got work/act like adults for a day. Now I know what its like to be a adult.” Another anonymous person announced.

I hope all the 6^th graders had fun!!

"Paws" and See the Extended Paw Store Hours!

2010-04-27T11:07:00.004-04:00

Hey look ! Now there is more time to get fun new toys from the paw store!Did you know the paw store is now open from 1:40 to 2:05 as well as the regular times in the morning on Wednesdays? Jill Pierson, KJ Ammon, Lilly Holt, David Blanchard, Matt Metzemaekers, Mike Comeau and Alyssa Mackay are going to run it in the afternoon. There are lots of different and new toys to get now at the paw store. Take a look at these pics I took of the afternoon paw store.

Canned Food Drive

2010-04-15T14:22:00.002-04:00

by Andrew

Are you wondering what your kids are meaning when they say “Can I bring some caned food into school?” Well then, you're reading the right article. The whole school of GBS are collecting non-perishable foods for the Antrim food bank. 5th grader Jeffery said “It's basically about to help out the community.”
The goal for the canned food drive is 2,316 and there are approximately 325 kids in the school. That means that every kid in the school need to bring in approximately 7 cans each. Thats not much to give up. Mrs. Welch said, “I think it makes students think that it's good to help the community.” If we get that goal, Mr. West will give a special prize to the whole school. Mrs. Kidd, the one who started this food drive, believes that the school can get 3,000 cans which means each kid must bring in approximately 9 cans each. The canned food drive will last until the 16th of April and Mrs. Kidd thinks that we'll reach our goal on the 14th because the whole school may bring in a ton of cans in on the last week. Mr. Winchester stated that “It's nice to have assistance when your in a hole.”
Thats the update on the canned food drive. Please remember to send in cans so we can reach our goal.

Life of a Union Leader Newspaper

2010-04-15T08:34:00.014-04:00

Life of a Union Leader Newspaper

The E.L.P Magazine class had plenty of fun on the 26^th of March... we had a trip to to the Union Leader! The Union Leader is a newspaper company in Manchester,

New Hampshire. We saw how they make the article and print the paper! Now lets see... the life... of a... Union Leader newspaper!

While at the Union Leader Printing building...

1^st,Write. 2^nd, Type. 3^rd, Edit. 4^th, Print. Last, send!

If sent to a store...

1^st, Receive. 2^nd, Display. Last, purchase!

If sent to your home or once purchased from a store...

1^st, read. Then keep!

or...

1^st, read. 2^nd, recycle. Last, reuse!

or...

1^st, read. 2^nd, thrown away. Then, last, sent to a dump.

Once at the dump...

1^st, compressed. 2^nd, buried. Oh no... GLOBAL WARMING! NOOOOO!

The paper they use:

That's only a MONTH supply!

Lets get some paper!

This is one of the machines that reach up and pull the paper off from those massive paper stacks you saw earlier in the article.

Comics!

Here is the sheet they use to make the comics, but this one has been framed in wood.

Being Printed:

This is only part of the machine!

More of the machine...

That's about half of the machine... there is some downstairs, too!

Like a roller coaster!

This machine comes down from above and picks up news papers and carries them to next room. But the whole belt is around 45 times larger.

Lots of advertising!

These are the advertisements that the hide in the paper! These are from Home Depot.

Lets read!

Now, after all of that, you read it! Picture credit below.

http://www.clipartof.com/details/clipart/23429.html.

Now that you know the every day Union Leader newspaper, do you think that you want to BE one?

The Week Without 8th Grade

2010-04-08T08:46:00.007-04:00

By Emmasae Hallen

No 8^th grade? Most of the 8^th grade students at GBS are on a class trip to Washington DC for 5 days. The Monday after vacation at 7:00 am is the departure time for a week without 8^th graders.

Here is a schedule of what they are going to be doing.....

Day 1

Monday

April 26, 2010

7:00AM

12:00 PM

9:00 PM

Depart from school

Statue of Liberty/ Ellis Island- eat lunch

Check into Best Western- Arlington

Day 2

Tuesday

April 27, 2010

7:00AM

8:30 AM

11:45 AM

1:00PM

2:00 PM

5:00PM

6:30PM

7:30PM

Breakfast at Hamlet in Crystal City

National Zoological Park

Group Picture at the Capitol Building, Capitol

Building Tour (inside)

Lunch at Ronald Reagan Building

Ford's Theatre and the Petersen House

U.S. Holocaust Museum

Dinner at the Pentagon City Mall

Kennedy Center, Jefferson Memorial, FDR Memorial

Day 3

Wednesday

April 28, 2010

7:00AM

8:00AM

11:00AM

12:30PM

4:30PM

6:00PM

7:00PM

Breakfast at Hamlet in Crystal City

Arlington National Cemetery, Iwo Jima

Memorial

National Archives

Sightseeing on the Smithsonian Mall until

4:30PM. National Air & Space Museum,

Museum of Natural History

Depart for Baltimore

Arrival and Viewing of the halls at Medieval

times

Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament begins

Day 4

Thursday

April 29, 2010

8:00AM

9:00AM

11:00AM

12:15PM

1:30PM

3:30PM

5:15PM

7:00PM

Check out of the hotel and depart for breakfast

at the Hamlet in Crystal City

Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Korean

Memorial, World War II Memorial

National Cathedral, Embassy Row

Lunch at Ronald Reagan Building

Museum of American History

Depart for Baltimore

Check in at the Holiday Inn Express in

Baltimore

Baseball Game: Baltimore Orioles vs. New York Yankees with dinner

Day 5

Friday

April 30, 2010

7:00AM

8:00AM

6:00PM

Breakfast at the hotel and check out

Depart for home- Lunch enroute

Estimated arrival in Antrim NH

“Why are we going to these places anyway?” 8^th grader Jesse Edwards asked. Ms. Doherty answered, “ To go see the museums are a valuable experience to these kids. Most of these things they are studying right now.” For example the they are learning about the Holocaust so they are going to the U.S. Holocaust Museum. Also their text books are called the American Journey so they are going to the Museum of American History.

When the students are not in their room they are not allowed to have their phones with them. They have to give their phones to their chaperones.

“I think it's dumb that they are taking our phones away. What if we need them?” Jack St. Jean said. If you are caught with your phone after they tell you to give it to them they call your parents. If they catch you again you could be sent home.

“I am really excited to go! This is my first year going on the trip but I remember when I went when I was in 8^th grade. It was so much fun!” Ms. Leclerc said. This is Ms. Leclercs 1^st time going, for Mr. Bolduc however has gone on this trip for 13 times.

It sounds fun doesn't it? Wish them well and have fun while they aren't here! Too bad for the unfortunate 8^th graders that have to stay here at GBS while they others have fun on the trip. But they have some great plans for them to do here too.

Special Olympics

2010-04-06T12:14:00.004-04:00

What do you think of Special Olympics?

On Sunday February 28, 2010 the GBS team went to Waterville Valley to compete in races for Special Olympics. We all did the same thing - 200 meter,50 meter and 100 meter in snowshoeing.
It was cold and hard snowshoeing.

We went to the opening ceremonies. There was a parade. We ate dinner and went to a carnival. It was fun. We stayed in condos at a little village. We got to look in some of the stores .Some of us was nervous at first, but at the end of the races we were proud. Here are some amazing photos.

Rwandan Inspiration

2010-04-06T09:57:00.005-04:00

by Matt Metzemaekers ( Guest Writer)

On 3/25, a man from Rwanda came to tell us about his life growing up in Africa. His name was Justin Mazimpaka, which means " finish trouble." He told us about the three tribes in Rwanda: the Tutsi, the Hutu and the Twa.

The Tutsi and the Hutu have a checkered past, though, full of genocide, hate and hiding. What happened was that the Hutu attached the Tutsi in a massive genocide.

Justin's family thought they were safe because they were living in the Congo. (Or Zaire, as it was known at the time.) Until, one night, where the Hutu knocked on Justin's door. They had to escape using a small window. Good thing they were Tutsi tribe, or they never would've fit through.

They just kept running until they got split up. Justin had to hide under dead bodies just so he wouldn't get caught. He eventually had to hide in a mango tree. His life was in the balance because of a monkey. If the monkey made noise, he was dead!

Justin ended up working for the UN. Unfortunately, the people of Rwanda did not want the aid of the UN. And they hated Justin. Fortunately, Joe Landers, a UN worker, took in Justin. But Justin had to get a visa before going to America. After three tries, he got his visa and made it to America. He is now an American citizen.

This story is very heart warming, yet sad at the same time. I could never had made it through that experience!

2010-04-01T09:01:00.002-04:00

Here are some pictures of Magazine's field trip to the Union Leader

Recycling Club SOS !!!

2010-04-01T08:58:00.001-04:00

by Jt Clough

I am going to tell you why Recycling Club needs help but, first what is Recycling Club? And what do they do? Recycling Club is a club run by Ms Bundy. Recycling Club reduces trash items that goes into land fills. They go around the school and collect the green bins that are in the class rooms. There are 36 bins and on an average there are 125 pounds of paper each week that is amazing. They sort colorful paper from white paper cardboard from paper and cans from bottles and glass. They do all of this in a two hour day and get all of it done! This club is open to 5th through 8th grade students.

Ms Bundy said “recycling club is not just fun and games it is work too”. Kids like visiting other rooms in the school and love using the scale to weigh the paper. The people that are doing this club are Bo Hoyt, Dylan Coyne, Tiffani Ellis, Ally Beckman, Alyssa Mackey and Annika Klemett. All these kids do this work every Tuesday. That is a lot of work. Recycling club needs help because there are not enough people to sort out 125 pounds of paper each week, so if you are not doing anything and want something to do or need community service, this is the club for you. It is not just for your benefit, it is for the world's.

