Jerking

Jerkin is a dance that everybody does. It’s a hobby where everybody learns or invents their own moves like there are battles and all so group battles but the thing is you have to have your own moves or thats gonna be called cheating. They’re even songs to get you pumped up.

That’s how you jerk so we invented a crew named Nasty Minded Jerks. The moves of jerking we’re doing is called reject, heal and toe kneedrop, jump over your leg. And also foot work.

Luis

School uniform

Why does all middle scholars have to wear uniform at school? For me it’s much better to wear normal clothes, so everyone could be satisfied. If everybody wears normal clothes they would be much better at paying attention in class. The principle always thinks that if we wear black and red we are on a gang, but we aren’t. I think that if we could wear black and red to school it will be great even though we aren’t using normal clothes at school.

By: Brenda

PE Class

The last semester, I had so much fun in p.e. We played lots of sports in p.e for example; we played football, basketball, kickball, and all other sports we played in p.e. We also had a great time in health class. We learned everything about losing weight and how to see how many calories every food it has. We also did free time on Fridays but not every Friday. We also played medic dodge ball whenever we had a bad weather outside. We sometimes had to do some sports activities or go for a walk for a few laps until class is over. 1st semester was the best!

We also had a great time in health class. We began learning about what’s in our bodies and know how to do CPR. We also do exercises before we go to health class like sit-ups, running from cone-to-cone, jump rope, and all other stuff we do in health class. We also write the definitions in health class that was the best! We sometimes watch a video but not all the time. We also went outside to do obstacle courses some times in health class and also in the gym. We also had to write in our notebooks to take notes in health class. Health class was the best!

Sometimes, we have substitute teachers in p.e when our p.e teachers are absent or unable to go to school. We sometimes play kickball, which is our favorite sport we do when our p.e teachers did not make it to school. P.e and health class sometimes get together to play dodge ball or doing free time sometimes we go to p.e. We started to have fun in p.e and health class because we had good times in that class. We wanted to stay in p.e more but we had to go to our new electives sadly. We will always remember the good times we did in p.e and health classes.

By Karina

Castro update

Friday we had a dress down day because the Cardinals won the last game. We could’ve brought jersey shirts to represent the team we like, or we could just wear whatever we wanted. Also we had just had a jerking contest it was pretty cool. We do this every once in a while. We also just had two games, one was on 1/11/10 it was a basketball game against Atkinson. Then on 1/13/10 was a football game against Estrella.

by: Lilibeth

Galileo test

Why does the Galileo Test affect our grades?
We asked a teacher about how she feel about the Galileo
Test and it being 60% of are final grades. Her answers were this. Ms. Farley said the way she feels about the test is impartial meaning it has both pros and cons. 1 pro was: it gives a good over view of the student. 1 con was: it might be a bad testing day for the student therefore the students grade will be affected by the actual grade in their class on the report card.






By: Adrianna Sanchez,Dejonna Quinney,Diana Perez

The Jerks

Do you ever wonder how the ‘jerks’ jerk? They each have their own style and way to do different moves in their dance ‘jerking’. Some jump before they drop and some twist before they drop, as you see there are many different ways to express this dance. January 15, 2010 there was a dancing contest held in the gym for both 7th and 8th graders. They battled each other to see who came out as the best ‘jerk’, and I’m sure it was a very hard decision to make. Though, everyone did his or her best and I’m sure if you try you could come out as the best jerk in Castro Middle School.

Ismenia V., Genesis A., Ashlee G.

Free Dress Day!!

Friday January 15, 2010 was free dress day at Castro Middle School.
A lot of people were wearing regular clothes, not school uniforms.
We could also wear jerseys. This gave us a chance to wear our favorite team jersey. Our teachers also brought jerseys to school. It was nice to get out of our school uniforms and bring the clothes we would like to bring!!


By: Angel B.

The style these days

Now in these days there is things that are in style that were in style back then but not all things . Like when girls tease there hair and skinny jeans ,nerdy glasses were in style back then too . Some of the things that are in style right now some people think they are weird like zebra type skinny jeans and retro clothes . Like converse have always been in style but for a while they weren’t and now they are in style again .Now the shoes that are in style are VANS,BLAZERS,CONVERSE and JORDANS . Another thing that is cool right now are checkered shirts or clothes and JANSPORTS or DICKIES backpacks . One of the color’s that is in style right now is purple . The other style of skinny jeans is the colored skinny jeans and the guys are now wearing like vests and some of there vests are checkered , shorts that are khaki and caps too. Now that’s the style that’s OFF THE WALL.

BY:ESTEFANIA

School dress code

I think that it's cool that we can wear jeans to school. I think its cool because in other middle schools, students can’t wear jeans. They have to wear a uniform. Last year we could of weared different color shirts but now we can’t we can only wear gray ,white and maroon, But I still think its nice. That we can wear only those two colors. Also the thing I like about Castro is that we can wear jeans. They have to be dark blue, light blue or gray I found out that we can wear gray jeans back then we couldn’t wear gray jeans only dark blue, light blue, But now we can wear gray jeans. That’s one of my other favorite things about this school that we can WEAR GRAY JEANS. I hope that students at Castro like the code that we have!... The other thing that a lot of people like its when we can wear regular clothes.

