More Nutritious Lunches by Kallen Erlandson

Kids Should Not Take in So Much Junk Food at Lunch

Have you ever sat across from your friend at lunch and watched them eat sugar loaded food or dessert? I know I have, which has lead me to think that kids should not take in so much sugar at lunch.  

Some may argue that the school has restrictions on how much sugar they are allowed to serve in food. However this does not apply to kids who pack cold lunch. In fact the typical kid takes in about 76.7 grams of sugar a day. Take this into consideration and think about how much of this is lunch. If the typical American kid takes in about 76.7 grams of sugar a day, then we need to pack many more healthily lunches.

So what and from where are kids getting this food? Well most parents do not give their kids sugar packed foods for lunch. However, some peoples lunches are much better for them than others. Think about what you ate for lunch over the past week. Was it some what good for you? It probably could have been better for you. So think about this the next time you pack your lunch.

Not packing nutritious lunches can lead to shortage of energy. If you then have a shortage of energy you can not do as well in school subjects.If we don’t do well in school subjects it can lead to more long term consequences.       

How many times have you been the person who has not had a nutritious lunch? How many times have you have been on shortage of energy because of a non-nutritious lunch? I challenge you to pack more nutritious lunches!

Winter Crafts and Recipes 2014 by Mia

☃Winter Crafts and Recipes 2014☃
By Mia M. Burkholder

Is your holiday spirit low? Boost it up with some winter crafts that will really let it snow!

GLITTER SNOW CENTERPIECES

Let’s make some decorations that sparkle in the light!

You will need: Mason jars, glitter snow, winter themed sparkly ribbon, a glue gun, and some winter-themed figurines(you can find them at craft stores, like Joann’s or Michael’s)

STEP 1 Take your mason jar and fill it ⅓ of the way with glitter snow. STEP 2 Take your figurines and put them on top of the glitter snow. Make sure they are really in there. It should cover some of the bottom of the figurine, so it is really dug in. It is okay if your figurines fall over. You can just screw off the top and prop them back up. STEP 3 Cut a strand of winter-themed (possibly sparkly) ribbon, long enough so that you can tie a bow around the cap. If it keeps falling off, or if you want to prevent it from slipping then use some hot glue to keep it in place. You can put extra figurines on top of the jar. You’ve finished! Now go put that in the center of your table!

MELTED SNOWMAN COOKIES

Sorry Mr. Snowman, but we just MUST eat your melted friends!

You will need: A cookie mix (any type of cookie you prefer) and all supplies needed for the mix, large marshmallows, and decorating gel. If you would like, you can also get some nonpareils (the little sprinkle decorating balls) for fun.

STEP 1 Make and bake your cookies. Then let cool. STEP 2 While your cookies are cooling, place frosting on them. Make sure you let it drip over the edges so it looks like melting snow. It’s best to do it while the cookies are warm, so it naturally drips a bit. If it doesn’t seem to want to go over the edges, layer it on more or help it by pushing some over the edge. STEP 3 Grease a small microwave-safe plate. Put a single marshmallow onto it. STEP 4 Microwave the marshmallow until it begins to puff up, 5-15 seconds. STEP 5 Immediately place the marshmallow on the edge of a cookie. Make sure that the frosting is still wet. STEP 6 With our black decorating gel, pipe on eyes, arms and mouth. With the orange pipe on the carrot nose, and with colors of your choice you can pipe on scarves, bow ties, hats, etc. STEP 7 With nonpareils, you can put on his buttons. If you don’t have nonpareils then you can just use black decorating gel to blop some buttons  on. STEP 8 Allow your cookies to fully dry for about one hour before serving. Now you can munch on some snowmen!

SCRABBLE ORNAMENTS

If you like scrabble, you will love these 5-step ornaments!

You will need: scrabble tiles, a hot glue gun, ribbon, glitter snow or ornament flakes, glue, and white paint.

STEP 1 Pick out a winter word or words to spell out with scrabble tiles. FInd the tiles and lay them out. If they are multiple words than put them on separate lines. STEP 2 Hot glue the tiles together so they stay in place. STEP 3 Glue a loop at the top out of ribbon so that you can hang it. STEP 4 Mix the glue and white paint together. Once the hot glue has dried, glop on some white paint/glue mixture wherever there is space on the tiles. Make sure that it is glopped on and messy, like it was snowed on. STEP 5 Quickly dust the areas that have paint on them before they dry with the glitter snow or ornament flakes, so they look like, well, glittery snow. Let that dry and then hang it where you please! Beautiful and fun!

