What's Up Wang?

Click on the link below for pictures of our most recent players and the group responsible for cheering them on!

If you haven't heard, the 8th grade has a new computer policy. To summarize the new policy, laptops do not leave the classroom. Every class you enter, you must go to the computer cart, grab a computer, sign in, and then you can finally do your work.

I believe this system is hurting the learning more than helping it. There are multiple flaws I see in the system. For example, what if one computer breaks? All the people who had to use that laptop don’t have a laptop in that class, or if that class uses the computers a lot, then they might be dead in later periods because it doesn't have enough time to charge. Also, from my personal experience on the first day of this system (the day I'm writing this), in math skills when we needed to do the diagnostic. There weren't enough laptops, so we had to go to a different room to get more laptops. Also, there was a very large crowd around the cart, making it take even longer to get the laptop and log in.

Some more flaws I see are what if someone takes the computer home and doesn't charge it? Now, it's dead for a good amount of the day. To add on, what if they take a computer and are absent the next day? Then everyone who uses that computer in that class doesn't have it. Also, it's very unsanitary, especially with flu season coming. If someone's sick and sneezes on their computer or something similar, then everyone who uses it will most likely get sick.

I believe that there could be better solutions to the problem of losing and breaking computers, which is just don't replace them if it's frequent. If they have a problem with their laptop breaking and they seem like the type of person to break their laptop by being inappropriate with it, then don't give them a new one. While yes, this would make it so the teachers must print out things from the computer, but they could have the teachers have their own loaners that won’t leave the room, maybe 1 to 3 that must be returned and never leave the room no matter what.

The following paragraphs/writing is by my peers (fellow 8th graders)

By Anonymous(1) "The new system [stinks]. It makes no sense whatsoever, the reasons they keep changing it are reasonable, but making the decisions for a large group of people before at least thoroughly telling them before (and not a blunt explanation) or seeing if there are better solutions to the problem at hand. The actions that they make affect the whole group of people and not just the ones causing the problems. They should set up meetings with the students (not only student council but a variety such as kids who cause the problems, the councils, and other everyday ones) to see if there are any more ideas. Not only that but it is frustrating how the system seems to change every month. Of course there are multiple problems at the school but the change tends to make it hard to learn and is overall confusing when it changes so often. Other students that don’t cause the problems are getting affected and the ones who do cause it are just getting more rebellious with their actions, wanting to see how far they could push until the whole grade can’t take it. I’m sure teachers are also frustrated at the frequent changes, messing with their curriculum and their time to work when they have to stop and make charts on who has what computer in every single one of their classes.

A quote from one of my peers:

“It's like sharing a desk” -Anonymous(2)

Back to me

As you might've read, one of my peers mentioned a better student council system, and I strongly agree because you're only getting opinions from a select few people who mostly share the same interest. You aren't getting the people’s opinion, you're getting the same type of party that won’t have everyone at heart.

I wanna hear what you guys think, so if you want, answer this form.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeBH2dqmdthgaIsh8r8JW0a8uvlMt1IYc7dYwUDwaVI1XUysw/viewform?usp=dialog

Ladies, gents, and everyone else, welcome toooooo…

Guess! That! Lyric!

Today's lyric issssss…

“Take her back to that kiss, to that row of willow trees”

Enter your guesses down below! Whoever guesses correctly and first will get a shoutout! Put in the song and artist name!

Hint: The genre is musical theatre!

Each week, a new character will be drawn and you guys will have the opportunity to name them! The name that is liked the most by our crew here at What’s Up, Wang? Will get a shoutout.

I drew this creature…thingy well trying to go to sleep and i dont have a name for it, so i want to see what people can come up with for names

Background info:its arms and feet are giant claws as well as the end of its tail and its about 7 feet tall and 17 feet in length and it body is hard and immune to sharp objects such knifes and can climb walls and roofs with the claws and has night vision an can run up 70-80mph an dif its angry or hungry up to 110mph!

Ever wonder who makes the food we eat? Ever wonder how much work goes into making the food? I did too. Each week, we'll feature one of our wonderful lunch ladies and learn more about them and the work they do.

This week, I'm happy to introduce Ms Kelly.

Q: What do you like most about your job?

A: I love my coworkers.

Q: What do you do when you are not serving lunch?

A: We are usually prepping the meals for the next day.

Q: What are some challenges you have serving lunch?

A: Not all the kids like the meals we serve.

Q: How do you handle allergies, diets, etc.?

A: We have a list of kids that we got from the nurse with allergies, and the students' allergies will also show up on the computer.

Q: If you could add something to this school menu, what would it be?

A: I would like it if we served more desserts.

Q: Does the money for food come out of your own pocket?

A: Nope!

Q: Why did you choose to become a lunch lady? Did someone or something inspire you to become one?

A: I started at the Wang when my son started there, and I've continued ever since.

Memes back then had nothing to do with brainrot. They were all goofy pictures with a caption on the bottom. For example, when I searched up quote “Memes of the 80’s” I got this one image with curly blond wigs that go down to your shoulders, looking not-too modern. You people of this generation would show absolutely no care about this. But what if you were how old you are right now, living in 1980?

80’s trends included big hair, makeup, oversized blazers, parachute pants, just nothing any of y’all would want to wear or be seen with in public. This modern day, everybody is showing up with their navy blue jordans and under armour pants. Probably in about 20-30 years, these merchandise creators would be broke, and living down by the river, due to the fact that nobody would buy from them.

The process of sharing memes to the world in the 80’s was way more hard getting it out to the world than it is now. Nowadays it’s a simple click of the button, it gets out to the whole world. Magic. Voila. The process was much harder back then. It was a slow analog process. This is a simple reason old men/women get all grumpy and do the good ol’ “Get off my lawn” and the dirty looks when you are sitting in the cafe at Market Basket. They get all mad because I supposedly took their “lucky seat” and then they give me the ugliest glare I've ever seen in my life.

