Movie Review Times Two

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Lights! Camera! Action! Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief has good graphics, realistic fire, humor, exciting music, and great animatronics. The special effects were awesome and scary, especially scenes in the Underworld. The sound effects in Medusa’s garden made me want to jump out of my seat. Overall, “Percy Jackson And The Olympians” is a great movie but you should read the book if you haven’t already!

By Ethan (he saw the movie before reading the book)


Greek mythology is the best of all mythology (in my opinion), and is the base of the Percy Jackson movie. This is a great movie to see with your family, although there are some minor disturbing parts so it is probably for ages 11+. The movie was pretty good except for a few key elements. It did not show a lot of important parts from the book. For example, one of the major fight scenes was left out of the movie. It also bugged me that one of main characters had a different hair color than she did in the book. They made up for it in the graphics and the characters were really funny. If you have not read the books it is a great movie. If you have read the books you might not like it as much, but I would still recommend seeing it.

By Graham (he read the book before seeing the movie)

Online Game Review

Bloons Tower Defense 3

Bloons tower defense 3 is a fun and addicting game where you pop balloons with all kinds of monkey mechanics. In this game you can buy items and upgrade them in different ways. The goal of the game is to pop all the balloons without losing your 100 lives. There is lots of "stuff" you can buy, like a super monkey (shoots hundreds of darts per second) and a spike catapult (shoots giant spike balls at balloons) and lots more! There are many balloons too, including a red balloon and a lead balloon. From buying your first stuff, to defeating the last few balloons, to upgrading your super monkey to the fullest, this game is the ultimate game for fun!

By Joshua

Nisene Marks State Park

The land that is now Nisene Marks State Park was clear cut for lumber between 1883 and 1923. Logging was finished by 1925. At that time the lumber company offered to sell the land. The property was finally bought by Nisene Marks.

Now the forest is a State Park. You can hike and go for bike rides on many miles of trails under the canopy of redwood trees. You might see rabbits, squirrels, birds, deer or other animals. The Park will entertain you for a very fun day.

I like going to Nisene Marks State Park because it seems like a different world in the dense forest of redwoods. Sometimes I imagine loggers by my side with an axe on their shoulders on their way to cut a tree. Nisene Marks has been a wonderful experience for my family, my friends and me!I hope that you have an opportunity to see the park, enjoy its history, hike, ride bikes or have a picnic. Don't get ants in your pants!

By Maya
Photos by Johnna

Mrs. Clouse: The Fabulous First Grade Teacher!

How much do you know about 1st grade teacher Mrs. Clouse? She was a teacher’s aid for 6 years and has been teaching for 11. Mrs. Clouse has been a 1st grade teacher every year except for 5 years ago when she had a 1st/2nd combo class. She decided to teach because she wanted to make learning fun. Mrs. Clouse has not only taught at Rio Del Mar but at a Japanese Cultural School, summer school for 6th – 8th grade students.

Mrs. Clouse’s favorite food is sushi. She loves sushi because she says it’s, “scrumpdidilyumptious”! Her favorite book is Heidi. It is about a little girl who goes to live with her grandpa. Mrs. Clouse’s favorite movie is ‘’ Lady Sings the Blues’’ because she loves the music. Also, her favorite color is red.

She believes the biggest problem in our world is the lack of tolerance of differences. Mrs. Clouse thinks that is the biggest problem because people not understanding each other could lead to violence.

She has not only lived in Aptos but was born in San Jose and went to school at San Luis Obispo. She went to high school in San Jose at Del Mar and went to college at Cal Poly. The farthest places she has traveled are New Zealand and Australia for vacation.

As you can see, Mrs. Clouse has a lot of fun teaching!


By Maggie

SAVE UP YOUR LOOSE CHANGE!

Save up your loose change for the Kabul School used book sale! The Kabul School needs more books for their library. All the money from the sale is going to buy them new books. This event will be Wednesday, March 31 from 8:30-2:30 in the library. There will be all kinds of books, from science to fiction. So save up your change!

By Amy