Paw Print Holiday 2012 Mahanoy Area Middle School

Paw Print can also be viewed at mabears.net. Click on “district” Paw Print Holiday 2012 Mahanoy Area Middle School Need Help With A Student of the Month Congratulations to the Problem? Eighth Grade Students of the Month If you or a friend are experiencing any difficulties with school or home or anything that keeps you from October learning, contact a Student Assistance Program Team JAYDA BYRNE and NOLAN YANCHUCK member or fill out a referral form and drop in one of the boxes located outside the middle school office November or the high school nurse’s office. The Student As- KATIE LOUGHLIN and MATTHEW REED sistance Program Team can help remove those barri- ers that keep you from learning and enjoying school.

High School Members: Students Participate in Tom Smith Josette Bet Academic Competition Dot Sciccitano Bridget Pollack Suzanne Merchlinsky Kate Orsulak Trinna Delia Andrea Caulfield Cathy Stone Casey Moyer Carolyn Fishburn Joie Green Pam Wetzel Carolyn Fishburn

Middle School Members: Jen Kern Joie green Sara Karnish Loretta Murphy-Birster The Knowledge Master Open Academic Competition Gloria Dudash took place on December 5. Members of the Academ- Tina Leshko ic Team are Grade 5: Alex Perez, Grade 6: Michael Maggie Fessler Ansbach, Grade 7: Jordan Hannon, Justin Letcavage, Tracy Dudash Nick Foley, John Wiekrykas, Elizabeth Matz, Me- Mike Heater gan Bisco, Sophia Granados, Bryce Butcavage, Riley Kate Orsulak Marion, Jordan McGee, Brendan Bennett, Grade 8: Trinna Delia Brandon Hullihan, Petar Armbruster, Peter Osifat, Andrea Caulfield Michael Joseph, Sam Gnall, Victoria Shaw, Kayla Lu- ther, Matthew Derr, Matthew Reed, Trevor Flynn, Carolyn Rene, and Nolan Yanchuck Paw Print Holiday 2012 Mahanoy Area Middle School

December is the 12th and last month of the year in the Julian and Gre- gorian Calendars and one of seven months with the length of 31 days. Events in December December starts on the same day of - World AIDS Day (December 1) the week as September every year - Father’s Day (King’s Birthday) in (December 5) and ends on the same day as April - Independence Day in Finland (December 6) every year. - Constitution Day in (December 6) December is the month with the - Saint Nicholas Day in Greece (December 6) shortest daylight hours of the year - Pearl Harbor Day in the (December 7) in the Northern Hemisphere and the - Día de la Madre en Panamá (Mother’s Day) in Panama. (December 8) longest daylight hours of the year in - Day of the Mary Immaculate Conception. (December 8) the Southern Hemisphere. - Constitution Day in Romania. (December 8) December in the Northern Hemi- - Nobel Prizes awarded (December 10) on the anniversary of Alfred No- sphere is the seasonal equivalent to bel’s death. June in the Southern Hemisphere - Human Rights Day (December 10) and vice versa. - Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe, or Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, in In the Northern hemisphere, the be- (December 12) ginning of the meteorological win- - Independence Day (Jamhuri Day) in Kenya (December 12) ter is 1 December. In the Southern - Honolulu Marathon is held on second Sunday in December. hemisphere, the beginning of the - Monkey Day (December 14) meteorological summer is 1 De- - Bill of Rights Day (United States). (December 15) cember. - Victory day of (December 16) In Latin, decem means “ten”. De- - Day of Reconciliation in (December 16). cember was also the tenth month in - Hannukah (December 20 in 2011) the Roman calendar until a month- - First day of winter (December 21) less winter period was divided be- - Solstice (called the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the tween January and February. summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere) occurs on dates varying from December’s flower is the December 20 to December 22 or holly. December’s birthstones are - The Emperor’s Birthday, a national holiday in (December 23) turquoise, lapis lazuli, zircon, topaz Festivus (December 23) (blue), or tanzanite. - Christmas Eve (December 24) The poinsettia December’s birth- - Christmas (December 25) stone is the blue turquoise or zircon, - Boxing Day (December 26) and the recently added tanzanite. - Day of Goodwill (December 26) Its birth flower is the holly or poin- - Kwanzaa (December 26 to January 1) settia. - Independence Day in Slovenia - Independence and Unity Day, (Decem- The Zodiac signs for December are ber 26) Sagittarius (until December 21) and - Proclamation Day in South (December 28) Capricorn (December 22 onwards). - New Year’s Eve (December 31) Paw Print Holiday 2012 Mahanoy Area Middle School