SNOWMAN CUPS

These snowmen are very tasty and fun to make, everyone can add their own personality!

You will need: 2 packages of instant pudding, 2 cups of thawed cool whip topping, 6-7 ounce paper or plastic cups, assorted decorating gels in different colors, any decorations you would like (mini m and ms, nonpareils, anything you’d like!), and 2 cups of oreo cookies, crushed (optional)

STEP 1 Follow the instructions to make the instant pudding. Let sit for 5 minutes. STEP 2 If you would like, add in 1 cup of the crushed oreos to the mix. STEP 3 With the remaining cookie crumbs, put them on the bottom of the paper or plastic cups you plan to put the pudding in. Put an even amount in each. STEP 4 Pour the pudding into each cup evenly. STEP 5 Plop scoops of cool whip on top of the pudding cups so that they resemble snowman shapes. STEP 6 Decorate the snowmen with decorating gel to add eyes, noses, mouths, scarves, hats, whatever you want your snowman to wear. And you’re done! If you want to make these ahead of time, store them in the fridge until you want to serve them.

POM POM SNOWMEN

These simple crafts are adorable, yet can be made in less than 5 minutes!

You will need: white or cream pom poms (if you want though, you can make your own pom poms out of yarn if you want that homemade touch. You can easily find how to do it by searching on google or youtube)a hot glue gun, and to decorate your snowman you can use whatever you want, pipecleaners, gems, buttons, ribbon, beads, felt, sequins, etc.

STEP 1 Hot glue 2 or 3 different-sized pom poms together so they resemble a snowman. STEP 2 Decorate your snowman! Go crazy, add a personal touch. This is YOUR snowman, make it how you want! Some ideas you can do are adding ear-muffs out of pipe-cleaners, tying a ribbon around his neck as a scarf, or making a beanie hat for him out of a pipe-cleaner coiled up. The rest is up to your imagination!

Autumn Crafts and Recipes 2014 by Mia

Autumn Crafts and Recipes 2014

By Mia M. Burkholder

Since many fall holidays are coming up soon, I think it would be a good idea to put in some crafts because carving pumpkins gets old after a while.

CATS IN A PUMPKIN

Let’s have some friends hide in the pumpkin this year to meow at trick or treaters.

You will need: Halloween themed ribbon, a glue gun, a carving tool, a spoon, 1 large pumpkin, 4 mini pumpkins, felt, construction or scrapbook paper, pipe-cleaners or wire, a pair of scissors, and leaves.

STEP 1 Cut out triangles from construction or scrapbook paper for the cat’s ears.  Use a glue gun to glue the ears onto the mini pumpkin.

STEP 2 Cut 4 of the same length of pipe-cleaner or wire.

STEP 3 Choose a good place to glue on the pipe-cleaners or wire pieces as whiskers and hot glue them on.

STEP 4 Cut out a triangle piece of felt for the cat’s nose and cut out circles for eyes. Hot glue those on. Repeat all of those steps for the rest of the mini pumpkins.

STEP 5 For the large pumpkin, cut off the ENTIRE TOP  a carving tool.

STEP 6 Scoop out the pumpkin guts.

STEP 7 Cut some pieces of Halloween ribbon long enough to go along the long smooth bumps on the pumpkin(not the dents/ridges in it)and hot glue the strands on the larger part of the pumpkin (not the cap)

STEP 8 Fill the pumpkin with leaves.

STEP 9 For extra cuteness, tie a bow onto the stem of a cat. Place your pumpkin cats on top of the leaves peeking out at visitors.

CANDY CORN CUPCAKES

If you love candy corn, this seasonal treat is for you!

You will need: a white cake mix, food coloring, candy corn, frosting, and all supplies needed for the cake mix.

STEP 1 Follow the directions for the cake mix.

STEP 2 Separate the batter into 3 different bowls equally.

