KNIGHTLY CHRONICLES 2019-2020
This Is Me - As Sung by the CDW Choir
As the unprecedented 2019-2020 school year comes to an end, please take the time to listen to this amazing song (submitted by each student remotely) titled "This Is Me". On behalf of the Charles DeWolf Middle School Choir and the Knightly Chronicles Middle School Digital Newspaper, have a wonderful summer!
Last Day of School
By Chloe
It’s already the last day of school! It was especially a special year because we have tried a new system of learning, e-Learning. It’s time to take a break from it now. Are you excited to enjoy your summer? Relax, enjoy and have fun. Yet, remember to wear your face masks all the time, keep your social distances, and wash your hands. Stay safe and healthy, we hope to see you back in school in September!
How Are Your Pets Doing During Quarantine?
By Erin, Lili, and Sofia
Since quarantine started, it’s been a little hard for everyone to adjust to this new life. It’s also been hard for pets. In this video, we hear from different 6th grade students about how their pets are doing during quarantine. Most people said that their pets are doing well and are enjoying all the extra attention. Everyone is very stressed right now, so it's good that at least our pets are happy! How is your pet doing?
Staying Fit While Stuck at Home
By Joey and Jake
How have you been exercising during these tough times? We took some interviews from FlipGrid and put them in our video. We took 5 interviews from FlipGrid, so we could have a range of answers. The interviews were from sixth graders Jason, Gianna, Niko, Bella, and Ciaran. These students shared how they stay fit during quarantine. Most of the answers were about sports, and bike rides. Although, there were a couple of unique answers. We included a few extra tips, just to add on to what the other students said. Hopefully, this video gave you a good idea on ways to stay fit during this quarantine.
What do you do at home?
By Nolan
During these hard times, it’s hard to keep yourself busy. However, there are many things to occupy yourself while in quarantine! What do you do at home? This is what I asked multiple 6th grade students in CDW Middle School to see what they have to say.Did they play video games? Take a walk? You’ll have to watch the video to see! Speaking of which, what do you do at home nowadays?
Watching and Wondering
By Jason
Have you been keeping up with the news? Wondering what state our world is in with the coronavirus? We had students from CDW answer this question and got their everyday experience with the news. Is the news worth watching? Will we get out of quarantine soon? Will I benefit from the news? These are questions students asked themselves before answering the question. Overall, some of us do and some of us don’t watch the news but in the end all we have to do is stay safe.
What is there to do when you’re bored during quarantine?
By Sooa
What do you do when you’re bored during quarantine? Coronavirus is a serious outbreak that drove everyone into social distancing and quarantine. People were asked to stay inside; students were not allowed to go to school and were asked to continue their studies with e-Learning. We interviewed people from our class with the question: What do you do when you’re bored during quarantine? Hyacinth, 6th grade, “I first do my homework and then after that, I spend some time with my family and after that I do my social media.” Sooa, 6th grade, “When I’m done with my school homework, I read for the whole day, which is fun.” Erin, 6th grade, “So once I’m done with my school homework, I go outside or play a video game or watch TV.” Bella, 6th grade, “To keep busy at our house, I usually play soccer or lacrosse or read, watch TV or sometimes I’ll talk to friends.” What do you do when you’re bored? Thanks for watching!
Staying Fit during Quarantine!
by Erin, Sofia, & Lili
Have you ever wondered how to stay fit during a pandemic like this? Well the students in CDW have their own ways. There are many things to do during this tough time. You can go on a social distance walk with your family. You can also do workouts to keep your body in shape. There are a lot of things going on right now, but we need to get through this. People are losing their jobs and are stress eating because of that. This is why exercising is so important, especially now. Since we are very bored because we can’t leave our houses, people are just eating. Exercise is so important for the body. In the beginning of quarantine, it was very cold outside now since the weather is getting nicer we have an opportunity to go outside and walk, hunt, fish, and more! Here is what the students at CDW come up with.
