The Mattlin PRIDE

In this issue:

Mattlin Fundraisers

1

Fundraisers

(continued)

Honoring the

Retirees:

Mrs. Simmons

Mrs. Miller

Mrs. Cataldo

2

3

4

5

Fads

6

Get into the Groove

8

Dogs at your Service

10

Winter 2014-15

Amplified Learning

Did you know that you can now access the

full color edition of

The Mattlin PRIDE on the pobschools.org

website? Look for the link on the

H.B. Mattlin Middle

School page!

Spring 2017

Sneaker Drive

February was a great month for our

Physical Education teachers here at

Mattlin. With the help of the students,

and a little healthy competition for who

could collect the most for motivation,

they were able to collect a little over

200 pairs of sneakers! All of those

pairs went to a program called “Shoes

for All” that holds shoe drives around

Long Island. The fifth graders were

victorious in the competition for

collecting the most pairs of sneakers.

After asking Ms. Roveto, the newest

P.E. teacher at Mattlin, if it “felt good

to do good,” she responded, “Yes! It is

nice to be able to help so many people

in need.” She was excited to be part of

one of the first community service

projects in the Physical Education

department.

Project Replenish

Imagine not being able to reach

into your cabinet and grab a snack

when you’re hungry, or going to

sleep hungry every night. For some

families on Long Island, this is a

reality that they must deal with

every day. To help support these

families in need, Mattlin was

Involved in Project Replenish. Each

of our MAP groups collected

nonperishable and hygienic

products, such as canned tuna

and soap. These goods went to a

pantry at the Mid-Island Y Jewish

Community Center where families

in need can access them. We hope

that our contributions as a school

will help diminish hunger in our

neighborhood.

Drama Club

It takes a lot of money to run a high quality production. Everything costs

money, from the costumes, to the band, sets, props, video recorder, and much

more. In order for the Mattlin Drama Cadets to put on the very best show they

can, they need money to be able to afford all of these items. The Drama Club

holds lots of fundraisers to raise money. Laser Tag, Paint Night, Snack Booth,

raffles the night of the show, and a jewelry sale are just some of the ways they

try to raise money. If you want to continue to receive high quality shows from

the Mattlin Cadets, then please do them a favor: buy a couple of snacks from

the booth during 9th period, tag along at a couple of events, and you’ll have

fun and know you are helping out.

Mattlin Puts the “Fun” in Fundraisers! - Athena P. & Jessica K.

Mrs. Winick and Ms. Catterson would

like to thank

everyone who

contributed to

The Mattlin PRIDE

this year.

St. Baldrick’s

St. Baldrick’s is an awesome fundraiser. It’s so

much fun, and every year it gets better, with

games, food, snow cones, and don’t forget the

amazing bagpipe players! While all the fun was

being had, there were kids in the back getting their

heads shaved for a good cause. For all those

artists out there, don’t forget about the painting

canvas section held by Mrs. G. and Mr. O’Neill.

There were so many students who enjoyed the fun

that they ran out of canvases and used plates! All

of the money you spent to get food, participate in

an activity, or sponsor our brave students who got

new hairdos, or should we say new no-hairdos,

was all given to St. Baldrick’s to help kids with

childhood cancer!

- Athena P. & Jessica K.

Math-a-thon

Whether you like math or not, this math

program is something that all students can

get excited about. It may seem like a bunch

of equations and word problems like your

teacher hands out for homework, but that

was only the tip of the iceberg. After closer

observation you would discover that these

equations and word problems were not only

doing good for your brain, but doing good

for others, specifically St. Jude's Research

Hospital. By solving math problems,

students raised money for the hospital,

allowing it to continue its legacy of free

treatment for patients.

Fundraisers, continued

Relay for Life

Who doesn’t love Relay for Life? There are games, food,

face painting and more! But while you’re getting your face

painted and eating food, what you may not realize is that

all the money you’re spending goes toward cancer

research. Relay for Life is the signature fundraiser for the

American Cancer Society. Relay is coordinated and staffed

by volunteers in more than 27 countries and 5,200

communities. Volunteers give their time and effort

because they believe they can take action against cancer.

