The Lucky Issue Doral Academy Elementary March 2011

Volume II, Issue IV

The Dragons’ Tale reporters would like to

bring you a little luck and laughter just

before the FCAT and SAT.

Good Luck!

LUCKY CHARMS

By: Andrea Guerrero

The Four-Leaf Clover

It is a tradition that this clover will bring good luck to the

person who finds it, especially if it is accidently.

The first leave is for hope

The second leave is for faith

The third leave is for love

The fourth leave is for good luck

The Dream Catcher

The Miccosukee Indian’s tribe, uses the dream

catcher to “catch” nightmares, especially for

kids. You place the dream catcher on top of

your bed. And in the morning you shake it to

take the nightmares out.

Lucky Penny

The penny gives you luck if you find it,

especially if it is heads up. If it is heads down

you should turn it to heads to gives luck to the

next person who finds it.

“Find a penny, pick it up

and all day long you’ll have good luck”

$2.00 Bill

The $2.00 bill is very rare in the United States. If you

ever get a two dollar bill you should keep it to get good

luck.

Lucky Clothes

Everybody usually has clothing that brings you luck

when you wear it. You must pay attention

of what you are wearing when you

have a really lucky day, and try to use the

same clothes on different occasions

in order to find out if that is lucky clothing. It

can be a shirt, socks, hat, belt, shoes….anything!

Lucky Pencil

Did you ever notice if one of your pencils gave you luck

when taking a test? If you have a lucky pencil, take care

of it, you’ll need its help because… FCAT tests are

almost here!!!

Good Luck!

All About

St. Patrick’s Day

By Marcos Rodriguez

Every March 17th we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Did you ever ask yourself…Why?

Why the Color Green? Green stands for the land. Ireland is a very grassy place. Green doesn’t really connect to St. Patrick. It connects to fairies, angels, and other Holy things. Green is associated because it’s the color of spring, Ireland, and the shamrock.

Why a Four-Leaf Clover? It is known to bring good luck. It is known that St. Patrick would feed his llama some clovers.

Why Leprechauns? It is associated with luck, good or bad. It is said if you find a leprechaun; it will lead you to a pot of gold. But be careful, they can be very sneaky. In 1959, Walt Disney published a film called: “Darby O’ Gill and the little people”. It had a cheerful, friendly leprechaun throughout the movie however, leprechauns were meant to be mean, little, creatures.

Why do We Celebrate it? It is the day of the national holiday of Ireland. It is meant to be a holy day for groups in Ireland. People in the United States celebrate it to honor the Irish culture and the many immigrants that came here from Ireland.

Happy

St. Patrick’s

Day!

The Lucky Issue Doral Academy Elementary March 2011

Volume II, Issue IV

The Luck

of the

Leprechauns

By: Frances Chavez Diaz

I‟ll never forget the day I met a leprechaun.

This is how it all started. Sierra looked out the

window and sighed. “Serena, it‟s raining. Rain is bad”

she complained. I looked up from my magazine and

tried to look as annoyed as possible. “Sierra, rain is

good, it makes the flowers grow and blossom,” I

explained. She looked puzzled, “No it isn‟t, and it

ruins a perfectly good day and cancels your plans of

playing hopscotch!” she argued with me. Before I

could open my mouth to respond, the rain stopped

and the clouds parted to reveal a golden, shining sun

with a colorful rainbow. “Serena, look! Now we can go

and find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!”

Sierra exclaimed. “Sierra…” I stopped myself before

I could say anything else; I really didn‟t want to stay

inside the house all day. “Sure thing, sis,” I said

sarcastically. She obviously didn‟t understand the

sarcasm, because she got up from the living room

couch and ran up the stairs to put on her boots.

Once we were all dressed, we quickly ran

outside. Sierra splashed around in the puddles and

plucked daisies while I pulled the wagon and kept the

compass pointed north, the direction the rainbow

was pointing at. After ten minutes of walking, we

came across Flower Bud Hill. “Sierra, it ends right

here, there is nothing around for miles!” I yelled.