Slideshow of the Talent show

2010-04-01T08:49:00.003-04:00

By: Matt Davis and
Morgan Whitney

Do you want to see people show of their best talents? Check out the slide show at the bottom of this post.

On March 18th , GBS had a whole school talent show. There were kids from every grade performing. Some people sang, some people were balancing, and one insane dance!

Current Event Craziness

2010-04-01T08:29:00.002-04:00

by Andrew

Have you ever wondered what is going on in 7^th grade? The 7^th grade is doing something called current events in Mrs. Janulis's room and they must be done once a week. There are four classes and all but one must get their current events done by Friday. The other class has to get it done on Thursday because of another ELP class. Here's some more info about current events.

The reason they are doing current events because Mrs. J. wants students to understand what's going on around the world. The competition that is going on will last 10 weeks and so far, a few weeks have already passed. If a class wins overall, each kid in that class gets a free certificate that gets them out of one C.E. C.E. have been going on for four years. Austin, a 7^th grader, said, “Current Events are pretty cool because different countries have different news [and] thats very interesting but sometimes is a challenge to get them in because of other homework.” Maddy, a 7^th grader said, “I like hearing about what happens and I like the competition because it gets people doing them. I don't like doing the opinion sometimes.” Dakota of 7^th grade said, “I like how you have to write about it and I don't like doing two column notes. I [also] like how you sit in a circle and explain them. [But] I don't like [how sometimes people get low] grades even if people work hard [on them].”

Current events are simple to do. You find an article about anything (it may have to be on a specific country) then you print it out. Then you must underline all of the important parts of the article. After that, you get a sheet that you must complete two column notes on the back and complete a paragraph on the front. On the bottom of the front, there is a place where you put a comment about the article plus a place for questions about the article. Then you bring it in on the day you're told to and you're trying to get the highest percentage if you're doing a competition. The competition that happens lasts for a long time and you are responsible for getting your C.E. in. if someone in your group doesn't get a C.E. in, it hurts your teams percentage.

Overall, C.E are easy to do if you keep up with it, but difficult to catch up on. All the 7^th graders will always remember doing C.E in 7^th grade.

Student of the What?

2010-03-25T09:04:00.000-04:00

By: Emmasae Hallen
Do you want to be a Students of the Month? Do you not know what Student of the Month is? If you just want to know more or see what's going on, this is the article for you.

So who are Student of the Month? SOM (Student of the Month) are students who have A's and B's, does community service and has other things to do after school. Everyone who fills out the sheets is a Student of the Month.
How do you become a Student of the Month? Have you seen those green papers that kids are carrying around? Those are SOM sheets. If you want to be a SOM you need to have a B- or better in every class, at least one co-curricular activity, and four hours of community service. On that green piece of paper is where you have everyone sign it to say that you have done those things.

What do you get for being a Student of the Month? Most months there is a trip that the SOM's go on. For the month of February GBS went to Granite Gorge. There they went tubing!

"I had a blast! I wish we could of stayed longer!" Stephanie Leandri said. Everyone had their own separate tube and they could go down together with as many people as they wanted. There was a record of 17 people go down at once. If you wanted to spin while you went down, all you had to do was ask.

"It was awesome! I really enjoyed spinning down alone. I went super fast," Joel Barwood said.

"I wish we did the trip when there was more snow. It would be more fun," said Liam Baldwin.

What are those colorful painted hand-prints on the top of the wall ? If you are a Student of the Month for all the months in school then you get your hand-prints on the wall. Those are for the Student of the Years. Just like the month trip there is a Student of the Year trip as well. This year they have not decided yet but the might be a trip to Canobie Lake Park! If you are Student of the Year for all 4 years you get your name on a plaque that says "Students of the Middle Years".

If you want to go on great trips and do fun activities, be a Student of the Month or try for a student of the year.

Its easy as get a green paper.
Get it signed
Do some community service
Then your done.

Junk to Funk Slide Show

2010-03-25T09:02:00.001-04:00

By: Matt Davis
Here's a slide show from Junk to Funk. Enjoy!

Ceiling Crisis Continues!

2010-03-25T09:01:00.001-04:00

by JT Clough and Angie LaFave

On Sunday, March 15, tragedy struck Great Brook School. A freak rainstorm proved to be too much for the school's roof, and water leaked through to the ceiling tiles. Some tiles became so saturated that the few staff members that were present had to poke a hole in them to let the water drain through. A note on a bulletin board describe it as “a waterfall”.

“We had ten five-gallon pails and all of the cafeteria trash cans trying to catch the water,” custodian John Gator said on March 16, recounting the damage from the day before. “We emptied them and refilled them three times each. Plus there were at least 60 gallons of water soaked into the carpet. It was like a faucet running slowly.”

Miraculously, Ms. Moncrief's outdoor band classroom did not suffer any damage.

The most devastating damage was dealt to the eighth grade molas that were hanging on the wall beneath the falling water. “I think we saved all but two rows,” said Mr. West, GBS and AES principal. Mr. Gator said, “One of the molas just disintegrated into a bucket.” These projects were extremely hard to make molas are art projects that are made completely of paper. They are many colorful pieces of paper that make a scene or an animal. They originated off the coast of panama made by the Cuna Indians. They took 30 or more hours to make. An anonymous student's mola was completely destroyed, and after he found out, he got very quiet and solemn-faced. If you're an eight grader who had a mola on the board and you were able to save it, thank Mr. West! He rushed to get the molas off the board before they were all completely destroyed.

This is not the first time this has happened. Water has leaked through to the ceiling tiles before. It causes the tiles to yellow and weaken and they have to be replaced. Some of the tiles that were just replaced quite recently are now in need of replacement again. A previous article (click here to see!) includes more information about the issue.

Ms. Bando, the art teacher, has a well-thought-out plan to prevent this from occurring again. “[The cork board] will have a little roof over it, like a cafe entrance,” she said.

Luckily, the ceiling has been repaired and all the works of art have been removed in the case of another incident. Molas that could be restored are now back to normal. Custodians are sighing in relief that the damage has finally been repaired, but, due to ongoing weather, everyone is crossing their fingers for no more leaks in the school roof.

9th grade counselors visits Great Brook's 8th graders

2010-03-25T08:36:00.005-04:00

by Liz chase

What classes are you going to take in High school? Well thats what the Counselors from Conval are talking to the 8th graders about Freshmen year. Now It is a tradition for the consolers to come and talk and explain to the 8th graders, how hight school is going to work. For the up coming 9th graders for freshmen year you need 8 credits, each class is worth 1 credit and your special is worth half(.5) because you only have specials for half the year.

To Graduate from Conval you need 26 credits (it used to be 28 credits). You are required to take four classes in your freshmen year or Sophomore year. The classes you are required to take are English, Math (Algebra 1) and Eastern world history and English skills class and Science . On the side you can do prep band with Mr.Aines, Drama club or sports, but you have to get a physical during late May of 2010 to make sure you healthy enough to do it.

Then the Counselors talked about lunch. Lunch is divided into four groups, groups A,B,C,D now this part is kinda confusing.

Some people might wonder were do you go in the morning when you don't have advisory?. Well you go to your first block class or you can hang in the hall or the band room. Band and Choral are always 2nd block for the whole semester. Then on Tuesdays and Fridays you go to your advisory after second block. 8th grader Becca Goldspring said “She did a good job, and it was a lot of fun.” Also 8th grader Courtney Gagnon said “She did good and filled in a lot of Information for me.” Mrs. Brown also said “I think it's important, to 8th graders to be provided about their high school choses. Mrs. Brown also stated that there are some classes that you can take like if you want to become a police men/women and if you know someone who is a police man then you can get a credit for doing work that involves police stuff. So that is what is going to happen to the up coming 9th graders.

Student of the Month Tubing

2010-03-19T10:38:00.003-04:00

This is a slide show of the SOM tubing trip to Granite Gorge.

Change for Haiti Update

2010-03-16T11:19:00.002-04:00

By Emma Kendall

How much money did we raise for Haiti? Here is an update on Change for Haiti. We had a big assembly February 19^th 2010. The kids from AES came to GBS to celebrate all the money we raised for Haiti. GBS made $795.30 and AES made $763.90.

The magazine staff counted all of the money that GBS had collected for Haiti. We found lots of coins from other countries that accidentally got mixed in. There were coins from Europe and the Carribean. We also found many wheat pennies mixed in and other weird coins. One had a bullet hole. Another was from Chuck E. Cheese! At AES, someone put a $100 bill in the jar. No one knows who.

Every one was so happy that we got all that money for Haiti. We cheered for all the work that we had done for Haiti. The money is going to the Clinton Bush Fund for Haiti. The money is going to buy supplies like clothing, toothbrushes, food and medicine.

Mr. Elder did end up wearing the girl costume! Mr. Elder had promised to serve lunch in the cafeteria for all grades and wear a girl costume if we raised $750 for Haiti. ( Not including AES.) (Here is a link to another article about this). Students thought it was funny and enjoyed seeing him like that. Mr. Elder actually served the lunch to the students with an ice cream scoop. He looked funny and everyone thought his slippers were funny.

Overall, Change for Haiti went well. It feels good to help people in Haiti get what they need.

2010-03-11T08:45:00.002-05:00

This is a slideshow of some of the students of excellence awards. The students of excellence awards are kids who have done something good or who is a good student. There are kids from each grade that get one. So hope you like the slideshow of students of excellence

Cheerleaders cheer for AES!

2010-03-09T11:36:00.003-05:00

by Liz Chase

Cheerleaders Cheer for AES

'' 1-2-3-4, Antrim teachers make us roar.'' The GBS Cheerleaders made a cheer for the AES teachers on February 12 in the AES gym. Ms. B, the cheer coach, told us before our last game that she was retiring from being a coach and going back to a school teacher. The only reason for her leave is because she has to take care of her son, so Mrs. B thought because she asks a lot of favors of the teachers, we should do a cheer for them.

