Winter 2020, Fifteenth Edition Pierce Stays Together Pierce Through

PENGU N POST

June 2014, Sixth Edition

The Best, Worst, and First Fifth and Sixth Grade Newspaper Cost: Pricele$$

Winter 2020, Fieenth Edition

Page 1

Please recycle

this paper

Please recycle

this paper

Recently, you may have heard about some of our students going to a dierent school. In truth,

the plan was still undecided until recently. So why was everyone talking about moving and

splitting up?

The shortage of classroom space makes it a little crazy going to school at Pierce. Pierce

students have almost all had lunch at a ridiculous time, had gym in the auditorium, or had Con-

servatory in an art or Spanish classroom that is free for that period. Some kids have their world

language class in a dierent classroom depending on the day of the week. Pierce’s Principal

and the School Committee recognize our problem of overcrowding and have been looking for

a solution to this issue. One possible solution that was presented in the last few months was

moving some of the younger grades to a new campus on Clark Road. After a long and bumpy

road, it seems that this may not ultimately happen, but is worth understanding what the fuss

was about.

Pierce Stays Together

by Lila H.

The School Committee has just leased space from the Maimonides School on Clark Road.

It is approximately a 5-10 minute drive from Pierce School, and a 10-20 minute walk. The

new space includes 16 classrooms, two playgrounds (one geared towards early childhood),

a library, and a computer area. It also has a small cafeteria, a multipurpose room for PE, and

some oce space.

Both the Historical and Main buildings at Pierce are crowded, and many on the School

Committee were suggesting that some of the younger grades could move to the Mai-

monides campus to lessen the strain on the Pierce buildings. According to Principal Miller,

the space is more suited to younger grades; it was originally a lower school, and therefore

doesn’t have some of the necessities for middle schoolers, such as science labs or large

gyms. According to Principal Miller, 2 Clark Road would have been a temporary plan,

given that the lease is only for ve years.

However, it was not easy to decide which grades should go. The options were just Kin-

dergarten, K-1, K-2, or none at all. It was a long and confusing process. Principal Miller

explained, “While the School Committee voted on grades K and 1 going, we asked them

to re-open the decision and consider grades K-2 attending at Clark Road. Then the School

Committee also wanted the possibility of just Kindergarten to be considered. ” To add to

the complicated story, a recent survey showed that many respondents (Pierce parents and

teachers) would prefer not to move at all.

Imagine coming to school. It’s your rst day. You’re new. Everyone else knows each other.

Before you know it, it’s recess and you have nobody to play with. Sad, isn’t it? That’s why

we decided to interview new kids to see how they felt about all of the challenges they have

to face when coming to a new school. We thought this was a good idea because it’s important

to know about people’s feelings and whether they like our wonderful school.

The rst question we asked was “How do you feel about Pierce so far?” A student from 5VW

said that they like Principal Miller, their friends, and the subjects. A 5G student said that they

like Pierce, but will need more time to love it. We think that most students who are new would

also say the same. A student from 5R said that it’s nice that she’s made some friends and also

had fun in class too. We are glad that all the students we interviewed made at least one friend!

The last student we interviewed was a student from 5A. They said they liked the math

homework and had fun during recess.

We also asked, “Are there any things that people who’ve been here for a while could

improve on?” A 5R student who we talked to said that she thinks that there should be

more interaction between students and teachers at Pierce. The majority of students we

asked said that they wanted people to be less noisy. When we were new we also thought

the noise level in the cafeteria was excessive.

Overall the new students we interviewed like Pierce. We were happy not to hear any big

complaints about Pierce which means the school has been doing a good job welcoming

all the new students this year. The only not so positive aspect some of the new students

mentioned was the noise level. We hope that new students will love this school as much

as old students do! So next time you see someone who is new, go talk to them. You might

make a new friend.

Pierce Through The Eyes Of The New

by Valentina C.- P., Suyon L., Maria S. de B., and Sophie Z.

More grades moving would mean more logisitical issues, but it also would free up more

space at Pierce. “Specialist teachers will travel between the Pierce main campus and

the 2 Clark Road campus. The Administrative Team along with the teachers that are

required to travel, to the extent possible, will also work to create a schedule that limits

the amount of traveling our teachers need to do,” said Principal Miller. Some teachers

who would have been aected by the move told me that though there may be posi-

tive benets for the Pierce community as a whole, there are also challenges that would

make it hard to be separate from the rest of the school. On the other hand, moving more

students would open up much more space at Pierce; with about a third of the students

gone, it would free up the cafeteria and the auditorium and the gym.

As of January 26th, the school committee has decided not to send any Pierce students to

Clark Road. According to Principal Miller, “they voted to keep the Pierce Community

together...They also voted not to renew the lease of the Loft at 62 Harvard Street.” The

loss of the loft will be oset by the gain of the Sperber Education Center, which is right

next to Pierce. Now, the classes that “move” will only be moving a small distance.

It will take some work and creativity, but we will still have enough space for our grow-

ing school and all the things we value about Pierce.

Page 2

Winter 2020

Penguin Post

Penguin Post: What word was hardest for you?

Maria: Pamphlet

Ruby: Thorough

Penguin Post: What did you think was the hardest word of the whole entire

Spelling Bee?

Maria: Probably the winning word, quintessence

Abhinav: I thought it was quintessence.

Noah: I thought it was quadrilateral

Penguin Post: What word did you get out on?

Maria: Pamphlet

Ruby:Thorough

Abhinav: Industrial

Noah: Delicious

Penguin Post: How many rounds were you in for?

Maria: Four out of seven.

Ruby:: Two out of seven rounds

Abhinav: Four out of seven

Noah: Five out of seven

Penguin Post: What was your rst word on the Spelling Bee?

Abhinav: Honey

Penguin Post: How did it feel to be up on the stage?

Abhinav: Oh, only like there were hundreds of people watching my every move!

Noah: I had been up on stage before, and I don’t have stage fright, but I was a

little nervous at the beginning.

Interview with Owen Bergstein (Last year’s winner)

Penguin Post: What word did you win on?

Owen: Supercilious

Penguin Post: How did it feel to be in the last round?

Owen: Excited and a little bit nervous because there were only three of us in the

last round.

Penguin Post: How did it feel to take part in the Spelling Bee?

Owen: Fun. I did not know about it before. My dad just said that there was a

Spelling Bee that I could take part in! Then I was nervous and excited like I said

before.

Penguin Post: What happened after you won?

Owen: After people took photos of me, I did an interview for the Brookline Tab,

and I got a medal and a gift card.

Penguin Post: How did it feel to win?

Owen: It was very surprising because I thought I was going to get out in the third

or fourth round, but to be in the eighth round was amazing.

The Spelling Bee was a thrill for all spelling fans in Brookline. Many students

loved it and wish there was another Bee that they could participate in. We think

there should be a Spelling Bee every year for students in fth through eighth

grade. Maybe the Brookline Education Foundation will read this article and

agree!

What was a dog doing at the Brookline High School on Sunday, November 17

2020? Why were there so many nervous looking kids and parents? And what in the

world was this event?? Well, you might have heard about the fth-grade Spelling

Bee. This was the big day.

The Spelling Bee has been going on for 33 years, since 1988. It was started by the

Brookline Education Center (BEF). The ocial website is:

https://brooklinefoundation.org/spelling-Bee/

The “Bee” in Brookline

by Noah H., Hanna K., and Adelyn S.

A Spelling Bee is a competition where competitors try to win by spelling the most

words correctly., The words get more and more dicult to spell over the course

of the Bee. You can ask the judges to repeat the word, to use it in a sentence, or to

give you the denition. You must say the word, spell it, and then repeat the word

for it to count. This year the Spelling Bee was won by Astrid Young from the

Heath School. Last year, the winner was current Pierce 6th grader Owen Berg-

stein. (Lilah Friedland, also a Pierce sixth grader, placed third last year). The win-

ner of the BEF Spelling Bee wins a personal medal and a trophy for the school.

Also, they get a picture with the judges and with Cuddly Bear, the police golden

retriever dog. And of course, they win bragging rights.

Many Pierce 5th graders took part in the Bee this year, including Noah Harwin

one of the writers of this article. Some of the Pierce students who participated in

the Bee were Maria Soares de Brito, Abhinav Shankar, and Ruby Bhambi . We

decided to interview these contestants to see what they thought of the town-wide

Spelling Bee and compiled their answers below. We also interviewed Owen Berg-

stein, last year’s winner.

