Educating Today's Children for Tomorrow's World!
2008-2009 Published Student Writing
Don't wait: help the hungry today — 11/18/2008
Informed Kids will be better voters — 11/02/2008
Don't give bruins a reason to visit — 10/08/2008
Congratulations to our winning authors!
For the third consecutive year since entering the Morris County contest, "What Prejudice Means to Me," The Wilson School sixth grade class has had at least one student with an honorable mention citation in art or in writing. This year we have a solo winner in the honorable mention category in writing – Amanda Calderon. Congratulations, Amanda!
In the Letters About Literature contest, New Jersey sent in about 2000 entries this year to the Library of Congress. The first and second rounds of judging are done. They then returned about 200 letters to New Jersey. A third round of judging reduced the numbers to about 75. The judges met for the fourth round of judging and chose first and second place winners for all three Levels, and about 20 Honorable Mentions for each level. Honorable Mention: Brendan James. Congratulations, Brendan!
We're proud of our students who have been published in the local newspapers!
Work published in 2007-2008.
Letters to the Editor.......
Learn a lesson in saving money from a fifth grader
Wednesday, March 19, 2008, Neighbor News
To the Editor:
As a fifth grade student at The Wilson School, I think it is important to save money. These days, people have to spend too much money on gas, clothes and even food. Inflation is hitting everyone, Some clothes at the mall that used to be $10 are now $50. Even milk, chicken and snacks have increased in price.
As a result, people have to tighten their belts and spend less on nonessential items. Overspending has caused the sub prime mortgage crisis and will make our economy even weaker if it doesn't stop. Try to spend less on daily items, especially luxury items. If you have the urge to splurge, make sure you have the money rather than buying on credit. Building up debt will only hurt you and the economy.
Olivia Kennedy
Denville
Driving alternatives could help
Thursday, March 13, 2008, Daily Record
To the Editor:
As a fifth grade student at The Wilson School, I have become aware of the problems caused by car exhaust. Pollution emitted by car fumes is destroying wildlife. Too much CO2 is destroying the ozone layer and letting the sun's ultraviolet rays into our atmosphere. Rising temperatures are melting icebergs and destroying the habitat of polar bears and other arctic wildlife.
The UV rays are also hurting humans. If we keep polluting the planet, melting icecaps will cause more flooding.
As a result, we should carpool more, or find less polluting methods of transportation, such as the maglev, which is a magnetically levitating train currently used in Europe and Asia. The next time you drive, please think about the impact you are having on the environment.
Joseph Orrico
Boonton Township
All of us can help turn tide
Wednesday, March 12, 2008, Daily Record
To the Editor:
As a fifth grade student at The Wilson School in Mountain Lakes, I am writing to encourage your readers to take action to stop global warming. Many animals in the North and South Poles are suffering. Evidence shows that animals such as polar bears are dying because the arctic ice is melting. These animals are losing their homes because of humans.
Global warming means that the Earth is getting hotter because pollutants in the atmosphere are trapping the sun's heat. We must stop polluting the air before it's too late.
The next time you buy a car, consider a hybrid. We have to stop relying on gas and look for cleaner energy sources, such as wind farms. Think about how much better our world will be in the future if we stop global warming today.
Frankie Yi
Boonton
Worried about endangered species
Wednesday, March 12, 2008, Neighbor News
To the Editor:
As a fifth grade student at The Wilson School I am concerned about endangered species. If some kind of tropical fish becomes extinct, for example, the smaller fishes in the food chain will be over populated. The animals before the tropical fish in the food chain will have nothing to eat but the very tiny fishes. There are many kinds of animals threatened by extinction such as sea turtles, whales, seals, spider crabs, manatees and more.
In recent years, we've seen an increase in endangered species because more people are killing them for their meat, such as spider crabs. We all must keep them alive for the sake of the food chain. Tell your friends and adults to help protect precious animals. You can help this by reducing your waste. Garbage such as plastic, candy wrappers, and bags often blows out of land fills. It ends up in the ocean where marine animals mistake it for jellyfish and eat it. Many turtles and whales die this way.
The next time you throw garbage away, please stop to think about how many animals you can be harming. Recycle wrappers and plastic bags, or better yet, don't use them at all. Please help the animals from becoming extinct.
Dmitriy Uskach
Mountain Lakes
Rain Forest Depletion - Help to Protect
Monday, March 10, 2008, Daily Record
To the Editor:
As a fifth grade student at The Wilson School, I have learned that tropical rain forests are endangered. Animals are dying because people are polluting forests and cutting too many trees. This is harming jaguars, leopards, cougars, tigers and ocelots.
I urge everyone to help protect our rain forests. Instead of buying teak and mahogany, look at buying woodds like pine or bamboo. Remember to ask what kind of wood it is and where it came from when buying furniture.
Todd Andrew
Green Pond
Opportunities to help plentiful
Sunday, March 9, 2008, Daily Record
To the Editor:
As a fifth-grade student at The Wilson School in Mountain Lakes, I am concerned about the environment. We are not recycling enough, and we are polluting the air too much. We are polluting the air by burning fossil fuel for energy. We are not recycling enough because we think nothing of it, and people say they don't have the time. People don't know how much recycling helps the environment.