So the cheer captains thought of a cheer to do for all the AES teachers that helped out Mrs. B. The words are, ''1-2-3-4 Antrim teachers make us Roar! 5-6-7-8 thanks for helping us be great!, without Coach B, Cheering's a bore, she really really makes us soar, So many thanks to all of you for helping us do what we do'! THANK YOU!”

Then the Cheerleaders did their half time dance with the song ''Can You Move It Like This?''. The AES students seemed to really like it. At the beginning of the half time dance, Sydney Hutton did a round off, which really impressed the kids. Then after the Cheerleaders were done they introduced them self to the students and said which elementary school they went to and Mrs. B said, '' I was really glad to have these girls as team mates''. Thanks Ms. B for a great year. She was a great coach and we'll miss her!

Roof Crisis !!

2010-03-09T11:22:00.005-05:00

by Jt Clough

Did you here about the huge storm that left many people out of power it took its toll on Great Brook School. The snow storm happened when the school was on vacation. The storm did not leave the school out of power, but it did have a variety of snow, rain and hail at one point.

After the storm there was several inches on the roof and the ground. The sun came out directly after the storm and melted most the snow. You would think it was a good thing wouldn't you ? It would melt the snow, it was a bad thing that the snow melted.When the snow melts it turns to water and the water goes straight through the roof and straight to the tiles inside the school.

The water leaves the big brown spots that are on the tiles. “ I think the brown spots are gross and they need to fix them” said Kari an eighth grader. “When water hits the tiles it is like putting a piece of paper in a bath tub” said Frank a janitor for Great Brook School. Frank has put up all the new tiles. The water did not effect any of the electrical wires up in the ceiling.

I thought that the water would effect the wires. Ms Gnade said that “ the roofs are hard to fix”big thanks to all the janitors for trying to fix them.

Here are some of the pictures

The Fun of Glee Club

2010-02-18T09:06:00.004-05:00

by Colin Brinkley

For the 5^th graders who attend Glee club in 2009-10 in Great Brook Middle School previously haven't sang for a while for just over a month, due to Glee club being canceled due to snow days and Mrs. Moran being absent. But, at least now that we are having school more often, Glee club will be back in business!

I interviewed Mrs. Moran, who is the Glee club, Choral and music teacher, to see what she liked about Glee club. She said that she loves to have her kids and that 'It is a great way to end the long day', and that one of her favorite songs (witch we happen to be doing this year) is “Get on Board This Train” which is a Gospel (fast) song to do, and fun to sing!

Here are some cool facts about Glee club:

It has been going for 17 fun-filled years
This year, about 25 students sing in Glee club
You have to be a 5^th grader to join (if you are a 6^th, 7^th or 8^th grader, you can join Choral.)

Just keep in mind 5^th graders, if you want to join Choral next year, anyone can join!

image from http://site.shopdrops.com/Photos/homeproductspage/singingcats.gif

All About Chorale

2010-02-18T09:03:00.002-05:00

By Andrew Hunt

Chorale is a singing group and the teacher for it, who is Mrs. Moran, is excited to teach many kids different songs.

In chorale, Mrs. Moran has approximately 50 kids and wants to try to sing 6 songs for the spring concert. Chorale meets 4 times a week. One day for altos (lower voices), another for sopranos (higher voices), another for 6th grade, and another for everybody. They meet in Mrs. Moran's room at block 8 of the school day (not sure when all the days are). Every kid works hard when doing chorale. She hopes kids like chorale and for the spring concert, there is no theme. Mrs Moran has been doing chorale for 35 years and has done it in different schools.

For the spring concert, the chorale group is singing “We Are The World” and Mrs Moran is doing that song for Haiti. “It is a great way to end the day,” Mrs. Moran said her favorite song she has ever done is “California Dreamer”. The only time Mrs. Moran has ever needed to cancel a performance is when the ice storm of 2008 hit us.

Well thats the heads up on chorale. Keep on reading our articles on our site for more information on different things.

Skiing at Crotched Mountain

2010-02-18T09:00:00.001-05:00

Here are some picures of the after school skiing club I hope you enjoy

By Heather brown

The Awesome Assembly

2010-02-18T08:53:00.002-05:00

by:Morgan Whitney

by:Emma Kendall

There was an assembly at GBS, in mid February and it was GREAT!!! The assembly had the Great Brook Bobcat the bobcat was there the whole assembly!

Here is a run down of what happened...

We had a skit about Change For Haiti. The skit featured Mr. Elder, Mrs. Cullinan and the KHOKO Club. Change for Haiti is a fund raiser to help raise money for Haitians in need.

Then Austin Hoffman came in and had a presentation about his hot air balloon. The hot air had to have about 5-10 minutes to heat up. The students felt tense during the wait. Once it did heat up and lifted we all cheered.

Then the skit came again and Mr. Elder dressed up in a suit. When Mrs. Cullinan tried to explain what Change for Haiti was and he still didn't get it!

When that was over we had the awards and a lot of people got them. There were some people from each grade...

We had student of excellence awards. These are the kids from fifth grade. Joseph Ricco,Matthew Larouche,Sylvie Holding,Hannah Fitzgerald,Meaghan Farrell, and MacKenzie Burnside.

Those are the fifth graders now for sixth. Veronica Raczek,Tristan Payne,Emma Kendall,Kyler Gullage,and Noah Cass.

Now for seventh grade. Mersadies Robinson, Courtney Ouellette, Liam Healey, Heather Brown, and McKayla Baron.

Now last but not least...Eighth grade these are the people. Alicia Whitney, Nicole Tetro, Triston Spaulding, Aaron Lakus, Campell French, Joe Edwards, and Khara Aird.

Once that was over we had another skit and Mr. Elder was dressed up as a marine!

After that we had a game of “Smarty Paws” there were 4 teams 1 was Cool,another Dynamite,Awesome and Brilliant. The subjects were about Science,Math,Language Arts,and Social Studies. Team dynamite was made up of Enstein McSmartington (Mr. Bolduc) asks the question and the team who rings in first gets the chance to answer If they get the answer right, their team gets a point. If they get it wrong the next team to ring in gets a chance to answer.The team with the most points wins the game. The Team Dynamite won!

Once that was over we had another skit and this time Mr.Elder dressed up as a girl. Then Ms. Cullinan announced that if we brought some more money in Mr. Elder would serve lunch to us in the girl costume! So that was the Ice-cream scoop on the assembly!

GBS' Special Specials

2010-02-18T08:27:00.003-05:00

By: Matt Davis

Here at GBS specials are the highlight of my day. Every year you get to take each special once. Except for PE, you take PE twice. Here are all the specials and some major projects you do in them.

Art- In art your teacher will be Mrs. Bando. Art is really fun if you don't goof off the whole class. In 5^th grade you paint rubber fish then press them against a t-shirt. You even get to keep the t-shirt! In 6^th grade you make little bowls as you learn the art of pottery. You also make some awesome weavings! In 7^th grade, you make masks out of pappier mache. They look really cool when finished. In 8^th you make a Mola which is a drawing that looks like a stained glass window.

IT- IT stands for Industrial Technology. Your teacher will be Mr. Sweeney. IT is also known as wood shop. In 5^th grade you make a awesome catapult then try to launch things into a bucket. 6^th grade IT is really fun. You make your own product and advertise it in front of the class. 7^th graders make solar cars and race them in the gym! In the 8^th grade you make your own C02 rockets. You get to launch them at Shea Field!

PE- PE is a highlight of my day. First you have a warm-up for the first 20 minutes then you play a game of whatever sport your learning about. You learn about and play, football, volleyball, teamball and many more. In case you didn't know team ball is Ultimate Frisbee except with a ball.

Technology- In technology (tech) you learn all about computers and how to use them. With Mrs. Hale you do power point presentations, spreadsheets and learn how to be safe online. Every week she posts the weeks assignments in the tech center web site. Typing is huge in tech class. Every class you start with ten minutes of typing.

Music- In music your teacher will be Mrs. Moran. She is very hands-on you will learn the music just as fast as regular reading. You play guitar, keyboards, and many others! In 6^th grade you ever get to do an independent research project on any instrument of your choice!

Health- Your health teacher is Ms. Kebler. She with teach you about alcohol, staying healthy, drugs and a couple other things. What she teaches you is important in life. Some of it my seem gross or uncomfortable but it's good to learn.

CFS- Last but not least, CFS. CFS stands for Consumer Family Studies. In CFS your teacher will be Mrs. Blair. You will learn a lot in CFS like sewing, babysitting and cooking. The cooking projects are very fun! You make pizza, pretzels, cookies and many more. With sewing you make puppets and stuffed animals. Before CFS I didn't know anything about sewing. In life you will need babysitting a lot. From teen to adult!

Those are all the GBS specials and what you learn!

Mr. Elder Changes For Haiti

2010-02-18T08:24:00.002-05:00

by Angie LaFave

Conditions in earthquake-stricken Haiti have taken their toll on the heart of our vice principal, Mr. Elder... or should I say Mrs. Elder? Our new program to help the victims in Haiti is called Change For Haiti – kids collect spare change and donate it to Haiti. If everyone together as a school saves up $750 for Haiti, Mr. Elder will “change for Haiti”... in other words, he'll don a wig, a dress and lime-green fuzzy slippers and serve lunch to us! Mr. Bolduc, upon hearing the news, said in a completely serious tone, “It wouldn't surprise me if he did.”

To save $750, each student only needs to bring in two dollars in change, but we need everyone's cooperation!

