The Gator Gazette
February 2016
90 Years Ago
By Colin H.
We all know that this year is Toll Gate’s 90th birthday. But, did you know these fun facts from 1926?
The World Series was won by the St. Louis Cardinals.
Just like this year, Alabama won the national college football championship.
Harry Houdini was a very famous magician. He thought he was invincible but he died in 1926 when he told a college student to punch him in the stomach during his show.
Pennington’s population in 1926 was 1,335. Today the population is 2,696.
The book Winnie the Pooh was written in 1926.
The building across from Vito's was built 90 years ago. It’s now Sun Bank.
Our biggest road, Route 31 was built in 1926.
Kids in 1926 would dress like the photo below
Ever Wonder How Valentine's Day Started?
By Clara T.
Later on, churches wanted to turn the festival into a Christian celebration. They decided to use it to remember St Valentine too. That is why we celebrate Valentine's Day today.
The Great Kindness Challenge
Toll Gate joined The Great Kindness Challenge, but what is The Great Kindness Challenge? The Great Kindness Challenge is one school week devoted to performing as many of the 50 acts of kindness on your checklist. On your checklist you will find different acts of kindness such as make a new friend, hold a door open for someone, recycle your trash, and many more. Toll Gate’s goal is to spread kindness throughout our school. We hope that not only on this week of kindness we will be kind.
Global Warming
By Lia U-M
Global Warming (also called climate change) is happening because carbon dioxide and other gases are collecting in the atmosphere like a big, bad blanket. It’s not letting sunlight out, which is causing Earth to get hotter each year.
The climate change is causing the oceans to rise, so the oceans are flooding. Global warming also causes trouble to the energy supplies, to transportation, and to farming.
Global warming is affecting Antarctica way too much. The average temperature has gone up 5 degrees F (3 degrees C) in 60 years. Winter temperatures have also gone up, 11 degrees F (6 degrees C) in 60 years.
“We are already at the point where the changes we’re seeing in this part of Antarctica are unprecedented throughout the entire period of human civilization,” said Ted Scambos, the head scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo. This means that the changes in Antarctica haven’t ever happened or come close to, in human history.
The main reason our planet is getting hotter is pollution. Power plants, cars, planes, rocket ships, and anything that uses fuel makes pollution.
You can help stop global warming by using less fossil fuel and by trying to use more renewable energy like wind and solar. You can also help by riding your bike to school instead of driving and taking the bus and train instead of driving by yourself.
Some places you can get more information on global warming are:
Winter Storm Jonas
By: Anthony L.
On Saturday, January 23, there was a snowstorm. The WeatherMan said, “It’s so, bad that all the northern states were off from school.” Thursday and Friday that week everyone was getting ready for the terrible storm in front of us. It said that we had one to 21 inches of snow coming. The weatherman was talking on the news of having about 21 inches. The news was saying there was an an alert that only emergency vehicles could go on the road that Sunday and Monday in January.
Music in the Cafeteria
by Landon H. and Dean M.
This week we had a singing contest at Tollgate Grammar School it was so fun lets get right to it. Our first matchup was Kayla R. against Dean M., ,Landon H., Declan K., and Andrew M. Kayla sang “Let’s Raise You Up”. She was amazing! She rocked it! The kids and teachers clapped so much!
But now we are going to talk about the 3rd grade boys!
They flipped the roof off! They rocked so much that like no one can stop them now! But at the end of this it was a tie!
This week was awesome!! The 3rd grade boys did amazing!! This week they sang “Drag Me Down.” They did better than last week. The whole group did really good!!
The girls sang “Bad Blood.” They did amazing and did rapidly good. We can’t wait to see who is going next week!
The Big Raffle Ticket
by Dean M.
In the cafeteria for the next three weeks we will have a raffle where you get a ticket when you by lunch. Many people came close! Everyone was so excited. They were so excited because a lot of people were really close. The winning number was 862060. The winner was a second grader!
Favorite Pets
by Juliana L. and Jack V.
Do you have a favorite pet? Well this will tell you how many third graders voted for each animal on this list. The animals are cats, dogs, birds, hamsters, and gerbils. If a third grader’s favorite pet is none of the following, then they would choose other.
Here are the results to this interview:
Cat………………………….7
Dog………………………....26
Bird………………………...2
Hamster…………………..0
Gerbil……………………...1
Other……………………..10
BACKYARD BEASTS with Harry D.
Fisher Cat
White Tail Deer
In Hopewell Valley we are seeing a lot of Whitetail Deer. Fall is when they mate. That’s why deer are a little crazy in fall. They have their babies in the spring. Like other animals… bears! Male deer are called bucks.White tailed deer are herbivores that means they eat plants and veggies.
Bears
How to Draw a Cat
By: Mathilda R.W.
First, draw an oval.
Next, draw a circle on top of the oval and some legs.
After, erase the lines between the head and the body and the legs and the body.
Finally, you can draw details like eyes, ears, and whiskers and a tail.
Awesome After School Snacks!
By Stevie S.
Ask an adult for permission and help!
Fruity Milk- puree frozen fruit and stir into low-fat milk for a cool treat.
Ask an adult for help using the blender!
Yogurtwiches- Place a scoop of frozen yogurt between graham cracker squares roll the edges in chocolate and freeze until firm
Caramel Popcorn- Melt ⅓ cup butter with 1 tablespoon honey and a pinch of salt. Toss with 12 cups popcorn and 1 cup pecans. Spread on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake 15 minutes at 325 degrees, tossing. Cool and enjoy.
Ask an adult for help with the oven!
DIY Valetines
by Anya T.
Cut up a lot of crayons and put it in a big bowl, then you put it in a heart tray and put it in the oven and put it for 230 degrees/ 15 minutes. Finally, use pot holders to pull it out of the oven and put it on any circle piece of paper and give it any one and say any thing on the paper! YOU MUST HAVE AN ADULT HELP! THIS WILL BE HOT!
Get a tootsie roll pop and get cupcakes tins and stick the tootsie roll pop and take a green piece of paper and cut it in the shape of a leaf shape. Then, attach it to the tootsie roll pop stick.
- Get a white tea cup and two sharpies (one thin and one thick sharpie/ any color). Draw half a heart near the handle with thick and then put small dots inside the half heart with thin sharpie.
TOLL GATE SPIRIT DAYS
Reporting from the Toll Gate Student Council. Here is a list of the spirit days for this school year. Kids love these days and everyone should enjoy participating!
December 23: Pajama Day
January 23: Gator Day
February 23: 1980’s Day
March 15: Rainbow Day
April 14: Tie Dye Day
May 17: Crazy Hair Day
June 15: Idol Day
HAPPY SPIRIT DAYS!
by Liam R. and Colin H.
What is Newspaper Club?
By Anastasia A.
Welcome to the Toll Gate Newspaper! I am going to talk about what we do here in the Toll Gate Newspaper Club! Okay, the club meets every Thursday for half an hour, we brainstorm some ideas and if we already are working on a article we keep working on that. We have lots of different articles we write. For example, I am writing this article, two of my friends are working on an article about the after school activities, and more!
Sometimes when we meet at other times if we have work to finish or interviews to do. We take videos of us interviewing each other. On my last article, we went around some classes and took polls about the favorite snack foods in the school cafeteria. It was fun!
We also work as groups and have partners to work with too. We work hard every Thursday to write and video the newspaper. So, I am encouraging out to come help out and join the Newspaper club! This is Anastasia A. signing out.