Interviews with this year’s participants

Penguin Post: How did it feel to take part in the Spelling Bee?

Maria: I was nervous and kind of proud to be part of it. And also scared of mess-

ing up!

Ruby: I was nervous and excited at the same time!

Penguin Post: Was it your rst Spelling Bee?

Maria: Ye s

Ruby: Ye s

Last Round.

Participants at the 33rd annual Spelling Bee.

Winter 2020

Penguin Post

Page 3

this paper

This fall, we were part of FLL teams with some other kids from Pierce and

Runkle. All the teams worked towards the FLL competition in December. What

is FLL? Read on to nd out!

First Lego League (FLL) is an international robotics competition. FIRST is an

abbreviation: For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. FLL

is about constructing robots with legos, computers and motors, then program-

ming these robots to solve challenges. Every year, there’s a dierent set of chal-

lenges, in line with a theme. This year’s theme was CityShaper: challenges that

could happen in a city. Additionally, each team had to come up with an Innova-

tion Project, an idea which would improve a challenge in the team’s community.

The Innovation Project changes from year to year, but it is a designed solution to

a problem that was found after interviewing experts in the community.

As part of FLL, you work in a team, consisting of 3-10 people. There are about

35,000 FLL teams worldwide. This year, Brookline had 13 FLL teams compet-

ing in this challenge (up from 5 teams last year). Brookline sent 7 FLL teams to

States and four of those teams won awards at the State competition on Decem-

ber 14th, 2019.

So why were there so many new teams in Brookline this year? It seemed like

there was a Robot invasion of Brookline this fall!

We decided to talk to a few Brookline coaches and team members. Brookline

parent and long-time coach, Adam Rizika, and coach and Pierce parent Steven

Intille have been involved with FLL for a few years and last year thought that

it would be a great idea to have more FLL teams in Brookline. According to

Intille, a group of former FLL coaches, some students from former FLL teams,

and leaders at the Brookline Teen Center helped start the Brookline Robotics Ini-

tiative. The aim of this group was to increase Brookline’s participation in FLL.

Rizika and Intille both mentioned that the Brookline Teen Center (BTC) was

willing to host the teams so that made it easier to start new teams. “We did

advertising in all the schools, posted yers, and posted on social media, and

got parents and kids together who were interested... We also tried to get more

parents who were willing to coach” said Intille. Adam Rizika added “Next thing

we knew, there were 16 teams!”

One of the main challenges was inexperience. “Our hope was that previous

FLL team members and coaches would help the dierent teams to feel more

comfortable with what they were doing.” said Rizika. Many of these new teams

were mentored by high school students. Members of the “Brookline Bot Boizz,” a

Brookline First Tech Challenge (FTC) team (FTC is a similar competition as FLL,

but for older kids), mentored some of the younger teams and also did outreach to

encourage the formation of new teams. According to Rizika, next year, the Brook-

line Robotics Initiative plans to expand to 20+ teams.

Leading up to competitions, teams prepare, build and program a robot, work on

building their teamwork and create a solution to a design problem in their com-

munity. The FLL teams meet every week for around three hours. Abhinav’s FLL

team “Bots R’ Us”, for example, met every week for three hours at the Brookline

Teen Center. Akash’s team met at a teammate’s house. During the meetings, team

members often got into disagreements,

but in the end came

up with a solution.

During the actual

competition, they

made a lot of points

and had fun. Abhinav

liked the emphasis on

learning teamwork

skills. He also liked

coding the robot, and

playing around with

it. Akash stated that

his favorite part was

at the competition

during the robot runs.

Rather than scary, it was

actually very fun.

The Robot Invasion of Brookline

by Akash D.-H. and Abhinav S.

In an FLL competition, a team is judged in four categories: the Robot Board,

Robot Design, the innovation project, and teamwork. The Robot Board is a

measure of how well your robot completes missions across a board lled with

challenges; basically a measure of the programming involved. Robot Design looks

at the strength, stability, and creativity in the actual physical robot. The innovation

project is a presentation of the proposed solution to a problem found int he com-

munity. Finally, at the competition, you are given a challenge in which you must

demonstrate eective teamwork in working together to complete it.

If legos, robots, coding, and taking part in competitions sound good to you, you

should join or start an FLL team! If you are interested, send an email to Stephen

Intille at [email protected]. You can also be part of an FLL team next

season. See you at the next FLL competition!

Imagine this: You’re getting out a pack of crackers to eat as a snack and suddenly a

monkey comes charging at you. This happened before my eyes when I was in China

this summer. It was not my rst time in China, but I visited some places for the rst

time. There were lots of beautiful places lled with history. I heard many interesting

facts and, of course, had a funny interaction with a hungry monkey.

I went to many places in China with beautiful views. One place I went during my

trip was Hangzhou. There, the Xi River (West River) is an important part of China’s

history because an ancient Chinese Emperor ordered a replica of it to be built in the

Summer Palace. It is a beautiful sight, and you can go on tours on hand-rowed boats

on the river. From our boat, we could see water lilies and sculptures that were in the

water. I learned that three of the sculptures on the Xi River are printed on the back of

the Chinese 1 ¥ bill that is still used today.

I also went to Shenzhen, which is an example of the more modern part of China. The

city is more like New York, with tall buildings and bright lights. I learned that Shen-

zhen is one of the largest electronics producing cities in the whole world, and there are

so many things that you can get there.

My Trip To China

by Annie S.

The other place I went to was Zhangjiajie, China, where I went to camp for a

week. It is a beautiful place with uniquely shaped mountains, lakes, and rivers,

as well as really cool caves. I went into one natural cave that looked so beautiful.

Zhangjiajie was the rst national park in China and is also where the movie Avatar

was lmed; if you go there, you can see where parts of the movie were lmed.

You can also climb and take pictures on some sculptures. I saw many beautiful

sights everywhere and also had lots of fun.

Funny and surprising things may happen while you are in China. For example,

when I was exploring with my camp in Zhangjiajie, a monkey was sitting in front

of us posing while we took pictures. We were chatting with each other, when the

monkey suddenly charged forward and stole a pack of crackers from a little girl.

The monkey knew enough to take the crackers out of the packaging and stued

them right into its mouth. This experience was very surprising and funny, though

I do feel bad for the little girl whose crackers were stolen by the monkey. When

you travel, even if you think that sights are boring, other things that you see might

make you laugh and cheer you up!

In conclusion, China is a great place to have fun, and I denitely had fun during

my stay there. There are great views and funny experiences, but you can still learn

a lot if you go there just like I did. So the next time you want to go on a vacation,

consider China, and if not, I hope you can still experience it by reading this article!

This is what the mountains in Zhangjia-

jie looked like. They are not shaped like

other mountains, but they are still fun

to climb and explore.

This is what the natural cave I explored with my

camp in Zhangjiajie looked like. The stones took

many years to take its shape, and some parts are

still forming.

This is the monkey back in its spot and

getting ready to eat its crackers. It was

ripping o the packaging without even

looking!

Team Bots R’ US at the FLL tournament in Revere

Winter 2020

Penguin Post

Page 4

this paper

When you wake up and walk to school you may say “hello” to your crossing

guard. They say “hi” back and help you cross the street safely. That’s as far

as the conversation usually goes. But do you ever wonder about them? Every

morning at 7:30, across town, the crossing guards come to their posts, and they

are there again in the afternoon. Rain or shine, day after day, they work hard so

we can cross the road safely. But what do they do after school? What do they do

in their spare time? And what is their favorite ice cream avor?

Well, we interviewed two crossing guards, Hank Hryniewicz (Her-na-wits) and

Christine King to see how they would respond. Hank mans the intersection at

Cyprus, Washington, and

School Streets and Christine

works at the crosswalk on

Washington Street, near

Town Hall. Here is what they

had to say.

Penguin Post: How long have

you been a crossing guard?

Hank: I’ve been a crossing

guard for 5 years. Before,

I was working in the newspaper

business for 30 years.

Christine: I have only been

working as a crossing guard for

3 months.

Penguin Post: What do you

like to do after/outside your job?

Hank: I like to ride my bike and

cook. I recently started cross-

country skiing. After and in between crossings, I write out tickets.

Christine: I have a second job. I like going to the movies and going out with

friends.

Penguin Post: What’s the worst weather you have worked in?

Hank: The rain because the drivers are always in a rush.

Christine: So far it’s been the rain, but I’m not looking forward to the snow and ice.

Do you Really Know your Crossing Guards?

by Iza B. and Riley J.

Penguin Post: What inspired you to become a crossing guard?