BY: Yarixa

Gum

Here at Castro we are having issues with gum. Students put there gum everywhere which makes Mr. Piña upset. Mr. Piña does not want students in his office just for chewing gum. We would rather want to be in his office for a better excuses like fighting or something serious. We should be able to chew gum once in a while but we shouldn’t leave our gum everywhere. We should be able to chew gum. We should be able to chew gum because we can handle where to put out gum and that’s in the trashcan. We’re smart students and we should be treated like that. We are smart and we will work on the gum issue. Mr. Piña should allow students to chew gum.

Monica and Erika

Castro is the best school

Castro is a brand new school. I enjoy coming and walking the halls at Castro middle school. We have good teachers. Teachers here at Castro try to make us not want to drop out of school and that’s why we have jerking contests and free dress days. The walls, cafeteria rooms, library and gym are so nice here at Castro. One of the reasons I come to school is to have fun while I’m learning. This school is not like others. It is the coolest school a kid can come to. When there are fights or problems the teachers fix it. Especially the principal Mr. Pina.

Citlali

Skinnys

A lot of boys wear skinny jeans but why? In my option I think boys wear skinny jeans because some know how to jerk. And others because they look good. And also other boys don’t like their pants loose, so they wear skinnies. And others because they’re skaters and when they skate normal pants disturb them. But everybody has their own style, right?

Gonzalo

Free Dress Day

Today is free dress day! You could also represent your favorite team by wearing a jersey. A lot of people that aren’t wearing jerseys look nice. Everybody that’s not wearing a jersey look nice, they all have their own style.

Andrea

Why Are Some Students Picked on by Teachers? Part 1

Sometimes the noisiest kids in class actually don’t talk. When the rest of the kids are noisy there’re not! Then sometimes they get blamed for it! Why do the teachers automatically think it’s them even though it might not be them? Why do the teachers relate them to their past experiences? Why can’t they judge them for how they act now? It’s like they think nobody can change. It makes no sense.

Sergio O.

The best photo journalism class. 6th hour< 33

Wow! Well my first semester in photo journalism was awesome. I loved it. I had a lot of fun. I learned lot of new things. I also learned how to use the computers a lot more. I think my teacher was really patient with me through out the semester. I’d wish I could of stayed in this class. I really enjoyed this class but sadly I had to move to a different class. Im going to miss having this class especially Evelin. 6th hour was the best!!!


-Rocy Cruz< 33

Things about Photojournalism

Things we did in the beginning: In the beginning we were all over the place and were clueless about what to do. We were also in a big empty class next to the lockers, but Mr. Spencer let us use the computer lab so we got to experience more of Photojournalism.

Things we did at the end: In the end, we got to use the cameras, take pictures and interview people about their opinion on stuff they were writing about. We also got a person from Channel 12 news to come and talk to us about how we could improve our work and what other things we should include.

Things we wish we had done: One thing we wish we could have done is gone on a field trip take pictures, and video to write about them on our blog. That would have been a really cool thing to do especially for Photojournalism.

Raul

Backpacks Update

The backpacks have not changed at Castro. People still forget their homework. And students still get in trouble by the teachers. Students have even had issues with their parents and even with the principals. The students don’t like the backpacks because they don’t match with their clothes. And girls aren’t even allowed to bring big purses. I don’t understand why girls aren’t allowed to express colors and style. It’s not like girl would do something bad.

By Antonio

Fun Class

Photojournalism is a very fun class. It’s a very fun class because we do a lot of fun stuff but the best project that I like was when we went and took pictures. That was my favorite part because we took a lot of pictures of the whole school even the teachers. My favorite part was when we went to assemblies to take pictures but this class is a very fun class to come in. You will like it.

By Patricia

Photojournalism

Photojournalism

Things we did in the beginning: Some of the things we did in the beginnings were all right. I would’ve expected it to be hard but it wasn’t. It was pretty easy but it was challenging. But once u get the hang of it is not hard at all. Mr. Uttech is a very good teacher and is very easy to understand. Just don’t play games!! Everything is either easy or just a little challenging.

Things we did at the end: At the end we had fun. It was a piece of cake. Really it was. Once you were done with your assigned work you would get free time. The procedures are easy just easily go on the Internet to the Castro copy website and look what you had to do.

Things we wish we had done: We wish we could’ve had more free time. At least thirty minutes every Friday. We wish we shouldn’t have had to do so much work. Everything else was good at the beginning and the end. Thank you.

