Honoring the Dead

Source: http://www.destination360.com/north-america/mexico/dead-masks

What holiday is coming up?  It was celebrated last Saturday, October 26th at the Seattle Center. Still don't know what it is? Here is a second clue: there were sugar skulls, dancing, music, crafts, and pretend altars.

The holiday is the Day of the Dead, in Spanish Èl Día de los Muertos!

However, the Seattle Center isn't the only place that celebrates this event; Westside School does, too! Veronica Hellar, our Spanish teacher, began the tradition of decorating sugar skulls in the classroom. The process is such: the 7th and 8th graders create the sugar skulls and then the rest of the middle school colors and frosts them.

The Day of the Dead is a holiday that is celebrated in Spanish-speaking countries and honors the dead, valuing who they were when they were alive. It is a time of happiness and remembering loved ones, not sadness or fear (unlike what some might think).

The Day of the Dead is celebrated on October 31st, November 1 and November 2nd. So if you or your family wants to celebrate their lost loved ones, this is when to do so.

And remember!  The Day of the Dead is not the same thing as Halloween or El Día de los Brujas.

By Olivia

The Westside Book Fair

Books, books, shelves of books, from graphic novels to nonfiction……..

The annual Westside Book Fair is coming up, and no matter what you like to read, the book fair will have it! Monday, November 4th through Wednesday, November 6th, the book fair will open up, so mark your calendars.

Not only will students be able to buy books, your teachers may buy books for your classroom library.

In an interview, Kristen, the school librarian, said, "It's a really awesome book fair in the school, where you can stock up on books for reading, or gift.   There are a lot of books to choose from.  The first year we had a special event of having a shave ice machine, which was really awesome, but we decided having a sticky, melty stuff around books was probably not the best idea."

The theme for this year's book fair is Egyptian Flair, so expect to see Egyptian artwork among the rows of Scholastic and Usborne books. The book fair was started two years ago when Kristin came up with the idea and worked with Sue Winter, Jordan Winter's mom, who is the representative of Usborne books.  They thought the more books for the kids, the better!  The book fair is also a great way to help the library get more books into our small collection, because we don't have that many books.

When unloading the books the really cool thing is that basically they have big, metal bookshelves that hinge together and lock up, so all you have to do is open up the case, and all of the books are there. They send a few in boxes, and all we have to do is display them on the tables.

You can by books online by going to Kristen’s Library page on the Westside website.   There are links to both of the online fairs and you can create a wish list.  Finally, there is a way that you can donate books to a child's classroom.  Parents can also contribute to wish lists that teachers make.  Teachers also teachers make a wish bag that if you (or your parents) wanted to, you could buy the books, donating it to the classroom.

REMEMBER TO BUY BOOKS

and check out

http://www.westsideschool.org/classrooms/kristin-ottos-library-class/shop-book-fair-online-1

Best Places to Trick or Treat!

source: http://fabulesslyfrugal.com/halloween-candy-coupon-deal-roundup/

Curious about where to trick or treat, the Westside Wolf has the scoop. We will tell you some of the top 3 places in Seattle to trick or treat. They are:

1. Down by Fauntleroy and Myrtle Street, there are fun and awesome looking houses and large portions of candy.

2: Mount Baker Beach is a great area to trick or treat, some of the houses there give large amounts of candy and if you like to be scared, there are some haunted houses.

3. Capitol Hill there are lots of houses that give out king sized candy bars and there are some insanely decorated houses and amazing haunted houses.

-Nate

The Halloween Fest

Halloween Fest is just around the corner and The Westside Wolf is here to tell you about it. 

The Westside Halloween Fest is on Saturday, Oct. 26 from 12 PM to 4 PM.  There will be rides, face painting and lots of games that you can win prizes at. There are also a lot of treats, like caramel apples and beverages. 


This is also a great opportunity for middle schoolers to help, especially with the Haunted Hallway. You can sign to help set up, scare people in the Haunted Hallway, or clean up afterwards.  Just go to: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E094DA8AB4-middle.  

All in all, it is a really cool party, so we hope that you can join us in the fun! ~Nate, Greta and Kieran

The 8th Grade Trip - Kayaking in the San Juans

The 8th grade went to Camp Orkila for the invigorating (and very cold) experience of kayaking.

They also got to go on a few day hikes. Everybody seemed to like the trip... except for the bees. Unfortunately, a lot of eighth graders got stung by bees.  Pretty much throughout the fifth, sixth, seventh, AND eighth grade trips there were bees! But the trip was mostly very good. They got to sing songs and kayak to Susha Island.  It was also very sunny throughout the entire trip;  which can also be a bit of a bad thing when you are heavily layered and sweating from paddling, and paddling, and paddling all day.