By: Morgan DeWitt Frank Christmas

H C A R O L S U L Z F G S Q C W D X P P O O R D T Z T X C H P L J L X H S W Y V N V O K R R S H T A E R W K E E O L X I E N S G U N H P M T K I F C S S Y E T N Q Y A A I M J V K T E Y L A A T N L E U R G X U M N F V K Z R C S S X U M I T A T M E D O O O L Z H J J C V S S B S W H V O S Y X Q R E G O G N B C S G N I K C O T S Y G Q A T I T V O X E M Z E A O P N O I W R R A T N A S E U R S H W B N E K A L F W O N S H V D Z Y Q E N O R T H P O L E R

CHRISTMAS PRESENTS SNOWFLAKE SANTA COOKIES WREATH ELVES MILK CAROLS TREE HOTCHOCLATE ORNAMENTS STOCKINGS NORTHPOLE STAR Paw Print Holiday 2012 Mahanoy Area Middle School

Who’s Involved? Spelling Bee Team The Spelling Bee took place November 30. The champi- ons who will be representing our school at the Schuylkill STUDENT COUNCIL OFFICERS County Spelling Bee are Courtney Blackwell, Sophia President: Michael Joseph Granados, John Henry Schroeder, and Sierra Ward. Ad- Vice President: Nolan Yanchuck visor is Ms. Jen Heming. Secretary: Jayda Byrne Treasurer: Billy Lipshaw 5th grade students & NHS are selling STUDENT COUNCIL MEMBERS discount cards as their fundraiser. 17 lo- Sam Gnall Justin Letcavage cal merchants on the card. Cards do not Sarah Herring Matt Lewandowski expire until 11/30/13. Liam Mansell Brian Boyle Haley Obrzut Maddie Byrne Alise Shadle Colin Fegley Mark Lawrence Cameron Jones Elementary School News Megan Babinsky Maggie Joseph Peyton Bernardyn Cole Macieunas Kindergarten Prepares for Holiday Megan Bisco Abbey McGee Casin Casserly Cody Palubinsky Kindergarten is busy preparing for the upcoming Jake Freil Meredith Rhoades holiday season. On December 11 students traveled to Jordan Hannon the Mahanoy City Resource Center to sing Christ- mas Carols for the senior citizens. In addition, they had a full schedule with these activities: Christmas Bingo; Christmas Party following the Magic Show; EIGHTH GRADE CLASS OFFICERS Polar Express Day on Wednesday complete with hot Advisor: Ms.Burnhauser chocolate; hearing the story of Rudolph followed by the making of reindeer food to take home for Christ- President: Michael Joseph mas Eve; and the Muppet Movie. We wish everyone Vice President: Matthew Derr the merriest of holidays and a happy, healthy New Secretary: Samantha Gnall Year! Treasurer: William Lipshaw

SEVENTH GRADE CLASS OFFICERS Advisor: Ms. Heming Chorus News President: Megan Babinsky Vice-President: Megan Bisco The following students will be representing Mahanoy Secretary: Nick Foley Area at the P.M.E.A. Intermediate Songfest in Treasurer: Jordan Hannon February Samantha Gnall 7th grade just completed their community service proj- Sydney Gnall ect Holiday Mail for Heroes. Sarah Herring Zoe Strouphauer 7th grade still has bear paws, seat cushions, and t shirts Maddison Marquardt for sale. Kathryn McCarthy

Paw Print Holiday 2012 Mahanoy Area Middle School What Teens Want for Christmas 2012

