Page 8

Meet Zachariah; Fun, Happy, Athletic

I was born several years ago in December in Toronto at North York General Hospital. I have an older sister, Olivia, and she is kind to me. My parents were both born in Canada but my grandparents came from Jamaica and Guyana. I love drawing and playing video games in my free time. I especially enjoy illustrating cartoons. My favourite colour is red and favourite book is ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’. I relate to some of the stuff the main char-acter goes through, but not the part where he gets bullied by his brother. Luckily, my sis-ter plays with me when I’m bored and really doesn’t bully me. I like to make friends and I do not like it at all when people are mad at me. My only worry is that something may hap-pen to my family. My future ambition is to be a car mechanic. I like cars a lot, my dream car is a BMW I8 in matte black. I am Zachariah and this is who I am.

Humans of Milne Valley

Fall 2019

Volume 3, Issue 1

The Milne Messenger Know What’s Happening….

Shana G.

Welcome to the Milne Messenger. Milne Valley is continuing the newspaper club again this year! Students write newspaper articles to share with the students, parents and teachers on what is going on around in the school. The newspa-per articles are written by the stu-dents, photos are taken by the stu-dents and interviews and editing are done by the students with the help of Ms. Rosen and Ms. Fusco. The Milne Messenger consist of articles written about clubs, sports

teams, student opinions and more! The students who write these articles are in all grades. The Milne Messenger publish-es at least four issues a year so stay tuned and continue reading the newsletters to learn about all the events that are going on around the school. Milne Val-ley is very active in clubs, sports teams and school events which the students in the Milne Messenger will make sure to report! The Milne Messenger is

a way for students to en-gage with each other and have a voice. We are able to share our thoughts and ide-as with peers, parents and teachers, so, if you are a student and would like to have your voice be heard, the Milne Messenger is for you. New writers are al-ways welcome. We encour-age people to join and keep reading future articles. Go Spartans!

Milne Valley Messenger

October 2019

Editorial Board

J. Fusco and J. Rosen

Publisher

J. Fusco

Editors

Shana G., Khaviyaa S., Alisia N., Michelle Z.

Contributors

Ellie A., Mishal A., Lily B., Shana G., Manal H., Mariam H., Alisia N., Avery P., Jasmine P., Elizabeth R., Katerina M., Faith R., Khaviyaa S.,

Salina S., Michelle Z.

Art

Alisia N.

Page 2

Faith R.

Hello readers of the Milne Messen-ger, this is an entry to tell you that you are not alone. Everyone is going through or has gone through some-thing that has made them, sad, angry, or another emotion we don’t want to feel. I have gone through and am going through a lot, and that’s a fact! I can imagine what you are going through because I probably have gone through something similar my-self.

My past is not picture perfect and not what you would expect based on what I look and act like. I have hid

my past and what I'm going through. We are all hiding something sad that has happened to us whether its small (like a fight with a friend), or big (like abuse or assault). Just know that someone has gone through it too. I'm not lying or exaggerating. No mat-ter how messed up it is, some-one is there for you to talk to. If you need to talk check out https://kidshelpphone.ca/ for resources.

I thank you for reading. You are not alone.

Comfort Corner

We Day

Khaviyaa S.

Imagine helping to change the world and simultaneously enjoying your time with world-renowned speakers and performers with tens of thousands of youth! On September 19th, eight stu-dents from Milne Valley got the chance to participate in an unparalleled event, bringing together motivational speakers and performers, educators and families to celebrate and commemorate a year of action that transformed communities and changed lives. WE Day was founded by brothers Marc and Craig Keilburger. This year’s WE Day Toron-to was in Scotiabank Arena, surrounded by thousands of distinctive colours and vigorous youth. The stage was filled by inspirational individuals and young, social innovators through an education-al initiative, honoring contributions and the will to continue making impacts on the global world. Those in attendance included David Suzuki (Canadian sci-entist, television personality), Rupi Kaur (Canadian poet and performer), James Arthur (English singer-songwriter), Johnny Orlando (Canadian singer-songwriter), Jenna Ortega (American actress), and more. From these performers and social innovator,

Milne Valley students gained more knowledge about climate change, bully-ing, self-harm, discrimination, tenacity and perseverance, and predominantly, making a change. We thank Ms. Moore, Ms. Cullimore, and Ms. Magder for taking Milne Valley students on this event to learn from others and broaden our desire to make a “mess into a mes-sage,” using what they've learned as a means of being of service to others. These students learned a lot and are inspired and motivated to do more for our planet! “I am WE!”