STEP 3 In one bowl, put in orange food coloring and stir. If it is not orange enough add another drop. Stir, repeat if needed. In the next bowl, use yellow food coloring, and in the 3rd bowl don’t use any coloring at all.

STEP 4 Fill each cupcake wrapper with 3 equal amounts of different colored batters.

STEP 5 Cook the cupcakes and then let them cool.

STEP 6 Frost the cupcake with icing. Decorate with candy corn and serve.

DONUT PUMPKINS

Let’s make some adorable pastel pumpkins that look so cute you could just eat them up!

You will need: some colored craft paint and mini pumpkin(s)

This craft is as easy as pie! Or should I say donut…?

STEP 1 Take a mini pumpkin and paint it with a color of a donut, covering the lower ⅔ of it, or as much as you want to cover, leaving room for the area to paint on frosting. Don’t forget to paint the stem and some area around it too, so it’s like the donut hole.

STEP 2 Once the paint has dried, on the top of the pumpkin paint on some “frosting”(make sure the middle has no frosting). STEP 3 With any color of paint (rainbow if you’d like) dash on some sprinkles.                  You’re done!

Invisibility Cloak by Alexandra Bogner

Reading is an amazing experience. When reading you’re able to escape into a different world. One of the most well known fictional worlds to jump head first into is in the Harry Potter series. These stories are wonderfully whimsical and posses many improbable ideas for our world. Especially with their super cool magical toys and goodies. Most everyone will admit that they feel a pain of jealousy when Harry uses an invisibility cloak in these stories. Invisibility cloaks are something strange, but amazing, and wanted by everyone. I mean seriously who doesn’t want one? Sadly our world's technology isn’t as advanced, and so we get no invisibility cloak. But what if I told you that may not be the case anymore. You are probably jumping off the walls right? 

Well I have some good and bad news. Yes, there is such a thing as invisibility cloak, no its not like Harry Potter’s.

Recently Researchers at the University of Rochester created an invisibility cloak. Sadly, it is not the same one as our dear Harry Potter owns, but it is quite advanced nonetheless. This invisibility cloak is in fact not made out of cloth and is quite complex to explain how all of the dynamics work so one can see through it. However, the way it basically works is actually not so hard to understand. These researchers used different lenses to project light through one another that gives the appearance of an objects disappearance when looking at this device head on. These Rochester researchers have created the first known 3-D cloaking device!

Someday this device will be smaller, and more available. Everything in technology gets smaller, better and more available after some time. Once this technology gets to this point it will be beneficial in so many ways. And could save lives.

These examples of ways this could be beneficial are given by CNN. Who harbored the article that provided me with this information. They gave the examples such as surgeons seeing through their hands, and drivers seeing through blind spots. Which in both cases could save lives.

Although this technology isn’t available to use like Harry Potter’s cloak, it is still very interesting and cool technology. That with enough time will be available and beneficial to the general public.

For more information, click here!

Staff Spotlight on Mrs. Lienhardt by Mia

Staff Spotlight on Mrs. Lienhardt

By Mia M. Burkholder

 I thought it would be fun to ask a 5th grade teacher in the new wing a couple of questions for this interview, because if we were going to have 5th graders in this school for the 1st year ever, we should probably put this down in Saber Tooth Times history! I decided to ask my FAVORITE (and the BEST in my opinion) fifth grade teacher in the school a couple of questions to start out the school year.

 Mrs. Lienhardt used to work at Sunset Ridge in Middleton. She was definitely a favorite and everyone loved her. We are so lucky to have her at GCMS this year and I think once everyone reads this article Mrs. Lienhardt will become the favorite of many more students to come.

Q. What is it like being one of the first 5th grade teachers in a middle school?

A. It’s really great having this opportunity, and it’s not too shabby having a brand new classroom either. *laughing*

Q. If you could meet anyone, past or present, who would it be?

A. I would want to meet Martin Luther King jr., since in my opinion he made one of the biggest changes in the U.S.

Q. If you could be anywhere, doing anything right now, what would you be doing?

A. Hunting in a treestand.

Q. What do you like most about teaching?

A. I love making personal bonds with my students.

Q. What was your proudest day?

A. When I got married.

Q. If you were a child now at GCMS, how do you think it would have changed your personality now, if it would have changed at all?