Page 2 Mattlin PRIDE

Mattlin PRIDE Page 3

I taught high school in Pennsylvania, middle school in Illinois, then high school again in Wyandanch before coming to Mattlin.

20 Questions

with Mrs. Simmons If your answer is “Oui,” there’s a good chance

you learned it from Mrs.

Simmons. Since she is retiring this year, we

thought it would be fun to ask her 20 questions.

Page 4 Mattlin PRIDE

Health teacher Mrs. Miller has been teaching for 38 years, and although she says she would “love to stay longer,” she is retiring this year. Mrs. Miller wasn’t always a health teacher, though. She originally taught physical education, having earned degrees at Ohio and Stony Brook. Before working at Mattlin, she taught in New London, Connecticut, as well as in other schools in the Plainview-Old Bethpage School District. Although Mrs. Miller enjoys many aspects of Mattlin Middle School, what really stands out for her are the kids. She loves our spirit and thirst for knowledge. She appreciates our desire to learn, to please, and to bring out inner strengths in the classroom or a sport. She has also been surround-ed by wonderful staff members. She hopes that Mattlin will continue on the path of being a kind, considerate, empathic building, with students respecting each other. After all, she says, “It's a family.”

Mrs. Miller enjoys playing golf and Mahjong, spending time with her grandchildren, read-ing, coaching, and poodles. It comes as no surprise that one of her goals in retirement is to improve her golf game. She also plans to continue coaching, and she will do some

subbing. Although she will spend time in both Florida and New York, she hopes to travel to Israel. She may go on more cruises in the U.S. and the Caribbean, which she has enjoyed in the past. For people who want to be teacher when they are older, Mrs. Miller has some advice. First and foremost, have a love for children and for learning. You can look forward to an extremely rewarding career. Mrs. Miller feels that this is one of the best jobs, and she especially loves seeing the children grow up. She would like the person who takes over for her to use a comprehensive, hands on

program. She hopes the new health teacher loves teaching and children as much as she does!

Mrs. Miller Interviewed by Jessica K.

Page 5 Mattlin PRIDE

Mrs. Cataldo Interviewed by Athena P.

Mrs. Cataldo is one of three Mattlin teachers who are

retiring this year. She has been teaching for 41 years, so she was having a hard time making the decision to retire.

Mrs. Cataldo studied at Adelphi University, but math wasn’t her first choice. She went to college to study science, and along the way she realized she had a love for math and wanted to pursue a career in it. She taught in several school districts in the 1970s before coming to Plainview-Old Bethpage.

She loves a lot of Mattlin’s great qualities but the ones

that stand out to her the most are the wonderful personality as a community, the teachers working together, and the students being very kind and positive while the parents are supportive of their education. Her goal for Mattlin after she retires is to see Mattlin continue to be a place where children feel like they can be safe and take risks while they learn, and evolve as people and students.

Mrs. Cataldo has mixed emotions about leaving Mattlin but is still excited looking forward to the path ahead. Mrs. Cataldo wants

to travel and visit city museums after she retires. Lucky, Mrs. Cataldo isn’t moving anywhere, but she is going to Florida for the wintertime. She will have more time for her hobbies and activities, such as reading, playing golf, being at the beach in

the summertime, and volunteering with people who can't afford clothing. She also used to play piano when she was younger; maybe

she’ll do more of that. In addition, Mrs. Cataldo has traveled to many different places. The ones she

remembers the most are Paris, London, and Colorado. Since Mrs. Cataldo’s mother was born in Italy, her favorite foods are Northern Italian food, Risotto and Polenta. Her mother used to make these delicious foods with her.

Mrs. Cataldo would like all teachers to remember that they are teaching children, not subjects. You must figure out how to reach children where they can enjoy and understand what they are doing. Mrs. Cataldo feels like she’s leaving on a good note, and we know that Mattlin will miss her!