I feel that we should recycle paper, bottles and anything else that is recyclable. In recent years we have been seeing more and more garbage piling up in landfills. Our sidewalks often have paper, gum and bottles on them. We are burning too much fuel in factories, and we are using cars too much. If the artic ice keeps melting at this alarming rate, the coastal cities will be flooded with water. Eventually there will be less land to live on.
We all need to help by buying cars that use less gas. We must recycle paper and bottles. We can use old newspapers and wood and renewable sources for fire in the winter to save energy. We should use our car only when absolutely necessary. Find creative ways to use your household items rather then throwing them out. Please consider these simple things we can all do to help.
Shane Brennan Burchard
Flanders
People down on luck need help
Daily Record, Saturday, March 8, 2008
To the Editor:
As a fifth-grade student at the Wilson school, I urge you to think about all of the homeless people in New Jersey. Imagine that you just lost your home in the subprime mortgage crisis, you have nowhere to go and you have to beg for money. You might even have to put your kids in foster care and never see them again. About 8,000 people in New Jersey are homeless.
To help them you can donate your extra clothes to the homeless. You can organize fundraisers to donate to homeless shelters or soup kitchens. If you have extra time, please think about volunteering for the Community Soup Kitchen at 36 South St. in Morristown or any other soup kitchens you might know.
Mckenzie Melius
Boonton Township
Indiana bat important to protect
Daily Record, Thursday, March 6, 2008
To the Editor:
Do you know that there is a federally endangered species in Morris County? The Indiana bat is in peril because people are cutting down too many trees for the development of residential and commercial areas. You may not think it is important to care about a little bat, but there are many reasons why you should.
First of all, last year there were many cases of the deadly West Nile virus, an illness that can only be stopped by controlling the mosquito population. Each summer, ponds and lakes have been sprayed with pesticides, but the virus has been on the increase. Encephalitis is another potentially deadly mosquito born illness. A single Indiana bat can eat several thousand mosquitoes per hour. They also eat insects that devour your garden. Insect destruction of crops has been on the rise as insects grow resistant to pesticides. For all of these reasons, New Jersey needs its bats.
You can help the bats and yourself in two ways. Indiana bats like to raise their babies under the loose shaggy bark of trees like oaks and hickories.
When possible, leave dead trees standing. If a tree must be removed, do so from September through March when bats are not nesting. Secondly, set up a bat house in your backyard. A good bat house is about $40 and can be purchased at a local nursery or online. You can also build your own. Standard bat houses hold about 150 bats, which can eat up to 300,000 mosquitoes each night.
Brendan James
Mountain Lakes
Sixth-grade student encouraging everyone to recycle
Neighbor New - January 16, 2008
Dear Editor,
As a sixth-grade student at The Wilson School, I would like to make a point about why recycling is so important, both during the holidays and all year. Did you know that it only takes an apple three days to decompose, but it takes an aluminum soda can 100 years? And a glass object, like a wine bottle, 1,000 years!
It's not a big inconvenience to separate your trash from your recyclables. My school has a paper-recycling crate in each classroom, and every week my class collects them and puts the paper in cardboard boxes that we have from all the lunch deliveries. We tape them closed, weigh them all together (to determine how much we recycle annually), and throw them into the recycling bin outside.
We've found that recycling papers and boxes is really fun to do. Recycling cans and glass is also important.
If more kids try convincing their schools to do the same, it could make a huge difference. We need to conserve the environment and save the planet for the generations to come. We decide. It's in our hands how we want our world to be, so what are we waiting for? Recycle!
Amanda C.
The Wilson School
Gossip
Daily Record, December 17, 2007; Neighbor News - December 19,2007; Star-Ledger - December 20,2007
Dear Editor,
As a seventh grade student at the Wilson School in Mountain Lakes, I am writing to encourage other middle school kids not to gossip.
Secrets can be hurtful if you are left out, but become even more so when they are spread. I know from experience that when people gossip, lies form and kids are teased and made fun of. Some people will give away their friend’s private stories and feelings to become popular or be friends with someone else. This is wrong. It is fine to say, “Oh, I won't tell anyone,” but the truth is that it is hard to resist telling when another person says the same thing.
Once I told a secret to my best friend. The next morning, the whole school knew my secret. When I questioned my friend, she said it was not her fault; it was the fault of the one person that she had told it to. He had told just one other person, too. Secrets can spread this way, with each person believing that only they and one other person know.
It may seem amusing to find out new information about someone, but I believe that secrets are secret for a reason.
Sincerely, Flannery J.
Right/Wrong Fish
Daily Record - December 12, 2007; Neighbor News - December 19, 2007; Star-Ledger - December 20, 2007
Dear Mr. Snowflack,
As a fifth grade student at the Wilson School in Mountain Lakes, I am worried about what plastic grocery bags are doing to turtles, seals and other marine life. Almost half of debris blown away from landfills is plastic, mostly plastic bags. The bags are often carried by streams or blown hundreds of miles into the ocean. Scientists say plastic bags kill over 100,000 marine mammals, birds and turtles every year. For example, endangered species like the albatross are dying because they think the bags are squid or jelly fish floating on the water. Sailors report that plastic bags are the most common man-made thing they see in the ocean. Even the bags that don’t escape from landfills are a problem - we use them for such a short period of time, but they take hundreds of years to break down.