What have we learned today? We learned that those 130 year olds at Market Basket yell at us due to the fact that they want our technology. They didn’t have this back then, and they’re blaming us, although we are just innocent bystanders to all of this.

This has been… (Calm documentary music) Will’s Weekly - Prehistoric Memes of the ding-dang-dong 80’s.

For those who love to draw, we’re doing an Art Contest. Every week we will send out a prompt and you may submit a photo of a drawing you made that follows said prompt! We, the newsletter group, will judge the winner and include a picture of their drawing. If you have any prompt suggestions you may Gmail me, Cali Boissonneault, at 287731@student.lowell.k12.ma.us!

This week's prompt is:

Your favorite music artist in your style!

And now it’s your turn! Submit your photos using the link below.

Check out these fabulous pieces from our very own students! SEND US MORE!

🦕

by : Zoey Martos

Every week I will be talking about a dinosaur, and every week you guys will have the chance to fill out a form and recommend a dinosaur

Tryannosaurus Rex!!

This week I will be talking about the Tyrannosaurus Rex also known as the T-rex. Many Hollywood movies (Jurassic park) spread fake information about dinosaurs, mainly the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Velociraptors and Mosasaurs. So this week I will be talking about how T-rex really were. A common misconception is that T-rexs have poor vision and hearing, when in reality T-rex have AMAZING vision. In fact they have better vision then humans and can see miles away, fun fact they have binocular vision. They also have incredible hearing especially for low frequencies. Another common misconception is that T-rexes can roar, in reality they can't roar at all; the only animals that can roar are mainly mammals.

*Difficult

Recipe information

• Total Time

• 1 hour 15 minutes

• Yield

• 8 servings

Ingredients

Cake

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

2 lb. apples (such as Honeycrisp or Fuji; about 6), peeled, cored, cut into ½" pieces (about 4 cups)

2 Tbsp. (25 g) plus 1 cup (packed; 200 g) light brown sugar

1 Tbsp. plus ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt, divided

1 cup (173 g) chopped pitted Medjool dates

¾ cup warm freshly brewed coffee

3 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1½ cups (188 g) all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

Sauce and assembly

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup (packed; 200 g) light brown sugar

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt

Vanilla ice cream (for serving; optional)

Preparation

Cake

• Step 1
  Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 375°. Coat a 9" square baking pan with nonstick vegetable oil spray and line with parchment paper. Cook 2 lb. apples (such as Honeycrisp or Fuji; about 6), peeled, cored, cut into ½" pieces (about 4 cups), 2 Tbsp. (25 g) light brown sugar, 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature, ½ tsp. ground cinnamon, and ¼ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ⅛ tsp. Morton kosher salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until apples are glossy and softened but not mushy, 8–10 minutes. Let cool.
  
  

• Step 2
  Combine 1 cup (173 g) chopped pitted Medjool dates and ¾ cup warm freshly brewed coffee in a small bowl; let sit 10 minutes.
  
  

• Step 3
  Meanwhile, beat remaining 1 cup (packed; 200 g) light brown sugar and ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase speed to medium-low and, with motor running, add 3 large eggs one at a time, beating until combined after each addition. Beat in 1 tsp. vanilla extract. Reduce speed to low and mix in date mixture. (The batter will look broken at this point.)
  
  

• Step 4
  Sift 1½ cups (188 g) all-purpose flour, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. baking soda, and remaining ¼ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ⅛ tsp. Morton kosher salt into a medium bowl. Add 1 cup cooked apples and toss lightly to combine; set remaining cooked apples aside for serving. Add to brown sugar mixture in stand mixer bowl and gently fold with a rubber spatula until just combined.
  
  

• Step 5
  Scrape batter into prepared baking pan; place pan on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake cake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cake cool in pan 5 minutes.

• Step 6
  While the cake is baking, bring 1 cup heavy cream, 1 cup (packed; 200 g) light brown sugar, ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, and ½ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ¼ tsp. Morton kosher salt to a simmer in a medium heavy saucepan over medium-low. Cook, stirring often, until sauce is shiny and thick enough to coat a spoon, 8–10 minutes.
  
  

• Step 7
  Turn cake out of pan onto a platter and peel away parchment paper; discard. Pour ½ cup toffee sauce over and brush top and sides of cake to coat. Cut cake into squares and serve topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream if desired and remaining cooked apples and toffee sauce.
  Do Ahead: Cake can be made 2 days ahead; after inverting and brushing with sauce, let cool completely. Return to pan, and store tightly wrapped at room temperature. Toffee sauce can be made 2 weeks ahead; let cool. Cover and chill. Reheat in microwave at 30-second intervals or in a small saucepan over medium-low.

STUDENT SHOUT OUT!!!!

The winner of this weeks shout out is Andy Palma!

Q and A!!

Q. What's your favorite school lunch food?

A . Chicken patty

Q. Who's your favorite teacher?

A. Mr. Grenier

Q. What are some of your hobbies?

A. Playing Guitar

Q. If you were the principal what would you do and what would you change?

A. Be cool, ban homework, no school on tuesday

Q. What do you do out of school?

A. Take naps, play guitar and call

Q. What's your favorite subject in school?

A. ELA

Q. How do you inspire people?

A. By playing music

Q. What do you look forward to the most here at the Wang?

A. Field trips and Graduating

Q. What's your favorite song/ artist?

A. Blink- 182

Q. What's your favorite part or day of the school year and why?

A. Allied arts because we do anything but boring work

Written by Jadon Desrochers

Email Mrs. Doole at rdoole@lowell.k12.ma.us or come visit me if there is something you want to include here.