The Week of March 18, 2019

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School News

Battle of the Books Pizza Party

By: Maria, Patrick and Izzy

Have you heard? Battle of the Books has finally ended and now it’s time to celebrate!

It was a rewarding challenge to read all of the books this year (24 in total!), so if you know anyone who participated, give them a hand!

And speaking of celebrating, if you are one of the people at Hoffman who participated, then you get a special pizza party!

All Battle of the Books participants should come to the LRC at noon on Friday, March 22, 2019!

Hoffman News Interview

For our 10th Issue, we wanted to interview Mr. Pucciarello to ask him why he wanted to start the News Team, and to learn a little bit more about him.

Enjoy!

around the community: Home Town Foods

By: Macy and Alyssa

There are many foods that we know of right of the bat. But do you know the foods that best represent Chicago? Here are five foods and an extra bonus treat!

The first food is Chicago style deep dish pizza. The Chicago style deep dish pizza has several different styles developed in The Windy City. The pan that the pizza is cooked in gives the pizza that high edge crust, which provides ample space for the super chunky tomato sauce and cheese.

Our next food is the Chicago-style hot dog. You may think it is just a regular hot dog. Well guess what, you are right. The Chicago style hot dog, Chicago dog or Chicago Red Hot, is an all-beef frankfurter on a poppy seed bun, originally from the city of Chicago, Illinois. No ketchup!

Our third food on the list is nachos. Go grab 'em at: Zacatacos, Taqueria San Jose, Little Goat Diner, Taco in a Bag, Mi Tierra, De Pasada, and Cortland's Garage. Sounds delicious, don’t you think?

Our fourth food is steak. There are many steakhouses in Chicago and even Glenview. There are also many different kinds of steak like filet mignon or New York strip. One in particular is the sweet steak, with a juicy dripping and steak with vegetables on top. What kind of steak do you like best?

Our fifth food is Italian Food. Chicago is well known for its excellent Italian food, but we're lucky to live near some great choices too. If you like Italian food, here is a link to the top ten best Italian places in Glenview: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g36052-d429774-Reviews-Cafe_Lucci-Glenview_Illinois.html

Our final “food” is the Cookie Monster Ice Cream. Cookie Monster Ice Cream is an ice cream that uses real fruits and nuts, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, pistachios, almonds, cereal, walnut, saigon and cinnamon. They also make freshly baked toppings like cake pieces, cookies and coffee. You can find out more at: http://www.cookiemonstericecream.com

To know about more foods that represent your hometown, just search it up and learn some new things! That’s it for now. See you all next time!

All Female Spacewalk

By: Lulu

NASA recently revealed a history-changing surprise: one of two of their astronauts will conduct the first all women space walk. These brave astronauts are Anne McClain and Christina Koch. The launch will take place March 29th. More women will be playing important roles during the walk as well, like lead flight director and flight controller.

This marks history since Russian cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the first women ever to go to space (other than Laika the dog).

The date of the launch was specifically planned for the end of March to make a wonderful end to women's history month.

Anne McClain is an Australian NASA astronaut and rugby player. She currently lives aboard the International Space Station. Living in space hard because anyone who lives up there has to how to fix the plumbing, change air filters, keep thing clean, and pretty much any other household maintenance. Christina Koch is an engineer for NASA. She graduated from North Carolina State University and was later NOAA station chief.

These two brave women will soon make American history. Many women will be watching and looking up to these new heroes.

opinion: deforestation

By: Sonam

Imagine this: you are a small bird, finding food for your family and then you come back to them dead and the home you live in destroyed. How would you feel?

This is exactly how many animals feel when they flee their homes because of deforestation.

To begin with, deforestation is the damage or in some cases, destruction to forests. Humans cause most of deforestation in order to harvest timber, create farmland or build structures. Human beings have been burning forests and cutting down trees for thousands of years, but it has become more severe since the 1800’s.

Next, natural forests covered most of the world once, but half of these native forests have been destroyed. Many of the forests that remain standing are damaged. Furthermore, a bunch of forests are fragmented into smaller patches separated by roads, cities or farmland.

Additionally, dozens of countries have lost at least 90 percent of their beautiful native forests. Areas with a very high population density have suffered the absolute worst deforestation of all. These areas are much of Europe, eastern and southern Asia and eastern North America. To add, the forests of many islands have been completely destroyed. Most native forests have vanished very quickly from the islands of Madagascar, New Zealand, Japan and even the island of Java in Indonesia. New Guinea’s forests are vanishing rapidly also.