Milne Student at We Day

Welcome to the Milne Messenger 1

WE Day 2

Comfort Corner 2

Get to Know Ms. Moore 3

L2L Tutoring at Milne 3

Making a Difference in the

World we live in 3

The Fist Few Weeks of Milne

Valley… 4

Cn You Hear the Music at Milne

Valley? 4

Hurricane Dorian 4

Climate Change is Everyone’s

Problem 5

The Toronto Raptors Last

Season was a Winner! 5

Let’s Get Reading Milne Valley 5

The Role of Character Traits

In our Learning 6

TTC Etiquette 6

Changing the Way We Use

Water 6

Continuing the Legacy of the Marathon

For Hope at Milne Valley 7

Qu’est-ce-que let GenZ’s peuvent faire? 7

Humans of Milne Valley 8

Puzzles 8

Comic 8

Faith

Page 7

Shana G.

Terry Fox is a Canadian hero who created the Marathon of Hope to raise money that goes toward finding a cure for can-cer. He is a Canadian athlete, hu-manitarian and a cancer research activist. Terry Fox had cancer himself and had to get his leg am-putated. Even after the amputa-tion, instead of quitting doing the things he loved such as basketball, he used his cancer as a motivation and decided to start the Marathon of Hope to collect money to find a cure for it. His goal was to run across Canada and have every Canadian donate at least a dollar. Unfortunately, Terry’s cancer spread to his lungs and he passed away on June 28th, 1980 and was unable to com-

plete his goal. Terry Fox had a huge impact on many lives in Canada and this is why schools like Milne Val-ley are continuing what Terry Fox started.

On September 27th, 2019, Milne Valley participated in the Terry Fox run. Before the Terry Fox run, every class fund-raised by having every stu-dent bring in two dol-lars. Our goal was to have every-one bring at least a toonie for “Toonie for

Terry Tuesday.” We also had an assembly and a guest speaker come in and tell us more about Ter-ry Fox’s story. Milne Valley will continue to participate in the Terry Fox run and continue to fundraise. The total raised at Milne Valley this year was $882.80. Hopefully next year, we can raise more money than we did this

Continuing the Legacy of the

Marathon For Hope at Milne Valley

Milne Students Running Laps

Michelle Z.

Le changement climatique est quelque chose dont tout le monde a entendu. Peut-être vous avez vu l’information à propos du changement climatique sur les médias sociaux ou les nouvelles; n’importe où, le changement climatique est très important. Comme les Gen Zs nous pouvons es-sayer d'arrêter le changement climatique et ensemble aider la Terre. Alors, quelles sont les méthodes faciles pour aider la Terre? Une méthode est, éduquer les autres sur le changement climatique. Si vous éduquez les autres, les autres vont faire de même, donc c’est comme une

Qu’est-ce-que les Gen Z’s peuvent faire?

réaction en chaîne et à la fin les personnes vont être bien informées et c’est plus facile de faire du changement. Deux autres méthodes faciles sont, les Gen Z’s peuvent changer les petites choses qu’ils font dans leur vie comme: au lieu de jeter les déchets sur le plancher, les mettre dans la poubelle; suivre les trois R, réutiliser, ré-duire et recycler! Les petites choses peuvent changer la terre! Guidez votre génération, et changez le monde!

Page 6

The Role of Character Traits in our Learning.

By Alisia N.

Milne Valley encourages its students to demonstrate and practice positive learning skills, using the TDSB char-acter traits. By focusing on character traits we can develop as learners who are respectful, responsible, empathetic, fair, and who have integrity and partic-ipate well with others.

The character trait for the month of September was Respect. The word respect means - “an act of behaviour that displays ethical values towards everything around or a way of regard-ing feelings, wishes, rights or tradi-tions of others.” We can show respect through multiple ways. An example of something you might do to show re-

spect could be by treating your peers with courtesy, politeness, and encouraging them to express their opinions and ideas.

The Character trait of the month of Octo-ber is Responsibility. Student responsibil-ity occurs when we take an active role in our learning by recognizing they are ac-countable for their academic success. Responsible students also take ownership of their actions by exhibiting behaviors that hold themselves accountable for their actions. Some ways we demonstrate re-sponsibility are by thinking before we act, about how our actions affect others, and thinking before we speak.

