Newsletter Team

“ Elements of Genius” - Book Review

Alyssa Brock

 Let me tell you about an amazing book I read. Did you know that the name of it is “Elements of Genius” ? The author of this fantastic book is “ Jess Keating”. The type of book is Fiction and Mystery. 

 The main character in the story “ Elements of Genius” is Nikki Tesla. Nikki Tesla was an inspiring, kind hearted person.  She has a pet ferret, Pickles, who she always wanted to be near.  She wanted to make sure everything was perfect.  Later in this story, Nikki also did everything she could to save her mom from going to jail.  In the beginning of the story, she was sad because she had to go to “ Genius Academy”.  Towards the middle of the story she thought that it wasn’t so bad after all, but then close to the end  of the story, she got sad again because someone stole her death ray. I think the main character does the right thing when she goes looking for the death ray to make sure that no one gets hurt. Another main character that I thought about was Martha. Martha also helped the group out a lot, she helped lead the group in the right direction, and she was also very smart.  

 This book mostly takes place in Zurich, Switzerland and in Italy. The time in the story was January 21, 1903. The setting in the story makes the book more exciting, and the setting has an important effect on the main character, because they are trying to find her death ray.

The author in elements of Genius is trying to say that you can do anything you put your mind to. I think that her lesson in life was to push forward. I think that the moral in the story is to stop worrying about not fitting in and just be nice to people and people will be nice back.

The first thing that happens in the story is, she builds a death ray. The second important thing that happens in the story is that Nikki has a ferret and he pulls the trigger and then there becomes a 3 foot hole in the floor. The third thing that happens in the story is that the news people came to her house and said if she doesn't go to “Genius Academy” that her mom would have to go to jail. The Next thing that happens in the story is she decides to go to the academy then they get into a box on top of the water then the box starts to fill up with water and then they have to put a code in to escape the box and they thought they were going to die but they did not. The last thing that I thought was very important was they They went on a private jet to the museum then someone steals her death ray and she thought that if she didn’t find it that the whole world would be in danger, so then they went looking for Alexander Zarn the one that supposedly stole the death ray.

In Conclusion, I thought that “ Elements of a Genius” was a really good book. I liked this book because the readers had to try and figure out what was going to happen in each chapter of the book ( like a mystery). One thing that I really didn’t like about the book was that it was too long for me to sit still and read. This story “ Elements of a Genius” is a little bit confusing or hard to believe because it felt like they were all over the place. I couldn’t really figure out what I thought might happen in the beginning but then toward the end I started to figure it out a little bit more. The ending in the book was great because I kind of figured out what was going to happen. I really think if others would really concentrate on the book that it would be really good.

           Different types of animals

Dula Lopez

Blue whales aren’t just the #1 largest mammals to live in the sea, but they are also the largest on PLANETTT!!!. Blue whales can live up to 80-90 years, they can weight up to 330,000 pounds, and their maximum length is of around 80 feets, females are usually larger in length, usually around 75-79 ft, meanwhile males are from 66-69 feets. 

Fun fact: the longest blue whale ever measured was 111 feet long.

The most popular thing for a blue whale to eat is krill, but they can also eat many other different things, like copepods, fish, plankton, or crustaceans that are floating on the ocean. Can blue whales be eaten?The answer is YESSS!!!Blue whales can be eaten by “orcas' ', they usually only attack claves, and not adults, obviously an adult blue whale is 2-3 times bigger than calves, they are usually around 20-23 feets long. A female blue whale gives birth every 2-3 years, and only 1 calve per time, calves usually weigh from 5,000- 6,000 pounds, blue whales produce 50 gallons of milk a day.

Birds- The largest bird ever existed yet is a common ostrich.Ostriches have their own made dict, which means that they eat a lot of types of plants, including leafy greens, flowering plants, and succulents. An ostrich can live for around 30-40 years, measure up to 9 feets tall, and weigh around 250-300 pounds. An ostrich lays 80-160 eggs per season, and each egg weighs around 700 to 1500 g. Population raises ostriches, for their meat, they can earn a living by selling their meat, and ostrich meat is more expensive than most of all the meats.