Many of the fifth, sixth, and even seventh graders were totally psyched about seeing Mr. Elder in a pretty dress! However, eighth graders are going to be a lot harder to convince. “No one wants to see that!” said Ty Doncaster.

Briah Davis commented, “[Mr. Elder is so silly that] he would do that anyway. He doesn't need money.”

“Make the skirt pink, and make him wear high heels!” Storm England said.

But again, like I said, fifth graders are all for the idea. Colin Brinkley, a fifth grade magazine student, said, “That would be really weird, yet really funny.”

Teachers are in shock, but when they got over the mental image, they, too, supported the idea. “I think that will definitely motivate kids because it provides incentive,” Ms. Darling, the eighth grade LA teacher said.

We only need about a hundred more dollars! That may sound like a ton, but look at it this way. If one hundred people save up only one dollar each, we'll have enough. Or, twenty people can each save up five dollars! We have almost 400 hundred kids in this school, so it should be pretty simple.

So, if you want to see Mr. Elder serving lunch in a pretty dress, save up as much change as you can find! Even if we can't reach our goal, we'll still be helping the victims of Haiti!

Team A's Big loss:(

2010-02-17T13:28:00.003-05:00

By Liz and JT

The Great Brook A team Basketball had a tremendous lose against their brother district South Meadow School on January 28th . All the Boys tried their best in the first half of the game, about half way through the first half Kyle M. scored 8 points, Then Cory, a home schooled boy, scored 1 points.

But Suddenly SMS caught up with the Bobcats, by half time the Bobcats were losing 10 to 20. By the third quarter SMS got ahead by another 20 points. Forth Quarter the Bobcats only had 8:00 minutes to try to catch up with SMS, but the bobcats had a surprise waiting for them and Gray K. scored 4 points and Malik E. scored 2 points, but it wasn't enough to catch up.

The Bobcats were down to 3:00 minutes and SMS scored another 20 points and by the end of the Game the score was GBS 19 points and SMS 61 points. A lot of the boys thought they were going to win. 8th grader Evan Corliss said ''This was our chance to beat them here at home, because we had lost when we were at SMS''.

Suddenly Mr. West asked Mr. Baldwin '' were is Campbell French?'' Mr. Baldwin said '' I don't know he was at the game yesterday in Marlboro, but he's not here''.''Some of the guys said he was sick''said 8th grader JT clough .So the boys lost there game against SMS and they move on the the next team on Friday against Marlobro.

Winter Olympics 2010

2010-02-03T17:24:00.022-05:00

By Julia Cooper

The winter Olympics have finally ended! The Olympics this year were being held in Canada in Vancouver British Columbia. They started on February 12 and ended on February 28. There were 2500 plus athletes. The events included Alpine Skiing, Biathlon, Bobsleigh, Cross-Country, Curling, Figure Skating, Freestyle Skiing, Ice Hockey, Luge, Nordic Combined, Short Track, Skeleton, Ski Jumping, Snow Boarding, and Speed Skating.

The Opening Ceremonies was filled with athletes, dancing, tap dancing, singing, and the Lighting Ceremony. The Lighting Ceremony did not go as planed when the 4 people who were going to light the torch arm coming out of the ground did not work. Only 3 of the arms came out instead of the 4. After this they had to go light anther one outside due to the Olympics being inside. (You have to be able to see the flames from outside. It is a rule for the Olympics)

Another part of the Opening Ceremonies was a moment of silence for Nodar Kumaritashvili who died at a hospital after running of the tracks during his luge practice.

On a happier note the rest of the Opening Ceremonies was filled with dancing and singing. The also showed the athletes from each Country with their flags.

The Closing Ceremonies started with a big joke about how the fourth arm did not come up. There was a clown 'fixing' the problem for the fourth person she finally lit the fourth arm.

They then had kids come out with a red / white snowboard (red on one side white on the other) and make the Canada flag and other shapes.

Then the awarded the Cross - Country people because they had just performed. They also had allot of people sing, danceing and talking about Canada. They also had things about the next place they are going for the next Winter Olympics in 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

I interviewed some people about what do they think about the Olympics, here is what they had to say...

"I think they were awesome! The Americans rocked!" Ms. Rice exclaimed.

"Pretty good," Kylie Mitchel said.

"There OK," Jordan Roberson replied.

"I am bewildered by the game of curling," Deb Creekmore from A.E.S stated.

"There awesome!" Katie Taylor exclaimed.

"I don't watch it," Maddie Harvey replied.

"They were intense. But I only watched it because of Shaun White," Monica Cooper stated.

Some people liked the winter Olympics, others did not. Some watched it others did not. Diffrent people diffrent opions... What did you think about the Olympics?

http://netdna.webdesignerdepot.com/uploads/2009/03/2010_winter_olympics_logosvgpn.png

Junk to Funk

2010-02-02T09:27:00.017-05:00

By Emmasae Hallen

In Feburary at GBS, the students are meeting Jeff Erwin and "The Beast" in a workshop called Junk to Funk. In this workshop you play music with recycled material. Each and every student will have one workshop at a certain block of the day. 70 minute blocks give the student more time to have fun. At the end of the week GBS will have an assembly with kids who want to preform in front of the entire school. Some call it stomp but others call it pure music.

"This is a way to express your creativity and music talents," said an anonymous 8th grader. "I have musical talent but others that I didn't think had it, had it!"Usually schools have people come and give demonstrations and have the kids sit and watch it. This program though, is a fun way to learn about Junk 2 Funk by playing the instruments just to see how much fun it really is!

"The 'Beast' is so much fun! I want one!" said 5th grader Cameron Ibach. The "Beast" is a big triangular piece of metal with signs, pots and shovels. Kids use sticks and hit it to make noise. Most of the pieces of the "Beast" make a high noise except for frame of it. There are so many other instruments made out of metal, plastic and wood.

"Working with kid is so much fun and each school is more creative than the last," Jeff Erwin said.

If you want a fun thing for kids to do at your school, try Trash Can Lids Production. Go online to http://www.trashcanlidproductions.com/SchoolPrograms or go to the homepage at http://www.trashcanlidproductions.com.

Band Trouble

2010-01-26T11:31:00.003-05:00

By Liz Chase

In band, Mrs. Moncrief is having trouble with her students. So she is giving people with different parts of music to look over. Mrs. Moncrief will chose who she wants to stay in band. She is getting pretty upset because a lot of people don't take their instruments home or they don't practice.

The way Mrs. Moncrief is going to solve this problem is she is going to audition people to make sure they know their part and if they don't she will know who will not be in band or jazz band. Some people know their parts really well and she will probably tell those people to stay. Mrs. Moncrief can tell whether you practice by the way your sound.

Mrs. Moncrief likes when people practice so we all can be ready for the spring concert because she really excited for this concert. As I was saying

Mr. Anes is the high school band teacher for Conval and has been coming to jazz band to help us.

When she told him that a lot of us don't sound that good, he said to do warm ups. Mrs Moncrief said ,'' I want you all to do your best, and practice''. What happens is people just don't play their parts right like some of the trumpets they just guess their notes, or they just blow the wrong note out of their trumpets this also happens with the saxophone, Clarinet, drums and other sections. Also people are leaving their instruments here and Mrs. Moncrief isn't too happy with those people. She has been checking. She keeps telling us to take them and she marks them down in her grade book. People just don't listen to her and she doesn't like it.

What’s your type of dog?

2010-01-26T11:23:00.005-05:00

By Emma Kendall

Most people like dogs and many people have them as pets. I have 2 hounds but my favorite type is a beagle, one of the most popular in the world. Would you like to know what breeds of dog 6th graders at GBS like the most? I went around and asked 24 6th graders what was their favorite type of dog. The following is a chart of by breed popularity.

Number of Students Breed Character
5 Beagle lots of energy good in a family
3 Hound good sense of smell
3 Golden Retriever beauty and brains
3 Siberian Husky strong and loving
1 Labrador Retriever strong, athletic, well balanced
2 Pit bull great warrior, strength, courage, agility, grace
2 German Shepherd classic beauty, superior intelligence
1 Pug big dog in a smalls dogs body, loyal
1 Rottweiler powerful and serious, can be fun loving
1 Poodle sense of humor and love of life
1 Black Lab strong athletic, well balanced
1 Boxer exceedingly high energy level

As you can see 6th graders love dogs, but the most popular breed is a Beagle with 5 votes.

picture from aspcacommunity.ning.com

Asian Project Starts With a Bang!

2010-01-26T09:54:00.004-05:00

by Andrew Hunt

What is going on in 7th grade? In 7th grade there is an Asian project with all the students.

All the classes in 7^th grade and each student will choose one topic and for every class no one can have the same subject. In all there are 50 choices so there is a great selection to choose from. Some of the choices are foot bindings, Mount Everest, and samurai.

The last day to finish this project is Friday the 15^th of January. Everybody has chosen their topic and are doing research on their idea. They're making a web with their information and they will make a slide show to present. At the end of their slide show, they will have three questions that people will need to be able to answer from their slide show.

I asked Mrs. Janulis a few questions and she said, “The project has lasted two weeks. One week for getting information and one week to present.” She also said “I hope everyone liked what they got because they got to choose. And no one this year asked about [having two topics] and if someone did, they would have it combined.”

She has been doing this project for 4-5 years and every year gets better and better. Mrs. J. thinks that this is a great way for kids to use technology. Lets hope that everybody's project is great!

Dragons in Ms. Egan's Room!

