What is the first thing that comes to your mind when a teacher says, “STAR test?” Are you suddenly very worried, or do you feel like it’ll be just another day of tests? Maren Callaway says, “STAR tests are boring, but I still think we should have them, even though they aren’t the best, because it sorts us into classes that will be just right the next year.” 

Who wants to be in a class that’s too hard or too easy? Because of the STAR test, students are placed into a class that will be right for them, such as math. Some people are in advanced, proficient, or basic. Everyone is different and the STAR tests help so school won’t be a horrible place for the students. 

Testing starts April 30 for ELA (English language arts) and continues on May 1st. Then, eighth graders only will take their tests for science and history until the 4th of May. After the weekend, the math portion starts and testing finally ends on Tuesday, May 8th.

Many students agree that it’ll be a breeze though. Sydney Quilalang says, “I’m not too worried because we’ve learned this stuff and it won’t count for our official grade.” Don’t let that fool you though! Try your best and testing should go by without too much difficulty. There may be a couple questions that will stump you, but push through and you’ll do well! 

Do what your teachers have always told you: Get a good sleep and eat breakfast! A mind that’s awake is much better than one that is still in dreamland. So, good luck!

The new hit band, One Direction, is making the girls go mad. The five singers are a group of British-Irish boys who are certainly quite attractive. The singers of One Direction: Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Liam Payne, are becoming more popular than Justin Bieber! Mercedes Phothisene excitedly tells, “I LOVE One Direction!! My favorite is Liam Payne. He is SO hot! I want to marry him! I have What Makes You Beautiful as my ringtone, and I am going to their concert this summer! I am so excited!” 

One Direction has been so popular; they have lots of fan pages and have been topping the newspapers. Their Twitter pages are full of comments and have lots of new details of what’s going on. Did you know that Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan were not known before they got on The X Factor in 2010? Have you heard of their “Up All Night” album? Well, it’s amazing. Many at Pine Valley have been recently singing, “What Makes You Beautiful”. Some people laugh and sing-a-long, while others may cover their ears, but One Direction is here to stay.

The chance to visit one of America’s best vacation spots became a reality for Band and Chorus last March. The annual trip to Disneyland is one of the highlights of the year for its members: via tour bus, both groups traveled to the park where they stayed for a weekend. 

          Each group participated in a workshop and performed for friends and family. The reward? Visiting the park! Says Brittanie Kimlinger, “It was a lot of fun.”

         Whether enjoying themselves on rides like Splash Mountain or just hanging out, Band and Chorus had their well-deserved relaxation after weeks of preparation for their concerts.

In 2003 many kids in Uganda, Africa were running for their lives one night. A man named Joseph Kony abducted children while they were sleeping inside their houses. Once Kony took the children, he made the kids into slaves and sometimes forced them to go back into their house and kill their parents! The children that he arrested are known as the Invisible Children. But, it isn’t just a few kids, it is about 30,000 kids!
They have known that this was going on for nine years and will be ended on December 31, 2012, when the campaign (to stop Kony) expires and hopefully have Kony arrested. Luckily, people who are trying to stop Kony have a plan to stop the L.R.A (Lord’s Resistance Army) which is lead by Joseph Kony. The idea is to let people know about Kony and make him “famous”. It’s to, “shine a light” on him, so that people know and care about this issue. April 20, 2012 is the night when people plaster posters everywhere so people are reminded of what they are doing and to put a stop to it by again, making him “famous”. Kony doesn’t want to be seen or be known because that is how his tactics of abducting children work. After 20 years of killing, no one has tried to stop it, so here is the chance.  By arresting Kony, the world can be changed by what they do, when they will stop at nothing!

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kony

Cinco de Mayo (which means fifth of May) is a holiday in Mexico, but it’s not what most people think it is. Most people think it’s “Mexican Independence day” but that’s not true. Cinco de Mayo is actually “The battle of San Pueblo” or El Dia de la Batalla de Puebla. Mexican Independence Day is on September 16th.The great battle took place in 1861, when France invaded Mexico with an army of 8,000, against the Mexican militia of a measly 4,000. But less than a year later, the Mexicans claimed victory. But a year later, the French came back with an army of 30,000, and defeated Mexico. But three years later, and with the civil war over, America assisted Mexico and drove the French out for good. The Mexicans captured the French leader and executed him. 