The Character trait of the month of No-vember is empathy. Empathy is the ability

to understand how someone else is feeling or to understand the situa-tion they are in. It is the ability to “put yourself in someone else’s shoes” and to understand the way a situation might make them feel. Listening to others without judging them is an effective way to show empathy.

Let us all ensure to demonstrate these character traits and strive to become lifelong learners and good human beings.

Mishal A.

Middle school is often the first time students encounter the TTC alone. It can sometimes be scary, overwhelming or enjoyable. The TTC is a fun and secure way to get from school to your home and vice versa. The TTC is an efficient way to get from one point to another. Therefore it is essential to be considerate to everyone on the bus, in-cluding the bus driver. Public transit is a privilege. Numerous coun-tries don't have a safe transportation system like Canada.

One of the TTC’s Health And Safety officers came to Milne Valley to review the rules and regulations that all students must follow. The following include:

1. Being courteous to opera-tors.

2. Standing behind the white line, in fact, it's the law .

3. Don't rush to board the bus, enter in a single line.

4. Waiting for people to get off before you get on the bus, to avoid in-juries.

5. Removing your backpack to increase space .

6. Using headphones when listening to music, don't disturb others.

7. Using an indoor voice.

8. Standing back when the bus is approaching the bus stop, for your security.

9. Pushing the STOP button only when it’s your stop, this way you will get to your destination in a timely manner.

10. Crossing the street to catch the bus or when leaving walk, and do not cross in front of the bus as other roads used will bypass on the left side of the bus.

By obeying these simple customs, you not only guarantee your safety while on the TTC but the safety of others as well!

TTC Etiquette

Jasmine P.

70% of the Earth is covered by water. Did you know that only 2.5 % of this 70 % is freshwater and only 1% of it is accessible for use?

Canadians use an average of 329 litres of water per person, per day. Europeans use half of what we use. In many developing countries people use about 20 litres a day.

Did you know we use 2700 litres of water for 1 t-shirt? That’s what one person would drink in 2.5 years. Our water is 3.8 billion years old. We reuse our water over and over. Did you know that Children in the first 6 months of life consume seven times as much water per pound as the average Canadian adult?

How can we stop using a lot of wa-ter?

-We can stop buying clothing that we do not need

-Check if your house has any leaky taps

-Take shorter showers

-Turn off the faucet when you brush your teeth

-Reduce chemical use

-Save up your dirty clothes and wash them at once

-Dispose of waste properly

-Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

Changing the Way We Use Water

Turn Off the Tap

Milne Valley Bus Stop

Page 3

Get to know Ms. Moore Lily B, Salina S and Ellie A

We all know that we have a new prin-cipal this year, but students don’t real-ly knows anything about her. Here are some important facts about Ms. Moore!

Ms. Moore has a lot of experience with teaching and being a principal. she has worked with the TDSB for 26 years in a lot of different schools including C.W Jefferys, Highland, Churchill Heights, Milne Valley and more! She has also worked at the TDSB East Ed-ucation Office and head office.

Ms. Moore has been a principal for 11 years! Her favourite part of being a principal is getting to interact with students in positive ways, and seeing

them succeed. Ms. Moore loves being a principal, she can't identify anything she doesn't like about it.

Ms. Moore loves musicals, building decks, Mickey Mouse and gardening. Her favorite movies are Star Wars, Star Trek and all Disney movies.

“ When you have a problem use your words, walk away, and report to a teacher. Please make good choices!” says Ms. Moore. She looks forward to seeing all the wonderful things that the student will accomplish this year.

We hope this article helped you get to know a little bit more about Ms. Moore.

Fun fact: She knows how to play many instruments

including the flute, all kinds of clari-nets, oboe, bassoon, all saxophones, trombone, bari-tone, tuba, per-cussion, violin, viola, cello, double bass, guitar and French horn!

She mainly plays the piano, organ and trum-pet.

L2L Tutoring at

Milne Mariam H.