There is one easy way to help lessen this problem. Keep some big canvas bags in the trunk of your car and use them when you go shopping instead of plastic bags. We can all do our part to help keep the sea plastic free.
Sincerely. Brendan J
Take sea bass off your menu
Response to Right/Wrong Fish
Daily Record, December 17, 2007
To the Editor:
I applaud sixth-grade letter writer Brendan James for his letter about preserving certain fish that are disappearing from our oceans because they are over-fished.
Brendan mentions the ubiquitous Chilean sea bass, which is served in many restaurants throughout the United States.
Most people who order this fish don't even realize that there is no such thing as Chilean sea bass. Chilean sea bass is scientifically known as Patagonian Toothfish or Anarctic Toothfish. It is not from Chile, nor is it a sea bass.
It was named, "Chilean sea bass" some 10 to 15 years ago by a U.S. importer of fish who decided to call it that, because it would not sell in the U.S. as Patagonian Toothfish. It is over-fished because it is in high demand by U.S. consumers who love the name. I agree with Brendan. Stop ordering it.
Will Cofnuk
Mendham
Organ Donation
The Neighbor News - December 19, 2007
Dear Mrs. Fox Tamblyn,
My name is Tyler Schicke; I am a sixth grader at The Wilson School. Through personal experience I have become aware of what I believe is a very important issue and wanted to make your readers aware, the subject is organ donation.
- In the past two years two friends of mine have been in a life or death situations and in need an organ donor. One was a 59 year old man who needed a kidney. The other, only 8 years old at the time, needed a liver. Each had very different situations health wise, but both desperately needed the organs. The child received the liver in a shorter time frame; however one year later another donor was needed because of complications. My other friend went through the process of getting on a donor list in many states, and had a long and hard wait before a donor was finally found.
- As of Dec. 2007 there are 97,900 people in the US on a waitlist for an organ; each month over 300 new transplant candidates are added. Becoming a donor is easy; all you have to do is Register with your state donor registry, designate your decision on your driver’s license, and sign and carry a donor card.
Becoming a donor is an easy thing, and could help save so a life. Therefore, I urge your readers to do a little research and help save the life of someone else’s friend. During this holiday season, please consider giving the gift of life.
Yours Truly,
Tyler S
Homework
The Daily Record - December 20, 2007
Dear Editor,
As a sixth grade student at the Wilson school, I’m concerned about homework. I think that homework should be optional and students can choose if they need homework for that day or not, of course the kids would have to be truthful or this system wouldn’t work. I think home work should be optional for many reasons, an example would be that some students worry too much about homework, and get overstressed that it will affect their grade even though they have no need no need to do homework because they already learned and remember every thing from class. The stress will effect how they do on tests and their social life. In my opinion, I feel that making homework optional will reduce this stress and cause kids do better on tests and improve their social life. This would make a better society for kids to live in. Therefore I think homework should be made optional for the sake of children.
Sincerely,
Zachary
League Appeals to Neighbors
Daily Record - November 22, 2007
To the Editor:
As a 13-year old student at the Wilson School in Mountain Lakes and football fan, I am writing about NFL games being played overseas. This year, the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants played a game at Wembley Stadium in London.
Despite an excellent turnout, I implore the NFL to drop any remaining plans to play in Europe and Asia. The plane ride from England and back messes up the players' sleeping patterns and gives them an unfair disadvantage the next few weeks. I believe that the league should capitalize on nearby foreign markets, like Canada and Mexico.
The Buffalo Bills are in the process of asking the NFL for permission to play a preseason and possible regular season game in Toronto, where a lot of their fans are located. However, the main factor that will back the deal up for Buffalo is a game played two years ago in Mexico, between the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals. The contest drew 100,000 fans, setting a new NFL record. If the league wasn't so obsessed about appealing to our neighbors across the pond, an area overrun by soccer, the game might be spread to millions of Latino and Canadian children,
Alex
Succasunna
Global Warming
The Neighbor News - January 2, 2008
Dear Ms. Tamblyn,
As a sixth-grade student from The Wilson School in Mountain Lakes, I strongly encourage you to write more op-ed pieces about global warming and to tell people how to go green.
One way we can tell that global warming is occurring is that here in Boonton, NJ, we haven’t had “real” snow in three years. Also, whenever we have rain, it is often a drenching downpour and that causes local places to flood. There have also been an increased number of drought periods, and there are more instances of heat waves than previously during the summer months.
I think that there are not enough alternatives to fuel consumption and overuse of electricity. Some ways to fight global warming are by using solar panels, hybrid cars, wind and water power, fuel cell power, not driving as much and trying to stay local when possible, improving our mass transportation systems, not leaving cars idling, and using a computer’s “sleep” function instead of the screen saver.
Sincerely,
Aaron S