This was important because before this, the French army hadn’t been defeated for 50 years, also,. “This was the last time any army from another continent invaded the Americas.” Says The Bulletin. This war also helped America form a better army to defeat the Confederate army in the civil war, which was happening at the time. This also affected America, too. France’s real goal was to break up the American Union. But when America won the war because of the Mexican’s defeat of the French, Napoleon (the French Ruler at the time) was powerless for a year! So the next time you think Cinco De Mayo is  just another holiday, think again.

Source: 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinco_de_Mayo

A celebration called  May Day is coming up soon on May 1st! May Day is a celebration of spring. It’s also a day of political protests, a saint’s feast day, and a day for organized labor. In many countries, it is a national holiday. It’s been cold for a long time, so surely nearly everyone has to be excited for the warm breeze, beachy days, and outside fun. Many different places and cultures celebrate it in different ways.

May Day goes way back in time to the pre-Christian times. The day was a traditional summer holiday. While February 1st was the first day of Spring, May 1st was the first day of summer In the Roman Catholic tradition, May is observed as Mary’s month, and in these circles, May Day is usually a celebration of the Blessed Virgin Mary in this connection, in works of art, school skits, and so forth, Mary’s head will often be decorated with flowers in a May crowning. Fading in popularity since the late 20th century is the giving of May baskets, small baskets of sweets and flowers, usually left by random people on neighbors’ doorsteps. 

May Day continues to be celebrated and or known in Europe and America. In those countries, May Day may be best known for its tradition of dancing the maypole dance and crowning of the Queen of May.  

So get ready for warm weather coming our way, and keep the jackets at home!

Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_day

Everywhere in the US, people will gather excitedly among election booths to vote for their next president on Tuesday, November 6, 2012. Almost all the grownups will be walking around wearing stickers that say, “I Voted!”  But wait, what do all those stickers mean? Did I miss something? All over the news, books, the radio, people have been talking for over a year about the 2012 elections. 

Today, the candidates of the Republican house are Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum.  So far, Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney have been in the lead with the others trailing behind. Mitt Romney was the 70th governor of Massachusetts and a successful businessman who has been leading all polls. Rick Santorum on the other hand is the former US senator from Pennsylvania. 

Santorum strives to be the underdog, trying to win over Romney and saying, “We are going to be in this race, and we’re in it to win.”. Ron Paul, the former medical doctor and 11 term Texas congressman is also in the race to presidency. And last but not least we have the former speaker of the house, Newt Gingrich. When a Republican candidate is chosen to battle against the Democratic candidate, they will try to win as many votes as possible. Who do you want for president?

- She ballroom dances, swims and acts in her free time.

 - She is a director at the Great Charles Dickens’ Fair.

 - She has been teaching at PV for nine years.

 - Mrs. Mottaz (the Chorus teacher) was her       teacher in high school.

Answer:  Mrs. Schluntz

With a Mac you can have fun applications like Photo Booth and Big Bang Games.  You also could get previews of new movies,save full movies,or watch videos of moments you would like to remember with Front Row.  You can also make music with Garageband or play a game of chess.  Another thing that you can get with a Mac is Face Time.
Macs have better security and has yet to be given a major security breach or a virus.  Macs are more stable because that separates most programs from each other as well as the operating system.  Macs always update shortcuts and can move a file from the hard drive without it crashing.  The Macs already comes with applications already, like music/photos,and editing.  Macs are more compatible because they also can run Windows OS.  Macs have better typing fonts, and color matching.  

The final fact is that Macs are faster, with a startup of 28.7 seconds and a shutdown of 4.0 seconds it proves that Mac is faster.   

Now that spring break is over, students have mixed feelings. Some are sad because there aren’t any more long breaks from school. Some are excited because summer is almost here! Others just don’t care either way. One thing’s for sure - with spring break over, it’s time to face the rest of the fourth quarter. 

For eighth graders, this is (hopefully) their last quarter of middle school. What sort of hopes or fears do they have for the remaining two months? “I‘m a little worried about STAR testing because it’s coming up so quickly,” said Aileen Villalpando. “I’m worried about all the hard work and tests that come along with fourth quarter, but they don’t worry me too much because it’s basically what I’ve given in third quarter plus a little bit more.” At the same time, she hopes that the rest of the school year goes along smoothly and that this last quarter is the most memorable for its awesome events and occasions. 