Octopus-  octopus are one of the most popular invertebrates animals, that can also be eaten. Octopus are an 8 armed species. Examples: The veined octopus, the O. vulgaris, and the Giant Pacific Octopus. The Giant Pacific Octopus has an arm span of almost 30 feet. Adult octopuses eat crabs, small fishes, snails, clams, and also other octopuses, and they often hunt at night. Newly hatched octopuses eat mostly small foods, like sea stars, copepods, and larval crabs.

Reptiles-Lizards are the most popular reptiles.Some people might think that lizards mostly live in the water, which they really don’t, they spend time on water, but they are most likely to be found in dry deserts, in trees, and plants. Lizards are most likely to only live for about 5 years, but they can live up to the triple, in some very small towns lizards can hunt, to either get selled or EATEN!!!. A large adult lizard can weigh up to 155 pounds, and around 3 meters/ 10 feets. Lizards are not so expensive animals, they can cost from $15 to $150, and can be used as pets.

Amphibians-Frogs are the most popular amphibians. Frogs can be found everywhere, mostly in humid places.

Weird fact; I’m not scared of frogs, but I don’t like seeing them AT ALL!. Most of the frogs are very little in size, the largest frogs are only 1 foot, and weigh up to 3.25 kilograms. Frogs lay their eggs in water, and they lay approximately 80 eggs, and only once a tear

My Transition from Baseball to Golf

By: Samuel Deese

I have played baseball all my life and have loved it. I never thought that I would ever even think about trying another sport. But recently, that has changed. Ever since July, I have played golf. I would say I really started to get into it around late August to early September. And now, in February, I play for the golf team and I’m not playing baseball anymore.

One thing I really love about golf is how hard it is, which sounds like a lie but it’s true. Baseball was extremely physically demanding and golf is too, but golf is also a very mental game. Half of the game of golf is all in your head. But, as competitive as I am, that makes it much  harder for me. In golf, if you get mad, it will only hurt the way you're playing and make you play much worse. For me, baseball wasn’t like that. It was almost the same thing everytime, and it didn't matter if you got frustrated, but golf is the opposite. If you hit a bad shot and let it get to you, odds are, your next shot is going to be even worse.

Also, golf and baseball are both very mechanical sports and both physically demanding. Although some baseball mechanics are slightly harder to do, I believe that there are more golf mechanics to learn than there are baseball mechanics. Making the sport really difficult and makes you have to remember many things.

Another thing that I like more about golf is how easy it is to see your results, what you did wrong, and being able to fix what you did wrong. This makes golf much more easy to learn things but having to carry it out and remeber to do them is extremely difficult. For example; I can have my ball stuck under a tree and know where I need to hit the ball and how to curve it. But, to carry out those actions take TONS of practice and unless you're really good, a little bit of luck. Golf is really a game against yourself, and seeing results takes practice and discipline but once you get those results, the payout is well worth it.

Lastly, for me personally, I have loved the teammates I have in golf. My golf teammates have brought me closer to God and that’s what matters to me in life. Not how good I can hit a little white ball.

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Fire, breathtaking, and War are you looking for a book like this? Well I have one for you! This book is called “Woods Runner”. The author of this book is Gary Paulsen. The genre of this book is Historical fiction. As a boy lives through the Revolutionary War.

The main character's name is Samuel. He is a 13 year old, outdoorsy, outgoing, and non self centered person. In the beginning of the story he and his family had their own world living on the frontier But when the British came his world changed. Samuel does the right thing when he goes to rescue his family. I can identify with Samuel when he is hunting. I also hunt.

Another important character is Annie. She is a 9 year old, calm, and brave little girl. Towards the middle of the story Samuel stumbles upon her fathers farm. She invited Samuel to dinner. After her family was ambushed by Hissians. Her parents were killed but she escaped. And traveled with Samuel.

The story takes place on the frontier in America. During 1775- 1777. But throughout the story they travel to New york. Also down to Philadelphia.

