Welcome to Ask Dear Pablo,
I have a big problem. I’m
Pablo
If you would like to have your
question answered by Pablo,
E-mail me at
Askpablo@gmail.com
Dear Pablo,
I am very nervous about the
upcoming science test. Every time I
have a big test I lose concentration. I Dear Stuck in Sports,
don't know what to do. I don't want to
fail. Please help.
Sincerely,
The Nervous One
Dear The Nervous One,
Don’t worry about it. Just get everybody has the right to an opinion.
the proper amount of sleep, and don't
skip breakfast. Kids do 30% better on
tests when they eat breakfast.
Hope everything works out!
Pablo
Genius of a Teacher
Uses Math to Build
By Akash Vaidya
Mr. Hoban is an 8th grade
math teacher for the Engineering
Academy. He has been working at IS
51 for five years. Mr. Hoban has
many hobbies such as swimming,
rollerblading and using computers.
He also enjoys many hobbies that are
related to math like building models
and drawing shapes. In fact, he has
been working on a special project at
his house: building a computer work
station! His new computer work sta-
tion is made out of a single bookcase
unit and a wooden shelf with adjust-
able legs.
Mr. Hoban is someone
whom many people would call a
“gadget-monger.” He is someone who
likes to know (and in this case,
someone who knows) how things
work and are put together. In other
words, Mr. Hoban is a genius of a
teacher.
Page 4
stuck between two of my friends. One
of them is a Yankee fan, and the other
one is a Met fan. They are always fight-
ing about what team is better. I like
both teams, but they want me to pick
sides. It’s embarrassing to go places
with them because they always start to
argue about this.
Sincerely,
Stuck in Sports
I know what it feels like to be
stuck in between friends. Tell them
that even though they don’t realize it
now, there's more to life than sports.
They should not ruin a good friendship
over a difference of opinion. By the way,
That’s life. Hopefully everything works
out.
Your Pal,
Pablo
I ntermediate School 51 New spaper
Written by the students
Intermediate School Volume 2, Issue 6
Volume 1,
April 3rd, 2009
51 Newspaper Issue 4
Written by the
students
Read Across America
Students Drop Everything and Read
By Perla Veliz
IS 51 celebrated Dr.
Seuss’ birthday on Thursday,
March 5th at 10:00am. All stu-
dents in our school building
dropped everything and read
their favorite books. We recog-
nized the national day of literacy
by reading for pleasure. All 6th
graders received a free book of
their choice from their language
arts teachers in honor of Dr.
Seuss.
March of Dimes
Important Dates
The Race is On April 3rd - Student of the Month
Ceremony
By Joseph McCarron
Mrs. Kennedy’s and Ms. April 9th - April 17th - Spring Recess
Walsh’s classes, 837 and 838, April 23rd - PTA Meeting 9am
have already raised $350 to donate
to the March of Dimes. The two April 26th - March of Dimes Walk
classes have pooled their funds
April 30th - 8th Grade Science Test
together and say, “This is only the
beginning.”
 Teen Action
Takes Action
By Elizabeth Felder and Chadanay
Sears
Have you heard of Teen Ac-
tion at IS 51? Well, if you haven’t,
they do a lot of things for the commu-
nity and for the school. Mrs. Conliffe
and Mr. Rispoli are in charge of this
program. They have been working on
a food drive with Project Hospitality.
Their goal is to collect enough food to
fill the shelves of Staten Island Sen-
ior’s Food Pantry again. At this point
their shelves are empty. Teen Actions
has also raised over $1,000 dollars in
food donations at Shop Rite.
At IS 51, Teen Action also
works with the Cross Roads Founda-
tion. The Cross Roads Foundation
collects baby necessities for parents
who attend their programs. They offer
ongoing parenting lessons and lessons
for expectant mothers. When the
mothers finish their lessons, they get
baby wipes and diapers that IS 51 has on Wednesdays.
collected for their program.
The main goal of Teen Action
is for the students to help each other
and become better people themselves.
Teen Action also works with Service
Learning. The main goal of Service
Learning is to help students under-
stand that by serving their commu-
nity, their school, as well as people
less fortunate, it helps them become
better people.
Teen Action holds fundraisers
and also goes on trips to the Museum
of Natural History, the Metropolitan
Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Bo-
tanical Gardens. Mrs. Conliffe says
that it is a privilege to be part of Teen
Action. She also says that when you
Volume 2, Issue 1
help others, you help yourself.
Mrs. Pero works with Mrs. Conliffe
in all of the after school art pro-
grams to help beautify the school.
Another thing that Teen
Action is part of is the Bagel Break-
fast. Students raise money by tak-
ing bagel orders from teachers.
Every Friday morning they prepare
and deliver the bagels to our teach-
ers. Mrs. Hinz and Mr. Rispoli su-
pervise students in preparing the
bagels. They have different teams
that rotate weeks to work. The stu-
dents come to school early so that
the bagel orders are ready for deliv-
ery to the teachers when they come
in. The profits are used to help dif-
ferent organizations in the commu-
nity.
Team Action also has a
group of students who work at the
Staten Island Children’s Museum
Remember to help Teen
Action stock the shelves for Project
Hospitality. Please bring non-
perishable canned or boxed foods
to your homeroom. Once a week
your contributions will be brought
to Mrs. Conliffe in room B15.
Page 2
A Chinchilla, a Turtle, a Lizard,
Oh My!
By Elizabeth Felder and Chadanay
Sears
On March 25, Sam and Cait-
lin brought small animals from the
Staten Island Zoo to our school. This
visit was arranged by Mrs. Liptzin. It
was so amazing to see these animals.
They brought three different animals:
the Savannah monitor, the North
American spotted box turtle and the
chinchilla.
Did you know that the Sa-
vannah monitor is a cold blooded
creature that lives in hot areas? It eats
Chinchilla
small animals such as rats, birds and
rodents. Yuck! It has a tongue that is
shaped like a fork and two holes on
either side of its head. Believe it or
not, those are its internal ears! Its jaw
is so strong it can eat a whole turtle.
Its tail is so strong that it can knock
its prey out and eat it. A Savannah
monitor has very sharp nails. When it
is in a new environment it sticks out
its tongue and grabs the air. By doing
this it can tell where it is. The roof of
its mouth has sensors that can tell
where it is.
North America Spotted Box
The spotted box turtle is not Turtle
extinct. It lives in or around water. To
protect itself it shrinks inside its shell
so its enemies cannot harm it.
The last animal is a chin-
chilla which is extinct in its habitat.
No one has seen a chinchilla in the
wild since 1960. The life span of a
chinchilla in the wild is six years and
in a zoo it is eleven years. The chin-
chilla has excellent hearing.
Not only was this event fun,
but we really learned a lot about the
animals and their habitats.
Savannah Monitor
Page 3 Intermediate School 51 Newspaper