3rd Grade Biomes Project

By Aisha and David

The 3rd graders are wrapping up the a project in which they learned about different types of biomes all over the world. First, each group researched their assigned biome such as desert, grassland, and tundra. They were each given a worksheet with questions to answer according to their assigned biomes. Then they created a model biome using different materials such as paper and sticks. Everyone then proceeded to make a clay animal as an addition to their final product. We interviewed six 3rd grade students asking them about the project overall and the hardest and favorite part.

What was your favorite part of the project?

Ava and Theo really enjoyed learning about and researching all of the plants and animals and typing up the information found. While Miranda really enjoyed the creative aspect of it all and making the dioramas because she loves art.

What was the most challenging part of the project?

Many people have different thoughts as to what was the hardest part of the project. Miranda thought that working in groups was challenging because it was hard for her group to make decisions everyone agreed with. While Theo thought filling out the worksheet was hard because some of the questions were challenging. And Ava and Tyler felt as if building the biomes and researching was hard because some of the information was buried deep in the Web and took a while to find.  

Toys For Tots Drive Is A Success!

By Jac

Westside School just completed it annual Toys for Tots school drive and it was a huge success.  Last year over 200 toys were donated and this year over 300 were, so this year was even better!!!   Last Thursday the firemen from Station 37 came to pick them up.Thank you for donating toys for the kids who don't get toys and making their even better!

The Middle School Dance!

Last Friday night, Westside School held their annual Middle School dance. This year, for the first time, the dance was held off campus at Dakota Place. Our students were able to bring in an amazing DJ – Tim Malate – (family of some Westside School students), and the music choices kept everyone on the dance floor! With tasty snacks and a fun theme of Black and White, the Middle School Dance was a great way for students to celebrate together.

Away Goals Sink the Sounders

By Christopher Frost

2 goals a amazing performance from goalkeeper Stephan Frei weren't enough to keep the Seattle Sounders in the playoffs. A lone goal from Glaxaxy midfielder Juninho was enough to secure a berth in the finals for the Galaxy. The way the playoffs work is each team gets a game at home. They combine the scores of the two games, which is called aggregate. If the score is tied after the second leg, the series is decided on away goals. This is what doomed the Sounders. They held the Galaxy to 1 goal in LA, but weren't able to score themselves. This wasn't a bad result, but they had to score 2 goals at Home.

In front of 45,000 fans in Century Link Field, the Sounders came out attacking. Early on neither team could break the tie, and neither team could gain an advantage. Around the 30th minute Clint Dempsey chased a ball to the sideline. And played a slow bouncing ball across the middle. The keeper and defenders had chased Demsey, and the slow rolling ball across the middle fell right to Brad Evans feet. Evans tapped it in to tie the series 1-1.

Just a few minutes later right back DeAndre Yedlin played a low cross across the middle. The Galaxy defenders cleared it, but it fell right to Clint Dempsey. His shot took a little deflection and trickled past the Galaxy keeper, giving the Sounders a lead on aggregate. Unfortunately the Sounders couldn't hang on to the 2 goal lead and Galaxy midfielder Juninho's shot glanced off the post and went in. On aggregate the score was tied, but on away goals the Galaxy were ahead.

The Sounders needed one goal to win, but they just couldn't get it. The game ended 2-1, but the Sounders lost on away goals. It was a depressing end to amazing season. Obafemi Martins and Clint Dempsey led an attack that led the MLS in goals, while Chad Marshall won defender of  the year while improving a defense that struggled greatly last year.

6 years and no MLS Cup. The Sounder have won every of trophy in MLS. The Open Cup 4 times, and the Supporters Shield. Every year the Sounders have had a winning record and made the playoffs, but every year they fall short. They have the talent, they just haven't been able to put it all together. They has never been a shortage of talented players in Seattle, with Freddy Montero, Eddie Johnson, Blaise Nkufo and Mauro Rosales to name a few. They certainly have the stars now, with Obafemi Martins, Clint Dempsey and Osvaldo Alonso. They finally seemed to have the chemistry and supporting players needed this year, but they fell short once again. Maybe next year will be the year, maybe the year after, nobody knows.