Page 6 Mattlin PRIDE

Fads

“Whether it’s tight bracelets or a ring on your finger, anything that is constricting could

cause vascular insufficiency—meaning the blood flow is being altered by some external force. In this case, it’s the new, hip rubber bracelets.” This is a

vascular surgeon describing potential health effects of the fad, Silly Bandz. Silly Bandz are colorful rubber band bracelets that came in many shapes.

From 2008 to its peak in 2010, the company grew from making $10,000 a year, to $200 million. In one year Silly Bandz went from having twenty

employees to over 200. Kids were trading them and sometimes wearing hundreds at a time. Fads are something that people are enthusiastic and

often crazy for but only for a short period of time.

Long Term Impact

Some fads were extremely popular at one

point but are still used or talked about today not to the same extent as they once were. Two men from the company Wham-O, noticed that Australian

children were getting exercise by playing with bamboo rings. They were inspired by this and decided to make a plastic version. They showed it

off to kids in California. This new product was called the Hula Hoop which is still played

with today. The Rubik’s Cube was a huge fad in the 80’s.

There was a Rubik’s Cube TV show, bone injuries like cubists’

thumb and multiple books on the topic. The Rubik’s Cube is

still available and played with in 2017.

Fads seem great at their height, but is it all great after their fall?

Silly Bandz were extremely popular in the summer of

2010, People often wore hundreds at a time and

caused Silly Bandz to be banned in many schools.

Google search interest overtime for Silly Bandz,

peaking in May 2010.

- Ethan S.

Page 7 Mattlin PRIDE

Beanie Babies Perhaps the biggest fad ever is Beanie

Babies. Beanie Babies were cute stuffed animals that originally sold for $5. In the height of the craze, rare beanies sold for more than $1000. The

creator, Ty Warner decided to retire and stop production of a certain Beanie Babies. This made prices of retired Beanies go up significantly and

made adults rush to the store in hope that their Beanies would be retired and the prices will go up. McDonalds made a Happy Meal toy called

Teenie Beanie Babies. Many McDonalds got 30 to 40 calls every hour asking what Beanies they had available. People were more interested about

the toys than the meal, sometimes even letting the store keep the food. Dr. Rick Webber invest-ed around $100,000 in Beanie Babies hoping that

he could later sell the Beanies for a profit and send his kids to college. In his home today, there are about 20,000 Beanie Babies with the tags.

Rick lost all his money. In early 2000, when the craze ended abruptly, the people who bought Beanies for $10 each could find the same ones in

a dollar store.

Gangnam Style

& Grumpy Cat Fads are not all products you can get in the store. One fad is a real life cat whose real name is Tardar Sauce. You may know him as Grumpy Cat. Grumpy Cat has multiple appearances on TV shows like The Today Show, American Idol and CBS Evening News. The Cat even has a film about him, an app, and social media accounts. Grumpy Cat has made his owner millions of dollars thank to endorsement and filmed appearances. The Gangnam Style dance and song became the most viewed video on Youtube and achieved the attention of countless celebrities including Barack Obama and boxer Manny Paquiao.

Beanie Babies like these made people go crazy to get

them and sometimes spend thousand of dollars on them.

Health Effects of Fad Diets People who want to lose weight often follow a fad diet. People claim that these diets

will help you lose an unrealistic amount of weight and want people who are willing to do anything to lose weight to buy their products. They often take

advantage of people who want to lose weight. Fad diets are not helpful for long term health but may help you lose weight in the short term which

makes people want to try the diet. The weight that you may lose from a fad diet is often gained back. The high protein diet is one example. It claims

you should eat an abundance of protein and you will lose weight while building muscle. Muscle strength is actually gained best from weight training and exercise. By eating more protein than

you should, it strains your kidneys and liver. If you do lose weight, it is probably the result of water loss, not fat. By the time people adopt fad

diets, there is often not enough research to show if the diet is healthy or the long term effect it has on your body.

Clearly, fads have a cultural impact in our society and are often a lot of fun. You still need to think about the effect it will have on your health and if it is worth your money.