The author is trying to say never give up, there is always hope and there will always be someone there for you when you need it. The overall moral of the story is to have strength and perseverance. Through good and bad things no matter what. This story showed me to never give up even when life throughs a whirlwind of things

Some key things that happened in this story are starting with Samuel out hunting when he sees smoke from where his house is. When he arrived home his house was burnt to the ground and his neighbors were laying dead all around. But his parents were not to be found. After tracking foot and horse prints he came upon an opening where he saw his mother and father captive of the british. When the continental army fired at them. Samual was not with them but he was also about to fire when Native Americans with the British stumped upon Sam shot and killed one but got hit by an axe from the other. The Indian was killed by the continental, and saved Sam. Once he got strong he left the army on his own.

 After he left he found a farm with a family who invited him for dinner. As soon as he left he heard screams and cries the Hessians `` A group of Germans that the British hired”. Had killed Annie's parents but she ran and got with Samuel. They continued following the tracks when they heard a wagon coming in front of them. But it was a friendly man that took them to New York and helped Sam's parents escape. When Sam and his parents were about to Philadelphia where the Americans stayed they met the British agian.  

For me I loved this book. Because it showed an important time in history in a cool spin. One thing I didn’t like about the book was that a lot of eventful stuff happened in two or three paragraphs. I wish it was a little more spread out. The awesome thing about this book is it's hard to predict and you get hooked trying to figure out what happens. The story was also pretty believable but had some parts that were hard to understand. The ending was great. Sam's family was put back together and added Annie. Sam also helped the Army in the end.

I would totally recommend this book for anybody that's interested in history and mystery.

Elephants 

Lyric Davis

Elephants have many great qualities and are very gentle and wise animals.Elephants are known to be one of the largest land animals,the average elephant weighs about 14,000 lb for males and 8,000 lb for females,andalso a magnificent sight to see.Elephants symbolize strength,good fortune,wisdom,stability and love.Elephants are very complex creatures with emotions,self awareness and compassion.

Elephants are very smart animals.They have the largest brain of any other land animal and are considered one of the worlds most intelligent animals.People know elephants are smart because of their ability to remember things like a route to a water holes over long distances of time and/or space,they mourn deaths,they have empathy,they can read human body language,they can use human tools and mimic human voices.  

There are a lot of things an elephant's trunk can do like drink water,spray water,blow air and store water. An elephant's trunk is almost like a human's hand. They can lift things,pull things apart,and to explore things.An elephant's trunk is also compared to a human tongue because of its ability to stretch much like an octopus and squid tentacles.A elephant's trunk is also used to caress each other.

Interesting facts 

Some interesting facts about elephants are…. 

• They communicate by vibrations 

• Their tusks are their teeth 

• Worlds largest land animal 

• They are constantly eating 

• You can tell an animals species by their ears

• An african elephants can grow up to almost a story tall 

• A female elephant is called a cow 

Elephants have a stomach consisting of mainly plants.That makes them herbivores.They eat grass,leaves,fruits,shrubs and roots.An elephants stomach is to mainly act as a storage site for all of the foods that they consume.Elephants do not digest their food very well due to the variety of foods they eat (330-375 lb a day) they spend  almost 80% of their day eating. 

Drop Shipping

Kingston Jackson

Drop shipping is a business model where you sell products without keeping them in stock.

 When a customer places an order, you forward it to a supplier or manufacturer who fulfills and ships the product directly to the customer.

 This means you don't have to worry about inventory management or shipping logistics.

It's a popular choice for online entrepreneurs because it requires lower upfront costs compared to traditional retail.

 You can set up an online store and start selling products without having to invest in inventory. With drop se them.

hipping, you can offer a wide range of products without having to physically handle It allows you to focus on marketing and customer service, which are crucial for success. However, it's important to research and choose reliable suppliers who can consistently deliver quality products. Finding profitable products and niches is key to standing out in a competitive market.

Building a strong brand and providing excellent customer service can help you succeed in drop shipping.

 It's important to establish clear communication with your suppliers to ensure smooth order fulfillment. You may face challenges like longer shipping times and potential stockouts, so managing customer expectations is crucial.

 Drop shipping can be a flexible business model that allows you to work from anywhere with an internet connection. It's important to continually optimize your website, marketing strategies, and product selection to stay competitive. Many e-commerce platforms and tools offer integrations and resources specifically designed for drop shipping businesses.

