September 2020
Pros and Cons of Having a Dog
By: Amirah Jones
Have you ever wanted a pet? Specifically a dog? Well you’ve come to the right place. I'm gonna tell you about the pros and cons of owning one. Some people like my mom have said “ It’s like having another child in the house” but others like Brayden from the 8th grade have said “ it’s great to have a dog because they are a best friend who will never leave you.”
Pros:
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They’re great for cuddling
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They can make you feel a lot safer than you would without them.
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They can make great companions for kids
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They can keep you busy
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If they are older they are more chill
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If they are older they need less attention
Cons:
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They cost a lot of money
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They require a lot of attention
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You have to clean up after them
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If not trained they chew up your thing
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If not trained they use the restroom in your house
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Puppys need a lot of attention so if you are busy person it isn’t the best option
5 Amazing Art Hacks That Actually Work!!!
Written by: Haily Ziemer
“I like art because It’s a way for me to express myself without talking and I can put more emotion into it. It’s very calming and relaxing. I can share my feelings with people. And sometimes they won’t even know they are true feelings,” claims Victoria Lisboa.
1. How to Make a Portable Watercolor Palette
First, you will need to get a few pieces of paper and cut them in half longways. If you want them to hold together better, tape it all together on one side(longways). Tape the back of the sheets so the water doesn’t bleed through the paper. If you don’t have a tape roll you could always use watercolor paper. Next, you will need to get your watercolor pencils or take the watercolor off of a palette and draw on the paper with it (any color you would like).
2. How to Make Gesso
Gesso is a mixture of glue and paint. It is used to prepare your canvas and makes it easier to blend colors. Gesso has been used by many artists throughout time including Bob Ross. If you don’t feel like making a trip to the store you can make this out of some things you have at home. For this, you will need white acrylic paint, Elmer’s glue, corn starch, baking soda, and water. You will also need something to measure with. First, mix three parts of cornstarch and the parts baking soda. Add in one part white glue and one part paint. Finally, mix in two-three parts water depending on how thick or thin you want the Gesso. The finished Gesso should look similar to pancake batter.
3. How to Make DIY Canvases
For this project, you will need cardboard, white tape, Mod Podge or white glue, and Gesso. First, you need to cover the edges of your cardboard with your tape(Optional). This will help give the canvas a more finished look. Next, cover the cardboard with a layer of Mod Podge or a mixture of two parts glue and one part water(Optional). When you are finished with this, cover the whole piece with Gesso.
4. How to Make a Stencil
You will need a piece of paper, an Exacto knife(or scissors), and some clear packing tape. First, Sketch your design on the paper. For example, a butterfly. Next, cover your stencil in packing tape. This will help it last longer. Finally, ask a parent for help and use the Exacto knife or scissors to cut out your shapes.
5. How to Acrylic Spray Paints
You will need spray bottles, Acrylic Paint(any color), Beads or small marbles, Warm Water, and some 91% Isopropyl Alcohol. Fill your spray bottle a fifth of the way with acrylic paint(color of your choice). Then, add in about the same amount of 91% alcohol. This will help keep the spray bottle from clogging. Finally, add in your warm water stopping just before reaching the top. Now add in your bead or marble, put the lid on, and mix everything. Shake the bottle until everything’s combined. If you want to you can make it with glitter.
People like to make art because they can express themselves through art without having to talk with anyone. People will understand them just through the things they draw. This is why I have decided to give them some ways to make their own art supplies without leaving their house. A former student at Highland Academy, Alicia Ramos says, “I am always up to trying new things and alternative ways to use art supplies!”