Mattlin PRIDE

Page 8

It’s staggering that 1,264 genres of music exist today; some of which we have never heard about. New genres of music are being

invented every day such as Dubstep and Spacetrap. Others are so popular that when we hear their genre we think of a song or band that is

from that category. From jazz to pop, these musical styles have impacted our lives in ways that we don’t even realize.

The Different Styles of Music

In addition to the 1,264 genres of music, there are new genres being created every day! For instance, Progressive Electro Heavy

Rock and Dark Bass were invented about a year ago. Dark Bass music is very dark and depressing. It is slow and not upbeat like most music

you hear on the radio. While Dark Bass music is slow, a common genre, pop music, is opposite from it. Pop music is very upbeat and it has

many instruments in it. It usually has a lead singer and/or backup singers. The genre “Pop” is still very vague. There are even many categories in this genre such as Teen Pop and even Bubblegum Pop. Each

genre has mini-genres of music in them. For example, the genre “Rock” has over 20 mini genres!

Some mini genres are Punk music, Death Rock, and Blues Rock. In vocal music, some mini-genres

are Acapella, vocal pop and vocal jazz.

The Oldest and Newest Style of Music There are old styles of music and new styles of music. The oldest style of music dates back

to 10,000 BC! It is called Prehistoric music. The first form of music was made with the human voice. In order to have an evident rhythm, people used their hands. They may have clapped or hit two stones together. The instruments

most frequently found by archaeologists include different types of flutes, whistles and pipes made of

wood or animal bones. One of the instruments is ‘tjurunga,’ which is said to be about 25,000 years old. It is a piece of string attached to a

timber, usually in the shape of arc which, while turning around, gives off a loud, roaring sound. Archaeologists think that this arc was an early

prototype to the harp. There is music that is in between the oldest and newest style of music. Some music such as classical music came from the 1600 ’s, but weren’t as old as Prehistoric music and not as new as Spacetrap. Mozart and Beethoven were famous composers of the Baroque era of

classical music. They played and composed music in different courts and palaces. These composers helped make classical music very

popular in Europe. In contrast, the newest styles of music were invented in 2016. Some of these styles include, Dark Bass, Orchestral IDM, Air Pop,

Glitch Soulazz and more. These genres are pretty dark and depressing and most of them are instrumental. For example, Orchestral IDM has instruments that can be found in an orchestra, but their sound is inverted and distorted to make it feel like you are listening to Dubstep

music. Air Pop is more light and airy, much like its name. It usually has a lead singer but rarely any backup vocals.

“It’s staggering that 1,264 genres of music exist today; some of which we have never heard

Did You Know? Playing music regularly

will physically alter your brain structure.

The brain responds to music the same way it responds to something that you eat.

A single violin is made from 70 individual pieces of wood.

Listening to sad music makes someone look at the world in a depressing way.

Sometimes, people can get chills listening to some types of music.

- Abigail A.

Page 8

Page 9 Mattlin PRIDE

The Origin Of Musical Styles

Musical styles are made up from different origins

of the world. For example, the genre “Reggae” was made

popular by Bob Marley in the 1960’s. According to “The Origins Of Your Favourite Music Genres,” it was a dance

craze in Jamaica. It is still very popular and Bob Marley is remembered as one of the greatest musicians today.

Another example is ambient music. It was invented by Brian Eno in 1975. This idea came to him when he was hit by a car

and he wanted to recreate the sparse, atmospheric sounds

that he heard into music. Sometimes music is created just for fame and

money. According to “The Origins Of Your Favourite Music

Genres,” Neo-Soul is one of those types of music. Neo-Soul

was created from soul and contemporary R&B. It was

created as a strategic plot by record labels to get exposure

for (and money from) their artists. It was first noticed

when Kedar Massenburg of Motown Records made up

neo-soul as a flashy marketing word and associated his

musicians with it, which caused him and his musicians to

make more money and to have more fame. Music can also be created from other types of

music. An example of this would be Afrobeat. It was invented

by a Nigerian artist and human rights activist Fela Kuti, who

made up the word to describe his own funk-fused, jazzy

Nigerian music. Afrobeat originated around 1968.