Hank: I had been working at a desk job for 30 years and becoming a crossing

guard was a great opportunity to get outdoors.

Christine: My dad and my uncle are police ocers. They thought it would be

a great idea if I joined the Brookline Police Department.

Penguin Post: What do you

like best about the job?

Hank: Denitely the people.

It’s great watching the kids

grow up.

Christine: The people.

Penguin Post: What changes

have you seen over the years?

Hank: Over the years I have

seen more distracted drivers on

their phones. Also just last year

the scooters came to Brookline,

so there were more people

zooming around.

Penguin Post: And most

importantly: What’s your favor-

ite ice cream avor?

Hank: I like them all, but I

would have to say peppermint stick.

Christine: Mint chocolate chip,

but the green kind. Not the vanilla and chocolate chip type.

Overall, learning about two of the crossing guards of Brookline was very in-

teresting and fun. Turns out, you can learn a lot about your crossing guards by

just having a simple conversation as you safely cross the street on their watch.

All in all, next time you see your crossing guard, start up a conversation, and

you could learn something new about the wonderful and fun people who keep

us safe.

Hank

Christine

Picture this: as you reach for your yogurt at

lunchtime, you realize you forgot to bring a spoon.

So you pick up a plastic spoon. Do you think about that

spoon after it leaves your hand? The Pierce cafeteria must go

through hundreds of plastic utensils per day. Could Pierce be more

sustainable if we used metal instead of plastic? Let’s look at the pros and cons:

In Favor of Switching to Metal

There are several reasons we should use metal instead of plastic. First of all, each

plastic spoon, fork, straw, etc is only used once before it is thrown into the trash.

Once it is in the trash, it is shipped o to a landll or incinerator. There, it can sit for

hundreds of years before it biodegrades. The worst part is that some of these plas-

tic utensils end up in the ocean where marine life can choke on them. On the other

hand, metal spoons just need to be washed and then can be used again. Also, moving

to metal utensils would help save money over time because instead of having to buy

new utensils every time we run out, we can reuse the metal utensils. Getting metal

utensils instead of plastic is one way to make Pierce more sustainable today.

In favor of keeping plastic

There are some negatives to consider before we switch to metal. For example, washing

Every Fork Counts

by Elliott M.

all the utensils in time for use at lunch time for the whole school may be too

much for the cafeteria sta. Buying metal spoons may cost the school a lot in

the beginning. Also kids might do stu they shouldn’t with them - like stab

each other with them. For all you know kids could steal them and hurt

each other behind the teachers’ backs. Altogether, there are many

reasons why we should not quickly jump to using metal

utensils.

How popular is the idea?

To gure out how students might feel about having metal instead of plastic

utensils, I conducted a survey with 20 people writing for the Penguin Post.

15 wanted metal

5 wanted plastic

Clearly, among some groups of students, there is interest in trying something

new.

So, in conclusion, metal utensils may have some drawbacks, but so do plastic

ones. We could explore eorts to recycle the plastic utensils or move towards

compostable plastic. My survey with a few students, however, does indicate

that there is excitement about trying something new.

GREEN PIERCE

Join The Fight:

The Environmental Club Needs You In The Battle Against Climate Change

by Lilah F. and Sophia W.-S.

Winter 2020

Penguin Post

Page 5

this paper

While you have probably heard the term “climate change,” you may not know exactly what climate change is or what you can do about it. The Pierce Environmen-

tal Club is helping deal with this crisis and has some ideas.

First, let us give you some background on climate change. You might think climate change is a natural phenomenon, but in reality, humans have caused these

changes all on their own. Through our activity, we humans produce and release harmful gasses into the atmosphere; this traps the heat that is coming from the sun,

warming up the earth. Climate change refers to this warming. As the earth warms, animals who live on frozen tundra such as penguins and polar bears are losing their

habitat. Additionally, as the glaciers melt, ocean levels rise, which could one day ood and damage the land we live on all over the earth.

As you can see, people need to stop the disaster of climate change! There are many groups that are trying to help save the planet and educate people about the

problem. Here at Pierce School, one such group is the Environmental Club. Environmental Club is a club for middle school students who want to teach people about

climate change and who want to make a dierence. The club meets during 6th and 7th grade lunch and recess in Profe Rose’s Spanish room. It is run by Pierce par-

ent Michael Blanding, Pierce parent Rebeca Salguero, and eighth-grade social studies teacher Ms. Lattin. The Environmental Club is working on climate change

presentations and has helped organize the Pierce climate strikes (see below for an interview with Ms. Lattin).

Because of the importance of climate change, the Pierce Environmental Club is trying to

educate and help members in the Pierce community know what they can do to slow the

eects of climate change. You can:

- Cut down on your plastic footprint.

- Use greener energy.

- Compost.

- Sign a petition so we will learn about the climate crisis in school.

We would like to tell you a little bit more about all of these initiatives.

Plastic is terrible for the environment. It is made from oil deep within the

ground. In order to drill for this oil, people have to cut down forests, which is bad

because forests help decrease carbon dioxide, one of the gasses that keeps heat in

the atmosphere. Chopping down trees also removes habitat from tons of animals

that rely on them for homes. Discarded plastics also are often eaten by animals, which

makes them sick and die. Additionally, most plastics take thousands of years to biodegrade,

which means all plastic ever made is still on earth! The best thing you can do is avoid buying

single-packaged snacks, plastic toys, plastic bags, and plastic straws.

Oil is a type of fossil fuel that many of us still use for electricity. Fossil fuels are non-renewable sources

of energy, so they will someday run out. In the meantime, they cause air pollution, among other things. If you want to

help stop the climate crisis, change your electricity! Brookline residents can pay a little extra for all of their electricity to come from

renewable sources, which are better for the environment. If switching energy sources isn’t the right thing for your family, conserving

electricity is another way to help. Turning o lights when you leave the room can save lots of energy.

Pierce is now composting, which is great, but you can do the same thing at home! If you have a garden, you can have a collection bin in the garden and

when it has decomposed, dump it on your garden to use as great fertilizer. If you don’t have a garden, the Teen Center has a collection bin. Composting helps save

things from landlls, and it makes amazing soil, so composting at home is something you can do every day to help.

Some eighth graders have made a petition as part of their civics project. This petition advocates for students in middle school and elementary school to of-

cially learn about climate change. This is important so that more kids can help solve this problem. Kids should know about this issue as it will aect their futures.

Signing this petition at https://bit.ly/BrooklineCC will show your support for climate action.

Though the climate crisis is a formidable problem, everyone can make a dierence, and the Pierce Environmental Club might be just the thing to help you get started

on ghting back. If you are interested in joining the club, come into Profe Rose’s Spanish room during sixth grade lunch and recess/seventh grade lunch, which is at

11:20. We are always looking for more people to join the important cause of ghting climate change!

A Conversation With Ms. Lattin

To get some background, we interviewed Ms. Lattin,

the eighth-grade social studies teacher, about her

perspective on climate change and the Pierce

Environmental Club.

Penguin Post: Why did you decide to help out with

the Pierce Environmental Club?

Ms Lattin: I think that our planet is the most important

thing that anybody has. Making sure that we are living

sustainably is the most important thing we can do.

Penguin Post: How long have you been helping out?

Ms Lattin: The Environmental Club started last year….

But I’ve been volunteering for environmental causes

outside of school for many, many years… I love the fact

that new sixth graders came into the Environmental Club this year. The

seventh graders right now are the ones who started it, and they were super

passionate, but it’s great to have new students joining it. Every year we

need to bring more kids in.

Penguin Post: If there was one thing you could change about the Pierce Envi-

ronmental Club, what would it be?

Ms Lattin: I would get like two hundred

students involved. I think we need a lot of

people. Spread the word. We all need to get

involved. We all have to work together to

x this problem. It’s not up to somebody

else, it’s up to each of us. That’s the thing I

would magically change: Everyone would

care and want to be involved.

Penguin Post: Do you make your classroom

environmentally friendly, and if so, how?

Ms Lattin: That is a really good question.

I try to. I try to put as much as I can on

Canvas, so not use paper. I try to turn out

the lights when I can. I teach kids about re-

cycling, and I show them which bin to use. You know how stretch plastic

can be recycled at stores? I collect stretch plastic from the kids so I can

take it to the store to recycle. I would love to teach kids about snacks,

and all the single-packaged snacks that they bring in and throw away in

the trash, and I would love to teach them to buy big bags and pack their

snack at home...My own food is always in reusable packaging. I have

some plants in there to help clear air, and make it green.

