Pen With No Ink – DECEMBER Issue

Pen With No Ink
Volume 4 issue 4
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
In this issue of the Pen With No Ink, the students shared
what they love about the Holiday season: the presents,
music, and favorite Christmas movies.
Hope you enjoy it!
Lorem Ipsum
What’s happening in the classrooms???
KINDERGARTEN
1st GRADE
We got some interesting answers when we
asked our what the kindergarteners wanted
for Christmas. Jayden wants a white tiger
from Santa Claus and Elina wants Pixie
Dust! These kids are sure ambitious! Luke,
Christian, and Mattheus want Legos this
year. Zoe wants Barbies, and Olivia wants
Pokémon cards. When asking if they were
on the Naughty or Nice list, the only person
to say he was on the Naughty List was
Paris! They also made some Christmas art
projects like bells, ornaments, wreaths, and
Santa Clauses! The kindergartners are very
excited for Christmas and can’t wait to open
their Christmas gifts! Hope Santa rewards
you well!
The first graders are ecstatic for
Christmas! St. Nicholas came for a visit
to put cookies in their shoes. Seems like
you guys have been on the nice list! The
first graders want a lot of things from
Santa this year. Valeria would really like
a puppy! Some kids even want iPads.
The first graders also went to see a
Christmas play recently to get into the
Holiday spirit. How fun!
-Erika W. and Carmen F.
-Gianna D. and Sam P.
2nd GRADE
3rd GRADE
The second graders are hoping to get a lot of
things for Christmas. AJ is hoping to get a
new Iron Man toy, Jessalyn wants Heely's
and Delilah wants a karaoke machine.
Alexander wants a Minecraft game and
Tiana wants to get a penguin. Samantha is
going all the way to Brazil for Christmas.
Chloe is going to Disneyland and Lia is going
to Los Angeles. Some of the second graders,
like Lily, like slow songs like Silent Night,
while others like up-beat songs like Jingle
Bells or Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Finally here are some of the second graders
favorite Christmas movies. Gabriel and
Christian's favorite is Frozen. AJ's favorite
is Jingle All the Way and Erin's is the
Spongebob Christmas Special. How fun!
-Natalie T. and Alex S.
For Christmas, Reineer is going to his
uncle’s house and Mateo is going to his
grandparents’ house. For Christmas gifts,
third grade goes big. Zymon wants an iPad
2, while Samantha wants an American Girl
Doll. Simon wants the Xbox One, Antonio
wants the PlayStation 4, and Jordan wants
the Wii U. Moises wants the iPhone 5C. The
third grade decorates their Christmas trees
in various ways. Carly’s family decorates
with flowers, ornaments, and lights,
Warren’s family decorates their tree with
pinecones, and Mia’s family decorates with
doll ornaments. What an interesting class!
-Alex C. and Chris P.
3
What’s happening in the classrooms???
4th GRADE
5th GRADE
In the fourth grade, Bridgette hopes to
get a Julie Car Wash set, a Ps4 for
Nicholas, and Isabel wants a silly onesie
pajamas. Nice picks kids! Riley puts
ornaments on their tree, Emile puts
lights, and Bridgette fills it up with arts
and crafts. Isabel and Marquez’s favorite
holiday movie is the well-known Elf,
Anthony’s is Nightmare Before
Christmas, and Rochelle’s is the new
Disney movie Frozen. Nice!
For Christmas, Allison B. is going to Brazil,
Gavin R.’s cousins are coming from the Big
Apple, Edgar S.’s dad is coming back from
the Philippines, and Edmund T. is going to
eat, sleep, and play with the toys. Sounds
like the life. Their Santa’s lists are quite full
as well. Marissa wants a new phone, Gavin
R. wants some Elite socks, Allison B. wants
a gigantic teddy bear, and Jessica T. and
Paul H. want a pair of headphones. But
don’t forget about giving. Justin wants to
give back to those he loves. Also, the 5th
graders decorated their trees with popcorn
ornaments, homemade ornaments, and
snowflakes. Nice!
-Ethan L. and Evan C.
-Zach D. and Isaiah A.
6th GRADE
The 6th graders are going to be doing a
lot for Christmas, Ethan B. is having a
party and Alexa A. is having family over
on Christmas Eve. They also shared their
favorite movies of the Holiday season!
Chloe's favorite is Home Alone 2,
Katliyn's is Christmas Vacation, and
Lizabella’s is the new Pixar movie
Frozen. They also talked about their
favorite Christmas songs. Peter's favorite
song is Jingle Bells, Chloe's is Let it Snow,
and Ethan's is We Three Kings. How
festive!