Sierra gave me a look and ran down the other side of

the hill. “Serena! Get over here right now!” Sierra

yelled. “Coming!” I yelled. I quickly ran down to see

what she was fussing about. What I saw was amazing

and infuriating to me. Standing right in front of

Sierra was a great big pot filled with gold shining

coins. I stood watching in amazement as Sierra

danced around and yelled, “I told ya so! I told ya so!”

The only thing I could do was follow her lead.

“Common! Let‟s get this „thing‟ in the wagon!” She

exclaimed. I thought for a second, how would a kid

her age respond to this? “Sierra, why don‟t you just

leave it here, I‟m sure the leprechauns will go

bananas looking for it when they find out that it is

lost!” I suggested. “No Way! Just a minute ago, you

didn‟t even believe in leprechauns! Now, help me get

this „thing‟ in the wagon!” she demanded. I wondered

what a little kid her age would want with a pot of

golden coins. I solemnly helped her get the “thing”

into the wagon, and hauled it home.

When we got home, Sierra demanded that we

carry it up to her room. I grabbed the pot and

carried it upstairs. When we were done, I went back

downstairs and drowned myself in the glamour of the

magazine. An hour later, I heard a knock on the door.

Sierra ran down the stairs and yelled, “I‟ll get it!” I

got up and ran to the door to see who it was. I

looked down to see the strangest pair of little

people. It is quite freaky to see two short guys on

your front porch wearing green tuxedoes, green

pointy shoes, a green top hat, and sporting long

beards. I squinted my eyes and saw that on their

tuxedoes, there was a little green badge with a four-

leafed clover that read: “Pot „o‟ Gold inc.” The only

thought that came to my head was: LEPRECHAUNS.

What kind of a sick joke was this? I took one more

look at them and noticed that there was a pudgy one

and one that was quite skinny. “We know ye took our

gold!” the pudgy one said in an Irish accent. The

skinny one gave the pudgy one a disapproving look.

“Hi, my name is Patrick, and his name is Felix, I‟m

sorry for his rudeness, he‟s a bit agitated.” Patrick

said. “Am not agitated!” Felix retorted. “Yes, well, we

just came wonderin‟ if ye‟ve seen our gold coins.”

Patrick said politely. “We didn‟t come wonderin‟! We

know they‟ve got our pot „o‟ gold!” Felix yelled. “One

second!” Sierra said as she ran up the stairs.

A minute later, she sent the pot of coins

flying down the stairs. She beckoned me to help her

bring it to the door. When it was safely on the

porch, Patrick said, “well...since you‟ve kept it safe

for us, here you go,” he handed us each a handful of

gold coins. “Thanks!” Sierra and I said in unison. They

bring ye good luck,” Felix added as they skillfully

picked up the pot and carried it down. “Bye!!” Sierra

said as they walked down the steps. “Goodbye!”

Patrick said. I watched in amazement as they left. I

closed the door and tried to forget what I had just

seen.

The Lucky Issue Doral Academy Elementary March 2011

Volume II, Issue IV

Your amazing teachers have given you

lots of knowledge and tips to get you

ready for the big test! Here are a few more tips:

Tips

By: Alessandra Gazzo

Read the article very carefully.

Read each question carefully.

Go back to the article to find the answer. Don’t

forget to underline your answers.

When you are done, go back and check your answers. Prove it to yourself! Circle keywords in Math problems and show your work to avoid mistakes. If you have extra time, check and recheck your answers to every problem. Get a good night rest the night before the test. Don’t forget to have a good and healthy breakfast every morning.

Believe in yourself!

The Lucky Issue Doral Academy Elementary March 2011

Volume II, Issue IV

The Celebration for

by: Jewel Walden

Dr. Seuss is a very well-known and

beloved author. Doral Academy couldn’t

let his birthday pass without a

celebration. To celebrate Dr. Seuss’

books our school did a Bulletin Board

Contest based on the marvelous books

of Dr.Seuss. The winning classes received

green eggs and ham for breakfast, the

food was AWESOME! (Now Dr.Seuss has me liking green eggs and ham.)

The next thing the school did was

the Word of the week. Some of the words

were so wacky that I just had to laugh

out loud!!! The definitions were incredibly

hilarious; I bet a lot of kids laughed at

them too.