Pierce students on their way to the

climate strike.

Winter 2020

Penguin Post

Page 6

this paper

At Pierce, we now have the share table and a composting program, making

our cafeteria more environmentally friendly. I interviewed Melissa London,

a 6th grade science teacher. We talked about how we made our cafeteria

greener. She started a composting program for the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade at

Pierce.

Penguin Post: Is the share table eective, and what happens to the food left

over on the share table?

Ms. London: Before we started composting, the older students would put

their unwanted food into the trash. Now that we started composting, kids are

very good about composting and putting things on the share table. I’ve also

noticed kids taking things from the share table and eating them if they like

it and are hungry, which is great because they’re eating perfectly good food

and not putting it to waste. When the share table items are not taken, I take

them back to the cafeteria. Since they’re untouched, the food can be reused.

If it’s in a plastic container, it can be reused and put into the next lunch. The

cafeteria can save on some food. We have saved a lot of food by stopping it

from going into the trash.

On Fridays at the cafeteria, I look forward to getting some pizza, but along with

it, there’s also a lot of stu that I don’t want to eat. I put that at the share table, and

put the pizza on one of the reusable trays. I eat what I like, but what do I do with

leftovers?

You must have heard the word ‘composting’. So, what is composting? Composting

is taking food scraps and decomposing them into soil for plants and food to grow

again. Composting is reusing: we get new soil to grow new food. It is decayed

organic matter that you mix in a pile until it turns into fertilizer that makes plants

grow. Almost anything from the ground is compostable.

Composting impacts the environment. It reduces greenhouse gas emissions. When

food in your trash goes into a landll, it emits methane into the air. Composting

prevents this, and doesn’t let food go to waste. It therefore is a great idea to com-

post our food.

ing

At Pierce

Eat Food

Grown

in Soil

Put

Leftovers

In Compost

Compost

Decomposes

into Soil

Soil

Helps Food

Grow

Penguin Post: Why did you start the composting program?

Ms. London: I always do an environmental program every year. A few other

schools started a composting program, and I thought it was a brilliant thing to

do at Pierce too.

Penguin Post: How successful has it been?

Ms. London: Last year we started with just the sixth graders as a pilot

program, and it seemed that the students really enjoyed sorting and rescuing

food from the trash. Those sixth graders have now become seventh graders.

I am training new sixth graders. It’s been successful. We are talking with Ms.

Miller about expanding the program to other grades. We have been collecting

data, and from September, (till the time of this interview at the end of Novem-

ber), we have rescued almost 1,000 pounds of food. We have also rescued

2400 compostable trays.

by Abhinav S.

Signage at the Pierce cafeteria.

Penguin Post: What was

the eect of the program on

students, teachers, and cafeteria

sta?

Ms. London: Students are now

more aware of what is recycla-

ble and compostable. Students

now learn about food and how

it biodegrades. Preventing food

from going into a mix with

plastics and metals and other

things is important.

Penguin Post: Any plans for

compostable utensils?

Ms. London: The cafeteria had

some compostable cutlery, but

I think it was fairly expensive. Recently I’ve noticed the cafeteria has gone

back to using single-use utensils. It would be good to discuss going back to

hard plastic trays that get washed and metal forks and knives and spoons,

which we used to have. Single-use plastics make up 40% of the plastic waste.

The downside is that somebody needs to wash the reusable utensils. Also,

there’s an expense to buying disposable trays, compostable trays and cutlery.

As a teacher, when a student asks me, “Ms. London do you have a spoon for

my yogurt?”, I give them a metal utensil if they need one. So they use them,

rinse them and put it back. I’m trying to reduce my plastic footprint with these

solutions. [End of Interview]

Food that is composted is weighed and logged.

Composting Bins at Pierce.

It looks like composting at Pierce has been a success, though it has room to grow. If

the program is expanded to the whole school, think of how much food we would save.

By composting and separating our food, we can all contribute towards a greener future.

It looks like composting at Pierce has been a success, though it has room to

grow. If the program is expanded to the whole school, think of how much food

we would save. By composting and separating our food, we can all contribute

towards a greener future.

Signage in Pierce cafeteria.

Page 7

Penguin Post

Spring 2019

Please recycle

this paper

This fall, the Pierce seventh and eighth graders produced a play called the “The Mu-

sic Man.” It is a classic Broadway musical from 1958 (a movie adaptation was made

a few years later). Pierce students worked hard to give us this play, and the eort was

clearly seen through the acting, singing, props, and dancing. The play was so much

fun to watch. In this article, we interview some people involved in the play and talk

about what we liked about it.

The story of “The Music Man” centers on a man who tries to get a small town

excited about a band. He turns out to be a criminal who is only interested in people’s

money, or so it seems at the beginning. It is a love story, a story about a town becom-

ing a little more accepting, and, most of all, a story about music.

We spoke to some people who were in the play and asked them a few questions

about their experience.

Penguin Post: What character did you play?

Fenno: I was one of the barbershop singers.

Itamar: I played the Constable.

Penguin Post: What was it like? Did you enjoy it, or not?

Fenno: I enjoyed it a lot. It was really fun and I made a lot of friends.

Itamar: Yeah, I liked the play and the music.

Penguin Post: Was it hard? If so, was it worth it?

Fenno: It was hard but worth it .

Itamar: I agree.

The Music Man Came To Pierce

by Iza B., Lila H., and Riley J.

We spoke to Phil Schroeder, the producer, to get a sense of how he felt

about the show. Phil said that, although he originally wasn’t a fan of the

musical, after learning a bit more about the writer and the history behind

it, he decided to give it a try. In the end, he says, “I loved working on this

show. I love the variety of music our kids got to sing, and especially the

3 and 4-part harmony songs.” Overall, the plays at Pierce are a source

of pride for Phil. He says, “it’s a really fantastic program that is unique to

Pierce. No other Brookline school has a program like it.”

Overall we thought that the play was well written and fun to watch. Both

casts delivered a beautiful performance. The set design crew made a beau-

tiful backdrop, and it set the scene. The tech crew was great and their work

helped the play go smoothly. The students who participated in the play did

a great job staying in character and, as an audience member, you could

really see that they put lots of emotion into their acting. Phil says, about the

actors: “I am constantly amazed by the students we get in this program and

how much they grab onto it and won’t let go. They do amazing things with

courage and fearlessness, and the directors and I love working with them.”

Watching the play from the audience, we could not agree more.

The Cornet cast.

The Trombone cast.

Page 8

Penguin Post

Spring 2019

Please recycle

this paper

Rather than picking another Disney show this year, Phil decided to produce his own ideas

this time. e idea for the play started a year and a half ago, according to Phil, when he

was working with a few Pierce kids and they decided to write a play together. Phil gave

them an assignment to write a play about a 10-year reunion of the greatest musical Pierce

ever did, called “e Dreadful Dragon of Dartmouth.” A lot of funny ideas came up about

what the dragon play might have in it, and he couldn't stop thinking about it, so when he

decided to write a play for this winter, these ideas came easily.

Phil says writing a play for 5th and 6th graders is fun and hard at the same time; he loves

watching them discover the play and make it their own, but it is challenging to create a

great story with fun characters to hold the kids’ interest. In his writing, Phil says he hopes

to teach the actors and audience something about their world. He says, “I love fairy tales

that deal with the believable parts of being human--like love, fear,.. and the desire to be

better--but I also like the idea of fantastical elements like dragons that never really existed,

but people tell stories as if they did.” ough a story may be pure ction, it’s always rooted

in the truth in some way. Phil adds that the nice thing about being at Pierce is that he had

lots of kids reading for him as the play was in progress, and they gave him valuable and

insightful feedback.

With all of this thought going into the play, it promises to be an enriching and exciting

one to watch! If you want to enjoy the full story with rich music, acting, and performing,

come to see the play yourself and show up on March 12-15th in the Pierce auditorium.

The Dragon is Coming

by Charlene J.

Why are there kids in the cafeteria dressed up in funky clothing? Why

are kids singing randomly on top of tables? What’s going on in the

Pierce auditorium? Well, let me tell you: Phil Schoeder, the producer of

all the plays/musicals at Pierce, is creating a brand new musical called

the Dreadful Dragon of Dartmouth.

e new play is a comedy set in Dartmouth, England in the year 1550.

ere is a castle in the middle of the town where a man and his dragon

used to live. e man died, but the dragon is still there, so the towns-

people think that the castle is cursed. A young man named Palumon

is given the secret of how to control the dragon from the ghost of the

dragon’s old owner. Over time, Palumon learns to be friends with the

dragon, and therefore, he can control it. Phil says “Medieval people did

not think much of comedy or fun, which makes the play funnier, given

how serious they took themselves... ere will be many fun characters

including the King of England herself (yes, that was correct).” He adds,

“One interesting question the play raises is how important our beliefs

are in determining our happiness or sadness. If we all decided that

Pierce School was cursed, would believing make it so?”