 It's essential to stay up to date with industry trends and adapt your strategies accordingly.

 Remember, success in drop shipping requires dedication, research, and a commitment to providing value to your customers.

 My School Year so far

Kelsi Brock

In the following paragraphs I will tell you about each of my teachers. I first have Mrs. Miller, Dr. Bellamy/ Mrs. Milito, Mrs. Wiley/ virtual teacher, Mrs. Newman, Mrs. Covington, And last but not least Mrs. Medlin. I am enjoying my school year so far but I may be going virtual. I would like to go virtual but my sister will not let us go virtual. Here are my teachers.

First, I have Mrs. Miller. She is my elective teacher, she teaches Typing and savings. I am very good at typing, she is also very nice and helps you if you get confused. I am doing very well in her class. I really like her as my elective teacher. She is very good at her job. She is my first and second class period.

Second, I have Dr. Bellamy and Mrs. Milito. Dr. Bellamy is a substitute teacher who watches the class while we are in a virtual class. The virtual teacher is Mrs. Milito. She is a very nice teacher. But it is kind of hard to learn when she is all the way in West Virginia. But I do have a good grade in her class. They are my 3rd class period ELA teacher.

The third class I have is Mrs. Wiley and a Virtual Teacher. Mrs. Wiley is a substitute teacher who watches the class when we are in a virtual class. I will have a virtual teacher starting soon. Mrs. Wiley is a very good teacher. I do not have a grade for social studies but I am pretty sure I have a good grade because I turn in all of my work. They are my 4th class period social studies teacher.

The fourth class I have is Mrs. Newman. She is my math teacher. Although she is not a virtual teacher she is thinking about going virtual. Which will be very hard on some students in my class. I have a good grade in her class as well but she is very strict. She is my 5th period class teacher.

Lastly, I have Mrs. Covington. She is my 6th period science teacher. She is not virtual and hopefully not planning on it. I have a good grade in her class. I really like her as a teacher. And I really like Mrs.Medlin as my teacher.

By McKenna Lowery

Over the past few weeks we have been reading a book of our choice and the book that I chose is called The Great Wall of Lucy Wu. The Great Wall of Lucy Wu is an architectural marvel that stands as a testament to the rich history and cultural heritage of the Wu family. This magnificent structure, located in the heart of their ancestral village, is a symbol of strength, unity, and perseverance. Built over several generations, the Great Wall serves as a physical representation of the Wu family’s determination to protect their land and preserve their traditions.

Soon Lucy finds out that she won’t be getting her own room; she will have to share a room with her aunt that is moving in. As Lucy grapples with the idea of sharing her personal space with her great-aunt, she also faces challenges at school. She is determined to make it onto the school basketball team, but her height and lack of experience become obstacles. Lucy’s desire to prove herself and be accepted by her peers becomes a significant conflict in the story. She must navigate the complexities of middle school friendships, deal with the pressure to conform and find her own voice amidst the cultural expectations.

The Great Wall of Lucy Wu extends beyond Lucy’s personal struggles. The novel explores themes of family dynamics and the clash between generations. Lucy’s parents have traditional Chinese values and expectations for her, while Lucy yearns for more independence and the freedom to pursue her own dreams. This generational conflict adds depth to the story and highlights the challenges faced by many young individuals who straddle two cultures. Ultimately, Lucy must find a way to reconcile her Chinese heritage with her American identity and discover her own path in life.

In this story Talent Wang gives Lucy’s parents an idea that Lucy didn’t like herself. Her parents thought that Talent's idea was amazing but Lucy thought that would ruin her life. After she moved schools Lucy realized that her new school wasn’t that bad and she actually went on to play basketball for her new school and she was really good at it. Lucy finally learned that her culture isn’t bad and that she needs to embrace all of her cultural strengths and realize that she is just as normal as anyone else.

     To summarize this story: This is a  humorous and heartwarming debut about split cultural identities, and all the ways life fails to go according to plan for sixth-grader Lucy Wu. Lucy Wu, aspiring basketball star and interior designer, is on the verge of having the best year of her life. It shows how one she finds people that have the same culture as her she realizes that her and others with her culture are just as talented as everyone else.