What do you dislike about E-Learning
By Samuel
Have you ever wondered, “Are students enjoying E-Learning” to yourself? We received 3 students' interviews from Flipgrid and asked them about what do you dislike about E- Learning. The 3 students are Luke, Joey, and Niko. Do they struggle in work? Do they have way too much homework? Are they getting distracted at home too much? Have you ever wondered if E-Learning gives too much homework? Good for you, because in this video we answer some of those thoughts in your head. Hope you enjoy this video, and don't just give up on E-Learning just because it's online. You’ll still lose points!
List of things that people might do during quarantine.
by Hyacinth
Don’t know what to do during quarantine? Having trouble to remove this boredom? Don’t know what else to do? We listed 6 things that people can and might do in a quarantine lifestyle. Hopefully, these advice will help you solve this common problem that people have these days. Just remember this is just a list. There are more activities and fun things to enjoy with your family and your friends. You can get creative and have an awesome day. We hope that this video will get an idea of how to make your boredom a little bit more enjoyable and finds it helpful for students and teachers these days. We all hope that you all stay safe. Thank you for watching this video!
How do you keep busy during quarantine?
By Niko and Joe
Are you wondering how you keep busy during quarantine? We interviewed students to see how they keep busy. If you are wondering, then you can watch this video on how to keep busy during quarantine. Creating this video helped us keep busy during quarantine! Hopefully you can learn about some new ideas if you are bored at home during quarantine, to try and keep busy and change up your routines.
Likes and Dislikes About e-Learning
By Chloe, Gianna, and Giselle
COVID-19 is changing the world right now. Because of COVID-19, students have been doing e-Learning at home. E-Learning is an “learning conducted via electronic media, typically on the internet” according to Google Dictionary. Different schools are doing e-Learning in many different ways. Students and teachers in Charles DeWolf Middle School are mainly using Google Classrooms, Flip Grids and Google Meets to do e-Learning. Some students were completely fine doing e-Learning at home. Then again do all students enjoy e-Learning? Many students have different opinions on it, so watch the video and hear some different opinions on the new e-Learning system.
How are CDW students exercising during the quarantine?
by Ryan
Have you ever wondered how the students of CDW exercised during the quarantine? We interviewed students in CDW and asked them about what they did to exercise. It is important to exercise, even during the quarantine because it has many benefits and improves your overall health. Many students said that they walked as their main way of exercising. Walking is a great way to get exercise in a short amount of time. Watch the video to find out what other exercises the students did to stay fit and healthy.
Fully Charged For The Day
By Jason, Jacob, and Caleb
Charging your chromebook is important so, well, you can use it. Students and teachers in CDW use their chromebooks every day in school. We interviewed Mr. Johnson and students Charlotte, Brendan, Luke, Jonah, and Adam. They gave us their take on their chromebook habits. Sometimes you do forget to charge it like you are supposed to, but that’s okay. It matters if you turn it into an everyday thing when you forget to charge your computer. Our video includes tips on how to remember to charge your chromebook if you struggle with this. In the end, make it a habit to charge your chromebook and try to be responsible.
How to Avoid Getting Sick!
By Chanel, Sophia, and Bella
Our video was created on the idea of viruses spreading around. It was the time when the coronavirus started spreading to the US. We weren’t worried about it because many scientists stated that this would be similar to the flu virus. Now we know better, because the coronavirus started spreading tremendously. However, we wanted to get an idea of what our classmates and teachers were thinking. We interviewed multiple students that were sick recently and teachers that have children to take care of. We could not not film certain teachers because they did not want to be recorded. We also wanted to get information about what was planned for the school. We decided to interview the principal and student manager. They gave us information about the plans for now and what would happen in the event that school is cancelled. Some things we included in the video were tips, questions, and information on viruses.
What is Your Favorite Item in The Vending Machine?
by Ciaran, Maximo, and Nicholas
Do you not know what snack to choose in the school vending machines? Well, we interviewed different students in CDW and asked them what their favorite snack was in the school vending machines. The students gave us their favorite snack options from the vending machines and we put them all into a video. So if you ever want to try a different snack in the vending machines, then you can take the advice or you could use the feedback from these student’s interviews to try a new snack in the vending machines. We hope you enjoy this video, and you find it somewhat interesting and entertaining.