The most popular types of music are shown by

the amount of people who downloaded or

bought these playlists.

Taylor Swift’s 2014 album

called “1989” was, and still

is, a big pop music hit.

Music Around The World

All around the world there are different styles of music for each culture. Countries like Egypt and Hungary have

special musical styles that fit their cultures. Different cultures

create music that symbolizes their religion and their region of

the world. According to “The Music Of Egypt: Ancient Civilization,

Modern Nation,” the culture of Egypt has a unique style of music. The city of Cairo is the main gathering point for Egyptian music.

Mainly because of the historic seat of the Cairo Congress of Arab Music of 1932, Egypt has maintained a position as the

center of Middle-Eastern classical, traditional and modern

musical forms. Egyptian music has a lot of percussion, and is very catchy and has a steady tempo. The music is obviously sung

in Arabic too. The feel of the Egyptian music is a Mediterranean

style. In comparison, the culture of Hungary also has a very

unique style of music. As stated by “The Music Of Hungary,” most of the Hungarian music familiar today has its roots in the

eighteenth century when the country rebuilt itself as part of the

Hapsburg Empire. The ‘New style’ music appeared, with a regular structure for dancing and marching and solo bagpipers

were replaced by the new Gypsy orchestras.

Music is such an important part of our lives. It helps us express our cultures and origins in various ways. It also

helps people express who they are and sometimes it’s just created as a way to make money. To find out more about these

different styles of music, go to youtube.com and search up some of these genres. Music is so important to us—we wouldn’t be

who we are without it.

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and

life to everything.” ― Plato

Mattlin PRIDE

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Page 10 Mattlin PRIDE Page 10

Dogs at Your Service - Jessica K.

Imagine being at the mall. Imagine every sound, the chatter of

people, the cries of a baby, the laughter of your friends, overwhelms you.

Imagine every smell, the salty pretzels, the greasy hot dogs, the buttery popcorn, overwhelms you.

You try to put your hands over your ears. You try to curl up in a ball. You try to cover your eyes, to stop it all, but the wave of sensory stimulations still crashes over you and your drowning, drowning, drowning.

Sounds like a horror movie right? The world washing over you, but for some, this is reality. People with autism often live in this horror movie. The title of this movie is sensory overload. Although not all people with autism experience it, many do. There is no pause or off button for this movie. Although, autism service dogs may help to “paws” the movie. Service Dogs in the Way Back When

Service dogs have been around for a little while now in the United States, so let’s take a little trip back in time to see how far these furry helpers have come.

Before a dog can earn the title of being a service dog, it has to take some classes.

It was 1929 when the very first dog guide school in the U.S. came about, and for a while it was the only one around. It was known as the Seeing Eye, Inc Assist for those who are visually impaired.

It was in 1960 when improving lives of the disabled by using dogs became more of common practice.

Canine Companions for Independence came about in 1975. It provided highly trained assistance dogs for people of all ages. By 1987 there was yet another company that trained and gave out service dogs, Assistance Dogs International, Inc. They also contributed to this growing service by creating some standards, guidelines, and even a code of ethics.

Service dogs had started to help out so many people with disabilities, that by 1986 an act was created. This act was called the Air Carrier Access Act. It gave public access rights for disabled people who own service dogs.

In 1990 another act, known as the Americans with Disabilities Act, provided

national access right for disabled people along with their service dogs. These laws have had a huge positive impact on service animals and their owners. Training Autism Service Dogs Since different types of service dogs assist people in different ways, they are trained differently. For example, you would not teach an autism service dog how to guide their owner through the streets like you would a service dog for the blind. Each type of service dog needs to learn tasks and work that would best suit their recipient child. The first step a dog needs to take on its journey to becoming a

service dog is actually for some humans to step in. The parents or primary caregivers of the future recipient child go to the headquarters of the agency that will be training their dog. There, they spend time building a strong relationship with their future service dog. They also learn how to become a certified handler.