A. This is a much bigger middle school than mine was, so I would probably know a lot more people.

Q. You teach all subjects, but which one is your favorite, and why?

A. Writing, because I have lots of fun stories to tell about my life.

Q. What’s something no one would guess about you?

A. I LOVE to hunt and fish. I’m an outdoors girl.

Q. Let’s say it was a cold winter day, and school was canceled. What would you do to occupy yourself inside?

A. I would drink coffee and read a book in my pajamas.

Q. If you were stranded on an island, what three things would you like to have with you?

A. My bow and arrow, my Dad, and an endless supply of coffee, so I’d be awake and happy.

Q. 10 years ago, where would you be?

A. I would still be in high school, *laughing*!

Q. Do you have any advice for middle school students?

A.  Being a good person will get you the farthest in life. Trust me. <3

Most Popular Horse Breeds by Brianna Madigan and Bella Conrad

Most Popular Horse Breeds

By: Brianna Madigan and Bella Conrad

Source: About.com

	1. American Quarter Horse Well known for its agility, obedience, and athleticism. The American Quarter Horse has the largest breed registry (official list of animals within a specific breed) in the world. 20% of people voted for the Quarter Horse as their favorite breed.		6. Appaloosa This breed was recovered from near extinction by a few dedicated breeders. Sturdy, with beautiful coat patterns few people can disregard characteristics of this horse.
	2. Arabians The Arabian breed is the oldest registry in the world. Every light colored horse can trace their ancestry back to the Arabian.		7. Grade Horses Horses of no particular or known breeding are the eighth most popular horse voted on by readers of About.com Horses.
	3. Thoroughbreds A thoroughbred is an unmixed breed. A thoroughbred’s breed is best known for its use in horse racing. A lot of OTTBs (Off-the-Track Thoroughbred) find second careers as riding and steering horses both in competitive events such as dressage and jumping, and as good horses for backyard riding horses.		8. The Morgan Horse The Morgan Horse is the official horse breed of Vermont. The Morgan Horses use their muscles for tilling and clearing New England farms during the earliest years of American history. Today the Morgan Horse is popular for a driving and riding horse.
	4. Ponies What is a pony? A pony is like a horse but smaller. Many people have learned to ride on ponies. The determined Shetland and the more elegant Welsh Ponies are popular breeds.		9. Gaited Breeds A Gaited Horse moves in a way where one foot is alway on the ground.   They use less energy and can travel long distances without as much energy as a trotting horse. The grade horse isn’t that popular, about.com says.
	5. Warmbloods A lot of the European breeds were bred for for battle and tend to be larger boned and of more calm temperament than many light breed horses.		10. Draft Breeds The Clydesdale horse, the Percheron and other heavy horse breeds are the gentle giants of the horse world. Their job is usually to haul heavy loads. Draft crosses can make ideal first horses as they are often docile and gentle, according to about.com.

Drink Less Caffeine by Brianna and Krista

Everyone Should Drink less Caffeine

By: Brianna Madigan & Krista Lederer

Have you ever realized that many adults drink caffeine. Caffeine can make many people who drink it hyper, which leads to making bad decisions, or choices. Some things that may happen to you if you drink too much caffeine are; Jitters, Restlessness, Nervousness, Increased Heartbeat, Nausea, Anxiety, Heart Palpitations, Insomnia, Sweating, Dizziness, Vomiting, and Cardiac Arrest.

If you have a bad habit of drinking lots of caffeine, I would make a schedule or  plan of what days you’re going to drink it. Making a daily plan is a great idea to making a better, healthier choice.

Although Coke and Pepsi are still battling, they both have much caffeine in them. Coke is still in the lead. Many drinks these days have added much more caffeine to them, but even though they might taste better, they aren’t as healthy. As of internet based, shampoos, conditioners, workout supplements, and pills are loaded with caffeine.

Name of drink with Caffeine	Amount of caffeine in drink
10 Hour Energy Drink	422 mg
28 Black Energy Drink	80 mg
4C Energy Liquid Water Enhancers	60 mg
Cherry Coke	34 mg
5 Alarm Energy Shot	100 mg
5 Alarm Energy	200 mg
A&W Cream Soda	29 mg
A&W Root Beer	0 mg
Ace Energy Drink	160 mg
Cappuccino	154 mg