2010-01-26T09:39:00.002-05:00

by Angie LaFave

In Ms. Egan's 8th grade science room, class has suddenly become even more interesting than before. That's because Ms. Egan is using one of the most popular magical creatures to teach us about genetics! That's right, we're using cute little dragons! There are all different kinds of dragons – fire-breathing dragons, spiky dragons, dragons with wings, and many more! Will your dragon be purple or green? Here's how it works:

We drew letters from a cup – uppercase and lowercase. These represent dominant traits and recessive traits. Dominant traits are more powerful than recessive, so if a dominant trait is present, that trait is what you will see as a physical characteristic. After we drew the letters, we recorded the results. The gender of the dragon matched our own gender. Then we went around the room and found two partners of the opposite gender for our dragon to “mate” with.

When we were done recording the results of the mother and father, we figured out what the baby dragon would look like using this system:

(D= dominant, R= recessive)
D + R = D
R + R = R
D + D = D

As soon as we discovered what our dragon looked like, we chose one of the two baby dragons to sketch. We had to be extremely careful to include all of the features, because there were so many little details such as the amount of toes, the tongue length, the comparison of the leg lengths, and the shape of the eyes. Then we moved on to Model Magic. The Model Magic always fell apart because it hardened overnight and was very fragile.

After that, it was time to bring some color into their artificial lives – we used some paint. This also proved to be difficult, since it was near impossible to fill in all the tiny crevices and gaps. Most people weren't ashamed to admit that it looked much better on paper.

Now came the tedious part; after all, this project wasn't just a fun vacation from normal work. We had to answer complicated questions such as, What was the likelihood of your dragon acquiring the traits it did? What characteristics of your dragon were based on its gender? and Your dragon had twenty-six different traits. Compare this to real life.

Now, if you walk into Ms. Egan's room, you'll see some colorful dragons soaring around, surveying the tops of students' heads and making friends with the other decorations.

“I really like them because people worked hard on them,” said Liz Chase. “A lot of them are colorful, some look weird, but all together, they're really cool.”

“I thought it was really cool how different the dragons turned out,” Ms. Cullinan said. “I also liked how some had wings and were flying around, and the ones who didn't have wings were just hanging out on the shelves together.”

“My favorite part was that there were only two purple ones and the rest were green,” Emmasae Hallen said.

8th graders in Ms. LeClerc's class will do this project too, after The Great Switch-Up. They will transfer from Ms. LeClerc's to Ms. Egan's class.

Keep your eyes out for stray dragons, and beware! For you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

7th and 8th Science Switch Up

2010-01-21T09:43:00.000-05:00

By Emmasae Hallen

Get ready 7th and 8th graders! On Monday, the scientific geniuses of GBS will switch from Ms. Egan's to Mrs. Leclerc's classes. The 7th grade smarties in Mrs.Leclerc's class will switch to Ms. Egan's and the ones in Ms.Egan's will switch to Mrs. Leclerc's. Then the 8th grade Einsteins will do the same thing, but Mr. Bolduc's class will stay the same.

"They are so great, I don't want to get rid of them. But I can't wait for the other group of kids," Mrs. Leclerc said. Some kids groaned and some kids cheered when they heard about switching.

"I love Ms. Egan and Mrs.Leclerc but I don't want to switch. It confuses me and I wont know what I am doing," said an 8th grader from GBS.

In Ms. Leclerc's class for 7th grade they do many things. They have been learning a lot about energy.

"We have been learning about kinetic energy which is the energy that is stored. Potential energy is the energy that's is pushed up," 7th grader Andrew Hunt said.

But in Ms. Egan's class they have been learning about cells and microscopes.

"Ms. Egan is a lot of fun but she yells sometimes," Tyler Phillips said.

In Mrs. Leclerc's 8th grade class they have been learning about the periodic table and its elements.

"[Ms. Leclerc] is so nice about everything and she helps me with alot of my work," Erik Lakus said.

In Ms.Egan's 8th grade science they have been learning about evolution and genes.

"The best part of the class is doing all the activities she does with us. I love it," Angie LaFave said.

Are you wondering why they are switching classes? Well, they are switching because Ms. Egan teaches life science and Ms. Leclerc teaches physical science. The reason they are doing it that way is because they thought it would be easier for them that way. Instead of making a ton of lessons to go throughout the year, they can make a few and do them each twice. If they didn't like one they could try something else. So be prepared 7th and 8th graders, for the scientific switch up!

Boys A Basketball Game

2010-01-21T08:58:00.005-05:00

by JT Clough

The boys A basket ball game on 1/13/10 was a bad basketball game.

The boys were playing their brothers, SMS. SMS is a very good school that excels in sports. SMS is the school that we go to Conval with. The final score was 38 to 49, SMS won.

The people who started the game on the GBS team were Campbell French, Kyle Murray, Malik Earle, Thomas Hall and Cory. Cory is a home schooled student that plays on the basketball team. For SMS the starting people were Jordan Moore, Mathias, Damal Faton, Nick Philips and Gavin Chamerlin.

The people who scored for GBS were Campbell with 6 points, Kyle with 13 points, Malik with 8 points, Cory with 3 points, Duke with 6 points, and JT with 2 points. The people with fouls were Campbell French with 3 fouls and JT with 1 foul.

The game was very intense for the first half. Then the team started to fall apart in the second half. The GBS team did not score any points in the second half. It was a defeat for the GBS team but they hope to face them next time to get a better chance for the win at home.

The New G.B.S Photo Album

2010-01-18T19:37:00.007-05:00

By Julia Cooper

Remember those decorations in the hall by the office? Did you notice that when the decorations went up in the hall the photos went down? After the decorations went down the photos did not go back up. Why? Because the front office decided that they would take the photos and make a new photo album. There are other photo albums in the hall by the office/gym for parents/students to enjoy. Mrs. Picard was looking for some students to help make the new photo album during their recess and Emma Kendal and I decided that we would be glad to help.

We had to take all the pictures out of their frames to begin with. Then we will have to take them and cut them to size so they will fit in the album. After that we will have to sort them by sport, season, and year. The years range from 1992 – 2008(or so) (the one from 1992 has Mrs. Ripley in it with no glasses). Once that is done we will finish up by putting it all in a photo album that is a black color.

I asked Emma a few questions about the photo album. Here they are…

“Do you like working on the photo album?” I inquired.

“Yes, it is really cool looking at all the pictures,” Emma reply.

“Do you like not going out for recess?” I asked.

“I don’t like bring my boots to school so I usually stay in,” Emma answered.

“Is making a photo album hard?” I said.

“No, I don’t think so,” Emma stated.

“Do you enjoy making the photo album?” I question.

“Yes, it is really fun!” Emma exclaimed.

After we finish it then it will be out in the hall with the other ones. Maybe next time your parent is picking you up or your parent is waiting for you, then you’ll have a look at it. Enjoy!

Picture from http://www.tonyhalford.co.uk/images/main_album4.jpg

Slideshow for the Christmas Concert

2010-01-12T11:34:00.001-05:00

Pickle Making

2010-01-05T12:09:00.002-05:00

by Heather Brown

Do you like pickles?On Tuesday Ms. Kidd's class and the alt room made Pickles.

Ms. Cullinan helped us with making pickles so did Ms. Martin, Mr. Cooper, Ms. Welch, Ms.Kidd and Mr.T.To make the pickles you cut up the cucumbers,then you put the cucumbers in a jar,with dill,garlic,vinegar,some pickling spices,salt and water. Then you let them sit for five days. And put them in the refrigerator so you can eat them. They tasted spicy and good. Johnny said the the pickles were “spicy but tasty-a good tasty.”And Anala said “the pickles were juicy and I liked them”.I thought the pickles were good and it was easy making them.

Slideshow of Probability Game Day

2009-12-21T12:10:00.000-05:00

The ELP Applied Mathematicians hosted the 5th grade in a game day. Students were challenged to play different games and see who could win the most tickets. But, for the Applied Math class, the challenge was to create a probability game that made the most profit! Everyone did a great job.

Slideshow of the concert

2009-12-18T13:57:00.002-05:00

Want Something More With Your Paws?

2009-12-17T09:08:00.004-05:00

By Megan Titus

Do you like little toys and accessories? Have you ever wanted to get more than pencils and erasers?Well, you can. At the paw stand, where you can buy all sorts of things.

They have everything from jewelry, to mini toys, to Christmas stuff for the holidays, and little teddy bears. And more, for reasonable paw prices-- its only 1 – 6 paws. The paws only cost your respectful and good behavior. So if you plan to go down later, here is some information. The paw stand is only open on Wednesdays, in front of the library during the morning when you're free to walk around. And if you plan to get a small toy, please respect the fact you can't play with them in class.

I got the inside scoop from Mrs Kidd who runs the stand with Mrs. Welch. Here's why they started the paw stand. "We started the paw stand so kids could us there paws and pick from a wider variety of goods”

Now I'll tell the way Ms. Kidd (Ms Kidd and Ms Welch ) got the toys. "They were donated by teachers and some are bought by the school.”

Now some thing a lot of kids must be wondering:why is it only open on Wednesday? Ms Kidd says, "teachers and kids are busy in the morning and that's when the stand would have to be open.”

So now you know some things about it. Will you go to the stand?

Last minute gift ideas!

2009-12-17T09:06:00.002-05:00

By Emma Kendall

Do you want to know what Pre-teens want for Christmas?

If you’re still looking for a holiday gift for some pre-teen kids you can stop right here. I asked some Great Brook students what they wanted for Christmas. Books, video games, and hi-tech gadgets seem to be the big winners with kids in our school.

Daviana, grade 8, said she wants less algebra homework and some ninja and Mario video games. Sally, grade 8, would like graphic novel books like The Bone series. Quinn, grade 8, would also like to get books such as the Manga comic books and graphic novels. I love those books too; I think I’ll add them to my wish list.

Juliet, grade 5, is asking for a flip video camera. I like that idea too. Krya, grade 6, would like some jewelry, specifically a guitar necklace and some mint chocolates for her stocking. Ivy, grade 6, would like a black Dell laptop, field hockey gear and i-Pod touch.