Finally, on Friday it was CRAZY SOCKS

DAY. There were lots of funky socks all

over the place. We also had guest

readers come to our classes and read to

the students. That was great! Some of the

readers were even wearing the “Cat in

the Hat” hat (get it?). This sure was a

wacky but great week!

Books

Visit our school library

today to check out

these books and

many more!

The Lucky Issue Doral Academy Elementary March 2011

Volume II, Issue IV

Earth-Friendly Dragons!

On April 22nd the whole country will celebrate

Earth Day. What can you do to help the Earth?

Plant a tree in your backyard.

Throw your garbage in the trash not

on the floor.

Teach others about taking care of

our planet.

Recycling Tips! By: Nicole Trino

Remember to turn off the lights when you leave a room.

Always unplug things that are not being used.

Plant a community garden.

Use both sides of your paper.

Use organic items made from recycles products.

Don’t waste water.

Don’t litter.

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle…Yea!!

Doral Academy Gardens

By: Michelle Do

I was walking down the hallways to Ms. Alvarez’s room to do an interview about the reading and science garden. I was so nervous as if I was going to take the hardest test in the world. It was my first time doing an interview. As I walked in, I told Ms. Alvarez, I will be asking her about the science and reading gardens. I first asked her, “Why did you create the reading and science garden?” She said “Because our school is in the Fairchild Challenge. The Fairchild Challenge is a garden in Coral Gables that challenges different elementary schools to be more environmental.”

I was so curious about how Ms. Alvarez made the garden so I asked her. She told me that along with the garden club, Home Depot came and helped make the garden for our school. I questioned “Did you buy all the supplies that were needed for the garden?” She answered “No, The Fairchild Challenge gave our school money to buy the supplies for the garden. I asked her “Where is the garden located?” She replied “It is in the back field and there are eight garden beds set up.” Then she showed me a picture of the garden beds She continued, “The classes go to the garden and start planting whatever they want.” Then, I asked her “Does anyone help you take care of the gardens?” And she said “Ms.Chamorro and Ms.Ruiz help me in the Fairchild Challenge meetings. Also, we have the Garden Club and Ms.Barnes told me that the National Honor Society members will help in the garden as well.” I was glad to hear that because I’m a member of the National Honor Society and helping in the garden sounds like fun!

I was finally done interviewing with Ms.Alvarez and all the butterflies that I had on my stomach were gone! My interview with Ms.Alvarez was fun and I was really delighted because I learned a lot about the science garden!

The Lucky Issue Doral Academy Elementary March 2011

Volume II, Issue IV

Do you ever wonder how the world

was created? Many people have different

opinions but have you ever heard the

story from a kid’s imagination?

According to Natalia Escobar

Many centuries ago, a tiny speck of rock

floated mindlessly in space. Suddenly, 2

seconds later, a tree sprout popped out of the

rocky earth of this crumble of rock. Before you

could blink your eyes, a colossal star hit this

miniscule piece of rock and something reacted

instantly. Just then, this rock grew a 100 times

its size and guess what? So did the tree

sprout! This oversized rock which in modern

times we call a “planet” was overflowed with

something we all need, called oxygen. A

humongous rain cloud began to inch toward the

“planet” and rain fell covering parts of the land

creating huge bodies of fresh water. Wait?

What was missing? Ahh, right! Who or what

would live in this “planet”? Rocketships flew

across the sky like shooting stars, and what do

you know? They were full of humans, animals,

and sea creatures. Soon this “planet” was

called Earth. This is how I think the planet we

live on today was created. Strange and magical

I know, but amazing!

Nutty FunnIES By: Alessandra Gazzo

What fish makes the best sandwich?

Peanut Butter and Jelly-fish sandwich!

Did you hear about the two peanuts that were

walking down the street? They were

"assaulted”

(salted peanuts). Get it?

How do you catch an elephant?

Hide in the grass and make a sound

like a peanut!!

Did you hear about the joke about peanuts?

I’m not telling you. You might spread it!

What kinds of nut always seem to have a cold?

Cashews!!....Bless you

Where do peanut drivers go to fill their tanks?

The shell station!!

We hope you enjoyed this issue of The Dragons’ Tale

.

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