When you really think about it, what happens behind the scenes of

a play performance truly involves a lot of hard work and team eort;

there are months of practicing, organizing, coordinating, dressing,

memorizing lines, and so much more. Before any of that, the words

need to be written down. Phil says that he is now in the middle of writ-

ing the play.

Kalina Ivanov, grade 6, in rehearsal as the imaginary ballerina.

The 2020 Grade 3-6

Pierce School Musical

Tony Lee, grade 6, who plays Bechler.

Sammy Treistman, grade 6.

Penguin Post

Winter 2020

Page 9

Please recycle

this paper

Awesome Books To Read

by Lilah F. and Annie S.

Do you have nothing to read at home? If so, take a look at our top book recommendations. We have listed a variety of books, so you can nd something that ts your interest.

We found these books in dierent ways, including picking them up o the shelves from the library, getting recommendations from friends, and from summer reading lists. We

hope you can nd a book that you will enjoy from our list. Happy reading!

Annie’s top 3 books

It’s Raining Cupcakes

By Lisa Schroeder

It’s Raining Cupcakes by Lisa Schroeder

is about Isabel Browning, a girl who

wants to be able to travel and leave her

tiny town. She enters a baking contest

so she has a chance of being able to

leave. But she is not sure if she can win

because she has a few problems she

does not know how to solve. You might

be able to relate to Isabel’s desire to

explore. This book was a great read, and

I think that anyone who wants a good

book to read should try it. Hopefully you

will like it.

Lunch Money

By Andrew Clements

Lunch Money by Andrew Clements

is about Greg Kenton, who has only

ever wanted to earn money. When he

is in 7th grade, he sells comic books at

school, but soon his annoying neighbor,

Maura copies the idea. Greg gets mad,

but then realizes that Maura’s books

aren’t too bad and that he could make

some money with them! They start

working together, but not long after they

start, a big problem comes up. I like this

book because it is a great story about

enemies turning into friends.

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s

Library

By Chris Grabenstein

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library

by Chris Grabenstein is about Kyle

Keeley. After he gets grounded from

playing video games, he gets to sleep

over in the new library that his favorite

gamemaker, Mr. Lemoncello, designed.

He hopes that during the sleepover he

would be able to play games. While

there, Kyle gured out that the sleepover

itself was a game: a hard one where he

has to use all of his knowledge to win.

Kyle faces many challenges and every

step he takes, it becomes harder. This

book was a page turner for me. I really

enjoyed it, and I hope you will like it

too.

Lilah’s top 3 books

Ban this Book

By Alan Gratz

This is a great realistic ction book

about a girl named Amy Anne who

loves books. When her favorite book

gets banned, Amy Anne, who’s nor-

mally quiet and unwilling to share her

opinion, decides to rebel along with

a few friends. This story is about the

power of books, standing up for what

you believe in, and nding your voice.

Ban this Book is an amazing and, at

points, hilarious story. Read this book!

The Girl Who Could Not Dream

By Sarah Beth Durst

This is a thrilling fantasy about a girl

named Sophie whose parents own a

shop where dreams are mixed, bought,

and sold. When Sophie’s parents are

kidnapped, she must use her unique

power of bringing dream animals and

people to life to save them and the

dream-making equipment. Sophie,

along with her new friend Ethan, a

unicorn, some ninja bunnies, and her

dream-pet Monster, must investigate

the mysterious Mr. Nightmare and

battle against powerful dream-mon-

sters who seem to be brought to life by

someone who has the same power as

Sophie… A wonderful, original story.

This book made me laugh, and it made

me cry. I highly recommend it!

The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street

By Karina Yan Glaser

This realistic ction story is about a

big, funny, and unique family called

the Vanderbeekers. When their land-

lord, Mr. Beiderman, announces that

they will be evicted from their beloved

brownstone, the ve kids, ranging in

age from almost ve to twelve, work

together to try to change his mind. This

is a funny, heartwarming book about

the importance of family, love, and al-

ways sticking together, no matter what.

You should read it!

So now you’ve seen our book recommendations. If one intrigues you, try to nd it at the library or wherever you get books. Maybe it will become your next favorite

read! We hope you read at least one of our book recommendations since these are such great books!

Penguin Post

Winter 2020

Page 10

Please recycle

this paper

Towering walls, extravagant lighting, and a modern and luxurious space ll

your vision. You think about all the great things you are going to build to make

this magnicent base even better. Then, your friend joins and you start build-

ing a farm together. You barely notice time passing until your mom calls out

that it’s time for dinner. You nally look up from your computer and close

down Minecraft for the day.

Minecraft is a sandbox-type game, meaning a game that allows you to explore

using your imagination. In Minecraft, no matter what age you are, you can nd

something that you will enjoy. From your own single-player world to a realm

where you play with your friends or a huge server with tens of thousands of

players, Minecraft has something for everyone. And if it does not oer what

you would like to see, you can add to it on your own.

You can play Minecraft in many ways. The original and default game mode

of Minecraft is survival mode. In survival mode, you collect resources, build

and craft things, and try to stay alive. Hardcore mode is survival mode, but

you only get one life. Not only that, the game is set permanently to the hard-

est diculty level. On the other hand, there is creative mode. Creative mode

provides you with innite resources, instant breaking of blocks, and the ability

to y around, risk-free. Most people use creative mode to test things before

building them in survival mode.

In addition to the normal worlds created by the makers of Minecraft, players

have the option of playing adventure maps. An adventure map is a specially

created world that a mapmaker has made for other players to come and experi-

ence an adventure. Almost all Minecraft adventure maps are made by other

regular Minecraft players.

At a price, Minecraft is available on almost all devices, and has a huge team

behind the scenes developing and improving the game everyday. There are

one to two major updates each year, bringing in features that people may have

requested, or completely new features that are a surprise. According to Quora,

Minecraft has over 91 million players from all over the world, representing

dierent religions, cultures, races, and genders.

by Akash D.-H. and Hannah F.

Recently, Minecraft developers took

the game to the next level with two new

games based on the original, called

Minecraft Earth and Minecraft Dungeons.

Minecraft Earth is like Pokemon Go,

but better. You can complete adventures

in your local park, create and breed

mobs, build whatever you want, and still play with your friends. And the

best thing, it’s fully interactive, so anything that you make can be inter-

acted with. In Minecraft Dungeons, which has yet to be released, you

can use powers, get armor, and play with your friends in the adventure

dungeon-based game.

Minecraft is a game that lets you take your mind o of other things

in life. In Minecraft, you can build whatever you want and interact

with people from all over the world. It is possible to create anything in

Minecraft. If you are not satised with what exists in-game, you can add

in things yourself with a mod or add-ons. Minecraft mods, or add-ons,

as they are known on the Bedrock Edition, are independent, user-made

modications to Minecraft. Thousands of mods exist on the internet, and

you can usually download them for free. People have even managed to

video call real-life users using Minecraft!

These are just some of the things you can do in the endless possibilities

of Minecraft. From just playing with your friends to creating your own

Minecraft maps, Minecraft oers everything you can imagine. Person-

ally, it has helped us relax when we have been under stress. We think

that Minecraft is the best game ever made.

The Game That Changed The World

by Aedan R. and Yancheng Z.

Forbidden Island is an enjoyable board game that is cooperative and in-

volves strategy. In this game, 2-5 players are trapped on an ancient, cursed

island. In order to escape, they must nd and rescue four ancient treasures:

The Earth Stone, The Chalice of Water, The Crystal of Fire, and The Statue

of the Wind. The catch? They have to do this and escape before the island

oods.

The group of players pretend to be explorers on the island. Each player

picks a role (for example, Pilot, Engineer, Explorer, Diver, Navigator) who

has a dierent ability or power. For example, the Diver can move through

spaces that have already been ooded, and the Explorer can move and shore

up (de-ood) diagonally instead of just the adjacent squares like everyone

else. The players then move around the island, nding and collecting the

“keys” (cards) to the artifacts, and try to stop the island from ooding com-

pletely. Each turn, more of the island oods, and the players have to work

to keep it dry. Once all of the treasures are recovered, provided the island is

still unooded, the players must meet up on Fool’s Landing and get o the

island.