A lot of people want the rest of the year to be easy, and some are already stressed out about high school. While it may not be their top priority, many people are worried about their grades. Of course, the sixth and seventh graders have worries and hopes, too. At least most of them will be at the same school next year!

Dear Puma,
I know this girl and everything she does is starting to annoy me. Sometimes I can’t help lashing out at her. What can I do to help her to not annoy me? Help!
Sincerely,
Bothered

Dear Bothered,
If everything she does annoys you, try your best to ignore her. Lashing out doesn’t make you the bigger person, it’s just another way to start drama. If she can’t stop talking to you, then try telling her what she’s doing wrong.

Dear Puma,
I’ve been having a really bad week. My parents just got a divorce, I got a horrible hair cut, I sprained my ankle in soccer and my hamster died. Any advice to get rid of some bad luck?
Sincerely,
Bad Juju

Dear Bad Juju,
I’m sorry that nothing is going your way. Some things are just meant to be. If you need someone to talk to, talk to Ms. Damgen or even a close friend you can rely on. Sometimes, it’s best to keep optimistic and look at everything on the bright side.
Dear Puma,
So I had my friend ask out a guy for me and she messes with him a lot. I think he thinks she was playing around and he yelled, “No!” I’m thinking about asking him myself but I’m scared and a chicken. He is looking for a girlfriend. What should I do?
Sincerely,
Trying to get a Boyfriend

Dear Trying to get a Boyfriend,
If you like this guy, you shouldn’t be scared to ask him out. If you guys start going out, you’ll eventually have to talk to him. Just be yourself and ask him; don’t ask somebody else to do it. If he says no, at least you tried. You won’t go far in life if you don’t take chances. Good luck!
 

On May 9th and 10th from 7-9pm Dr. Seuss will be visiting our school through the talented students in Choir and Advanced Drama.  Though Dr. Seuss is not literally going to come to Pine Valley, we will be honoring him by performing a musical directly based off of a mixture of many of his books.  Mrs. Schluntz and Mrs. Mottaz have been working hard for the past few months to get this musical stage ready.  The actors are fun to watch and amazing to hear.  This is a musical, so there are lots of fun songs to sing along to and if you really want to you could stand up and dance. 

There are lots of fun characters and scenes to watch. One of the main characters named The Cat In The Hat is played by Rachel Marchuk.  She takes this character to the next level and says that the best part of being in Seussical is, “Getting to be a character that you’ve read about your whole life.”  Another talented main character is JoJo who is played by Kieran O’Connor who says that he likes to hang out and rehearse with his friends .  Emily Mentink (a.k.a. Mrs. Mayor)  says, “It’s amazing to join the story and be part of Dr. Seuss’s fantastic story telling.”  Those aren’t the only characters there’s also Mr. Mayor (Colby Walsten), Mayzie (Gabrielle Solis), Horton (Evan Robery), The Grinch (Joy McCreary), Gertrude Mcfuzz (Maria Pritchard), Yurtle the Turtle (Michayla Lipshutz), Vlad Vladikoff (Vitor Boa), Sour Kangaroo (Lindsey Jayne), Young Kangaroo (Sarah Stallings), The Wickersham Brothers/Sisters (Allison Schiffman, Makayla Suoja, Charlotte Tan, Elliot McAuley, Patrick Rettig, and Arsalan Siddiqi) and last but not least The Bird Girls (Rachel Gasparini, Megan Hoefs, Hannah Chamberlain, Anabelle Espinosa, Jessica Matlock, Bailey Jensky, Jessica Stephen, Emily Chun, and Sydney Kanter).  Those are all of the characters but they’re not the only stars of the show.

The talented chorus that sings in the background make the show come to life.  Though everyone may not have gotten a character name, everyone gets to have a fun and creative role in the Seussical Musical.  The Chorus sets the scene, and makes the choreography really jump out at you.  The chorus has many names… you could call them the Whos, The Jungle Animals, or The Circus Animals.  They are the crash of the waves, the roar in the night, and the thunder from the clouds.  They are what make the play unique.  Come see Seussical and enjoy!

