School Violence awareness week is all about stopping children's bullying and being safe in-person and online. We get a lot of scam emails and messages on social media and online. We have to be safe by keeping it in our parent's control. Bullies send rude or inappropriate messages in school. Don’t send rude messages back to them and start a fight. The reason why they send rude messages was to get you to start a fight. So tell a trusted adult or a staff near you. They will block the bully’s account and the bullies can’t send messages to you now. Keep your passwords safe don’t share them with anyone, even your best friend. Only share passwords with your parents and guardian. 

Here are 4 tips to stay safe online:

1. Keep your passwords safe

2.  Don’t talk to strangers

3. Ask your parents before you download anything because they can be a virus

4. Only say/share kind and nice things

Be safe in person like in school or at shops. Be kind to everyone in your school. If someone is bullying you, go tell the nearest trusted adult or your teacher. Everyone gets teased in school, places like the bus, restrooms, classes, special periods, and more. So tell them to stop and be kind so that they will receive kindness just like that! If someone tries to start a fight, be the one to stay calm. If you feel uncomfortable, tell a parent, guardian, or teacher.

Now you learned all the things you should do when you are getting bullied. Follow these tips to be safe in person and online!! :)

Be Safe!!!

Hispanic Heritage Month is when we celebrate all American Latinos. We celebrate them because of their diverse cultures and the history of American Latinos. Hispanic Heritage Month means to look back at where you came from and look back at your traditions. It mostly begins on September 15th and ends on October 15th. September 15th is actually an independence day for 5 Latin American countries. That is how Hispanic Heritage Month started.

That’s not all how Hispanic Heritage Month started. Hispanic Heritage Month began in 1968. But Hispanic Heritage Month was not a month at first, it was just a week. In 1968 President Lyndon Johnson made Hispanic Heritage a week. It was expanded in 1988, by President Ronald Reagan. It was an official law on August 17th, 1988. That is the history of how Hispanic Heritage Month started. 

Why did Hispanic Heritage Month start? Well, Hispanic Heritage Month began as a state project, but the Latinos were only included in the project a little. So the Latinos demanded to include them and their culture, history, and rights. President Lyndon B. Johnson then signed the demand into law in 1968. That is how Hispanic Heritage Month started.

Do you know what Veteran’s Day is?  It is a holiday that honors all of the many people who served in the military. You usually have it during fall break on Friday. It is celebrated on November 11 every year. It ended on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

Some veterans get free lunches from certain restaurants if they show their ID and prove they are a veteran. We honor all veterans from all branches of the military. Also if you see people with patrol hats they are probably veterans.  You can thank veterans by writing thank you cards or by saying thank you for your service.

The reason we celebrate veterans day is to honor all who have sacrificed and done their job protecting our country. We celebrate all veterans that have fought or are just keeping peace throughout America. You might see a lot of veterans on veterans day.  You might see many people going to look at monuments.

In the OTR winter chorus, we sing merry songs about Christmas. We have solos, speaking parts, harmony, and much more. Winter chorus is a musical. This year’s winter chorus is called “How the Penguins Saved Christmas." The concert is on December 20th and the chorus will perform for the students during the day and for parents in the evening. Some of the songs are “This Elegant Christmas Time," "Who Me,"  "Who Can the Stranger Be," and "Remember." In the winter chorus, we also have speaking parts. The story behind the concert this year is about how Santa crash lands at the South Pole where there are penguins, and the penguins save him and Christmas. The chorus members have been working very hard this year, and will for sure impress you. Hope you like the concert!

What is “Girls Who Code”? Hello, let me tell you about “Girls Who Code”. “Girls Who Code” is a coding website for kids from 3rd grade to middle school. It works with “Scratch”. This website requires an account. This is one of the coding websites for girls. Scratch is a website where you can do coding. Girls Who Code allows you to see many ideas which come in a level. In Girls Who Code you can find their project and test it out by clicking the project they made and it goes to Scratch. Girls Who Code and Scratch do not require any personal information except for birthday/born date. Scratch and Girls Who Code is a kid-friendly website online. In Girls Who Code you are mostly taught by a teacher in your school. There are over 1M projects in Scratch which helps you to find ideas. Since Girls Who Code is kid friendly and very easy to sign up you can be advanced in Scratch. Scratch is very popular for kids and adults to code. Join Girls Who Code today and get so many tips to be a coder!