Forbidden Island is fun for many reasons. The rst is that it is a coopera-

tive team game, meaning that the players are not opponents, but playing

together. This makes it more fun because when you nish, if you win, then

everyone will have won, and everyone can participate in the screaming with

joy, which is much better than just one person winning and the other play-

ers feeling frustrated.

Forbidden Island: the Game of Adventure and Treasures

The second reason is that it

is a strategy game, instead of

it being all luck. If you are

somebody who has trouble in

luck games such as Chutes and

Ladders or Candyland, you will

have a better time playing For-

bidden Island. It is the players

who decide how they are going

to get all four treasures and lift

o from Fool’s Landing; cards

or dice do not decide what they

do.

We think you should play For-

bidden Island, but don’t stop

there! Two other fun, coopera-

tive strategy games are: For-

bidden Desert and Pandemic.

Forbidden Desert is similar to

Forbidden Island, and Pandemic is a strategy game in which you must

cure four diseases and save humanity.

We think Forbidden Island is really fun, and we hope you will like it

too.

Penguin Post

Please recycle

this paper

Winter 2020

Page 11

Dungeons And Dragons In Brookline

by Miles A.

When you go to Brookline library’s Tween Room, you see people doing

lots of stu: reading, doing homework, chatting, playing games. Some

of them may seem like they are just sitting at tables talking and rolling

dice. But in reality, they are ghting an army of half dragons.

If you like drawing, story telling, and fantasy, you should try playing

Dungeons and Dragons. Dungeons and Dragons is a role playing game

(RPG) where a group of people pretend to be imaginary characters to

go on a series of adventures called a campaign. Your character could be

almost anything, even a part dragon, elf, gnome, dwarf, half orc or a

rare extinct race known as a human (Just kidding! Humans are most of

the population). Based on what the Dungeon Master - the game leader

- says, you roll a bunch of oddly shaped dice to have an adventure.

If you want to learn to play, you have a couple of options. There are

groups at the library that meet on certain days or you could get the

Player’s Handbook to read and see if you are interested. There are other

books as well that can be helpful: Monster Manual can be helpful to ex-

plain the creatures involved in the adventure, and the Dungeon Masters’

Guide helps when dealing with magic items and building home-made

adventures. The Starter Set is also recommended to start an adventure;

it is the basic rules and the outline to an adventure called Lost Mines of

Phandelver. The adventure is simple and teaches people the basic skills

they will use later.

Here are some tips for new players:

1. You don’t need to be good at ghting to help your

group. You could be a sneaky rogue who can pick locks

and talk to enemies to convince them to do something

for you. Or you could be a cleric and use your healing

magic to cure disease and give allies hit points when

they take damage.

2. An adventure can be more than “kill the bad guy”.

You could convince the bad guys that what they are

doing is wrong. Some campaigns revolve around

mystery: nd out who is planning to assassinate the

king, for example. Sometimes there are adventures

where the only solution is to poke the evil villain with

sharp objects. Try to be creative. I know from experience

that being creative makes the game more fun and makes

everyone improvise.

3. Make neat stories. Have you ever been with friends and had nothing to talk about? If you played Dungeons and Dragons recently, you

could talk about how it went.

4 Let the Dungeon Master be in charge of the rules. The Dungeon Master can change some rules but do nothing to others. Remember the

Dungeon Master makes the story, and you change it with your decisions.

5 Watch videos on how to play. Seth Skorkowsky’s Dungeons and Dragons Youtube videos are good, in my opinion.

6. Look for a trustworthy person to be the Dungeon Master. They should probably know the rules and have run a game before. The groups

that play in the library, as well as the library-sponsored groups, are usually good for beginners and welcome new players.

So. If you are looking for a new adventure try joining a Dungeons and Dragons campaign next time you are at the library after school.

Penguin Post

Winter 2020

Page 12

Please recycle

this paper

Students at Pierce School may not know how close they came to being

doomed. Under a secret hatch in the library oor, thirty printers are hidden

in a top-secret vault. Their job is to print homework all day long, all year

long. They have been printing since 1900 and have been planning to ood

the library with homework before taking over the school. They will give

students too much work to have any fun and paper cut any student who

resist. At least, that was their plan before their plot was foiled. This is a min-

ute by minute account of what happened.

12:00 pm. All was going according to plan. The printers had almost nished

printing enough homework to fulll their destiny and subject the students to

their dominion. Three. Two. One. Go!

(Meanwhile, for no reason whatsoever, Unit A teachers decided to let the

students out for recess a few minutes early).

12:01 pm. 300 pages ew out of the hatch. The printers imagined all the

people in unit A having to sit inside to do all of this homework instead of

going out to lunch or recess.

12:02 pm. Because the students were all out of the library, Duck the Dragon

was ying around the top oor. Duck the Dragon is 1,700 years old, equiva-

lent to 18 in dragon years. Before coming to the library, he had been living in

Pierce Park. One day, while eating strawberries and watching people play-

ing tag and debating if they would be scared of a mythical creature, he was

found by some 7th and 8th graders. They decided to pay him to help them

get rid of homework. He is saving to buy a high-quality cave to live in and to

go to some sort of dragon college, so he agreed. And yes, his name is Duck,

as in the bird.

When Duck saw the homework ooding into the library, he ew down to

the tables. From the middle of the library, he shot a line of re at the pages

of homework. One hundred and fty pages were set on re and quickly ed

to the side. The pages that were still exiting the hatch (and therefore escaped

the line of re) had time to y out of the way. The burning pages were de-

stroyed, but the others tried to paper cut the dragon to death. Duck used his

claws to cut a lot of them until they started nding openings in his scales.

All seemed lost for Duck.

On top of the heating system above the library is a colony of re-breathing

goats. (They have been there a long time. Long story). At that moment,

many of them came down and attacked the homework. The goats

started breathing re. All 300 homework pages were destroyed.

The goats ran down the hatch and headbuted the printers until they

stopped working. I interviewed the goats and had the following

conversation:

(me) “So, what are your future plans?”

(goat) “BAHHHHH!”

(me) “I’m sorry, what was that?”

(goat) *Steals notepad*

(me) “Hey! Give that back!”

(goat) *Eats notepad*

(me) “Nevermind, you keep it.”

FICTION

PAGES

Duck the Dragon Set Some Homework on Fire

by Miles A.

Then I interviewed the dragon.

(me) “So, uuuhhhh, what’s your name?”

(Duck) “Oh, Duck.”

(me) “Ok. Why did you destroy all of the homework?”

(Duck) “I am getting paid 20 dollars for a page set on re by people

who just don’t like homework. Also I need money to buy a nice cave

to live in.”

(me) “So what are your plans for the future?”

(Duck the dragon) “Destroy the homework that is hiding in the Pierce

tunnel. Then I want to get elected president.”

End of interview.

Duck the dragon later added that he wanted to make the rst school

day of every month a day with no homework. While still saving for

college, he can be found on the top oor of the library.

Page 13

Hello. Before you proceed, a quick disclaimer: this is not normal. Nobody is

normal. If you read this article, you may be disturbed. This is on purpose.

You don’t know who I am. I know who you are. It’s a strange cycle.

You probably shouldn’t be here.

To start things o, I have been asked to read this for you.

The new sta elevator is o limits to everyone. Even the sta.

The sta should never go into the new sta elevator. The sta

elevator is for the angels. They’re everywhere. They’re in your house.

They’re in your room. Beware of the angels. Run from the angels. They’re always

behind you.

Thank you.

We have a new student today. His name is Chris. He is in the twelfth grade. There is

no twelfth grade. Chris does not exist. Never look him in the eyes. He doesn’t have

them.

You Probably Shouldn’t Be Here

by Theo S.

On another note, students have claimed to see strange lights in the

sky. Try not to look at the lights. If you see the lights, the old

woman with the hood will come. Cyle, the custodian, went

missing today. He looked at the lights. Do not look at the

lights.

And for the last time, never talk to the ghosts in the gym.

You may wonder why I keep my identity a secret. It is

because I fear the men wearing the black suits will come and

take me away. Do not trust them. They are always watching.

If you see someone with short, dark brown hair with blue tips wearing a green

overcoat, do not follow them home. Do not ring the doorbell. Too many

people have bothered me today.

I will see you again very, very soon.