Student Feedback On the Science Bus
By Gianna, Giselle, and Chloe
Attention sixth graders! Did you enjoy the Science Bus? Sixth graders went on the bus and learned about how digging for oil works. They also did some very fun experiments and activities. It was their first time on the Science Bus, so we interviewed some students for feedback. Did they enjoy the Science Bus or did they not? Watch the video and find out about it! We hope you enjoy the video and hope this gives some ideas on the Science Bus for the fifth graders that will be on the bus next year!
If OTBN is not working, what should you do?
By Etan and Ryan
OTBN, everybody knows it, it is the CDW broadcasting network for Old Tappan. They show many important things like trips that are coming up and cool events in school. But what if it does not work, you won’t know when your band lesson is today or if there is anything happening. Well, you no longer need to worry! If OTBN does not work there is a google classroom that you can access for the news. In this class it shows everything that was going to be on OTBN in written form. The class code for this class is NPDK6E7. We hope you enjoyed this video and learned where and how to get your daily news.
What’s in the custodian’s closet?
By Angelina, Nicole, and Regan
Our video is about the mystery of the custodian's closet. We thought it would be a funny, yet somewhat informational video that could go on OTBN. Lots of kids want to see what staff only areas are like, and this is a small virtual tour of a staff only room, the custodian's closet. We think lots of kids would enjoy our video because it's an enjoyable video you can get a laugh out of while watching. Besides it being funny, it has the informational aspect of the other videos on OTBN. We interviewed students, and staff members on what they thought was in there. While doing this we got both serious and silly answers. So what is in the custodian’s closet? There’s only one way to find out...
Apple or Android?
By Zach and Chris
We interviewed some students from CDW and all of them prefer Apple over Android. Lets see what Zack, Jett, Max, and Bryan had to say. Some of them liked the cameras and the quality of the phone. Others said they liked Apple because they have the phone and they don't have an Android phone. Some felt it was simpler and easier to communicate between Apple to Apple phones such as FaceTime. You can’t FaceTime from Apple to Android you can only do it with Apple. Also possibly students can like both phones and think that they are equally as good. Maybe as a result of these interviews some of the students will change their phone platform.
Medieval Times
By Matthew, Roey, and Dylan
*Editor’s Note: This story was completed before the spread of COVID-19 caused us to begin remote learning. The information may be outdated, but has still been posted to showcase the hard work of the student creators.
Do you want to take a trip back in time? Well you can, sort of. Medieval Times is a place that we are going to take a field trip to. It takes us back to the middle ages and we can experience exciting jousting, thrilling sword fights, dancing horses, and flying falcons. We asked some students how they felt about going on the field trip. Have you ever been to Medieval times? Did you like it? What was your favorite part? Are you excited about going to Medieval Times? We interviewed Max, Arav, Caleb, and Nolan. Most people were excited to go to the medieval times. Some of them said they liked the meal there. This field trip will be a great experience for people that haven’t gone there. I think even the people who went there already, will still enjoy it every time they go. Overall Medieval Times is wonderful for all ages to enjoy. Sadly due to COVID-19 we will no longer be able to go on the trip.
How do you choose your book?
By Sooa, Noa, and Hyacinth
We were curious about how people choose their book. So, we interviewed 6 teachers Mr. Johnson, Ms. Brock, Ms.Osbahr, Mrs. Watters, Mr. Ro, and Ms. DiPisa. The teachers gave us an idea about how people choose their book. Some of the responses were very different while others were pretty similar. Before we interviewed the teachers we would sometimes give them examples, such as if they saw the cover or the summary of the book. We hope that we gave you more ideas of how you can choose your favorite book without overthinking which book is the best. Hope you enjoyed our video and found it as helpful as we did!
What are CDW’s Favorite Recess Activities?
By Jake and Joey
Have you ever thought about which activity is most popular at recess? Well, we did and we interviewed different students about what they they like to do during recess. If you guys saw our question on the OTBN Google Classroom and answered it, your response is in this video. Even if you don’t like physical activities, you can talk with your friends or even just stay in the lunchroom, but others who like physical activities can play basketball, football, boxball and more. We hope you enjoyed this video and we hope you learned more about how popular your favorite activity is. Overall, CDW has a variety of games to play during recess, and the students here enjoy all of them!