Tips To Help Train Your Dog From Home
Written By: Kady W
Are you wanting to train your dog from home but don't really know how? Now I know most of us are in quarantine and we are all super bored so I’m here to tell you tips to train your dog from home. Most of the time it's best to train your dog as a puppy because it is easier for them to learn the tricks. When you're training your dog it is always really helpful to have small dog treats in a pocket or somewhere that is convenient for you and your dog. When you're first teaching your dog or puppy something like sit or lay down you want to guide them with the treat. When doing this be gentle and if your dog doesn't get the move or trick fast that's ok it might take shorter or longer depending on the dog. Also when you are training your dog don't do the same thing over and over again you want to do a couple of different tricks to keep your dog interested and not bored. This can really help how fast your dog learns the tricks. Some professionals say that “dogs learn best after exercise” this quote was stated by Zak George’s Dog Training Revolution. If you have a very hyper dog then tiring them out before they train will help calm them down and focus more which can lead to better and faster results. Something to keep in mind when training your dog that if your dog does a trick once then dont expect them to do it for the rest of their life it takes time and patience.
Zak George’s Dog Training Revolution also said that “when training your dog you have to be flexible” things will not always go as planned so if something goes wrong be prepared to change some of the things you wanted to do. If you go out in public with your dog and you’ve never tooken your dog out in public then you can’t expect them to not act scared or anxious. These are some helpful tips for how to train your dog from home and I can't guarantee that they will work on every dog because every dog is different but I wish you and your dog the best of luck.
All About 9/11 Written by: Caydence Gourley
9/11 started at 8:46 am on a Tuesday morning in 2001. Five hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into the northern facade of the World Trade Center's North Tower, which was very scary and unexpected. I asked my grandma what she remembers about 9/11. I asked my grandma what she remembers about 9/11, she replied with:” your dad came in my bedroom and started freaking out so i turned the news on and realized the plan went straight into the towers and about a minute laughter there was another plane that hit the tower and people were jumping out the windows out of the towers to try to save their lives. After that I called my work and asked them what's going on and they said they weren't sure but they needed to just stay home and watch the news, which was really scary.” What is so special about 9/11? Over 200 fire fighters died, from trying to save people and take out the fires. A total of 2,977 people were killed in New York city, Washington, DC and outside of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. 9/11 was very scary and after the incident happened it took about 9 months for all the dust to go away from the crash and fire. What time did the last tour fall on 9/11? The last tower fell and collapsed at 10:28am EST. That day on 9/11 , 11 people were rescued from the rubble, including six firefighters and three police officers.
The Governor’s Declaration of Shutting Down Schools and Coming Up With a Reopening Plan
By: Alaina Butler
In March, the governor posted a list of school districts to close for 14 days. If less than 10 people in those districts haven’t gotten a case for 14 days, the students can go back to school. Later on, the Governor canceled it and told the schools to do distance learning. There is a reopening plan currently underway. Brent Bishop, The Principal at Highland Academy states, “I think he has to do something to keep everyone safe during the pandemic, but I think he has taken away too much freedom from everyone. I think that if parents want to send their kids to school, they should be free to do so.”
Everything is mostly going to be a gradual change. Most restaurants, religious services, gyms, theaters, and museums will be outdoors only. Most of the major places can open as long as they follow the COVID19 rules. Brent Bishop, The Principal at Highland Academy says, “I think the same applies to restaurants and stores and movie theaters. If people want to go out to those places, they should be allowed to do so. I also think businesses should be allowed to be open if they choose to do so.”
There are 4 stages of the reopening plan. Tier One will require all of the nonessential businesses to close. Businesses that pertain to this usually have an 8 percent positivity rate for every 100,000 people. Tier two will consist of some nonessential businesses staying closed. Every day there will be about 4-7 cases out of 100,000 people. The positivity rate for COVID will be 5-8 percent. Tier three will allow some essential businesses to open but with modifications. Counties in this tier will have 1-3.9 cases per 100,000 people. The positivity rate will lower down to a positivity rate of 2-4.9 percent. Finally, tier four will have most businesses open back up with modifications as well. There will be less than one new COVID case for every 100,000 people. The positivity rate will be 2 percent. Victoria Lisboa, an 8th grader at Highland Academy says, “ From what I know, the reopening phase is smart. If you think about it, if you were to reopen in phases you have room to see what exactly needs to be fixed.”
Great tips on how to decorate your house for fall.
Written By: Lilliana Atkinson
There are a lot of fun ways to decorate your house for Fall. I’m going to give some fun tips on how to decorate your house for fall. My Grandma says, “her favorite things to use for fall decorating are Scarecrows and Pumpkins, there are so many things that you can do with them.”