Penguin Post

Winter 2020

Please recycle

this paper

The Legend Of The Locker Monster

by Jem B.-J.

Has something extremely simple ever seemed nearly impossible? All year long, this has been a problem

for the sixth graders in Ms. Woogmaster’s class. Every day, while kids in other classes open their lock-

ers with ease, 6W has trouble. No matter how many times they try, the lockers refuse to open.

“It took me ve tries just to open my locker once!

At this rate, I’ll never get to class on time,” said one

student as she sadly watched everyone else open their

lockers with no trouble at all.

A classmate’s younger brother, who is himself small

enough to t into a locker, one day proposed an explanation.

“Have you ever heard the legend of the locker monster?” he asked.

There was once a small child who was bullied by the bigger kids in the school.

Even worse, the leader of the bullies was his older brother who called him Little Monster. Everyone

knew what was going on, but no one, absolutely no one, liked to disagree with the big brother and his

gang of bullies.

It was the last day of school. The little brother should have been happy with that. But he wasn’t. Less

school meant more time being with his older brother and the gang. Bad days--and his summer would be

lled with them.

As he walked through the hall, he heard his older brother call out, “Hey, Little Monster, come over

here!”

Having no choice, he did so. But when he got to him, his older brother threw him into the locker.

“Have a nice time,” he whispered.

The older brother waited for the younger brother to come out. He waited for what seemed like a long

time. When nothing happened, he got curious, and he opened the locker to let his little brother out. To

his surprise, his little brother was not there! He was nowhere to be found!

But the next year, students started noticing that the lockers wouldn’t open. Sometimes open lockers

would seem to slam shut again. It became clear that the younger boy had not vanished, but had become

a ghost haunting the lockers. And the older brother? He stopped bullying other children, disbanded his

gang, and spent his time opening other kids’ lockers for them when they had trouble.

After hearing this story, 6W student Lilah Freidland said, “This makes perfect sense. It’s the revenge of the locker monster!”

News of the locker monster spread, and nearly everyone agreed that the locker monster must be real!

After weeks of pushing and pulling, and trying every possible way to outsmart the lockers, we discovered a solution. All you have to do is get someone else

to kick your locker before you open it. It works, we reasoned, because the kicking noise scares the locker monster, and it goes away.

Here’s an added tip: once you get the door open, put a pen or pencil in the handle. That way, your locker will never really close, and the problem is solved

(unless someone removes it). You also give the locker monster some a break from all the kicking (after all, his big brother was the bully, not him).

There are, however, locker monster skeptics. Some claim that the locker monster does not exist, and the reason why the lockers don’t open is that they are old,

and they’ve just gotten rusty (But does rust really stop a locker from opening?). For the kids who have locks on their lockers, one student oers that maybe they

aren’t entering the right combination (But why would your locker not open three times in a row? That seems like too much unless there is a locker monster).

Overall, in my opinion, evidence denitely points to a locker monster. Some people may say it does not exist, but the kids of 6W know better. If there isn’t a

locker monster, then what’s causing our problems?

Penguin Post

Winter 2020

Page 14

Play Ball: Boston Red Sox 2019 Report Card

by Finn C.

Please recycle

this paper

On October 30th, 2019, the Washington Nationals completed a World Series championship at the end of an exciting journey: a comeback wild card win

against the Brewers, a ve game division series against the dominating Dodgers, a championship series sweep of the Cardinals, and nally a power-pitched,

seven-game World Series win against the 107-win Houston Astros to win their rst World Series in franchise history. It was one of the most exciting and

action-packed World Series of the decade. Meanwhile, the reigning World Series champions, the Boston Red Sox, whose 108 wins were a franchise high in

2018, in 2019 failed to make it into the postseason, failed to have a winning record at home, and failed even to have a winning percentage over .520,

despite having the highest payroll in the MLB at the start of the season. It was very disappointing. But I have high hopes that the Red Sox will be back to

their winning ways to kick o the 2020’s.

Here is a report card for (most of) the Red Sox players of 2019 (information and pictures below are from Yahoo Sports, Baseball Almanac, Wikipedia, the

Runner Sports, CBS Boston, Bleacher Report, the Boston Herald, the Boston Globe, blog Red Machine, NESN, Bosox Injection, UPI, Over the Monster, and WRUF):

--- Continued on next page ---

Penguin Post

Winter 2020

Please recycle

this paper

Page 15

Play Ball: Boston Red Sox 2019 Report Card - Continued

To sum it all up, 2019 was a dark year for the Red Sox, who had only 84 wins in the whole season. But the team could be looking up in

2020. Here are some of my hopes for the Red Sox this new decade:

● Mookie Betts stays with the Red Sox.

● Chris Sale actually does good again, like in 2018.

● Andrew Benintendi stops striking out so much.

● If he stays with the Sox, Jackie Bradley Jr. actually hits consistently for once in his career.

● Michael Chavis goes the whole season hitting home runs, striking out less, and avoiding injuries.

● Xander Bogaerts, Rafael Devers, and J.D. Martinez hit as awesome as they did last year.

● Brandon Workman continues dominating.

● And of course, the Red Sox win the World Series.

Penguin Post

Winter 2020

Please recycle

this paper

Page 16

You might think the sport of basketball is just about a

ball and a basket, but it is not that simple. Basketball,

like any team sport, depends on players, their

chemistry, and their eort. 26 million Americans

play basketball according to Wikipedia; this is

more than any other team sport in America. A lot

of people also watch the National Basketball Association

(NBA) and follow the NBA players’ careers. Let’s

take a look at some of the hottest teams and players

in the league.

In the Western Conference, e Los Angeles Clippers are the

new powerhouse aer picking up players in the o season. eir

lineup includes last year’s NBA Finals Most Valuable Player

and former Toronto Raptor, Kawhi Leonard. e rapper Drake

was one of Kawhi’s biggest fans last year and cheered as he hit

his now famous last second shot that bounced on the rim four

times before going in. is shot took Toronto to the NBA nals!

e remaining starting ve players for the Clippers include Lou

Williams who brings tenacity, Motrezal Harrell, the “big man”

who dominates in the paint, and nally Paul George, an All Star

who is a tremendous passer and can score from anywhere on the

court. e nal starter holds his own as well.

e Utah Jazz is the second best team in the West. ey have

exceptional players including former rookie of the year and slam

dunk contest champion Donovan Mitchell. Rudy Gobert is their

defensive weapon and brings height. Although they do not have

as many stars as the other teams in the West, the Jazz are a fan-

tastic team and have a chemistry that makes for success.

Finally, the third place in the Western conference is held by the

LA Lakers. eir team includes Lebron James, who is arguably

The Top Stuff you need to know about Basketball

by Cole H. and Khalid T.

the best player of all time, (although others believe that

title belongs to Michael Jordan). James was joined this

year by Anthony Davis, one of the best all around players

in the league and by Dwight Howard, who is also known

as ‘Superman’ because of how he ies when dunking the ball.

e remainder of the team is made up of very talented

players who play a big role in making the LA Lakers unstoppable

as the season progresses.

In the Eastern Conference, there are some excellent teams as

well. Our very own Boston Celtics have had shockingly good

performances. eir starting lineup is silent, but deadly. ey have

a crazy good point guard Kemba Walker who is known for contrib-

uting to good team chemistry. ey have a small forward, Jayson

Tatum, a former Duke basketball star who is young, but plays with

poise and is humble. Finally Gordon Hayward, a former Butler

player under Coach Brad Stevens, has fully recovered from his bro-

ken ankle and contributes on the oor every game.

e Miami Heat have also had a surprisingly good start. Although

they have no superstars on the team, they have one of the best re-

cords. eir top players include Gordan Dradgic, Bam Adebayo, and

Jimmy Butler (an NBA All-Star last year) and last, but not least, Jus-

tise Winslow, a former Duke phenomenon, one of the most athletic

players in the league.

Although the season is approaching the half-way point, and any-

thing can change, the Clippers, Jazz, Lakers, Celtics, and Heat are the

top teams in the Western and Eastern Conference and the ones that

should potentially compete for the championship this Spring. Of all

the teams we reviewed, we think the LA Lakers are the team to beat

and have the best chance to win it all this season. We are going to

enjoy all of the action the rest of the season and hope you do too.

Do you like racket sports and fast-paced action? If so, you should play squash.

Squash is a game that originated in England at Harrow School in 1830

(Wikipedia). I play squash at the courts at Boston University with my dad

and sometimes with other kids with whom I take classes. Once a month there

is a round robin at the squash courts at Harvard University where young

players from all over Massachusetts, at all levels, play against others at their

own level.

