Volume 1, Issue 3

November 2011

HILLTOP MIDDLE SCHOOL

falcon times

Inside this Issue:

CJSF

PTSO

“Best Reads” club

Movie Review

Staff of the Month

Student of the Month

F.L.A.G.S. and iPads

Chargers vs. Raiders

Dance, Dance, Halloween!!

Give thanks for thanksgiving By Dhamar Perez

“Pass the gravy please.”

That’s a phrase you probably hear a lot on Thanksgiving Day. According to www.When-is.com, Thanksgiving is always the fourth Thursday of No-vember. This year Thanksgiving will be on the 24th of November.

Thanksgiving Day is a day for all of us to be thankful for what we have.

Thanksgiving Day was declared a na-tional holiday on February 19, 1795, by President George Washington (our 1st president). Then, in 1863, Presi-dent Abraham Lincoln (our 16th presi-dent) moved the holiday to October 3rd. Then, in 1941 president Franklin Delano Roosevelt (our 32nd president) moved the holiday to the fourth Thursday of November, to extend the shopping season for Christmas.

This Thanksgiving Day, at the

dinner table, share a little bit

about our American tradition

with your family.

Photo courtesy of www.citysoap.com

By Jessica Bennett and Jezabel Valles

Witches, goblins, and monsters. The Halloween dance is back!!

Many students attended the dance. The dance was so fun with all of the cool music and lights, free glow sticks, and especially the haunted-house entrance!

The entrance to the dance was the room next to the cafeteria. It was so creepy!!! It was super dark, and there was a smoke-machine in the room. Most people couldn’t even see the right direction to the dance. A lot of students and staff were dressed up. The funniest costume was a ba-nana, which was worn by Mr. Arancibia!!

**All dance photos by Sara Luna

P A G E 2 F A L C O N T I M E S

What is CJSF?

The purpose of PTSO

“Best Reads” Book Review Club

By Lizbeth Horta

CJSF stands for California Junior Scholastic Federation. The CJSF scholarship organization is host-ed by Mrs. Mojica. The purpose of this organization is to get us pre-pared for high school.

To qualify for this organization you must have A’s, B’s, and C’s on your semester grades. If you are an eighth grader you had to have the qualifying grades on your semester report cards last year. Also, you must fill out the appli-

cation every semester, which you get at the Counseling Center. If you receive any D’s or F’s you’ll automatically be dropped out of CJSF.

There are benefits from CJSF which are: a certificate, a pin, and sitting proudly in the first two rows at Promotion.

If you are interested ,you can have a conversation with Mrs. Mojica at the Counseling Center.

Counselor, Ms. Mojica

Photo by Dhamar Perez

By Maddy Coronado, Corbin Mongolo, and Lizbeth Horta

Do you consider yourself a book worm? If so, the Book Review Club is the perfect club for you!

In the Book Review Club you read the library’s newest books and re-view them. The club meets Fridays after school in the library, and lasts 25 minutes. Mrs. Southam is the new librarian.

The reason this club started was because of her. She felt that stu-dents who are passionate about book reading should have a club for it. Students choose their books and the reviews will be available on the school website.

There is no limit on how many peo-ple can join. Join the club!

Librarian, Mrs. Southam

Photo by Dhamar Perez

By Kazendria Cardenas and Sofia Trujillo

Have you ever heard of PTSO?

PTSO stands for Parent, Teacher, Student Organization. They talk about how to improve our school. Whoever goes to these meetings gets a nom-uniform pass!

The person who usually runs the-se meetings is our principal, Mrs. Gavin. These meetings are on the second Wednesday of every month. Parents, teachers, and stu-

dents of Hilltop Middle School are welcome to come.

PTSO gets money from fundraising and bonds. Did you know that our school gets $350 a month from Vons bonds? Parents, teachers and stu-dents work together to decide how that money is spent.

One subject discussed at the last meeting was the Multi-Cultural Fair, which will be on November 18. FLAGS will be running it and we hope to see

people there! Another subject discussed was a $5,000 grant for a community garden on our campus.

The next PTSO meeting will be held on November 19. We hope to see you all there!

Courtesy of Microsoft ClipArt

P A G E 3

Movie review: “Paranormal activity”

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 3

Stellar staff!

Super students! By Isabel Uerkvitz and Viviann Gaus

Veronica Escoto is an eighth grader. She likes wolves and her favorite color is teal. Her friends call her Ronnie.

Ronnie likes post hardcore music and death metal. Her favorite band is Sleeping With Sirens. Her favorite subject is English with Ms. Boyd because of her passion for writing . She thinks that if she could ever change her name, it would be to “Taylor Escoto”.

Ronnie has light brown hair, blue eyes, and a great personality. Her birthday was on October 25.