Austin, in 6^th grade, our only boy in the group would like hunting games for his Wii station and paint ball gun. I want the same thing that I’ve wanted for every Christmas since I was 9 years old. I’ll keep you guessing. I hope everyone gets at least one thing on their list. Have a Merry Christmas!

The Awesome Door Decorating Contest!!

2009-12-17T09:00:00.001-05:00

By: Morgan Whitney

WOOOW! Thats what I heard all through the hall when people are looking at the doors. There has been a door hanging contest in GBS. Every teacher in GBS is making a thing to hang on their door.I think that all the doors are unique.

I think that a lot of the teachers are going far off of what they need to be. I saw a door that had all wrapping paper and a christmas tree, that was Mrs.Shea's door. Another door had a lot of snowflakes on it and it said "THE BIGFORD BLIZZARD!"

This is what Matt Davis said about the contest, "I think its stupid how we get pulled out of our work to glue paper on our door! I was just trying to do my work and Mrs.Blanchette told me to do stuff with the door" here is another opinion from Emma Kendall "I think its cool because I can see all the awesome doors and how all the people are doing on them." So that is the ice-cream-scoop on the doors!!!

New Years-

2009-12-15T11:25:00.018-05:00

By : Julia Cooper

New Year!

The year 2009 is going to end soon so do you know what that means? Yes, Christmas-- but it also means New Year's! For different people, New Year's means different things.

From having a party, to staying up late, to seeing the ball drop, or to having friends over to see the ball drop with you, to looking forward to go sledding, or maybe looking forward to eating cake with a Nana, there is always a New Year.

But just how do you celebrate it?

I was lucky enough to have a chance to talk to some 5th graders and see what New Year's means for them.

Carly Storro says "It is the beginning of a new year" when I asked her what New Year's Eve means to her.

Then I asked Carly "What do you do on New Year's?"

She replied, "I go to my Uncle's house and go sledding, then watch the ball drop."

But when I asked Hannah Fitzgerald what New Years means to her she said something completely different. "When I think of New Years I think of my birthday because it will be coming up in 4 weeks."

What Hannah does for New Year's is "Stay up late with [her] Nana and eat cake while watching the ball drop."

What you are doing on New Years might be the same or different. But either way, remember to start writing 2010!

Happy New Years!

Terminating Traffic Trouble

2009-12-15T09:45:00.010-05:00

By Angie

Picture this: you go to school one day and notice something... different. There are speed limits, parking lots, and signs warning of 'Merging Traffic.'

Well thats what's happened at G.B.S! Teachers have put yellow tape on the ceiling in a strait line to represent road lines. Kids at G.B.S may earn allot of paws prints just by staying to the right of the hallways and focusing on their destination. An anonymous source said, "I was walking on the wrong side of the hallway at first, then I saw a teacher and quickly jumped to the other side. She gave me a paw print for correcting my actions!"

Many kids are seeing the advantages of these perky traffic sings. However, there are a select few who don't see the point. "It's stupid and it's not gonna last," said one student after seeing a sing that read, 'Speed limit walk.' Another said, "I could live without it" Yet another anonymous student said, "Uh, I guess it's kind of okay."

This may sound crazy, but believe it or not the new system is actually working. There are less jams in the hallway, and sources have reported seeing an older student revving up the engine of an invisible Ferrari. Many have spotted practicing parallel parking in front of there classrooms as well. The majority of the road signs say, 'Stay to the right.' The teachers have even come up with a catchy jingle to the tune of 'The Addams Family' theme music.

In addition to the traffic sings plastering the walls of every hallway, there have also been teachers wielding traffic signs on wooden poles saying 'stay to the right!' on one side and on there other 'slow down!' The GBS bobcat actually gave us a reminder over the daily announcements one morning, though nobody knows the bobcats current whereabouts.

Despite many uh... passionate opinions regarding our new 'road' perhaps this will be a long-term system. We can only wait and see.

Personally, I think the sings should be more road-oriented. Maybe we could manage some cardboard stop lights or signs that say 'yield to incoming traffic.' To tell the truth, nobody sees signs in real life that say 'stay to the right' because unless you're from London that shouldn't be an issue. But until that sets in, the signs can stay the way they are, and once everyone knows the hallway expectations, thats when we get creative. Again this is just my opinion.

Do you have an opinion? Ideas for new signs? Report on the old hallway attitude vs. the new? Please comment on this article!!!

Holiday Fever

2009-12-10T11:42:00.003-05:00

By Emmasae Hallen

"I cant wait for the holidays!" said a 5th grader from GBS. The students at GBS are very excited because in less than a week Christmas vacation will start. Before the break there will be a lot of events happening in the school. One thing that is happening is the holiday concert. The concert is on December 16th and will be held in the gym. "The students will do very well and they have worked so hard for the time we have had to practice." said Ms. Moncrief. "I cant wait!"

Another event is the holiday door decorating contest. Each class has to decorate their door in a holiday theme. It can be about any holiday in December. Its a contest between each grade. There will be a winner and they will get a prize that has not been decided yet. "It sets a nice festive tone for our school," Ms. Wasserloos said while walking to the office. On December 16th the doors will be judged by a group of kids in Rachel's Challenge. (That's a group of kids trying to make our school a better place.) “The doors will look great!” Jt Clough said.

The last thing that is happening is on the last day of school before vacation. We will have about 2 hours of advisory to have stuff like parties and different fun activities. Some advisory's are having secret santas or yankee swaps, and others are just hanging out and having fun. The activities, the parties and so much fun, its like its already vacation.

Halloween Dance, So Great it was SPOOKY!

2009-11-20T14:06:00.013-05:00

By Andrew Hunt and Megan Titus

The first Great Brook school dance was on Friday October 30^th. There was a costume contest in honor of Halloween!

There were three people in each grade level who won a free drink with chips. Kids were so excited.

Not everyone was dressed up in a costume but there was a lot of costumes which meant a lot of competition. There were many great costumes in each grade level. There was a banana, a twister board, lots of goths and witches, many monsters, and a giant Domo. (see picture)

Many people danced along with the songs that were played. Drinks and snacks were sold at the dance. The drinks were $1.00 each and the chips were $0.50 each. There was also candy being sold for $0.75 each. The dance went from 2:30 to 4:00 and it was an all school dance so a lot of people came. You could almost say the gym was packed.

The dance was set up by the Student Congress and there will be many more dances in the future. Thank Student Congress for that!

Millie in 6th grade said, "I decided to wear a costume to the dance to feel the spirit." She agrees with the song choices but wants the price lowered by at least ten cents.

Click HERE to see a slideshow of pictures from the dance.

Turkey Trot

2009-11-20T14:06:00.012-05:00

By Emmasae Hallen
“It was one of the best experiences of my life!” a fifth grader told The Bobcats Meow after running the GBS Turkey Trot. On November 19th GBS held their annual Turkey Trot. People watch kids for each grade run around the block. Hundreds of kids run and only 25 kids came in the finish line to win for their grade. Each grade had a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winner. Here are the winners.

Girls
1st
Taryn Wing 5th
Millie Weinreich 6th
Monica Pierson 7th
Shaina Langlois 8th
2nd
Jill Pierson 5th
Kylie Mitchell 6th
Maddie Zimmerman 7th
Selina Baldwin 8th
3rd
Sylive Holding 5th
Emma Kendall 6th
Kyler Mose& Meagan Stanley 7th
Megan Hardwick 8th

Boys
1st
Liam Baldwin 5th
Josh Fulton 6th
Andrew Hunt 7th
Malik Earl 8th
2nd
Jonathan Pape 5th
Kyle Nutter 6th
Nick Cheaney 7th
Mike Palozola 8th
3rd
William Flippo 5th
Devon Jacobsen 6th
Joel Barwood 7th
Campbell French 8th

First place gets a turkey and a shirt. Second place you get a box of cookies. And third place gets a lolly pop.
Timothy Hollingsworth said, “It was so exhausting and tiring. I feel like I am going to die right now.” This is a great experience. Next year there will be more winners and more fun!

Movie Review: Transformers 2 Rise of the Fallen

2009-11-20T13:43:00.010-05:00

By JT Clough

Spoiler alert!!!

Did you see Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen? The Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen the movie was the best movie I have seen, it was the bomb! Most of the people thought it was awesome all of the action in the movie and all the twists and turns in the movie were good, too. Some of the twists and turns in the movie were that even though Megatron was at the bottom of the ocean, the Destructicons went and got him out and brought him back to life. That was really surprising.

There were so many more Decepticons then Autobots. The Autobots actually pulled through and won the battle. But they did not do it alone! The humans played a good part in the movie too. If it was not for them they would not have got Optimus Prime to the desert. The reason they were in the desert was because if the key that brought Optimus back to life.

The Decepticons plan was to activate a devise with the key to destroy the sun and the human race giving them a all power full power to the leader of the Decepticons. If it was not for the one human who called a air strike on the Destructicon, it would have got to the pyramid and the pyramid held the device.

The main character ( Shia Labeouf ) was a fantastic character along with Megan Fox. Bumble Bee was Sams ( Shia Labeoufs) Gaurdian for the movie Bumble Bee was a 2009 Camaro that had racing stripes on the top of the car. The reason they call him Bumble Bee is because he is yellow with black racing stripes. I thought the movie was great. My favorite Autobot was Bumble Bee. Why didn't he speak like the other Autobots what is the deal with that? Shia Labeouf really got into character, he was great in the movie. Megan Fox was amazing too she was Sam's ( Shia Labeoufs ) girlfriend in the movie.

The songs that they played definitely fit the movie. The theme song was the best it was by Linkin Park. Linkin Park has broke up they are no longer a band. They have to get back together so they can make a new transformers movie. They at least need a theme song.