The best description of the rules of Squash I saw, was at the BBC sports

(British Broadcasting Corporation) website*. Here is a picture from the

website followed with a brief description of the rules:

What Is Squash?

by Abhinav S.

Play begins with a service. Who serves rst is decided by the spin of a racket.

The server continues serving until losing a rally. Then, the opponent becomes

the server. To serve, a player stands with at least part of one foot on the oor

within the service box. For a service to be good, it is served directly onto the

front wall above the service line and below the out line, so that on its return, it

reaches the oor within the back quarter of the court opposite to the server's box

(USSquash.com). See picture above if any of the terms do not make sense.

A return is good if the ball is returned onto the front wall above the board (also

called the tin) and below the out line, without rst touching the oor. The ball

may hit the side walls and the back wall (or sometimes both) before reaching the

front wall.

The rules can get a little complicated, but the idea is to keep a rally going. Who-

ever wins the rally gets one point. Whoever scores 11 points rst wins the game.

If you’re still reading, great job! You now know the basic rules of squash. All

you need now is some balls, a racket, and protective eyewear, and you are good

to go. Let’s play soon!

Me at the round robin.

*http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/other_sports/squash/4748522.stm

Penguin Post

Winter 2020

Please recycle

this paper

pages

Page 17

What is your spirit animal?

by Zoe P. & Sabrina P.

Remember to count your points and answer honestly; the answers labeled 4 points are not always better.

Chocolate or Vanilla?

A) Vanilla 4 points

B) Chocolate 2

C) Neither 3

D) I prefer strawberry 1

Favorite color?

A) Blue 1 point

B) Purple 2

C) Red 4

D) Rainbow/Other 3

Favorite food category?

A) Savory foods 2 points

B) Candy/desserts 4

C) Vegetables/fruit 1

D) Everything else!!! 3

Favorite season?

A) Summer 4 points

B) Fall 3

C) Winter 2

D) Spring 1

Favorite book genre?

A) Fantasy 2 points

B) Realistic ction 3

C) Mystery 4

D) Non-ction/other 1

What’s your dream pet?

A) Dog/Cat 1 point

B) Unicorn/pegasus 4

C) Dragon 2

D) Other 3

If you could wear only one kind of shoe for the

whole year, it would be….

A) Sneakers 3 points

B) Boots 2

C) Flip ops 4

D) Flats 1

What would your superpower be?

A) Invisibility 1 point

B) Flying 2

C) Super strength 3

D) Shapeshifting 4

Where would you want to live?

A) Beach 2 points

B) Desert 4

C) Forest 3

D) Mountain 1

Pick an instrument to play…

A ) P i a n o 1 p o i n t

B) Saxophone 4

C) Flute 2

D) Violin 3

If you could, you would ride to school in...

A) A limo 2 points

B) A horse drawn carriage 1

C) A sports car 4

D) A train 3

You have…

A) 1 best friend 1 point

B) A lot of friends 3

C) No friends :( 2

D) A couple of friends 4

At recess you would rather…

A) Play four square 4 points

B) Play football/soccer 2

C) Play on the structure 3

D) Other 1

What is your dream job?

A) Doctor 4 points

B) Teacher 3

C) Chef 1

D) Other 2

What is your favorite school subject?

A) Math 3 points

B) Science 2

C) ELA 4

D) Social Studies 1

YOUR SPIRIT ANIMAL IS A:

(14 - 21 Points) Sloth!

You like to go with the Flow, and you’re

mostly chill. Most of the time you are a

good friend and very supportive. People

enjoy being with you because you are so

laid back in life.

(22 - 30 Points) Shark!

You are tough and stand up for yourself and

others. You are very bold, and you can be

curious with your big brain. You are strong

and aggressive when it comes to chal-

lenges.

(31 - 40 Points) Ant!

It might sound a little disappointing, but

ants are very hard workers. Also this means

you work well with a group of people. You

have a strong soul.

(41 -56 Points) Cheetah!

You are swift and cool. You are very adven-

turous even if you might have a bad attitude

sometimes. Otherwise, you work hard to

help friends and like to get things done in

the fastest possible way.

Don’t worry if you think your result doesn't

match your personality, or if you just don’t

like it. Remember the quiz is just for fun!

Riddles:

1. An eight-letter word can have a letter taken away, and it still makes a

word. Take another letter away, and it still makes a word. Keep on

doing that until you have one letter left. What is the word?

2. When does Christmas come before Thanksgiving?

3. What is it that when you take away the whole, you still have some?

4. A chicken says, “All chickens lie.” Is the chicken telling the truth?

5. How many seconds are there in a year?

6. I am a word of six; my rst three letters refer to an automobile; my

last three letters refer to a household animal; my rst four letters is a sh;

my whole word is found in your room. What am I?

Penguin Post

Spring 2019

Please recycle

this paper

Page 18

Riddles & Jokes

by David L., Tony L., Aedan R., Isaac Z., and Yancheng Z.,

Jokes:

1 Did you know that you shouldn’t tell a tree a riddle?

2. Why do exterminators hate having fun?

3. Why did Tom throw his clock out of his window?

4. Why did Bob eat his money?

5. What is a sh’s least favorite day?

6. The exterminators failed to kill the serial killer ies. Who did?

START

FINISH

START

FINISH

Pierce Pride Penguin Math

Community English Recess Lunch

Science Brookline Social Studies Massachusetts

Green School United States

Maze 1

Maze 2

Sudoku

Word Search

Page 19

Penguin Post

Winter 2020

Please recycle

this paper

Fun Pages Answer Key

Riddles and Answers:

1. The word is starting! starting, staring, string, sting,

sing, sin, in, I.

2. In the dictionary

3. Wholesome.

4. Chickens don’t talk

5. January 2nd, February 2nd … December 2nd.

6. A carpet

Jokes Answers:

1. It’ll leave them stumped!

2. Because time FLIES when you’re having fun.

3. Because he wanted to see time y.

4. Because his mom said that it was for lunch.

5. Fry-day

6. The SWAT Team

Meet The Pierce Penguins

by Tiana L., Char J., and Viola S.,

Meet Flippy. He loves his favorite green, black,

and white hat. He also likes to play video games.

Meet Flappy. He likes to play with his friends

and play soccer.

Meet Floppy. He is smart, tall, and he ops

over a lot (he’s pretty clumsy). He loves to sleep,

read, and draw.

Penguin Post

Please recycle

this paper

Winter 2020

Thank you for reading Penguin Post!

The Penguin Post wishes everyone a happy and healthy spring.

Journalists:

Miles A., Iza B., Jem B-J., Valentina C-P., Finn C., Akash D-H., Hannah F., Lilah F., Noah H.,

Lila H., Cole H., Hannah K., Riley J., Charlene J., Tiana L., Tony L., Suyon L., David L.,

Elliot M., Zoe P., Sabrina P., Aeden R., Viola S., Abhinav S., Annie S.,

Maria S de B.,Theo S., Adelyn S., Khalid T., Sophia W-S., Sophie Z., Isaac Z., Yancheng Z.,

Editors: : Shoma D. and Malavika S.

Graphic Design: Je W.

Visit Penguin Post online at http://piercepenguinpost.wordpress.com/.

Page 20

Zoe Mendoza

Have you ever had a question and wondered what other people think about it? Next time, think

about using Google Forms. As an example, this is a survey about whether people prefer the Pierce

School library/Unit A to be open or closed. I made a Google form to collect this information and

then asked all my fellow writers at Penguin Post to answer the questions. I also asked them about

their favorite day of the week.

Should Pierce renovations close o Unit A into classrooms?

Open: 24.4% (10 people)

Closed: 14.6% (6 people)

Don’t want Pierce to be renovated: 56.1% (23 people)

What is your favorite day of the week?

Monday: 51.4% (19 people)

Tuesday: 2.75% (1 person)

Wednesday: 2.75% (1 person)

Thursday: 2.75% (1 person)

Friday: 18.9% (7 people)

Saturday: 21.6% (8 people)

Sunday: 2.75% (1 person)

From this data I found out that the majority of people I surveyed from Penguin

Post don’t want Pierce to be renovated and certainly not in a way that closes the

library into individual classrooms. I also found out that the majority of these

people’s favorite day of the week is Monday.

In conclusion creating and sharing a Google form is a quick way to get answers

to whatever questions you might have.

What Do People Want? (And How Do I Ask Them?)

by Sophia W.-S.

Paper Cut Finder