If you ever run into her, say “Hi!” She is cool, and an awesome friend.

By Maddy Coronado and Bryanna Moreno

Take a trip down horror lane and watch” Paranormal Activity 3”. It’s the movie everyone’s talking about.

This movie is about two little girls that see spirits. These spirits haunt the family while being caught on

tape. It will make you jump and you’ll get the chills.

You should know that this movie is rated R for the language used and/or the scary scenes! It’s the kind of movie that will leave you saying “What happens next?”

Paranormal Activity 3 is a great film to see on Halloween with friends or family. Good Luck!

Where is Umpiss? Here’s a hint: you might find her jamming out to Chris Brown. Umpiss is Sophia Torres’ nickname.

Sophia is an eighth grader. Her fa-

vorite subject is Math because she

believes that it’s awesome. She

adores the color pink and absolute-

ly loves lions. If she could change

her name, she’d choose “Vianna So-

phia”. Her favorite kind of music is

rap.

Umpiss has short, dark brown hair,

brown eyes, and a great attitude. If

you see her around, say “hey” or

introduce yourself.

Photo courtesy of Google images

By Jessica Bennett

This month’s teacher of the month is none other than Mr. Garcia.

He told us that he was very honored to be teacher of the month. He said, “Teacher of the month makes me feel like I am a good teacher.” When Mr. Garcia is around you better watch out because he claims that what scares the students is when he says “I am watching you.”

Mr. Garcia has worked here at Hilltop

Middle for eight years. He says that “teaching everyone equally makes the students more comfortable and relaxed.” On tests Mr. Garcia en-courages students to do their best and don’t give up. When he teaches he says words a certain way for students in his classes to remem-ber what he was talking about.

Like sports much? Mr. Garcia’s fa-vorite sports are soccer and foot-ball. His favorite soccer team is the

Chivas and his favorite football team is the Steelers. So come on down and visit Mr. Garcia in room 706.

World Cultures teacher, Mr. Garcia

Photo by Jessica Bennett

Photo courtesy of http://www.bing.com/images

Photo courtesy of http://theticketrumba.com

HILLTOP MIDDLE SCHOOL 44 East J. Street Chula Vista, CA 91910 Phone: (619) 498-2700 Advisor: Ms. Deborah Torng, Teacher Email: deborah.torng@sweetwaterschools.org

San diego chargers

We’re on the web!

htm.sweetwaterschools.org

Click on “Clubs”

iPads for f.l .a.g.s .

Oakland raiders

By Jackie Martinez, Sara Luna, and Bryan-na Moreno

The F.L.A.G.S. program is getting iPads to help increase technology in their learning. Every student has the option to purchase, and keep an iPad. Those who don’t purchase one have the opportunity to use one in class, and take it home. However, for students who do not purchase the iPad, it needs to be returned at the end of the year.

Some people that aren’t in F.L.A.G.S. may think this is unfair.

However, F.L.A.G.S. students tend to have more work. Also, many students are fundraising to pay for the iPads. Students have the option to pay in full, raise money by selling chocolate, or pay monthly.

We will be receiving the iPads early next week. The District helped us by giving us a grant and approving the purchase for F.L.A.G.S. students. Mad-dy Coronado says, “It is a great way to keep students up-to-date on technolo-gy.” Also, Bryanna Moreno thinks, “The iPads are going to be really good for us

and help our education.”

All of the FLAGS students are very excited and can’t wait to receive the iPads. If you have any questions, talk to to Mrs. Boyd or Mr. Black.

Photo courtesy of Google images

By Jezabel Valles

There’s been a lot of talk about which football team is the best. The most talk is about Raiders and Chargers.

The Chargers are in a three way tie for first place with Oakland and Kansas City. My favor-ite player is Luis Castillo, # 93. One of the most important players is Philip Rivers, because he’s the one and only quarterback.

Out of 50 people, about 72% of students are Charger fans. The other 28% are Raider fans. The first Charger-Raider game is on November 10th, 2011.

I don’t know about everyone else, but against the Raiders, IT’S ON!!!

By Francesca Brooks and Maddy Coronado

The Oakland Raiders are formerly a Los Ange-les team. They are some people’s favorite team. To others, they’re just practice for the San Diego Chargers.

The Raiders play against the Chargers on No-vember 10th, at 5:20pm. People support the Raiders because they have won three Super Bowls. In Oakland mainly everyone roots for the Raiders, just like how in San Diego mostly everyone roots for the Chargers. If you only root for the team who is winning, you have no team spirit. So show your team spirit and pick your favorite team!

Raiders, lets get them!

Photo by Ms. Torng

VS.

Photo by Jezabel Valles