Fundraising has been a traditional, and important way of raising money for Pine Valley. This year, in spring, fundraising has never been easier and wide-spread. There were three ways to sell things. The first was the Reachout! packet where you could send postcards to your friends and relatives that didn’t live in San Ramon. Then the old-fashioned way of selling cookies and discount cards in person was put into action. Finally, the last way to earn money was to get people onto www.gafundraising.com and make them enter your name on the site so you would earn the credit. There, at the website, you could buy many things, from magazines to jewelry, like earrings.

The Spring Fundraiser is a very important money-raiser for the school. Part of the money that keeps the school running is from this Fundraiser. If everyone just bought one cookie order, the goal would be reached. Hopefully, that has happened. If we raised more than the goal, that’s even better! The benefits of this is prizes and cookies, cards and so on if you bought any for yourself. The Fundraiser is a beneficial event as well as rewarding.

In 2009, sixth grader Brett Douglas had a flu in his heart called cardiomyopathy. He became very tired and because of this flu in is heart; he heard that he needed a heart transplant. “At first, I thought I was having a dream,” said Brett. He then had his heart transplant on July 27, 2010. The heart transplant was performed by Dr. Burnstin and many other people. There were about 30 people involved in this process of getting this heart transplant. The surgery was performed at Stanford Hospital, at Stanford University. 

Brett was in the hospital for about two weeks. He was preparing for the surgery, having the surgery, and recovering from the surgery for two weeks. After he got out of the hospital, he started staying in the Ronald McDonald House; he was there for about four months. He got there in the beginning of August and didn’t go home until before Halloween in October in 2010. Brett holds the record for the shortest time of getting out of the hospital and the Ronald McDonald House. The Ronald McDonald House is where people can stay to recover; it is about three blocks away from the hospital. So if there’s an emergency they can drive straight to the hospital. While in the hospital and the house his mom stayed with him. At the house he had to stay indoors a lot. He wasn’t allowed to go outside very much. He only went on a mile walk once in a while. He never went outside because if he went outside his immune system would over react and that would be bad. While in the hospital Brett met another kid at the hospital school named David. He had also had a heart transplant. 

  Brett still gets checked up on frequently throughout the year. He has to go to the hospital often because he has to be checked up on, to see how his heart is. He goes many times a year, so if two visits’s a year to the doctor’s office is normal he has to go ten times. He has to take two kinds of drugs for his whole life. One of the drugs is cyclosporine and it is a drug to suppress the immune system in his heart. Another drug he takes is diltializem which helps with high blood pressure because one of the side effects of cyclosporine is high blood pressure. With these drugs Brett can play sports. He is able to play soccer in the fall and he might join a swim team. Go Brett!!!!!!!!!

They’re bigger, faster, better, cooler… It’s the new iPad 3! The new iPad is much better than all of the others. The new iPad has many features that none of the others have. Those features include:

Retina display

9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen Multi-Touch display with IPS technology

2048-by-1536-pixel resolution at 264 pixels per inch (ppi)

Fingerprint-resistant oleophobic coating

Support for display of multiple languages and characters simultaneously

Is 0.37 inches thick

Has 4G capabilities

Weighs in between 1.44 and 1.66 pounds

The A5 custom designed high performance chip

5-megapixel iSight camera

Autofocus

Tap to focus

Face detection in still images

Video recording, HD (1080p) up to 30 frames per second with audio

Video stabilization

FaceTime camera with VGA-quality photos and video at up to 30 frames per second

Photo and video geotagging

Built-in 42.5-watt-hour rechargeable lithium-polymer battery

Up to 10 hours of surfing the web on Wi-Fi, watching video, or listening to music

Charging via power adapter or USB to computer system

Those are just some of the awesome features that the new iPad has. The iPad starts at $499.00.

Selene Carrera says, “I like the new iPad 3 because the battery lasts a lot longer than any of the other iPad’s batteries do and because the camera takes really good pictures and videos.” 

http://www.apple.com/ipad/

Mother’s day, the day that you can appreciate all that they have done. What do you do for your mother? Brittany Jimena loves Mother’s Day “My Mom and I trade gifts on Mothers day because it’s also my birthday. I also make her breakfast in the morning.”  Some people honor their mother by letting her decide what to do that day or maybe going out to her favorite restaurant. There are many ways to show your mom how you appreciate her and they love to be pampered for at least a day.
In some cases (if the mom is lucky) her Mother’s Day could be extended to a whole week! During this week the mother is gifted with the power to boss her family around and can also choose to be exempt from their daily chores. A lot of moms love to be able to dump their responsibilities onto someone else shoulders for just a little. 

