Hitting Snooze: Why Schools Should Start Later
By Peyton Gawronski and Natalie Fol (7th Grade)
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Photo by Peyton Gawronski (pictured: Taleya Gunn and Natalie Fol)
Have you ever fallen asleep in class, struggling to stay awake? According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, kids over 12 years old should get 8–10 hours of sleep every night, but early school start times cause kids to get less than seven hours. Schools should start later because without enough sleep, kids can have trouble focusing, and it can also lead to health and safety issues.
Sleeping can also improve your health. Getting enough sleep boosts your immune system and helps fight off illnesses like colds. This reduces your risk of getting sick. Sleep also improves brain function, helping students make better decisions and solve problems more effectively.
Without enough sleep, injuries can occur. According to CDC Sleep, people who get quality sleep “lessen the risk of motor vehicle crashes and related injury or death.” You could even fall asleep while driving, which could lead to life-threatening injuries for yourself and others.
Some may say that an early start allows parents to go to work on time after dropping their kids off at school. But my opinion is stronger because kids’ health and well-being are more important than parents getting to work earlier in the morning.
It’s time for our school district to rethink start times. Talk to teachers and the school board about starting school later!
With better focus, kids will learn more and get better grades overall. Children should get eight to ten hours of sleep every night. If kids don’t get enough sleep, it can cause depression and other mental health issues. According to Stanford Medicine, students who don’t get enough sleep “are 10 times more likely to have depression and 17 times more likely to have anxiety than the general population.”
Giiker Super Slide: A Fun Challenge for Your Brain
By Jackson Pelletier (6th Grade)
Brand: GiiKER
Price: $40
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ (4.5/5)
The Giiker Super Slide is a fun, strategy-based puzzle toy designed to give your brain a workout. It’s pocket-sized, colorful, and easy to use once you read the manual. The small magnetic blocks are bright and satisfying to move around, and the puzzle offers 255 levels—enough to keep you busy and challenged for hours.
The toy is sturdy enough to survive a drop (though not a throw), and it’s simple to understand, even for beginners. One downside is that the small magnetic blocks can be easy to lose. It would be great if it came with a built-in compartment or small case to store them.
This puzzle is best suited for kids ages 9 and up or anyone who enjoys strategy and problem-solving games. While $40 might feel a little pricey at first, the long-lasting replay value makes it worth the cost.
Overall, the Giiker Super Slide is an engaging, well-made toy that challenges your brain and keeps you entertained. Whether you’re playing casually or pushing yourself to beat every level, this puzzle is a great pick for puzzle lovers.
The Lorax: A Powerful Message for the Planet
By Madelyn Fontaine (6th Grade)
Release Date: March 2, 2012
Director: Chris Renaud
Genre: Family / Fantasy
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
In my opinion, this movie is inspiring in several ways because it shows that it is important to help make change and be the one to make a difference in the world.
The story is about a man who is just trying to make money for his family. He believes in a big forest full of Truffula trees—big, fluffy trees with tops that feel like clouds. When he discovers the forest is real, he is overjoyed. But when he chops down the first tree, something explodes out of it: the Lorax, who speaks for the trees. The Lorax tries to tell the Once-ler to stop cutting down the trees, but he won’t listen. In the end, all the trees are gone.
Years later, a little boy named Ted tries to make a difference with a seed. Will he succeed? Will he fail? And will Mr. O’Hare defeat him?
The main characters are The Lorax, Ted, The Once-ler, and Mr. O’Hare. The acting was outstanding, amazing, and very talented.
My favorite part is when the Lorax comes out of the tree and begins to lecture the Once-ler on why he should never cut down a tree—or when Ted helps to grow the trees back. Another moment I love is when the Lorax says:
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
I like this line because it shows that if nobody stands up, the world will not get better. I also love when the Lorax says:
“A tree falls the way it leans.”
This line sends a message about people’s character and the way they act.
The visuals are very bright and colorful. The music is good too, with a variety of songs such as “Wasteland,” “The Last Seed,” and “Ted, Audrey and the Trees.”
The main lesson is that if you do nothing, nothing will change or get better. It sends a message to kids and adults watching all around the world.
I recommend this movie to children everywhere.
Final Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
Because the message and meaning are so powerful and inspiring.
Mr. D Brings Energy, Lacrosse, and a Little Tech to the Gym
By Maeghan Morris (8th Grade)
Photo By Maeghan Morris
Walking into the WMS gym, you can just see Mr. Delia’s expressive presence, even when he’s not in the gym. The chaos has yet to begin.
Mr. Delia has been a PE teacher at WMS for about six to seven years. When Mr. Delia isn’t yelling at kids to not kick a volleyball or to not sit on the bleachers and participate, he’s on the lacrosse field yelling at high schoolers to get to the ball or stay on sides. The reason Mr. Delia loves lacrosse is because ever since he was a little kid, he wanted to be a lacrosse coach. His dad, who was a lacrosse coach, helped influence his decision to become one.
Mr. Delia, to most students, is just Mr. D. He says the hardest part about being in the gym is having to deal with children who have poor behavior. Something he misses from last year’s seventh graders is that, in most classes, there were some kids who had really good behavior and were also really cooperative and participated a lot. He believes that one of these classes was his G Block class. To Mr. D, being a PE teacher means helping kids, teaching sports, developing skills, and teaching them to use those strategies later on in life — not just in sports, but in life as well.
Mr. D’s favorite thing to teach would have to be badminton. His least favorite activity to teach would be hockey, because it can be a very dangerous sport. Something else that he also doesn’t like teaching is basketball. He says, “It’s just a boring sport.”
Other than being a lacrosse coach or PE teacher, Mr. D would want to have a job that has something to do with technology. He likes being behind a computer and doing statistics. His secret passion, from an undisclosed source, would be to play Call of Duty: Warzone.
Some fun things Mr. D did during high school included always playing with his friends outside or playing competitive sports, even if they were made up. If Mr. D could go into the past or the future, he said he would probably go back to middle or elementary school, when he was always playing with his friends in the backyard. Any game they made up that was fun or competitive, everybody from the town always came and played.
If Mr. D could be anybody in the world, he said he would be Ryan Reynolds. The reason he would want to be Ryan Reynolds is because he says, “He’s the man and he’s good looking.”
For Mr. Delia, gym can be hard on him, but he loves and enjoys what he does and all the kids that he helps. Even if all his students can’t, he really can for them.
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