To actually kayak to Susha Island, the eighth graders first had to pass a swim test.  "It was a great experience learning how to kayak," recalled Jakob Olsen. "And we got to sing Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines.”

For meals, they had creamed rice, sandwiches, burritos, spaghetti, and lots more, all cooked by the eighth grade themselves!

"But above all, the best meal was the last," said Jakob. "I don't even remember what it was, because it was so good!" 

Looks like they had a trip to remember! Or at least everything - except the last dinner.

By Greta

The 7th Grade Trip- Backpacking near Cooper Lake

Shoes scuffling, empty water bottles clanging against full, heavy backpacks, and the muffled shouts of "only three more miles!" But these are not just any hikers, these are the seventh graders of Westside Middle School.  The 7th grade divided into three different groups for this trip. Group 1 was led by Mark and Holly, climbed to a pass and then to Woptus Lake.  Group 2 was led by David and Jillian and went up to Woptus Lake as well.  Group 3 was led by Susannah and Kevin who went to Pete Lake and hiked up to Spectacle Lake for a day hike.

There were good parts and bad parts on the trips. According to students, some of the groups got different privileges than the other groups. For example, one group hiked the first day and then got a full day of rest. At one point one group even ran out of toilet paper! These matters may seem small and insignificant, but when you're on a camping trip every tiny thing matters.

Some fun things that groups got to do got to were wade into a lake, take a day of rest, and even knock over trees! Students ate burritos, rice, ramen, sandwiches, and summer sausages (although one group may have gone a little overboard with five sausages while others got only one).

There were also some injuries during the trips, as some people got cuts on their feet from hiking, were scratched by pine trees, and one person even fell off a log.  But all groups did have good weather throughout the whole trip. The next seventh grade trip is not until spring.  Now is that a good thing... Or a bad thing?

By Greta

The 6th Grade Trip - Climbing in Mazama

The climbers scaled the rock face, leaving their classmates below them squinting upwards. Instead of in a classroom, however, these adventurers were in Mazama, hiking, rock climbing and backpacking.

On September 9, the 6th grade set off on a long car ride to Mazama, assisted by science teacher, Marc Saks, humanities teacher, Glyn Jenkins, and numerous people from the YMCA. After the 'mids'- pyramid-like tents- were set up, games were played and the sixth graders generally had fun.

The weather was generally good. The morning was always bitterly cold; however, the day became warmer as it progressed but in the evening it became colder once again. It was clear during the day; it sprinkled once, but less than it was predicted to.

The sixth grade went to two different locations to rock climb; however, one of the ropes on the second location had a wasp’s nest, and was closed off. They also went rappelling, which is when a person, securely attached to people or trees slowly lowers him/herself down a rock face.

As far as backpacking, the sixth grade divided into three groups, each backpacking a different trail and a different amount of miles.

"The rock climbing was really exciting for me," Bianca from the sixth grade recalled. "I learned how to belay….I had already climbed before and learned quite a few knots, so belaying was a very nice thing for me to learn."

When asked about the hiking the sixth grade had done, Bianca said, "The hiking was really nice. There was pretty rough terrain sometimes, but it was really wonderful to see different sights and nature. Plus, it was easier this time, because last year we went on a trip and went backpacking."

But the trip was not all fun. Bianca's strongest (but not the fondest) memory was of the time she was stung around eleven times by wasps. There were many around the campsite where the sixth graders stayed, the first encounter between wasps and campers happened during a game of 'sardines'. The number of people being stung added up to five people. Perhaps the sixth grade trip in the spring won't have any. Wonder what'll happen then . .

By Olivia

The 5th Grade Trip- Mt. Rainier

The 5th grade went on a trip to Mount Rainier.  The  main activities they did were hike, play, and sleep. They went on 2 hikes a day and they were always very sleepy at the end.  A lot of campers had scratches, and one even had some bee stings. Some sounded relieved to come back but many missed camping and some just missed camp.

When I asked Carson what the best three things were about the 5th grade trip, he said,

"The best three things were eating, sleeping, and hiking."  Carson also said that he was stung by bees at least 10 times on the trip. When asked about the food, Carson remembered that they ate freeze-dried milk, cereal, ham, bread, burritos on the trip.

It seems that almost everyone liked the trip, and all liked hiking.

by Kieran