Even if you don’t celebrate Mother’s Day it’s important to show your parents that you care about them.

A lot of middle school and high school kids get summer jobs for the summer. Some people get a job just for the money, and others get a job to learn new skills.

Some possible summer jobs are:

Junior Guard / Life Guard

Volunteer

Babysit

Yard work

Dog Walking

Movie Theatre

Starbucks

Waitress / Waiter

Summer Camp Counselor

Tutor

Recently, weather in San Ramon has been a little bit odd. One day the sun shines at a warm 60-70 degrees and the next thing you know it’s pouring rain at a low 50 degrees! 

A few students at Pine Valley are fine with the rain and say they don’t mind, but others are frustrated because of the fluctuating weather.  Jamie Quilalang says, “I don’t like all the rain because it affects my softball games. I have a few  make-up games because the fields are too wet!” 

Other than sport difficulties, Ashley Truong says, “The current weather is kind of confusing because you don’t know whether it will be cold or sunny the next day.” A lot of students at Pine Valley prefer a nice, warm, sunny spring day instead of a rainy. But rain is good for our environment sometimes. 

Like they say, April showers bring May flowers!

PCs are better than Macs in many ways. For one reason, PCs have more models than a Mac. PCs vary from Dell, Lenovo, Acer, HP, and many more. All of these have more features than a Mac. Also, most of the worlds gaming computers are PCs. With a PC you can do more with it than a Mac. PCs are also much cheaper than a Mac. The average price range for a Mac is twice of what a PC would cost! Now what teenager would buy a expensive Mac, when they could just buy a PC that can do more?

Let’s say that you want to play your favorite online computer game but you want to play it on a bigger screen, with a PC you can do just that! With the right TV, you can connect to your TV wirelessly, or you can use an adapter that is just as effective! Now can a Mac do that? And when it comes to downloading software, more computer software runs on a PC than a Mac. And with a Mac you can only chose a few models that are their idea. With a PC, you can customize your own personal computer and the features you want it to run the best. And with Windows 7 you can do much more like split screen, and you have a variety of applications to choose from.
Even though the PC has its downsides such as complete virus protection like a Mac,  a PC has more variety than a Mac.

The fantastic novel “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins is now a movie! Katniss, Peeta, and all your favorite characters are now available at theaters near you. 

Karen Samaha said “I thought the movie was awesome, but I thought it should have showed more romantic scenes like in the book.” The movie definitely suited the male viewers more. It was pretty much the same as the book with more dramatic deaths. Which is perfect for boys, plus what little romance there was, is good for the girls. 

All in all it is a movie perfectly suited for both genders that you have to see. 

April 30- May 8: STAR Testing 8th grade
April 30, May1, May 7, May 8: STAR Testing 6th and 7th grade

May 4: Walk/Jog-A-Thon in PE
May 5: Cinco De Mayo

May 9 & 10: “Seussical Jr.” performance in the MPR @ 7pm.
May 13: Mother’s Day

May 16:  Music Concert 7pm

May 17: Open House

BBQ 5:30 - 7pm

Classrooms open 6:30 - 8pm

May 23 & 24:  Student Council Elections @ Lunch
May 28: Memorial Day NO SCHOOL

Editor in Chief:

Tracy Elizabeth Schluntz 

Staff Writers: Nicole Baer, Shaelah Burke, Sarah Chi, Sophie Cipolla, 

Tracey Counts, Savannah Garcia, Rachael Gasparini, Noah Gonzales, Brandon Graham, Kaitlin Groleau, Alisa Horiike, Stephanie Jahncke, Emma Kroger, Sammy Morgan Nicholson, Kieran O’Connor, Jamie Quilalang, Sydney Quilalang, Lela Reagan, Allison Schiffman, Charlotte Tan, Sophie 

Vergara and Stephanie Yip.

Blogmaster: Akarsh Rao

Questions?  Comments?  Suggestions?

Contact Mrs. Schluntz at

tschluntz@srvusd.net

Or leave a note in her box in the office.