-Jilly A. and Kiana L.
7th GRADE
Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas from the
7th grade! The 7th grade is traveling
all over the place! Sophia B. is going to
Brazil, Sean S. is going to Canada,
Rebecca B. is going to San Diego, Gabe
E. is going to LA, and Christian L. is
going to Tahoe. How fun! Jingle Bells
seems to be the crowd favorite Holiday
song in this class.
-Carolyn L. and Alyssa M.
What’s happening in the classrooms???
8th GRADE
During Christmas time, 8th grade is a fun place to be! Many people are going to various
places for Christmas. Christopher P. and Samantha P. are going on a cruise to Aruba with
their family. Alyssa M. and Carolyn L. are going to Disneyland together while Jillian A. is
going to a Charles Dickens’s faire. How exciting! Shoes seem to be a huge trend in 8th
grade. Zachary D. wants Jordan sneakers and Gianna D. wants a pair of Ugg boots. What
gets you more into the Christmas mood than Christmas music? 8th grade certainly agrees
with this. Theresa C. loves the song Baby It’s Cold Outside, Gianna D. loves Most Wonderful
Time of the Year, and Jillian A. loves White Christmas. Christmas movies are the best. 8th
grade loves the movie Home Alone and Alex C. loves Christmas Vacation. 8th grade also
learns about and does many things around this time of year. They are doing Secret Santa
gift exchange, constructing Parol lamps, and learning about Nelson Mandela by watching
the movie Invictus. What an action-packed Christmas!
-Jonathan T. and Gavin C.
Jokes of the Month
Q: What do you get when Santa goes
down the chimney with a lit fire?
A: Crisp Kringle!
Q: What do you call someone who's afraid of Santa Claus?
A: Claustrophobic!
Q: Why was Santa's little helper depressed?
A: Because he had low elf esteem!
-Maxwell L.
What’s your favorite Christmas
movie??
This Christmas time is a time of happiness among our families. Our favorite Christmas songs are passing
through our ears. Our all time favorite Christmas movies like Home Alone, Elf, Frosty the Snowman, A Christmas
Carol, A Christmas Story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Arthur Christmas, Frozen, and others are brought
back. There are other movies that you probably don’t even know about like Die Hard 2, Batman Returns, Lethal
Weapon, and others. How are these movies related to Christmas? I’m not really sure. We
asked random students and faculty what their favorite Holiday movies are. Check out
what they had to say.
th
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)- Jared O. (7 grade)
He really like this movie because it portrayed the typical 8-year old boy named Kevin
McCallister who gets lost in New York City, and still manages to find his way around the
city. He really is a funny and smart kid. What Jared liked the best was when he used his older brother’s BB gun to
arm himself against the two criminals known as the Wet Bandits, since they pickpocket and steal money from
people. He likes how Kevin uses his smarts to “trap” the bad guys. We personally enjoy this movie all the time when
it’s on TV. It never gets old!
th
Elf (2003)-Zachary D. (8 grade)
Zach really like this movie because of the idea of a man named Buddy growing up at
the North Pole and is raised by an elf step-father. He has no idea that his real father is
in New York City. This movie is rather really humorous. Zach really likes how much of a
struggle it is for his birth father, Walter Hobbs, to get to know him. To him, Buddy is
just a distraction and is constantly annoying. Buddy, on the other hand, is enjoying his
new experience in New York and learns to embrace it. This movie actually came in 3rd
out of top 50 Christmas movies. This movie is a real family fun, entertaining movie to
watch for all ages!
What’s your favorite Christmas
movie??
Die Hard 2 (1990)- Ms. Muller
For this movie, Die Hard 2, really didn’t have too much of a Christmas message.
There actually only one scene in the movie that made this movie all “Christmasy”. That
one part was when airport cop Carmine Lorenzo (Dennis Franz) makes compensation
with John McClane (Bruce Willis) by ripping up the parking ticket. He says,” Ah, what
the heck. It’s Christmas!!” That is all the cop says that makes this bloody movie
related to Christmas. Don’t ask me why I put this movie as one of the favorite. We
looked up Christmas movies, and this movie came up as #33 out of 50. Maybe
people these days have different tastes. Ms. Muller likes it because of this quote.
“Now I have a machine gun, Ha Ha Ha.” said by John McClane. We have never
watched this movie, or even knew that this movie is Christmas related. For her,
this is a Christmas favorite.