FIFA Corruption

By: Emilio & Luke

Corruption. Normally that word might be associated with politics, but soccer? In fact this has been going on for a while. It is widely known that the governing body of the soccer world is extremely corrupt. Controversy follows FIFA everywhere it goes, including World Cup bids. For each World Cup, any country interested in hosting the tournament tries to convince the 24 members on the FIFA executive committee to vote for them. Now FIFA has years to make decisions, so if a country is interested in hosting the tournament they have plenty of time to pitch their argument to the committee. But there have been many, many reports of bribes and other illegal ways of obtaining votes for countries.

FIFA has just finished an 18 month investigation into the scandal. Russia and Qatar had bribed World Cup delegates. The officials accepted and voted for their country. Russia had used a Picasso painting to convince the officials. Qatar is no longer being held responsible as England is now facing charges for bribery. Mohamed Bin Hammam- Banned from soccer for life after being accused of paying bribes to win votes during doom 2011 Fifa Presidency Bid. Amos Adamu from Nigeria was banned for three years after being caught by the Sunday Times trying to sell his vote to undercover reporters, denied his chance to vote in 2010.  There will not be a re-vote as there is not enough evidence. Along that it has been under investigation for over a year.

Crystal Mountain

By Will and Kieran

Crystal has 30 inches of snow now and there is 3 feet of snow in an area called Green Valley. Normally this would be enough to open the mountain but this weekend they are expecting heavy amounts of wind and rain.  Therefore, the opening is to be determined and the winter season ends April 19th. When ski season does start, Crystal will be open every day at 9:00 am and close at 4:00 pm. All of the upper lifts close at 3:30, meaning there is no night skiing.

A number of the lifts have changed this year. The High Cambell lift that was destroyed last spring was replaced for this season. The chair is a fixed grip double manufactured by SkyTrac. The new chairs are twice as heavy so the lift will not close as easily as it did last year in one of the windiest areas on the mountain. The lift has been re-named Chair 6 for this year, the original name of the old lift. If the lift stops there is a full diesel back up.

Another lift that has been replaced is Quicksilver. It has changed from a double fixed chairlift to a quad fixed chairlift. It was replaced to make the mountain better for intermediate and beginner skiers.

New Chair 6 Statistics
900 people per hour
500 feet per minute
915 vertical feet
2,353’ slope length
13 towers
85 chairs at 7.2 second intervals

Crystal has also added a new snowcat for grooming this year.

PistenBully 600 Electric Diesel Snowcat

A new snowcat for grooming has been added. It consumes 20% less fuel and emits less CO2. Crystal mountain will be the first ski resort to get it in North America.

Food

There are many places to eat at Crystal. The nicest restaurant there is The Summit House and has been named the most scenic restaurant in Washington. This year they have a new Executive Chef, Zachary Reid.

Although the mountain is covered in snow and is very close to opening, skiers will have to wait a few more days to get back on the slopes of Washington's biggest ski resort, Crystal Mountain.

You can find out more at: http://crystalmountainresort.com

Our New Campus: Hillcrest

By David

Located on 34th Ave. and 104th ST., the new Hillcrest campus will house all of Westside School by the next school year.  Westside bought the Construction began this May before the end of last school year. Westside will begin moving into the new building towards the end of June. There is a ribbon cutting ceremony planned for August to commemorate the start of official operations. But Westside's summer camp programs will continue at E.C. Hughes. Some of the the highlights of the new facility include upwards of 400 people will be able to have seats in the auditorium. A new tech design lab will be accessible to all grades for use of 3D printers, green screens. Robotics will also take place in the tech lab. A major complaint from students working at school has been slow Wifi. The school plans to implement a brand new Wifi system that will improve performance for all students. Classrooms will have better projectors for class use and some rooms will have smartboards. Class sizes will remain the same with roughly 20 kids per class and two classes per grade.  We are all excited to move to our new home!

Aladdin Jr.

By Aisha

For this year's Fall Semester, Westside Middle School's musical theater class is performing Aladdin Jr. They will be performing two nights, Thursday and Friday, December 11 and 12th 6-8 PM. The class has been working very hard since the beginning of the year. Please come and show your support and watch an extraordinary play!