Finally, deforestation contributes to global warming, an increase of the temperatures on Earth’s surface. As trees grow, the tree removes carbon dioxide from the air (through the process of photosynthesis). If a tree is killed, the carbon is released back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Increases in carbon dioxide plays a huge role in global warming. In addition, tropical forests contain many more plants and animals than any other habitat in the world! As a result, tropical deforestation adds on to the major threats of biodiversity, the variety of animal and even plant species.

To conclude, cutting down trees can hurt many animals and even humans. This is not acceptable considering the fact that the forests do nothing to us. So try and avoid products that are mostly made of wood and do your part in this community!

opinion: female superheroes

By: Ema

Do we need more female superheroes? Now that's a question I have to ask. Yes, I believe that we should have more female superheroes. Why, you may ask.

Well, I think that doing so would show that not only men, but women too are strong and independent. Normally you see women as the sidekicks or damsels in distress. So I think that it would be a nice change. Also it would show that we are equally as capable.

We would be showing how far we have come from women not being able to have a job or not being able to vote to being seen as equals. Not just on screen, but of screen as well. It would give women a chance to be the star of the show.

Most superheroes we see are men. Only 26% of every DC and Marvel characters are female. That means not just superheroes, but every female character. In that 26% there could be a character with one measly line.

Over the past few years Hollywood has been making more movies with strong female characters such as "Wonder Woman" and "Captain Marvel." This is great and hopeful, as they have inspired countless young girls.

But there is still work to be done. Let's hope that very soon we can make that change and prove that we are all strong.

Ranking the Worst Roman Emperors

By: James and Nico

James and Nico are back, this week with the top ten worst Roman emperors in the history of Rome. We've got ‘em all: the tyrants, the persecutors, and the insane ones.

10: Diocletian

This guy wasn't too bad as far as emperors go, which is why He's Number 10. What puts him on this list is his merciless persecution of Christians.

9: Domitian

Not only was this guy extraordinarily notorious for his way of enforcing the law, he devoted half of his life to persecuting Christians and Jews (he believed in the Roman gods). He said he would wipe every other religion off the face of planet Earth. Domitian also put Rome into a military and financial disaster.

8: Tiberius

Tiberius abolished all Egyptian and Jewish places of worship in Rome. He mercilessly crushed city riots. In the beginning, things actually went pretty well for him popularity wise, but his reign turned sour when he accused many people of very silly (and sometimes made-up) crimes that led to all their property being taken by the government. He then exiled himself to his country estate not caring about what happened in Rome.

7: Maximus

Maximus exhausted the whole empire with war after war after war after war after war. He also hated the nobility and started the crisis of the third century. He was murdered by his own guards after laying siege to Rome.

6: Valerian III

Valerian III was stupid enough to let himself get captured. He persecuted Christians and was useless to the Roman people. The king of Persia, who captured Valerian, forced him to be a human footstool.

5: Honorius

Honorius let Rome be sacked for the first time in over five hundred years. He also killed his best military general. He became the emperor at the age of eight, so he didn’t have much experience in life. He died of an unknown disease, which I guess is better than being killed, but his death severely weakened the Empire.

4: Caracalla

This guy began his reign with a murder. After six months of being a co-emperor, he decided to kill the Emperor and rule the Empire himself. He then had his brother’s legacy erased from existence. After ruling for about a year, Caracalla left Rome and never came back. Also, when a public play in Alexandria, in modern-day Egypt, annoyed him, he killed 20,000 inhabitants of the city. He persecuted people who believed in Aristotle’s teachings. He was murdered by one of his soldiers.

3: Commodus

There’s only one good thing to say about Commodus: he wasn’t wicked, but he was so stupid that wicked people eventually took over the government. The first crisis of his reign was he spent thousands of denarii (Roman money) on lavish Gladiatorial games (starring himself). He taxed all of the people in the government, named Rome after himself, and was so crazy his own sister tried to murder him.

2. Nero

Nero’s construction projects were overly extravagant. He killed his mother. He executed all of his rivals. Nero did not care that many temples, mansions, and stuff like that were destroyed. He debased the Roman currency, tributes were imposed on the provinces if the Empire, and it is also reported that Nero forced many rich people to name him as their sole heir and then commit suicide. His last words were “what an artist the world is losing.”

1. Caligula

I don't know where to begin with him. He made his horse an adviser, exhausted the treasury, and then forced people to give the government money. He built a bridge of boats across a bay to ride across it. He also killed people without trials, talked to the sun and moon, and challenged Neptune. He also showed up painted gold at parties, calling himself neos helios: The new sun. He was murdered. Yikes.