Well they should make a new transformers movie that would be great. So if you haven't seen the movie go see it, it is out standing.

Birds of a Feather Stick Together

2009-11-20T12:25:00.008-05:00

By Emma Kendall

Do you like the outdoors? Do you enjoy watching animals in their habitat? Have you ever wondered where all the birds come from in the spring and where they go in the winter? Birding, a new ELP activity, may be just for you.

When you sign up for birding you get to learn all about the local bird populations, feeding habits, go on field trips, take care of the bird feeders outside of GBS. Austin says he enjoys getting to interact with different birds sometimes. Several feeders are located right outside Ms. Cullinan’s window.

I interviewed 5^th grader Courtney and she said her favorite thing is watching the birds. She also told me about all different feeders being used at GBS. Here is the type of feeders there are :suction cup feeders and hanging feeders and more.

Some of the birds you can see are, pigeons, blue jays, morning dove and more. If you have questions about birding you can talk to Austin Stacy in 7^th grade or Courtney, Mackenzie, Katie and Sylvie all in 5^th grade. Ms. Cullinan is also available to answer your questions. I had fun learning about birding and maybe next year I’ll join them.

Picture from
http://ineedfile.com/archive/birds/1-birds.jpg

Cheerleading

2009-11-19T11:39:00.007-05:00

Cheerleading, what's it's about? Well, cheerleading is with Ms. B who is a teacher that works over at A.E.S. Cheerleading is Tuesday through Friday 2:30-4:00 because Ms. B has to watch her students.

On Friday we had tryouts and there were three judges and we had to show them our sideline cheers and the dance we all worked hard on. Ms. B said that we wouldn't go to the championship because Ms. B has to take care of her kid.

Also Cheerleading is very hard you have to practice and if you don't come to practice because you didn't feel like it you will be off the team. Remember that if you are sick and you go home early make sure if you come to practice the next day bring a note that says you were sick and went home, make sure you have your shoes and some shorts. Next week Ms. B says that the girls will probably get there uniforms and the coach also said that the girls will be cheering at basketball games.''all the girls did great'' said Ms. B.

I asked Ms. B why does she coach cheer leading and she said that she likes doing cheer leading with girls because all the girls remind Ms. B of herself when she did cheerleading and she said that she will continue doing cheer leading as longs as the girls want to make a commitment to there team.

Sally in 8^th grade said that she love cheer leading, Sydney in 7^th grade ''was a big help'' said Liz in 8^th.So, that is what cheerleading is all about.

Art Class with Ms. Bando

2009-11-19T08:59:00.005-05:00

By Julia Cooper

Have you ever wondered what you will make next in art with Ms. Bando? Or is it you're wondering what one of your siblings will bring home next? Which ever it is I will help answer your question.

When you’re in 5^th grade you get to do lots of things! For insistence, “You learn to mix and use color, you choose a fresh water NH fish, (learn) different ways to work with water color, Japanese gyotaku - means fish - print textile inks on paper and on a shirt, learn about Japanese culture, clay project, and if time a small weaving.” Ms. Bando said.

When in 6^th grade “(you) work with texture pattern balance, shape and form, make a pattern for weaving, make weaving, clay; hand building techniques.”

Then once you’re in 7^th grade you have a “Independent study project ~ allows students to gain experience in a art form they would like to learn about, masks, making clay projects ~ slab method of building, patterns with Mantala.”

Last but not least, 8^th grade! In 8^th grade you do a“Independent study project ~ allows students to gain experience in a art form they would like to learn about (like in 7^th grade), lines, complete penid illustrations, molla, and print making”

Hope you will like being able to see what you will do next in art. Or maybe just remember what you did! Which ever, hope it helps!

Do Not Run In The Halls!

2009-11-17T12:28:00.003-05:00

By Heather Brown

These photos are signs so all the students do not run in the hall. The teachers in Great Brook School made the signs and some of the students made some. So please DO NOT RUN IN THE HALL.

GBS Band Makes Beautiful Music!

2009-11-17T11:29:00.003-05:00

by:Morgan Whitney

Have you ever thought about joining band? Mrs. Moncrief and Ellis music are letting students “rent to keep”(rent to keep is once you rent an instrument in fifth grade and keep it until eighth grade.)

Band has a lot of different groups depending on what you play. To join talk to Mrs. Moncrief in the red portable.

Mrs. Moncrief wants a really good concert band, (6^th 7^th 8^th grade) you can talk to Mrs. Moncrief at your recess or lunch. You should join band because there is a wide variety of instruments to choose from, and we play a lot of fun music.

You can choose brass, brass has a mouthpiece that you buzz your lips into. You can choose woodwinds, woodwinds have a reed that you put on your instrument. You can choose percussion, percussion instruments are like drums. You can also choose strings, string are violins and things like that. That is why you should join band.

The 2nd Assembly at GBS

2009-11-17T11:17:00.005-05:00

By Morgan Whitney

GBS had an assembly on November 4^th first block in the gym!

The assembly is about safety in the hallways, Ben Aldrich says that “The hallways were chaotic last year, But this year is a lot better. I think that the hallway are better because the eighth graders are a lot less rowdy.”

They showed us a video of Bear Grylls from the T.V. Show Man Vs Wild. Bear was afraid of the halls in GBS because he heard a bunch of bad stuff like how the halls were so crowded and people hurting other people in the halls.(by the way they didn't really hurt each other.)

Bob the Bobcat was at the assembly the whole time! Bob was trying to encourage people to do all the things the staff want us to do. The school staff wants to encourage people to: walk on the right, have quiet voices, to keep your hands to yourself, to stay on the right, “slow”, and “crossing”.On walls and ceilings there are parking places for each class. So that is what the assembly was like!!!

here is a link to our videos

Slideshow of Halloween Dance Pictures

2009-11-17T09:54:00.001-05:00

We are experimenting with this slideshow format to see if it will be a good fit for our blog. Let us know what you think!

Here are some of the many students who danced the afternoon away at the Halloween Dance. The pictures were all taken by Bobcat's Meow staffers.

Rachel's Challenge and the First GBS Assembly of the Year

2009-11-12T09:07:00.002-05:00

By Julia Cooper

Ever wondered what the first assembly was like on Monday October 5, 2009?

When you walked into the G.B.S gym, you heard the song “What I like about You” by The Romantics being played by Alex Murphy and Chris Heffernan and everyone cheering. After everyone got settled down the presidents of Student Congress introduced us to the rest of the Student Congress.

After we met Student Congress the eighth grade talked about Rachel’s Challenge. If you were not there, it is about a shooting on at Columbine High School, on April 20 1999. They also told us how Rachel was trying to do little acts of kindness (before she died) to help make the world a better place. The 8th grade also showed us a presentation that had the 5 steps Rachel hoped would/will make the world a better place. Here they are…

1. Eliminate prejudice by looking for the best in others.
2. Choose positive influences and role models in life.
3. Keep a daily journal or diary.
4. Look for little things that make a big difference.
5. Tell people how much you care about them.

After that the 8th graders went to there seats and then it was tine for the white card drawing. Someone from each grade won. After all that there was Tug-A-War between the four grades. After all that tugging and cheering (by those people who did not play tug-a-war) it ended up to be a tie. Then they started playing the music again. Almost everyone stood up and started dancing. Then the Assembly was over.

Opinion -- Where's Football?

2009-11-12T08:58:00.005-05:00

By Megan Titus

Where has football gone? Football has been taken away from 6^th grade! I don't want to whine but that just is not fair! We are kids we need more variety of choice for sports we have over 80 kids in 6^th grade with so many likes and dislikes that we need all we can get. How can 5^th-7^th and 8^th have football but we cant don't you think we deserve to known why. We' r not even aloud to touch a football. I should know - me and my friends were playing with a football (just passing it) and a teacher stopped us.

Not to mention, I got the inside scoop from Mr. K that “ [the 6^th graders] just can't handle it.” Well, I'll assure you we can! Well, maybe. There was a hand to hand fight in soccer. I'm not saying that we can't handle anything but come on. All this from taking football away? So hear me out.

What was so bad? I think we deserve to know! So why did this have to happen? Why can't we put it aside? And kids, be more respectful to others and yourself, including teachers.

So what do you think? Will you bring football back?

New teachers

2009-11-10T12:20:00.002-05:00

By Photos By Heather Brown

You might see these new teachers in the halls at GBS...

Mrs. Ketchum 6th grade math

Ms. Bell 8th grade math

Ms. Bigford 5th grade

Ms. Darling 8th grade language arts and Ms. Cullinan ELP

Ms. Ennis and Ms. Hunt

New Students in Great Brook School!

2009-11-04T14:01:00.003-05:00

Photos by Heather Brown

There are lots of new faces at GBS this year. Here are some of them.

Check Out Who Has Been Working Here the Longest!

2009-11-03T11:11:00.001-05:00

By Emma Kendall

Most of you know Industrial Technology teacher Mr. Sweeney. If you don’t you will soon. Did you know he has been working at Great Brook longer than any other teacher? I recently sat down with Mr. Sweeney and asked him a few questions. It was fun getting to know him better because IT is one of my favorite classes.

Mr. Sweeney went to RI College and Antioch University. He has been a teacher for 33 years as and industrial technology teacher. What he likes best about working at GBS is the kids, the other teachers and the nearby community.

I asked him what he would like to do for a career if he was not a teacher and he said he would be a metallurgist. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I know now it is the science of metal working.

I asked him if he could pick two people to past or present to have dinner with who it would be. He said “he would like to have dinner with his father and grandfather because he never had a chance to have and adult conversation with them”.

I also learned that his favorite color is burgundy. Mr. Sweeney is a really nice teacher with a good sense of humor.

The Smart Shopper's Guide To Spending Spare Bobcash!