Some tips on how to decorate your house for Fall. You should probably decorate your house with pumpkins, so that your house has some kind of a Fall . For example, Joann’s has tiny little sweater knit pumpkins to glamorous golden sequins pumpkins that range from different sizes. You can use real or fake pumpkins. If you want to have more of a pumpkin patch theme then you should try to get real pumpkins. If you want more of a fancier theme then you should look for fake decorative pumpkins with gold and silver colors. If you want a tip from me then I would use hay bales so I can put the pumpkins on the hay bales and around the hay bales. It also leads me to my next tip.
Hay bales are a great decoration that can go with pretty much anything that is a fall decoration like sunflowers and pumpkins. Hay bales are really fun to use. You can use them for decorating pumpkins, using it as scarecrow hair or just to have pumpkins on them or around. Here is another tip from me: you can use scarecrows to put behind the pumpkins and hay bales so your decorations get more attention. Scarecrows are really fun to use. My Grandma also said, “that hay bales are fun to decorate with for fall, but they can be a bit messy, they look great with pumpkins and scarecrows around them.” They can be used for Halloween or Fall as decorations or Halloween Props to make the house look scarier or you can use them to make your house look a little more cheerful.
I am now going to talk about prices. Some things maybe will be pricey but I assure you that I will find the accurate prices for the decorations. The decorations I mention from Hobby Lobby, Rite Aid, and Joann. The sweater knit pumpkins are priced at 9.99 but this may be a little pricey because of the tax and also shipping and handling and the sequins pumpkins have a price range because you can get different sizes but I will get you prices for all of them. For the 5.5” one the price is $4.39 but for the smaller one that is 4.5” it costs $3.59. At Rite Aid medium hay bales cost $7.49 the regular size cost $14.99. At Hobby Lobby one of the many scarecrows there is priced at $12.00 unfortunatley Hobby Lobby has sold out of most of their scare crows.
In conclusion there are many different and great ways to decorate your house for fall like pumpkins, Scarecrows, and hay bales. Just remember to have fun decorating your house and decorate it any way you want if you want to go all out with it do whatever just follow your heart and keep on decorating.
Top 5 Hip-Hop Songs
By:Aaliyah Montes
Are you bored of listening to the same songs over and over,well you came to the right place to look for new songs.We are going to list 5 top songs for your playlist.I asked 7th grader Eva hernandez how often she listened to music and she said "when she is bored or sad." I also asked her what her favorite type of music was and she said "Hip Hop."
1.Go Crazy by Chris Brown and Young Thug with 39 million views.2nd ”Go Crazy”is a song by American singer Chris Brown and rapper Young Thug.The song is taken from their joint mixtape slime&B, released on May 5,2020.Two weeks later,on May 19,2020,it was released as the projects lead single.With 900k likes and 27k dislike.
2.Come and Go by Juice World and Marshmallow with 23 million views.2nd "Come & Go" is a song by American rapper Juice World and American producer Marshmello. It was released on July 9, 2020, as the fourth single from Juice World's posthumous third studio album, Legends Never Die. It debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, matching "Lucid Dreams" as his highest charting song.With 1.2 million likes and 17k dislikes.
3.Greece by DJ Khaled Featuring Drake with 15 million view.2nd ``Greece" is a song by American musician DJ Khaled, featuring Canadian rapper Drake, released simultaneously with their other collaboration "Popstar", on July 17, 2020, as the dual lead singles from Khaled's upcoming twelfth studio album Khaled Khaled. The songs mark the reunion between DJ Khaled and Drake, who have collaborated on various songs.With 234k likes and 12k dislike.
4.Watermelon Sugar by Harry Styles with 104 million views.2nd Watermelon Sugar" is a song by English singer Harry Styles from his second studio album Fine Line (2019), included as the album's second track. Styles wrote the song with Mitch Rowland and the song's producers, Tyler Johnson and Kid Harpoon. They were inspired by the American novel In Watermelon Sugar (1968) by Richard Brautigan. "Watermelon Sugar" is a horn and guitar-driven rock, funko-pop.With 3.2 million likes and 76k dislikes.