Milne Valley continues their tutoring program as they head into the 2019-2020 school year. L2L tutoring is held every Tuesday from 3:04p.m-4:00p.m and is supervised by Ms. Fusco. The program can help tutors improve on many skills such as leadership skills and to become more re-sponsible. It can help you become an excellent role model while you are learning to help students understand concepts that they need help in. L2L helps you communicate more effectively and confidently. Tutors are in grades 7 and 8 and peers can be in all grades. Many students are looking forward to tutoring a new peer this year and to become better through this experience. Tutors are required to attend all the training, model proper be-haviour, be empathetic, alert teachers when there is an emergen-cy and to at least spend a minimum of 10 hours tutoring. For our first training session, Heather, gave the tutors their manuals and first lessons on training and taught them many things to do when faced with a particular situation. Heather also gave the tutors tips so that they can be an efficient tutor. One tip that she told them was, “Don’t expect change or improvement immedi-ately, set realistic goals so that in time, your peers will have improved in whatever they were struggling in.” If you would like to participate, listen to the announcements for updates and let’s make tutoring a fantastic learning environment. We hope to see many new people there!

Alisia N.

All students in Milne Valley are encouraged to think globally and act locally. We are also encouraged to think before we act and support what we believe.

Often we see students, sometimes a little older or younger, that inspire us by taking action against issues that may or may not affect them. An increasing issue is cancer. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the world.

At age 8, Kylie Simonds was diagnosed with rhabdo-myosarcoma. Rhabdomyosarcoma is a rare type of childhood cancer. Kylie Simonds underwent months of chemotherapy, radiation and surgeries to beat rhabdo-myosarcoma. When Kylie was getting treatment, she had to carry a big IV pack with her wherever she went. "I remember tripping over all the wires, getting tangled up and having to drag this big thing around." said Kylie.

Kylie therefore decided to help children all around the world who faced similar issues. She invented a light backpack that all children with cancer could carry on their backs without the struggle of hav-ing heavy and big IV packs and tangled wires. She worked with her parents and doctors to make this backpack. She attached a metal cage in the bag as well for back support when the user would sit.

Money is being raised in order to help make more of these bags and provide them to children every-where. To date, an estimated amount of 47,000 dollars has been raised in order to help children everywhere diagnosed with cancer.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD WE LIVE IN!

Page 4

The First Few Weeks of Milne Valley…

Ellie. A, and Lily. B

Coming to a new school is always nerve-racking but after a few weeks of being here, it has been a great experience for us. There are a lot more activities here at Milne compared to our elementary school. Having more activities means we can discover new things. Some of these include the WE Club, Newspaper Club, Music Clubs, GSA, and Robotics Club. For a bonus, Study Hall is open in the morning AND at lunch to finish incomplete work or just read. This year so far has been quite the experience.

We have met a lot of new teachers for different subjects and we have also met and made a lot of new friends. Dur-ing the first few weeks at Milne we have definitely learned

a lot in many different subject areas, we have become more independent. I guess you can say middle school, in general, is a lot different than elementary school. Here we come Milne Valley!

The front of Milne Valley Middle School

Can You Hear the Music

at Milne Valley? Mariam H.

The Strings orchestra is back at Milne Valley. Many students are looking forward to partici-pating in the orchestra this year and learning new songs that they hope to play at the con-cert.

Strings orchestra is run by the strings teacher, Mr. Sham, and practices are held every Wednesday starting from 3:04p.m. Anybody is welcome as long as they try their best to play the songs and dedicate at least an hour after school to the orchestra every Wednesday. Strings orchestra is for anybody interested in playing more difficult pieces of music at con-certs and for students who want to broaden their knowledge of music. Mr. Sham has or-dered many new songs for the strings orchestra to play including music from the Lion King and Jurassic Park. He hopes to be able to teach the orchestra the songs by April so that they can perform them at the Spring Concert.

Strings orchestra is a great experience for stu-dents. It is a great way to promote teamwork since all the members of the orchestra have to work together in order to perform a spectacular song. Strings orchestra is also a great way to keep students engaged in meaningful activities after school instead of using electronics. Anoth-er advantage of the strings orchestra is that it helps to give more recognition to the school’s music curriculum and recognizes the efforts that were put in by the students. In the past years, the strings orchestra has had some mag-nificent performances which were very well-done and praise-worthy.

We hope to see the members of the orchestra every Wednesday. Let’s get our string instru-ments playing Milne Valley.

Avery P., Salina S., and Elizabeth R.

What happened to the Bahamas?