It was a night. Not just any night. It was the night of Hallow’s Eve. It was the night when the ghosts and spirits romped around as pleased. The scarecrow outside seemed to suddenly come to life and the moon seemed to screech. The rats and mice skittered around looking for tiny morsels of food. The shadows of the old tree looked like they stretched toward you. The eyes of the owl watching you from your bedroom window seemed to get larger that night but the fright of Hallow Eve was 10 times greater for a single boy. This poor boy’s name was none other than “Wyatt Fernandez”. 

Wyatt W. Fernandez was your everyday 11-year-old boy. He had blond hair that was sleek. It glimmered in the sun as if it was a golden coin. His blue eyes looked as though they could pierce anything. Even though he wasn’t a straight ‘A’ student, in fact, he always got what he called “A beautiful C-”, he was one of the most popular and respected boys at school and this was because his dad made creepy, life-like video games. If you go on the internet and search for who made your favorite video game, chances are that it was made by Yash Fernandez. 

On the day before Hallow’s Eve, Wyatt noticed two ventriloquist dolls sitting in the corner of his dad’s studio. They had perfectly painted eyes and lips. They both wore matching tuxedos where not even a wrinkle was found. Not a hair was out not of place and matching ribbons adorned both dummies. In fact, the only thing different about them was that one had gray eyes and the other had crimson red eyes. They both wore little stickers with their names. The gray-eyed dummy was “DeathSaber” and the other one was “El Diablo”. These two dummies were part of the new game his father was making called, The Return of Evil. He started to walk away and then heard a sound. He turned around swiftly but saw nothing and hurried away. 

That night when Wyatt was sleeping, a red beam of light shot through the air like a missile and hit the two dummies. The two dummies woke up and laughed evilly. HA-HA-HA!  The humans shall bow to them now. Dummies shall rule all and humanity shall suffer.

The next day, the precise day of Hallow’s Eve, Wyatt was making a robot with his friend, A.J. Katz. His real name was “Ajax Jackson Katz” but everyone called him “A.J.” A.J. loved to make robots so, he dragged Wyatt into it too. They were working in the cluttered garage with billions of little parts and circuits and all kinds of thingamabobs that Wyatt didn’t understand. Next to them was a shelf with the two dummies on it. 

“How are we going to build this thing?” shouted Wyatt in frustration after the spring bounced away for the tenth time. “Be patient and grab the spring,” replied A.J. The spring kept bouncing away and Wyatt chased after the annoying thing. The spring jumped up and hit El Diablo. The two dummies stood up with a sickening crack. “Hello, human,” said El Diablo in a wispy voice. This is a dream! This is a dream! This is a dream! thought Wyatt but alas it was real. A.J. walked over and gaped at the dummies. He punched Wyatt in the shoulder so hard that Wyatt got out of his trance and A.J. recovered too. 

“What is the matter, you nimble-minded humans?” said El Diablo, “Never felt scared!”. “But you are just a dummy!” Wyatt managed to stutter. The dummy’s expression quickly turned to anger. ”You dare call the El Diablo a dummy," he roared, “be careful who you call a dummy, imbecilic child! You shall suffer! You shall suffer a lot!” “Your dad plans to send me to Japan and DeathSaber to Brazil,” said El Diablo, “We shall kill him before this.” DeathSaber walked to a huge tank of oil and picked it up as if it was nothing but a light feather. He threw it at the boys, who ducked down. The oil crashed into a table and started to leak but that was the least of their worries. El Diablo had lit a match. “You couldn’t!” said A.J., “You wouldn’t!” “Oh, I can’t?” said El Diablo, “Well watch, boy.” It all happened so fast. El Diablo threw the match and both dummies sat back on the shelf, lifeless. 