5.Savage by Megan Thee Stallion Featuring Beyonce with 51 million views.2nd Megan Thee Stallion's fellow Texan Beyoncé hopped on the song's official remix. The new version features multiple sultry Beyoncé verses and vocal runs as well as some brand new raps from Megan. Beyoncé kicks off the second verse of the remix by referencing the popularity of "Savage" on TikTok.
Are You Sure You Know Animals?
By: Kade Andino
Siamangs, also known on the internet as the funny monki, have a bubble-like sac that they use to communicate with other animals. They are interesting to see and make an interesting sound.
The rarest animal is the Vaquita which means “little cow”, it is the rarest animal to date with only 10 recorded alive. This is due to illegal fishing.
The Largest crocodilian species is the Sarcosuchus Imperator which lived around 110 million years ago and was around 40 feet long. That would be frightening to see today!
The largest lizard is the Megalania which was an average 23 feet and they also had a venomous bite. They went extinct 50,000 years ago. It is theorized that they were hunted from early humans in Australia.
The glowing Sea turtle is one of the most unknown animals to date and was discovered when scientists were looking for biofluorescence which glows when they found one of these beauties randomly.
Emperor Penguins are considered to be one of the cutest animals to date. This is most likely due to how snuggleable the babies are.
The most unique/beautiful snake is your opinion but to me the cake goes to Atheris Hispida which looks like a dragon without wings. They are a natural green and brown but photoshops make it look better, but they’re fake.
The pros and cons of not going to school
Written by: Kelvin Parham
I think that it’s better to go to school so you can interact with other people. It is also good because we are sitting in the house all day, a quote from Kah’sahn White is” It's fun because you get to sit at home and have fun, relax, and you don’t have to wake up early”
Pros -You get to stay at home and relax and have fun.
-You get to sleep in.
-No homework
-More time to do more things like homework if you have it
-Learn new things
Cons -Not being able to see your school friends
-It gets kinda boring sitting at home 24/7
-You are losing valuable learning time
-Online school lags a lot
-Most of the people who do online school don’t like it
Because of people lagging out and don’t know what they’re doing
-It also puts a lot of stress on people
Football’s Great Return
and Latest news
By: Bryce Jacobson
Our first major headline is Tom Brady has signed with Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 2 new states of the art NFL stadiums have been opened. Sofi stadium, a 4.5 billion dollar venue with the largest video board in history, The Rams and Chargers will be playing there. There's also allegiant stadium, a new high-class stadium That the Raiders will be playing in. Seeking opinions from football fans, I asked what they thought were the hardest divisions in the NFL. Nick Jacobson, a local football fan quotes that “ The NFC West is easily the hardest division in all of football because of its competitive teams and competitive players”. Janis Jacobson agrees strongly with Nick Jacobson because of the quality of players on those teams. It is agreed by many that the return of football is most definitely welcomed.
Chadwick Boseman good in all ways
By Emerson Direen
Chadwick Boseman sadly died from stage 4 colon cancer at age 43 about one week ago. He sadly died after the marvel film endgame he was not around long enough to make the second black panther movie. Also, Chadwick Boseman convinced himself that he would try and make it to the second black panther movie. But even though he had cancer he still found a way to make everyone happy with the marvel films black panther, endgame, and infinity war. Secondly, the epic games (Fortnite) has a secret black panther monument. This is how you know he makes the whole world happy but when he died the whole world was sad. Chadwick Boseman was a great marvel actor he played in the movies 42, 21 bridges, Get on up, captain America civil war, and more.
He was first diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in 2016 but he was shockingly able to still bring the films we all love and he will always be the one and only king of Wakanda, and he sill is alive in our hearts. In his life in the Marvel Cinematic. The universe along with playing Black icons Jackie Robinson and James Brown on the silver screen, died Friday of stage cancer. He died on August 28, 2020, he died in Los Angeles California, he was a famous actor in California. Boseman's breakthrough role came as a baseball player, His final film, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, is scheduled to be released. Sage g from one of my classes said that “I forgot to capitalize on some of my sentences” James t said that my article is good in all ways”