Christmas is a time for giving to others, celebrating the Christmas story of Christ, and the always fun open- ing of Christmas presents. Every child looks forward to this day, waking their parents and siblings up hours before anyone else wants to get up, but the joy and smiles that come with this wake up call is always a treat. Nielson did research on what teenagers wanted for Christmas. The top three prizes were an iPad, com- puter, and eReader. Paw Print Holiday 2012 Mahanoy Area Middle School Holidays in January - New Year’s Day – January 1 - Independence Day in – January 1 - Handsel Monday in and northern – First Monday Three Wise Men Day, or Epiphany, in Latin America, Spain, Puerto Rico and , and is, although not celebrated as widely or in the same way as in countries with a Spanish history, an official holiday in many European countries, for example , Italy, , Finland, Liechtenstein, Slovakia and Croatia, as well as in parts of and . – January 6 Russian and Ukrainian Christmas Eve, also known as Svyat Vechir – Jan- uary 6 Coptic and Russian Orthodox Church Christmas – January 7 January is the first month of the Plough Sunday in Scotland and northern England – Sunday after January year in the Julian and Gregorian 6 calendars and one of seven months Coming of Age Day (成人の日 Seijin no hi?) in Japan – Second Monday with the length of 31 days. The first National Human Trafficking Awareness Day in the United States – Janu- day of the month is known as New ary 11 Year’s Day. It is, on average, the Feast of the Santo Niño in the – *Martin Luther King, Jr. Day coldest month of the year within in the United States – Third Monday most of the Northern Hemisphere Third Sunday is Pongal in . (where it is the second month of Republic Day in India – January 26 winter) and the warmest month of Australia Day in Australia - January 26 the year within most of the Southern Makara Sankranthi (Festival of Harvest) in India – January 14 Hemisphere (where it is the second Auckland Anniversary in Auckland, – Monday closest to month of summer). In the Southern January 29 hemisphere, January is the seasonal Burns night in Scotland – January 25 equivalent of July in the Northern The uniting of Moldavia and Wallachia under the same ruler in 1859, hemisphere. Romania – January 24 January starts on the same day of National Thank You month the week as October in common Snow in January January’s birthstone is the garnet which represents years, and starts on the same day of constancy. the week as April and July in leap Its birth flower is the cottage pink or galanthus.[2] years. In a common year, January The Chinese of January is the .[citation ends on the same day of the week as needed] February and October, and ends on The Japanese floral emblem of January is the camellia (Camellia the same day of the week as July in sinensis).[citation needed] a leap year. In Finland, the month of Tammikuu means the heart of the winter and January (in Latin, Ianuarius) is because the name also means Oak, it can be inferred that the oak tree is named after Janus, the god of the the heart of grand forest with many valuable trees as opposed to the typi- doorway; the name has its begin- cal Arctic forests which are typically pine and spruce. The photograph of nings in Roman mythology, com- a large tree covered with ice against a blue sky is a familiar scene during ing from the Latin word for door Finland’s winter. (ianua) since January is the door to The Zodiac signs for the month of January are Capricorn (until January the year. 19) and Aquarius (January 20 onwards).

Paw Print Holiday 2012 Mahanoy Area Middle School Top 10 New Year’s Resolutions 19. Have a more positive outlook 1. Be a better/good person 20. Do ballet 2. I don’t have a New Year’s Resolution 21. Save $1000 3. Go to the gym and get fit/stronger 22. Make new friends 4. Lose weight 23. Run a 7-minute mile 5. Save money 24. Make State for swim 6. Get into a good college 25. Fight the tyrannical majority 7. Eat healthy 26. Wake up earlier 8. Get a job 27. Work harder on everything 9. Be happy more often 28. Study the Book of Mormon more often 10. Do homework on time 29. Be better to my family 11. Practice piano more often 30. Get good grades 12. Not eat sugar 31. Get a car 13. Don’t swear 32. Do the right thing no matter how un- 14. Don’t die popular it is 15. Get a day planner and use it 33. Be a good friend 16. Write a journal 34. Smile all the time 17. Make next year better 35. Run a 1.2 marathon 18. Be on the Honor Roll the whole year 36. Run a 10K race

What does “Auld Lang Syne” mean, until 1976, and loudspeakers continue to blast their ren- and why do we sing the song at mid- dition after the annual ball drop in Times Square. night on New Year’s Eve? Who were the first to make resolu- “Auld Lang Syne,” the title of a Scottish folk song that tions for the new year? many English speakers sing at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, roughly translates to “days gone People have been pledging to change their ways in the by.” The poet Robert Burns is credited with transcrib- new year—whether by getting in shape, quitting a bad ing, adapting and partially rewriting it in the late 18th habit or learning a skill—for an estimated 4,000 years century. Its lyrics, which rhetorically ask whether “auld now. The tradition is thought to have first caught on acquaintance” should “be forgot,” have been inter- among the ancient Babylonians, who made promises in preted as a call to remember friends and experiences order to earn the favor of the gods and start the year off from the past. Though sung on New Year’s Eve since on the right foot. (They would reportedly vow to pay off the mid-19th century, it became firmly cemented as a debts and return borrowed farm equipment.) The age- holiday standard when Guy Lombardo and the Royal old custom of breaking one’s newly formed resolutions Canadians played it during a radio broadcast from New within several months—a fate that befalls the majority York’s Roosevelt Hotel at midnight on December 31, of would-be reformers, according to statistics—prob- 1929. The band went on to perform the hit every year ably originated shortly thereafter.