Santa Rita Times: Volume 1

Santa Rita Times

Tuesday December 14, 2021

About this publication

Students in Journalism Club collaborated, designed, and created the first ever Santa Rita newspaper. We hope you enjoy Volume 1.

Holiday Traditions at Santa Rita

The Results Are In!

During the holiday season, everyone here at Santa Rita has their own unique traditions and ways to celebrate. Our journalists asked some of our teachers how they plan to celebrate the holiday season, their unique traditions, and what they were looking forward to this year.

Picture taken from JDRF.org

Interviews and Information Collected by Kamryn Daniels

Q: What are some of your family's traditions?
A: "Getting new pajamas"
A: "Going to church and coming back home to eat"
A: "Advent calendars"
A: "All getting together"

Q: What is your favorite holiday dish?
A: "Green Bean Casserole"
A: "Tamales"
A: "Ham and Mac & Cheese"
A: "Pie"

Q: What is your favorite part of the holiday season?
A: "Sleeping in"
A: "Giving gifts"
A: "Seeing the excitement on the kid's faces"
A: "Being with family"

Q: What is your favorite winter season activity?
A: "Sleeping"
A: "Sitting by the fire and watching Netflix"
A: "Skiing"
A: "Walking"
A: "Sledding"

Q: What color reminds you the most of Christmas?
A: "Gold"
A: "Red"
A: "Red and Green"

Results Gathered by Gage Schraer

What do Santa Rita students prefer: gifting or receiving? 147 students said they prefer to gift, while 117 preferred to receive.

Do students want snow on Christmas morning? 245 students said yes, while only 6 students said no.

When do student's families decorated for Christmas? 81 students said before Thanksgiving, 151 said after Thanksgiving, and 7 students shared they don't decorate for the holidays.

News & Current Events

Nice List or Naughty List? Which One Will You Be On?

Interviews Conducted by Harper Schmickle

Everyone always wants to know the answer to one big question around the holidays: What list will I end up on? The naughty list or the nice? The journalism club went out to see what our teacher's said might make a student fall into each of those lists in their classrooms.

Nice List
Teachers all had very similar responses to this question. They wanted students to have manners, be respectful, kind, and be responsible with their work. All in all, teachers want students to follow the golden rule: treat others the way you want to be treated.

Naughty List
Teachers said that student's lying, not taking responsibility for mistakes and being rude or disrespectful to others would put them on the naughty list. They did share that not many kids at our school would even fall onto this list. Phew!

My Ultimate List
I created my own list of what I think teachers should be looking for in their classrooms.

1. Integrity. Doing the right thing when no one is looking.
2. Kindness. Helping someone when they're sad.
3. Hard Work. Not giving up, even when it is difficult.
4. Listening. Teachers are always doing what's best for us, so when they ask us to do something, we need to do it.
5. Being respectful. To other students and to teachers.

How To Survive Snowvid

"What list will you be on this year?"

Words by Erik Bowman

Do you remember Snowvid 2021? Have you ever thought of what you would do if it happened again? Read on to learn about all the steps to take to make sure you are more prepared.

Be prepared and always have some water in the house if the water goes out. If you need to, you could gather snow and let it melt to have water if you run out. Another thing you can do to prepare is have some non-microwave snacks if power goes out. You could also have a External Charger and batteries.

You will need warm clothes and blankets to keep warm. If it isn’t too cold out, you could play outside for entertainment, but remember not to play too long or you could get really cold and get sick. You should have plenty of board games or cards to play that don’t require batteries, and keep your tablet or phone at around 100% battery at all times. Try not to let it drop too low.

And the golden rule is: Always Be Prepared! Even in the summer you should be ready for anything that might happen. But don’t let that distract you from having a great summer!

News & Sports

Assistant Editor Liam Burke, shares some information on the upcoming Winter Olympic Games and some outdoor activities to enjoy this winter.

Winter Activities

Image by Petr Kratochvil

Words by Liam Burke

Winter is just around the corner, so get ready to climb up mountains and then ski or snowboard down them.

There are many winter activities, such as skiing, snowboarding and snowshoeing. There are many more activities for this season, but these are some of the most popular, well liked and just overall fun.

Skiing is fun because it feels like your flying, and snowboarding feels like you're skateboarding really fast! Snowshoeing can feel like you are climbing on a cloud. So which one will you be trying this year?

Photo from unsplash.com

Photo by Fabrizio Conti

Winter Olympics Coming in February

Picture taken from iStock by Getty Images

Words by Liam Burke

The Winter Olympics is returning! Get ready to watch it and learn people's backstories. It will be fun but it will also be intense. Your heart will be beating out of your chest!