2009-11-03T10:01:00.002-05:00

By Angie LaFave

Great Brook School Breaking News – Teachers at Great Brook School have began giving kids Paw Prints for good behavior. These are little red cutouts of a bobcat's paw. You can earn them by showing that you are respectful, responsible, and safe.

Paw Prints turn into what's known as Bobcash once you turn them in to the office and get them stamped for approval. Then they are returned to you so you can spend them on whatever you want.

Lots of teachers have not yet decided what they want to put up for sale. Ms. Bando, the art teacher, said, “I should have people buy art supplies from me.” Ms. Bell, an eighth grade advisor and math teacher, is thinking about letting her advisory buy pencils, free time (instead of advisory time), or a seat in the special comfy chair.

Ms. Blair, the CFS teacher, has popcorn for sale. For two Paw Prints, you get a snack size. For four Paws, you can get a regular size.

Ms. Cullinan, the ELP teacher, has popcorn too, along with many other special treats. You can ask her personally for access to a “treasure box.” This contains items with prices from one Paw Print to four Paw Prints. For one Paw Print, you can either have a pencil or a pencil top eraser. You can also have Ms. Cullinan do a somersault just for you for one Paw also. For members of ELP, you can pay one Paw for the opportunity to bring in a school-appropriate CD for your ELP class to listen to while they work. ELP class can also spend three Paws (from one person or from several people combined) to buy the popcorn mentioned above – for the whole class! Or, if you aren't in ELP, you can buy them popcorn out of the goodness of your heart. Last but not least for ELP prizes is the chance to have lunch and tea with Ms. Cullinan and three friends in her room.

There are raffles and auctions to put Paw Prints toward as well!

Are you in Ms. Shea's fifth grade class? Lucky you! People in this class get to put their Paws together for class pizza parties and extra recess! For sixty Paw Prints, your whole class gets to go outside. For one hundred, the class gets a fun pizza party. Yum! Or, if you want to keep your Paws to yourself, you can get a homework pass of your very own.

Ms. Sittig can offer a water bottle for seven Paw Prints. Imagine, never getting thirsty again! At least until the water runs out. Or, if you'd rather be a fashion guru, you can buy a fancy dog tag for five Paws. What a deal!

Ms. Rice lets her sixth grade class buy VIP access to the very front of the line for a meager price of one Paw Print! That could really help out in the lunch rush. Speaking of lunch, she also lets you eat outside for two Paws. One Paw gets you time on the computer. It's like a GBS Wal-Mart!

Ms. Kebler is the health teacher here at GBS. She has some really great deals on exotic items you've never heard of such as...

iPod-shaped erasers! Going for five Paw Prints! They look really cool.

Crayons! Need an extra one to complete your crayon box? They cost three Paws.

Bouncy balls for three paw prints as well.

You could also get a little eraser or a pencil for one Paw. No more borrowing pencils!

A slinky, the object of wonder since a very long time ago. They climb down stairs.

That's it for Ms. Kebler's room! Check again every now and again for updates!

Still don't see anything you like? Don't worry! There are plenty more opportunities to blow your money in other classrooms. Just look around! Some teachers haven't thought of a good selection of merchandise yet, but will have items up for sale soon. Happy shopping!

Cook's Corner: Chocolate chip cookies

2009-11-03T09:20:00.003-05:00

By Andrew

You bored? Try this recipe that will wake your taste buds up because these are the best chocolate cookies around.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Then mix these ingredients together in a large bowl with a mixer.

2 ½ cups of flour, 1 ½ sticks of butter, 1 cup of brown sugar, ½ cup sugar, 2 eggs,
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt, chocolate chips.

Cook for 23 minutes if your cooking the batter all at once but if your cooking round cookies cook them for 10 minutes each then let it cool for approximately 10 minutes on a cooling tray.

This recipe is delicious! Once you've taken a bite out of them you can't stop. They'll be gone within a day if not less. Then everyone who ate them will want more.

Info about our principal, Mr.West

2009-11-02T13:59:00.006-05:00

By Andrew

Hello everyone who is reading this interview. This is a special interview because the one whose being interviewed is Mr. West!

Mr. West has been the principal at G.B.S for three years and has started his fourth. He has never had another position at Great Brook School and he likes his job as principal. His favorite teacher was Mr. Rouga who taught 10^th grade English and Mr. Wests dream job is to be an English teacher. He graduated from New England college and he went to University of Connecticut.

The sports Mr. West played was soccer and tennis. His favorite sport was tennis and his least favorite sport was football.

Mr. West has never dyed his hair pink but would do it for a good cause. If he had a choice of color to dye his hair he would dye it orange.

Thank you for looking at the first ever Interview for the Bobcats Meow. We will have more interviews in the future so keep on looking at our site.

Basketball with Mr. K and Mr. Baldwin!

2009-11-02T11:33:00.007-05:00

Basketball is for kids in 6^th- 8^th grade and basketball will be after school. Basketball is a sport that involves a ball that you bounce, 1to try to get points by shooting the ball into the hoop. When basketball will start is sometime next week and will be with Mr. K and Mr. Baldwin in the gym.

Mr. K and Mr. Baldwin are doing basketball because they love doing sports with kids. They think that sports are good for you. Mr. K and Mr. B have been doing basketball ever since I came to G.B.S .

I think basketball is cool because you stay active and have fun. Also a reminder cheerleading is starting the 1^st or 2^nd week of November so keep listing at the announcements in the morning. Anyway back to basketball, Mr. K and Mr. Baldwin are getting uniforms ready for next week and the week after that. So keep listening for information about these upcoming events.

Cheerleading!

2009-10-31T13:55:00.006-04:00

By Lizzy
Cheerleading will be starting next week in the gym after school with Mrs. B(the coach). We do routines like cartwheels and other moves,but Mr. K doesn't know when he will get the chance to see Mrs. B because she is so busy at A.E.S but Mr. K says when we had a meeting last week to spread the word about Cheerleading and to listen at the announcements at lunch or at Recess and if you don't hear anything by next Wednesday you can see Mr. K about when Cheerleading and he will try to see Mrs. B so keep listening at the announcements.

Fall Fashion Review

2009-10-29T09:07:00.009-04:00

By: The Bobcat

Is fashion important to you? Fall has already fallen and I have noticed that skinny jeans, plaid clothing, and skater shoes are in style this year.

My secret source took a poll on all of those things. The poll said out of 8 people only 4 liked skinny jeans, but those 4 also said that skinny jeans are not for guys and only for girls. Guys are still wearing them. The people think skinny jeans were made for girls. I think that is correct, skinny jeans were made for girls. Some of the things that the polls said, are “they are cool” and that they, “are sweet and awesome”.

The next thing is plaid. Plaid is a bunch of squares and they are different colors. Plaid only looks good on some people. Polls said shirts are not that cool anymore but the pants are. Jackets are OK. Plaid is really insane. Out of 8 people 7 said that plaid was “awesome”, “cool”, and that it is “a hot style”. I think that plaid is cool on anyone.

The last but not least is skater shoes most people think that skater shoes are cool, I do too. Skater shoes don't stay on very well because they don't tie! Skater shoes are comfortable. The polls that I took said everyone liked them but I think that some people don't. Skater shoes are made to have a lot of padding for your feet so that it does not hurt your feet when you land. They are very fluffy inside. There are a lot of different types of skater shoes like DC's, Etnies and even Air Walk has some skater shoes. I can see why some people say that they don't like them they don't stay on, they are flat footed, and they have no grip. Choose your favorite on the polls.

Stop the Vandalism!

2009-10-29T09:01:00.006-04:00

By:Matt Davis

“I don't know why kids are doing it, but its not right.” said Mrs Moran about the keyboard vandalism in her classroom.

In Mrs. Moran's room there has been a problem. The problem is people are writing on the keyboards. Mrs. Moran says “The reason people are writing on the keyboards is because they don't know their notes.”

So, what people are writing is the letter name of the key on the key. There is really no way to stop kids so Mrs. Moran say “I will keep reminding kids not to take part in the vandalizing of school property.”It is true the Mrs. Moran offers papers telling you your keys. I know that because I use one myself.

If this keeps up the school won't keep buying new keyboards to replace the vandalized ones. If you are caught vandalizing the keyboards you will be written up and given a minor. If you have a hard time playing the keyboard, like me, just ask for a paper of the keys to help you out.

So regardless of the reason, it's wrong to write on school property.

GBS Girls Soccer Was Kickin'

2009-10-29T08:37:00.009-04:00

By: Emmasae Hallen
"This year the team has worked very hard for the success that they had this season," Mr.Baldwin said on October 8th. The girl's soccer team was 11-1 and Zoe Paige was leading the team in goals. The girls scored 56 goals and their goalies Emmasae Hallen and Emma Carney only let in 7. "Soccer is my life and I couldn't live without it," Zoe said on October 9th. "We are doing so well this season, we just might make it to the finals in our tournament." Unfortunately, the tournament was cancelled because of rain.

We asked some of the girls on the team what they thought about soccer. " Energetic," "Suspenseful," "Fun," and "Amazing" were just some of the responses from the girls. The team has worked hard, but at the same time, they were having fun. Many girls have been improving since the beginning of the year, according to Charlie Callif.

"This year has been a great year for these girls. The eighth graders will have a great year at ConVal next year. They are going to get some good players," an anonymous teacher told us.

Too bad the girls' soccer team never got the chance to make it into the trophy case.

Welcome

2009-10-26T22:48:00.001-04:00

Welcome to The Bobcat's Meow, the GBS student magazine. This site is currently under construction. We hope to have it up and running soon with polls, slide shows, articles, fun and of course, all of the important news " Inside the Brook."

The Bobcat's Meow is the product of the ELP Magazine Class. Enjoy!