NJHS Soar
By: Kiley Anderson
Nursery Rhyme News Story
Tragic Incident at Candle-Jumping Nationals
By Kiley Anderson
Candle-jumping fans across the nation were shocked yesterday, January 8, 2914, as their beloved candle-jumping star Jack Jackson survived a tragic incident at the 20th Annual National Candle-Jumping Competition in New York City. Jackson was having some wonderful jumps when, on his final jump that would have won him first place, the incident happened. He jumped lower than planned, competition officials say, and when he burnt his toe, he fell in pain causing third degree burns on his face, neck, and shoulders.
However, upon further examination, officials say that their recording of Jackson's jump matches up exactly with other recordings they have of him in this event (other than the fall) except for one important detail: the position of the candle. Jackson's candle-jumping coach, Humpty Dumpty, has accused Jackson's arch rival, Little Boy Blue, of moving the candle. Blue, as he says, knew that Jackson would win the competition with his final jump. As he was in second, Blue went to drastic measures to win the competition. Blue denies this. Competition officials are thoroughly examining the situation and are expected to make a public announcement regarding the situation in the next few days.
As for Jackson, he is currently being treated at the Meadow Medical Center for his third-degree burns. In a news interview, Dumpty stated, "I'm very disappointed that this happened, but if all goes well, Jack will be jumping again next season." That is very good news for Jack Jackson fans everywhere.
Feature Story
Giant Pandas
By Kiley Anderson
Giant pandas, often thought of as the symbol of all of the earth’s endangered species, aren’t at all what they seem at first. They aren’t just fluffy, loveable creatures, but a species that has adapted to survive in their ever changing habitat.
The scientific name for a panda is ailuropoda melanoleuca.
Today, there are only about 1600 pandas living in the wild, with about 300 living in captivity. Pandas used to live in the lowlands of China, but human interference has forced them to live in the mountains.
Pandas are white, with patches of black on their ears, muzzle, legs, shoulders, and around their eyes. They also have large molars and strong jaw muscles, causing these cute, loveable animals to be just as dangerous as any other bear. They, unlike any other bears, have distinct cat-like eyes. Pandas are about the size of an American black bear, standing between two and three feet at the shoulder on all fours and reaching four to six feet long.
Pandas spend most of their day resting, eating, and seeking food. A panda’s diet is 99% bamboo, although they do occasionally eat other plants and small rodents. They have a “thumb” on their front paws that help them in eating tough bamboo shoots. Their strong molars also help.
Male pandas are called boars and females are called sows. It was previously believed that male and female pandas only met during the mating season, but recent studies show that small groups of pandas live together in a large territory and may make occasional visits outside the mating season.
Pandas may be reproductive until age 20. A baby panda is about the size of a stick of butter. Pandas reach maturity between the ages of four and eight and they may stay with their mothers up until age three. Because of this, a female panda may only successfully raise five to eight pandas in her lifetime. A female usually gives birth to one panda at a time, but occasionally twins are born. When this happens, usually only one survives.
Scientists aren’t sure how long pandas can live in the wild, but Chinese scientists have reported pandas as old as 35 in captivity.
Some other interesting facts about pandas are that they cannot walk on their hind legs like other bears and that they do not hibernate like other bears. Another interesting fact is that pandas usually do not vocalize, but when they do, they bleat. There are 11 different calls that they can make, and four of them are only used while mating.
Pandas are amazing creatures who have struggled to adapt to their changing environment. Because of human innovation and interference, the panda population is rapidly decreasing. According to the Defenders of Wildlife website, you can “adopt a panda” to help support a panda in the wild, send a message to government officials, and just simply speak out to help keep our wildlife, pandas included, thriving.
Autobiography
Miss Kiley Anderson, one of today’s most noted authors, had her first book published in 2024, soon after graduating college. She has continued writing many bestselling books and has gone on many book and speaking tours.
Kiley worked at a grocery store in high school, so she has obviously worked very hard to get to the point where she is today. In high school, she participated in band, choir, drama, yearbook, and speech. She graduated from Norfolk High in 2019 and went on to earn a degree in creative writing at the University of Nebraska. During college, she worked at a clothing store, and after graduation in 2023, she briefly worked as a columnist for a newspaper in a small town in Nebraska. She was determinedly working on her first novel in her spare time and submitted the manuscript to a publisher in November of 2023. It was published and in stores in 2024. It spent 16 weeks at the top of the New York Times Bestseller list. At this point, having many other manuscripts well underway, Kiley quit her job as a columnist and moved back to her hometown of Norfolk. She lived in a small house on her own and busily wrote the day away. She got her income teaching a private creative writing class for aspiring child authors. In 2026, her next book came out, the beginning of a series. The books that followed it came quickly after and before she knew it, she was being called to ask to speak at schools and literature festivals. She continued to write as fast as she could, and by 2030, she had six books published.
In 2032, at the age of 33, she moved to her penthouse in New York City and has spent each summer at her vacation home on the beach in Florida.
Kiley spends most of her time writing, but her other hobbies include scrapbooking, reading, and traveling. She has visited Europe once and is hoping to go to Australia or Asia soon.
By now, Kiley has more than twenty novels published and she is not done. She says she will continue to write as long as she can.
She still lives in New York City, on her own except for her pug, Digalo II. She does have many friends to spend time with in New York, though. Kiley says she is enjoying her life as it is, and says that she can’t wait to see where her writing will take her throughout the rest of her life.Debate
Argument: The school board is considering reorganizing the school week. They are suggesting that there be four school days rather than five. Each school day would then be two hours longer. Support your position for/against this issue.
I disagree with shortening the school week because there are certain things students need to do outside of school everyday. They would not have time to do extracurricular activities. Also, students would have less time to do homework, resulting in them staying up later, causing less sleep, and making them tired and not focused in school. Students would have less time at night to spend time with family and friends as well. Finally, students would have less time to do chores around the house, giving them less of an opportunity to learn necessary responsibility skills.
Favorite Ap
By Kiley Anderson
Fun Run is an app where you are racing against other people to try to cross the finish line first. You get to choose and accessorize your character and create a username that you are identified by. You can play with people that you have become friends with, against random players, or against the device. The controls of the game are very simple. You are automatically running the whole time; there is nothing you need to do to cause that. The only other control is a button you push to jump. You can jump to avoid obstacles and get power ups, such as traps, force fields, or magnets. You also have to tap on the power up to activate it. There are more than 20 courses to choose from, all with different obstacles and lengths. Also, when you are playing with your friends, you can chat with them in between runs. The place you get (first, second, third, or fourth) will increase or decrease your ranking and earn you coins. You can compare your ranking to your friends and others from around the world and buy more characters and accessories with the coins that you earn.
Movie Review
By Kiley Anderson
Eep (Emma Stone), an adventurous and rebellious teen cave girl struggles with her father, Grug (Nicholas Cage), and his over protectiveness. But when the family is forced to leave their home and find a new cave, and meet Guy (Ryan Reynolds), who helps them find a new home, Grug struggles even more keeping Eep in line. Grug feels abandoned by his family, feeling as though they don't need him anymore because they have Guy. Aside from being a fast-paced account of the family's fight for survival and all the unexpected friends they make along the way, the movie follows the emotional journey of both Grug and Eep. They both find how much they need each other and the family grows closer together. The fun, cartoon movie is also HILARIOUS! Watching the prehistoric family learn and experience new things, such as fire, is sure to get a laugh out of everyone in the family. I would recommend this movie for viewers of any age, though younger children may not understand all of the humor. The funniness of the movie combined with its great message about the importance of family makes it one of my favorite movies.