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Jr.
By Sofia, Lili, and Erin
*Editor’s Note: This story was completed before the spread of COVID-19 caused us to begin remote learning. The information may be outdated, but has still been posted to showcase the hard work of the student creators.
Lights, camera, action! Our school is putting on the production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Jr. We interviewed some students and teachers about whether they were excited for the musical and how they thought it would turn out. The students we interviewed were Roey, Samantha, Gianna, Nicoletta, Ava, Arav, and Christos, who all had roles in the musical. They also all gave the same basic answer: That they are very excited for the musical and think it will turn out great. A few of them commented on how Ms. Osbahr was running the musical, and how that has never been done before. The teachers we interviewed were Ms. Osbahr, the director of the musical, and Mrs. Watters, who is in charge of set design. Mrs. Osbahr talked about how she hopes the results of the musical will be what she has in mind, and Mrs. Watters talked about some of the set ideas that she has for the musical. We hope you enjoyed this video and hope to see you at the musical!
The Glamour of Gum
By Nolan
Have you ever wondered why so many people are chewing gum nowadays? Well, I’ve looked into this question by interviewing many retired chewers and asking them questions. Together, we’ll take a look at why they did it, in which classes they did it in, and (with body language) do they regret it? Also, learn about what type of gum they chew in some cases. It’s fun to listen to what they have to say, and sometimes laugh. Listen up to find out more about your friends and if they ever chewed gum in school!
Coffee House 2020
By Anthony and Brendan
*Editor’s Note: This story was completed before the spread of COVID-19 caused us to begin remote learning. The information may be outdated, but has still been posted to showcase the hard work of the student creators.
The coffee house is a fun activity for all grades. Many people from different grades will be watching and some will act. The coffee house will take place sometime later this year. Kids from grade 5 to grade 8 can participate in the concert. They can sing, play an instrument, do a comedy act and much more. At the coffee house, they will be serving coffee, hot chocolate, popums, munchkins, and cookies. All of these yummy treats are free. Hope to see you there!
Zen Classroom
by Emily Choi
Who doesn’t love a little classroom where you can just sit and relax? The Zen Classroom, located in the Conference Room, is perfect for those who need a moment for themselves and take a break. Many students experience an enormous amount of stress and we believe one of the best ways to cope with it is by relaxing and having a period to yourself during a school day. It is open to all eighth graders during CE and lunch. In the Zen Classroom, you can either meditate with headspace.com, draw, color, plant, or do whatever that makes you relax. Its only limits are that one person can use it up to twice a month, with five people per session. First come first serve. We hope the Zen Classroom allows you to get disconnected with the outer world so you can have a moment of peace for yourself!
Mr. Capilli taught Social Studies at Charles DeWolf Middle School for many years. He had a huge impact on the students that were in his classes, and they will not forget the time they had together. This video is a compilation made by his current 7th grade students saying goodbye. We wish you the best of luck in everything going forward, Mr. Capilli!
The Old Tappan Podcast Network!
By Arav and Samuel
Have you ever wondered what our 8th Graders do in Broadcasting Class? They work on the OTPN (aka The Old Tappan Podcast Network). They make podcasts about topics that they are concerned about. For example, one episode is titled “Will kids born today ever learn how to drive?.” We interviewed Mr. Johnson, Maxwell, and Christopher about what they do in OTPN. Sometimes they will record and another day, they will edit their recordings. Their topics are very interesting and they happen in the real world. Have you looked at the podcasts yet? View them on podbean.com. You can also look for the podcast in any podcast app on a phone or tablet, and search for “Old Tappan.” Even though these podcasts have no visual part to them, you will very much enjoy listening to what the 8th graders have to say!
