SCIENCE EXPERIMENT
by Lexi

This experiment shows how
static electricity works.

THINGS YOU NEED:
a balloon
hair on your head

HERE'S WHAT YOU DO:
Rub the balloon against your hair very quickly for one minute. Hold the balloon against the wall and watch what happens!
It sticks to the wall.

A FAMILY RECIPE: CLOUD COOKIES
by Kelsey

In bowl beat: Add in:
1 C. butter 1 egg
1 C. oil 1 tsp. vanilla
1 C. brown sugar 1 tbsp. milk
1 C. sugar

MY HAMSTER
by Stephanie

My hamster's name is Oreo. Her middle name is Milkshake. Her last name is Kovach. She eats a lot of sunflower seeds and corn. She likes to dig, sleep and play. Oreo's favorite time to play on her wheel is 10:00 p.m. Her favorite time to sleep is during the day. That's because hamsters are nocturnal.
The man at the pet store told me I must wash my hands before and after I hold her. I should hold her every day to train her. This will get Oreo used to me so she won't bite me. I really enjoy holding my hamster.
In another bowl mix:
4 C. flour
1 tsp. each: salt, baking soda, cream of tartar

Mix both bowls together and add in:
6 oz. each of chocolate chips and peanut butter chips

Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes.
Cookies will look white and undone, but they're done.

You should really try to make these! It's my great old Aunt Tracey's recipe. They are better than store-bought!

ROCKING WITH AARON CARTER

If you ask any girl "Who is your favorite singer?" she will probably say AARON CARTER! He has a big brother named Nick Carter. He sings with the Backstreet Boys. Aaron's middle name is Charles. He is named after his two grandfathers.
Aaron started his singing career at a very young age -7! He was the lead singer in a band called Dead End. Then he helped the Backstreet Boys open shows, and that's how Aaron got to be a singer. I hope to see one of his concerts!

SUPER CROC
by Jack

Super Croc was discovered in the Sahara
Desert. Paleontologist Paul Sereno discovered
Super Croc on a trip in 2000. Super Croc was a
prehistoric crocodile that lived 10 million years
ago. Super Croc was 37 feet to 40 feet long
(about the size of a bus) and weighed as much as
ten tons. Super Croc's scientific name is
sarcosuchus imperator which means "flesh
crocodile emperor."
Super Croc would eat dinosaurs that were 20 to 30 feet long.

THE CREATION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM
by Nicholas

Scientists believe that there was a very violent explosion fifteen thousand million years ago. It took about a million years for space to fill with a thin cloud of expanding gas. Then the gas broke up and formed millions of more clouds. These each became a galaxy. As more time went by, the same thing happened in each galaxy and the clouds formed into cloudlets, which then became stars.
Scientists say this is how the Sun was formed. That happened 4,600 million years ago. Gravity is a force that pulls. There was a force that pulled a cloud of gas to form a small ball. Two things happened. The ball got hotter and hotter until it became a star that sent energy the same way as a hydrogen bomb. The second thing that happened was the gas and dust shrank and collected together to form the planets. They were very hot when forming, but they were not big enough to stay hot. They cooled down and got their heat and light from the Sun.
There are nine planets that are in our Solar System. They are (in order closest to the Sun) Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. There is one star in our Solar System, which is the Sun, and there are more than 50 moons, thousands of miniature planets called asteroids, and billions of meteoroids and comets, but the Solar System is mostly empty space.

THE CUBS
by Tom

The Chicago Cubs are my favorite team. They started playing in 1876. They were called the Chicago White Stockings then. They won their first World Series on October 12, 1907 and their second World Series win was October 14, 1908. The Cubs have not won the World Series since 1908. The last time the Cubs were in the World Series was in 1945. They have been in the playoffs a few times, but have never won the playoffs because at the start of the season they are good, but at the end of the season they fall apart.
My favorite player on the Cubs is Sammy Sosa. He plays right field. He has been a Major League Baseball player since 1989. He is a great homerun hitter. This year he hit 64 homeruns. The person who beat him with homeruns this year was Barry Bonds. The year that he hit the most homeruns that he ever had was in 1998. He hit 66 homeruns that year. The person who beat him that year was Mark McGwire. He hit 70 homeruns that year.
The Cubs play at Wrigley Field, and that's one of the oldest baseball fields in the country. I hope I can go to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field next year because the Cubs are my favorite team.

HAVING FUN WITH MY FAMILY
by Nicole

My favorite vacation was when I went to Arizona and Disneyland. First we went to Arizona to see my aunt. She has friends that stayed there for two days. She has two dogs, and she is having a baby boy. We went to the mall with her. We went to Disneyland for seven days. We bought cool stuff. I went on the rides. We flew on an airplane to Arizona and drove to Disneyland. Then we went to my other aunt's house and slept there for one day. We went swimming. At the hotel we saw fireworks every night. The most important part was being with my family.

INTERVIEWING MRS. MCWEENEY
MY 2ND GRADE TEACHER
by Maggie

Have you always liked being a teacher? Yes ever since I was a little girl. I used to play
school in my basement. I always got to be the teacher.
Do you have a pet? Yes, I have a cat.
What's your cat's name? His name is Baxter.
What's your favorite holiday? Christmas
What's your favorite movie? I like any movie with Lucille Ball.
What's your favorite food? I love pizza and anything Mexican.
What's your favorite thing to do? I love to read novels, lay by a pool, and garden.
What's your favorite book? The Precious Present

MY PET'S NAME IS MARIO
by Michael

I have a frog for a pet. I've had it since January 2000. Frogs usually live between two and six years. It likes to swim in the water. Most frogs can leap ten lengths of their body in one leap. I feed my frog dried worms. Other frogs eat many kinds of insects including mosquitoes, flies, dragonflies, and many other insects.
Frogs live almost everywhere on Earth except in the arctic regions. Some kinds of frogs even live in deserts. In cold climates, frogs burrow in holes or in the muddy bottoms of ponds and lakes in winter. They hibernate there until spring.
Scientists believe that frogs have lived on Earth for 230 million years. Frogs were here even before dinosaurs! I think that is great! I like frogs.