A Christmas Story (1983)- Ms. Pacheco
th
We remember when we saw this movie in 6 grade when Ms. Pacheco played it
during the Christmas Party. The first thing that came to mind about this movie
was about the boy at school who licked the flag pole and got his tongue stuck to
it. That was really funny and sad because it probably took a long time to get the tongue off the pole. Even the fire
department came to the scene. When Ms. Pacheco told me this was her favorite movie, I agreed, because basically
the movie is about a 8 year old kid who has a bully problem at school. He desperately wants a BB gun for
Christmas, and he would do anything to get. This movie was placed #13 out of 50 other Christmas movies. I’m
guessing that Ms. Pacheco enjoys the humorous and laughter of odd, but amusing Christmas movies like this one!!
What’s your favorite Christmas
movie??
th
Jingle All the Way (1996)- Maximilian T. (8 grade)
This movie really shows the morals of what a father should do for his
son. The father should be willing and determined to give his son a
Christmas present. But what if the present your kid is asking for is the
best selling toy in the world? Then you might ask this guy to the left
how he got his son the present he wanted. Well, you could say that it
cost him a couple of days to finally get him the toy that sold out the
first week the toy was announced. The name of the toy is Turbo Man
based on the TV show in the movie. It is going to be pretty hard for you
to get your hands on it, since they are all out. What Howard Langston
(Arnold Schwarzenegger) does is that he goes all over the city to all the
toy stores that might sell this Turbo Man action figure. He finds out is
that all of the action figures are all gone and sold out. All he can do is tell his son that he could not give him
his present. But he decides to continue to find the gift. He finally comes upon a Christmas Day parade
where Turbo Man himself is coming. He accidently walks into the studio preparing for the Turbo Man
parade float for parade. He is caught up and is dressed in the Turbo Man. He is given the authority to
choose a kid from the crowding watching the parade, and give the kid the last known Turbo Man action
figure in the town. This movie fits in the whole gift giving process. Everyone should watch this magnificent
and hilarious movie!!
-Maximilian T. and Jeremy Y.
Sports Column
A lot of the boys’ basketball teams are doing well in
the tournaments this year. Fifth and sixth grade are in
the semi-finals for the St. Charles tournament. Seventh
grade, unfortunately, as Patrick says is not living up to
expectations. It’s okay!
People aren't just doing well in sports at school, a lot
of kids plays many sports outside of school. Nick D. in
sixth grade plays on an elite boys volleyball team. How
cool is that? Eleege E. in seventh grade plays softball for
Millbrae, and Gavin R. in fifth grade plays on an elite
basketball team as well as Gavin C. in eighth grade. People
may question if dance is a sport or not, but guess what,
it is! Sophia S. in seventh grade loves dancing and sure
knows how.
The cheerleaders just performed at Tanforan Mall and
said it was really fun and quite hilarious. They are also
getting ready their cheers for the upcoming basketball
games in January, and they cannot wait until their
choreographer Jamie teaches them their new dance
routine. How fun! The sports column wishes all of the
teams good luck!
-Andie D. and Ethan C.
A True Inspiration:
Father Paddy Moran
We have received yet another brief reflection from Father Paddy Moran, who came to visit us
a couple of months ago from Ethiopia. This article has to do with what Christmas is like at
the Arba Minch Prison in Ethiopia. Hope you enjoy. -Theresa C.
Christmas in Arba Minch Prison
Christmas is the mystery of God’s embrace.
For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son (to the wrong address?)
“Sorry, what address did you say he was to be sent to ?” asked the broken concrete
“Arba Minch Prison,” said the bars of the gates.
“Impossible. We would have heard. We know all the new arrivals. I hope they send a
message, loud and clear. Return to Sender, will not be known at this address”
And yet they hesitate, a stillness, a sigh, a pause in transmission, a tear in the eye, a pause, a
digression,
“I thought I should mention…. One little thing… (for broken concrete is a sensitive thing).
Why on earth would God want to send His only Son here?
“Wrong question,” says the bars on the gates, tautful and straight.
“What is the right question? “
“Where on earth would God want to send His Only Son”
“Not here.”
“Then where?”
“Anywhere but here… but maybe not so…now that I think of it…I suppose I have witnessed
miracles, seen quite a few, the recognition of others pain that makes people true. I have heard
quiet whispers of many regrets, the words unspoken, promises poorly kept. You are the bars
that keep them in place. Go on, make your case “
“If I am the bars that let in the air, one more arrival, why should we care?”
“And yet I care.”
“I know.”