Loaner Laptops in the Classrooms
By Olivia and Charlotte
Has your chromebook ever broke down during class or just suddenly stopped working? Well you should thank the Tech Team for delivering the two loner laptops to each classroom just in case this happened. We interviewed three students on what they think about the two loner laptops. Each of the students told us one reason why they think the two loner laptops are useful to students. Then, we showed Mrs. Suriano’s set of rules as an example. Most teachers’ sets of rules goes along the same lines as Mrs. Suriano’s. Let’s all give a big thanks to the Tech team for helping deliver the two loaner laptops!
OTBN Spotlight Part 2
By Adam and Adam
Have you ever wondered how OTBN is made? Just to be safe, I am going to tell you anyway. OTBN is not made by only one person. Many people work together to make OTBN. A few of the jobs that you may not see in every OTBN video are the sound engineer and the tricaster operator. The sound engineer is in charge of making sure the sound in the video is working properly and so people’s ears don’t bleed. The tricaster operator is in charge of changing the camera view, and what is displayed on the TV screens. Although none of these jobs show up on video, they are both extremely important jobs in the production of OTBN.
OTBN Spotlight Part 1
By Adam and Adam
Have you ever wondered how OTBN is made? Sure you have! OTBN is not made by only one person. Many people work together to make OTBN. A few of the jobs that you can see in every single OTBN video is the anchor, the weather, and the pledge. The anchor is in charge of reading important topics that have to do with the school and other important announcements. The person in charge of the weather reads the weather at the end of the video, while the pledge reads the Pledge of Allegiance at the end of the video. The anchor reads off of a monitor behind the camera which displays the entire script. The weather and pledge read off of a whiteboard that has everything written on it. Although it appears that there are only three people working at OTBN, there is a whole crew of people who work behind the scenes. Those jobs deserve an entire story on their own!
New Books in CDW
By Isaiah, Ryan, and Harold
There are new books in CDW that you can check out in the library. There are many options like Harbor Me and Storm Runners. If you have time to go to the library and check it out. Make sure to ask Miss DiPisa or your fellow classmates for some more recommendations! There are so many great books to read that are in our library, that sometimes a recommendation can really help pick the best one for you.
Valentine’s Day Gifts
by Luke and Jonah
Valentine's Day is coming up and we hope you have a lovely one. This holiday occurs on February 14 every year. We interviewed some students and teachers on good ideas to give someone on Valentine’s day. Some of the ideas were to buy a teddy bear, a card, a box of chocolates, to say thank you, flowers, a cute gift of some sort, and candy. Make sure you treat your special someone extra special!
Cambodia Club Presents… Paint Night!
By Nina and Sienna
Do you want to help schools in Cambodia? Many schools in Cambodia do not have walls, or roofs, or bulletin boards. Some of them do not have the same quality education like we do. To help those schools you can come to Paint Night! It will be held on Thursday, February 6th in the Lynch Gym at 7:00 p.m. It is $25 per person to paint an awesome picture. Bring your friends and have fun! We hope to see you there!
Boys and Girls Basketball Teams
By Zack, Devyn, and Luke
The school’s boys and girls basketball teams are looking to make a splash this season. We interviewed players on what they thought about their team, teammates, and how they think the season will go. We interviewed both the boys and girls on the teams. We also got some footage from the boys and girls practices. There we saw scrimmages, strategies from the coaches, and inbound plays. Some of the players thought that their teammates were nice, and some other teammates said that they thought that they were going to have to work to have a successful season. Overall, both teams tried their hardest this season, and the players had a fun time.
Family STEAM Night
by Aliya, Alice, and Lauren
Are you interested in Family Steam Night? We interviewed Ms.Mueller and some students in CDW and we asked them if they wanted to go to Family Steam Night or not. Also, we interviewed Ms. Mueller to ask her for the Steam Night. What time is it start? Where is it? Do you have to sign up? Do the kids have to be from CDW? The students from CDW gave us their opinion and why they want to go to the Steam Night or not. We have also added some Family Steam Night information for you. We hope you enjoyed this video and we hope this video is useful to you. Please come to Family Steam Night with your family and experience sort of science activities on January 13.
Goodbye to Jake
Jake is a student at CDW that made a difference in the lives of a lot of students and teachers! This video was created by Matthew Morin to say goodbye to a friend of our school as he moves away. Goodbye Jake, we will miss you.