Research Corner: St. Patrick's Day

By: Ema and Macy

As many of you know, on Sunday, it was Saint Patrick’s Day. But first, let’s learn a little bit about Saint Patrick himself.

Patrick’s real name was Maewyn Saccat, but he changed his name to Patrick when he became a priest. You may think of Patrick as being Irish, but he wasn’t Irish at all. He was British. At age sixteen, he was kidnapped and taken to Ireland as a slave. Patrick was born at the end of the fourth century in Britain and died on March 17, 461.

People think of green when they think of Saint Patrick’s Day but the real color was blue. You can see the blue on old ancient Ireland flags. A legend says that Patrick drove all snakes out of Ireland. Patrick taught people about Christianity and he stayed true to his own beliefs. He didn’t alienate or antagonize people he was trying to persuade.

Now a little bit about the shamrock or clover. The three-leaf-clover is said to represent the Holy Trinity. The Holy Trinity is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The shamrock or clover is an object that represents Ireland. The odds of you finding a four-leaf-clover is one in ten thousand. The reason why people wear green is to match the shamrock.

Now, about that mystical creature that steals the gold at the end of the rainbow, a leprechaun. The leprechaun is known for luck. But, did you know there are only male leprechauns, no female leprechauns? So only male leprechauns get the gold.

On Saint Patrick’s Day, there are many celebrations. Did you know the Chicago River has been dyed green for over 50 years? In Dublin, approximately one million people take place in their festival. The multi-day festival includes parades, concerts, outdoor theatre productions and fireworks. But, the first parade took place in the United States. Parades include bagpipes, Irish soldiers and drums. The first celebration ever took place in Boston, Massachusetts. Saint Patrick’s Day was first celebrated in the 17th century.

On Saint Patrick’s Day, people learn about the Irish music, dance, literature and food. Saint Patrick’s Day is a visible day to celebrate and learn about the Irish culture. This religious holiday has turned into an ethnic holiday, part of the Irish culture.

Saint Patrick did so many things. Patrick established monasteries, churches and schools. People celebrate this day everywhere. But more people who are Irish live in the United States than Ireland.

See you all next time!

Research Corner: Dogs

Free Solo: The story of alex honnold

By: Brielle

Imagine climbing up a brick wall with nothing to catch you if you fall. That is about 10 times less terrifying than what Alex Honnold might have felt soloing El Capitan.

"Free Solo" is a movie featuring Alex Honnold, showing how he free climbed El Capitan's “nose" a shocking 7,569 feet high. Soloing is climbing up a mountain without any gear. No rope, no bolts, no nothing! He has soloed many different mountains including Indian Rock, Yosemite’s Astroman and Rostrum, Zion’s Moonlight Buttress and Half Dome, but El Cap is the highest climb to date.

His life

Alex was born in Sacramento, California. He started climbing at age 5; his mom has always been supportive. He went to University of CA to do civil engineering, but dropped out after only one year to climb.

He skipped classes to boulder alone at Indian Rock.

The run

On June 3, 2017, Honnold finished the first free solo climb of El Capitan, without equipment. He said the Bolder Problem was his biggest challenge. He did the freerider run. He has the record along with Tommy Caldwell. Jimmy Chin, who had filmed him before, documented the climb. Then, on June 6, he did it again, this time in 1:58:07, setting a new record.

Picture Problems

The run wasn't always perfect, as there were some big problems with all the cameras and pressure. Honnold, Chin, and his crew went up to the mountain to try to conquer El Capitan. He made it up about half the mountain and bailed on the plan. Jimmy was confused, saying, “Alex is not the type of guy who would bail," but he did so they came back down. They talked and Alex said he didn't like all the people watching him. After three months of planning and changing the positions of the cameras, they went to El Capitan and set the world record!

Weather

Would You Rather?

By: Vahan

Caution: This may be disgusting...or dangerous!

Would you rather...

Be the least intelligent person in the world but you are rich, or would you rather be the smartest person in the world you are very poor?

Watch a horror film that’s rated NC-17 (with you parents' permission, of course) or would you rather watch a childish film that’s rated G?

Become the president of the U.S.A., or would you rather be governor of Illinois?

Be stung by a wasp, or would you rather be pinched by a king crab?

This has been Would You Rather!!!

Staff

Thank you to the entire Hoffman News Team for their efforts.

Each member of the team dedicates his/her entire lunch and recess hour, as well as time outside of school, to contribute to the news. We are extremely lucky to have such dedicated 4th and 5th grade students in our school community.

Do you have a news story for us to cover?

Submit your ideas for a news story by sending an e-mail to our producer.