Next, it is time for the service dog to be welcomed into the family’s home. It is

important for the dog to scout out the place, sniff everyone and everything so

that they can become familiar with the people and place it will be working in. It is also important for service dog to learn about the family’s routine as it is welcomed into the family. The parents, now certified handlers, also need to continue to practice training skills with the dog. This phase in training

usually lasts for one to two weeks. Lastly, a specialist from the agency

comes to the family’s home and stays nearby in a hotel. They work with the

family and service dog and go through routines with the family as well as go to

places that the dog will navigating. This helps the tethering process, teaching the dog to stay with the child, as well as fine tunes the dog to the recipient child’s specific needs.

“You start to relax and

suddenly the sensory overload fades away as you focus on your furry

friend and you know that you are okay.”

Page 11 Mattlin PRIDE

An Autism Service Dog on the Job An autism service dog can possess

many skills to assist its recipient child. One of the skills an autism service dog can possess is being able to rescue a child who was wandered off. When a child wanders off their life is threatened; they don’t understand the danger of a car in the road or the man with the twisted smile. Some service dogs, however, can lead their adult handler to the child, bringing them back into the view of the adult which means safety.

Many autistic children have repetitive behaviors or rituals that they can not break, such as flapping their arms, rocking back and forth, yelling, or clapping their hands when it is not appropriate to do so. Often, parents have found that a simple tap on the forearm can stop the behavior for some time. A parent can’t always be there to tap them on the arm but an autism service dog can. From the service dog’s final days of training, it knows which behaviors it needs to stop, such as rocking back and forth, and can simply tap or distract the child from this bad behavior.

Service Dogs in the Long Run

As the recipient child grows to a teen, and the teen grows to an adult, their parents will not always be able to be by their side as they become older. Autism service dogs can help put the children on the right path to developing a more independent lifestyle. Remember the horror movie that was a sensory overload? Children with autism who experience this can often be distracted or entertained by the service dog. By only focusing on the dog, the child can ignore all of the smells, sights and sounds that were once drowning them. You can kind of think of an autism service dog as a lifeguard in this case, saving the child from “drowning”.

Remember the horror movie that was a sensory overload? Children with autism who experience this can often be distracted or entertained by the service dog. By only focusing on the dog, the child can ignore all of the smells, sights and sounds that were once drowning them. You can kind of think of an autism service dog as a lifeguard in this case, saving the child from “drowning”. One example of this is navigating through school life. As a child gets older, they are not always going to have a parent by their side, such as in high school. An autism service dog, however, can be there to guide the child through classes, stop their repetitive behaviors from distracting classes, and calm them down from sensory overloads in the classroom.

A Rerun of the Horror Movie Rerun the horror movie for a moment. Imagine being at the mall. Imagine every sound, the chatter of people, the cries of a baby, the laughter of your friends, overwhelms you. Imagine every smell, the salty pretzels, the greasy hot dogs, the buttery popcorn, overwhelms you. You try to put your hands over your ears. You try to curl up in a ball. You feel a paw tap you on the arm, so you look up to find that your furry friend is there. You start to relax and suddenly the sensory overload fades away as you focus on your furry friend and you know that you are okay.

Noah and his service dog Murphy are together at the store. Murphy is able to

keep Noah in sight and safe. Before Murphy, Noah’s parents said that they had to hold Noah at all times to

keep him calm and from wandering off. With Murphy, the whole family can

enjoy themselves in public.

Page 12 Mattlin PRIDE

2017

Page 13 Mattlin PRIDE

The Duck

Tour

The

Hall

of

Science

BOS

The Mattlin

Mattlin PRIDE Page 12

A word cloud is an image created from the words of a text passage.

The size of each word is based on the frequency of the word in the passage.

Shown here are the most frequently mentioned words in this issue of

The Mattlin PRIDE.

Wishing everyone a fun and safe summer!