This year's Olympics will take place in Beijing, China. It will begin on Friday February 4, 2022 and will end on Sunday the 20th of February. There are plenty of events to watch!

Some of these events include: downhill skiing, speed skating, snowboarding, figure skating, ice hockey, bobsledding, curling and so much more. So be ready to lay back, get some popcorn and drinks, and get to watching!

The XXIV Winter Olympic Games will aire from February 4th-20th in Beijing, China.

Book Reviews

Take a look at some book recommendations from our very own Editor-in-Chief, Kaitlyn Perlas, to enjoy over the holiday break.

Santa Clauses

A Christmas Story

A Chick 'n' Pug Christmas

Traveler

The Great Spruce

by Mary Alice Parmley

Traveler is about a lost dog. He needs to find his way to the newborn baby, Jesus.

By Bob Raczka

Santa Clauses is about how Santa gets ready for Christmas. The book goes over every day leading up to Christmas, and states what Santa does.

By Jean Shepherd

A Christmas Story is the classic tale of a boy who really wants a gun for Christmas, but is worried he’s on the naughty list.

By John Duvall

A story about a boy, Alec, and his tree. People want to cut it down to make it the Christmas tree in the town hall, but Alec finds another way.

By Jennifer Sattler

Chick and Pug dress up as Santa and his Elves. Chick wants to find ways to spread cheer to his friends.

Entertainment/Humor

By Ella Soto

Who is Santa’s favourite singer?....................ELF-PRESLEY!
What’s the weather report on Christmas Eve?....................100% chance of Reindeer
Why are Dasher and Dancer always taking coffee breaks?....................Because they are my star bucks
Knock knock! Who’s there? Lettuce. Lettuce who? Lettuce in, it’s cold out here!
Knock knock! Who’s there? Holly. Holly who? Holly-days are here again
Which reindeer was the dinosaur most afraid of?....................COMET!

Lifestyle & Cooking

Words by Kayleb Crawford

Have you ever wanted to make the perfect Christmas cookie but didn't know how? Well I like cookies, and this is a recipe for cookies, frosting, and cookie dough from Simply Recipes that is said to be THE cookie to have on Santa's plate. Try it out and see for yourself if you agree!

Step-by-Step Directions:

To Make the Cookie Dough:
1. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. Using a mixer, whisk together the softened butter and sugar until creamy.
3. Then mix in the egg and vanilla, followed by the whipping cream.
4. With the mixer on a low speed, mix in the flour mixture just until no more dry streaks of flour remain.

Chilling:
1. Split the dough into two pieces. Roll each half out between two sheets of parchment paper.
2. Transfer the sheets of cookie dough, still sandwiched between parchment, to the fridge. (Place on baking sheets if needed so you can balance the sheets on top of other items in your fridge.)
3. Chill for at least one hour or overnight.

Preparing the Dough:
1. Peel off the top layer of parchment from one of the sheets of cookie dough.
2. Use cookie cutters to cut out the cookie shapes. If the dough gets too soft, chill it in the refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes before continuing.

Bake:
1. Transfer the cookies to a cookie sheet.
2. Bake for 5-8 minutes at 400°F.
3. Remove the cookies from the oven as soon as you see them turning color at the base of the cookie.
4. Let them cool completely.
5. Repeat with remaining batches of cookies. You can also gather the scraps, roll them out again, and cut more cookies!

Make the Icing:
1. In mixer, mix together Crisco or butter, powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract until smooth.
2. If your icing is too thick to spread evenly, add tiny amounts of milk and until the icing is perfect.
3. Separate into different bowls and add food coloring to whatever colors you would like!

Decorate:
1. Spread the icing onto the cookies with a butter knife or spatula.
2. If you want the sprinkle decorations to stick directly on the cookie, brush the cookie with clear Karo syrup and then sprinkle and enjoy!

Image borrowed from Simplyrecipes.com

Ingredients You Will Need:

Ingredients for the Cookies:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, slightly roughed up
3 tablespoons whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (can substitute almond extract)

Ingredients for the Icing:
1/3 cup Crisco (trans fat-free) or a 1/3 cup of softened butter
1 pound powdered sugar
About 1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Graphic Novel/Comics

"A day without laughter is a day wasted."
-Charlie Chaplin

Box 1: "Ho Ho Ho! Time to deliver presents!"

Box 2: "Hurry! If we want to get these presents delivered in time we need to go fast."

Box 3: "Another house done!"

Box 4: "Almost done..."

Box 5: "Done just in time like always!"

Box 6: "Good job everyone we are done!" "yay."

Graphic Novel designed and written by Farrah Browning