The garage was on fire and both boys managed to get out. Wyatt’s dad came running to the garage with the fire brigade. After the fire department put out the fire, Wyatt’s dad, named “Yash Fernandez '', came out of the house, positively fuming. “What were you boys thinking?” he said angrily, “We could have all died!”. “It was the dummies sir,” said  A.J., “They were alive!”. “Clearly this is part of a video game you kids are making but I do not want to hear it!” said Wyatt’s father, “If there is one more incident you are not allowed to be in my video game.” The boys were practicing their scary sounds and screams to provide sound effects for the new game. It was all they wished for but it would go away!

A few hours later, Wyatt and A.J. were in the attic, hiding behind some random ancestor’s old rocking chair and a big box of black and white movies. The dummies had been moved up to the attic and were locked there so the boys would not get any funny ideas. The two friends needed recorded proof that the dummies are alive. A.J. had brought his red iPhone. Wyatt had gotten a paper clip and unlocked the attic. They had been in the same spot for half an hour. 

Finally, El Diablo and DeathSaber got up and walked to a piece of paper. That was the plan to make dummykind rule the world. Wyatt sprung up and finished the video. The two boys ran for the door but DeathSaber tackled them down like a football player. “Foolish children,” said El Diablo, “Your dad will die but I shall do something else evil and despicable!”. He then commanded DeathSaber to shove A.J. into the mahogany wardrobe. DeathSaber obeyed and Wyatt was left against the dummies.  “I still have proof,” said Wyatt in a shaky voice, lifting up A.J.’s phone. “Yes, of course, the phone,” said El Diablo in disgust. He picked up a battered suitcase and snatched the phone. El Diablo threw the suitcase on the phone, destroying it.  

El Diablo then found his hands on an old rifle that was used for the famous game, Shooter Master 3, El Diablo then started to fire the rifle like a complete madman. The bullets hammered the haunted house. They shattered the skeletons and turned the fake mice to mincemeat. The sound echoed through the house like a fire alarm and thunder mixed together. After the bullets were all spent up, the dummies returned to their original form. Wyatt’s dad came running in and saw his precious possessions destroyed and A.J. just coming out of a wardrobe. “What?” he stammered, “You are banned from my video game.” “But it was the dummies!” said Wyatt in protest but when his dad held up his hand he stopped. It was over! They were out of the game! 

Precisely one hour later, Wyatt and A.J. were in the attic with the dummies. They were trying to coax the wooden people to wake up and in around 6 minutes they did. “Want to get embarrassed again?” asked El Diablo in a mocking tone. “You will stop you!” said A.J. in the bravest voice he could manage. DeathSaber pulled out a sword and gave it to El Diablo. “Well, then I hope you rest in pieces! HA! HA! HA!”. He was about to slice Wyatt’s head off when another metal object clashed with it. His dad has found a metal rod in the attic. “You were right,” he said. That was all the time El Diablo needed. He pushed Wyatt’s dad off to the side and was about to kill the boys. Wyatt could see the news headlines now, Boy, 11 gets killed by a doll. 

DeathSaber's body slammed into El Diablo and El Diablo fell into the same wardrobe A.J. was trapped in. DeathSaber rearranged his tie and scope in a gravelly voice, “Now I shall rule!”

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Ram who lived in Ayodhya with his brother Lakshaman and their grandparents in a village next to the temple. They always waited and celebrated Diwali together since it was their favorite holiday. However this year they were also celebrating it with their parents as well. The brothers had wished all year for their parents to celebrate with them, and they finally got their wish fulfilled by the gods. They also heard that father might run late coming here. They were really sad about it, but they were happy again when they saw their father and mother did not run late when they arrived on Diwali morning. They danced until they were really tired, ate lots and lots of savory snacks, then did puja to the goddess of prosperity Lakshmi. In the evening, they went outside and released lots and lots and lots of fireworks into the air with lots and lots of friends. When the fireworks ran out, they came inside and had a feast of sweets and savory foods. When the food was over, they gave gifts and played lots of games. “YAY!” yelled Ram and said that was the best Diwali celebration ever and lots and lots of fun.