On August 29 2019, hurricane Dorian hit the Baha-mas. It was the worst hurricane ever to hit the Baha-mas. 56 people died and 600 people are still missing. 13,000 homes were destroyed and many people are now homeless. The Grand Bahama including Abaco were mostly destroyed.

Why did the hurricane hit the Bahamas?

Hurricane season falls between May and November but it is believed that climate change is also increas-ing these natural disasters. Climate change may be happening due to the choices we make (driving cars, throwing garbage on the ground or water, using too much plastic). If climate change is the reason, we need to reduce our impact. We need to educate our-selves and others. Climate change is a serious issue and we need to know how to stop it.

Hurricane Dorian

Destruction from hurricane Dorian

Page 5 Climate Change is Everyone’s

Problem Katerina M.

Climate change has affected us all. The natural disasters that are happening now are increasing and are becoming more frequent. The big wave from the hurricane in the Bahamas was due to climate change. Climate change has caused natu-ral disasters to become more harsh. Many wild-fires in the Brazilian rainforest have destroyed acres of trees and killed many animals. Wildfires tend to happen when there is no rain water to stop the fires. The Brazilian rainforest produces 20% of the world’s oxygen. If all of the trees burned down, then our supply of oxygen would decrease.

Preventing climate change should be our number one priority. If everyone wants to live in a clean world then stopping climate change is necessary. We need our planet to live. We’ve got to make a change!

What can we do to stop Climate Change? 1. Reduce the amount of plastic that you use. Even if you put it in the recycle, it may not be recyclable. It is better to use glass or metal instead. 2. Plant more trees, and when you go out for hikes, stay on the trail so you don’t disturb the natural environment. 3. Try to walk or bike as much as you can instead of taking a vehicle to reduce pollution. 4. Don’t drink from plastic water bottles. Plastic products and plastic water bottles are being found everywhere in our oceans. They are not biodegradable. 5. Don’t buy “throw-away” products. Instead of buying plastic bags to put your food in, buy glass containers. Let’s help stop climate change Milne Valley.

Elizabeth.R and Avery.P

The Toronto Raptors begin their new season on October 22nd. But first, let’s talk about what they did last sea-son! We had a number of new additions to the team last year, includ-ing, Chris Boucher, Marc Gasol, Danny Green, Kawaii Leon-ard, Jeremy Lin and Jordan Loyd. Sadly we had a number of players who left be-fore and during this last season. The play-ers who left were, DeMar DeRozan, CJ Miles, Jonas Valanchunias, Jacob Poltl and Delon Wright.

The Toronto Raptors started and ended the season on a great note. At the begin-ning of the season the Raptors were the third best team in the Eastern Conference. Soon, Toronto earned their spot in the NBA Finals. In the past, the farthest the Raptors had ever come was round 3. This year Toronto made it all the way to the finals with the Golden State Warriors. SPOILER ALERT: The Raptors Won!!! It was our first Championship win! We thank all the players who helped us win. Even though some of them left the team, we will always remember their accom-plishments.

The Toronto Raptors

Last Season was a Winner!

Mariam H.

Reading is not exactly gratifying to some people but you might want to change your mind. Many students, disregard the task of reading 20-30 minutes a day because they think it’s a waste of time, they have better things to do and they would rather do something else. As a matter of fact, reading is very beneficial. One that everyone has heard of before is

that you gain more knowledge. It can significantly improve your grades, your general knowledge and intelligence. In Anne E. Cunningham’s paper: What Reading Does for the Mind, she writes that “ Reading sharpens your mind and can uplift your analytical and critical thinking which is a very important skill since we have to use them all the time.”

Reading can also help reduce stress. When you are feeling stressed out and you are getting anxious, you

should help yourself to a book. It’s a wonderful diversion. You might not even want to put it down. Another advantage is that you improve your vocabulary. When a person stumbles upon a word that is unfamiliar to them, their brain forces them to find the meaning of that word which eventually increases their vocabulary. In fact, it is necessary to read if you want to be a writer or a blogger. Reading can improve your writing be-cause when you consistently read, you surround yourself with good writ-ing and have examples in your brain of how a good piece of writing should look like. You can read anything you want as long as you are reading. You can also look out for clubs related to reading on the announcements. In the past years, there have been some great reading clubs such as Milne 50, and the Silver Birch books. Keep your ear open for announcements. Let’s get reading Milne Valley!

Let’s Get Reading Milne Valley.