Justo And Benny

Raul H. Castro School assembly

Here at Castro middle school Mr. Pina set up all of his students a school assembly to get us prepared for Galileo testing. He got two pro basketball players to come and talk to us about how important it is to really try in school and how you act now has a big affect when you are older. The assembly was so much fun because they did a lot of really good tricks. They were also pulling out students from the stands and helping them do their good tricks. At the end they gave us pens, notebooks, candy and school shirts and we got to see the cougar. Some of us got to get their autographs. This assembly happened on a Friday the Friday before Galileo testing.

by Vanessa

Three-on-Three Update

On September 18, in the gym at 1:30pm, students were playing a game. Coach Dustin was the referee and Coach Hernandez was choosing people that were raising their hand. A girl shot the ball and it went in. They were playing a version of the playoffs.

The playoffs are when you play against a lot of different teams. They are playing because they want to show off their basketball skills. In the end the team that loses goes back to the bench and the Coach Dustin chooses 3 more players to take on the winners.

When they choose you, you will find a position and guard someone. Then coach will look out for any fouls and blow her whistle. The fun part is that everyone gets to shoot the ball. They all battle to reach for the ball when it is in the air.

The coach set up a tournament so that the students can learn how to play basketball and so they can have fun playing basketball with each other. Coach Dustin also gives the students the right to choose their own team. Many students pick the best players in basketball. Some students pick their best friends so they can have fun. The coach was nice enough to let us use the gym to play basketball. Many coaches don’t do that. They make us play in the sun. The students who win by the end of that period get commented on how they played. The fun part is that you get to hang out with your friends.

By: Paul.C

Welcome to Photo Journalism! This class is really fun. We basically write articles, take pictures, and make videos. But the point of this class is to inform the students at Castro about what is going on in their school.

I’ve learned so much about taking pictures & how you can cut parts of a video and where you mess up and simply continue it by adding different parts. Most of the time on Thursdays we do “Current Events” which is when we answer questions about events that are going on worldwide. This would make me aware of the things that would go on in the world.

This class is actually helpful. I hope you enjoy this class because Mr. Uttech is a very rad and patient teacher. It’ll be surprising to know that you don’t enjoy his class. Enjoy!

By: Dianerz

Graffiti: Is it Art?

Where Would You Like To Go?

Food Fight

Global Warming

Sixth Grade and Bus Schedule

Football player interview

The basketball game

Today at Castro,we are going to have a basketball game.The team is going to play Osborn.The game is at Castro Middle School.It is going to be the first game for the boys.So go to the game and cheer them on.


Andres

Mr. Dugan The Veteran

Mr. Dugan was in the army. He was a Marine. He didn’t actually get to fight. He injured his arm during his training. For that he lasted more than three months in boot camp. He finally recovered but never got to fight gratefully.
Justo, Joseph, Esteban, Benny

School Food Interview with Mr. Pina

I think that the food they give us at lunch is good but they need to change the menu into something that is going to surprise us. Many students like the food and some students don’t like the food. Mostly some students don’t like the food because they get tired of eating the same food every day. Other students like the food because it’s what they might eat at home or something they enjoy eating.


By: Paul.C

Castro Dance

On October 29, 2009, 7th and 8th grades had a school dance. It was from 5-7 p.m. It was a pretty cool dance it could have been better. At the beginning of the dance many people weren't dancing. Although towards the end of the dance a lot more people were dancing. We were not allowed to be dancing on each other. Even though we still did at times. The music that the DJ played wasn't all that great. Hopefully in our next dance it could be a lot better.
Rosy

Fall break

After getting out of Castro middle school, fall break was here. Students were going out of state or getting new haircuts. But for some, students or teachers got sick. But for me, I did by going to the grass and getting sick. Also, not just in the grass but for an asthma attack. I survived and am going back to school. All last break from fall break I stayed at the hospital for a rest to get back on of my feet. But still sitting on the bed resting really help a lot. At least I got back from my feet here back to school. Also from the way the tests went we sure needed a break.
>delma

Dance!!!

On Thursday at Castro middle school. There is going to be a dance. The dance is going to be from 5 to 7. The dance is for 7th and 8th graders. The cost of the dance is $3 but if you bring a can food it is going to cost $1.50. You can bring costumes. So come to dance and have fun.
Andres

On Thursday 10/29/09 there is going to be a school dance at Castro Middle School. The time would be from 5 to 7. There are going to be 7^th & 8^th graders allowed in there. You are allowed to bring a costume of your own. The cost for the dance is going to be $3 or if you bring a can of food you would only be charged $1.50! So come on in “peeps” and come to the dance! We going to get this on!

Adan

Welcome Parents!

Take a look at "Castro Cougar Courier" - our school news website. We have been writing articles, taking pictures and learning about the elements of photography and journalism this quarter. Here you'll find out about what's been going on in our Castro community. Enjoy!

Heche una ojeada el "Cougar Courier" de Castro; - nuestro Web site de las noticias de la escuela. Hemos sido artículos de la escritura, tomando cuadros y aprendiendo sobre los elementos de la fotografía y del periodismo este cuarto. Aquí you' el ll descubre sobre what' s que entra encendido en nuestra comunidad de Castro. ¡Goce!

Fashion

These days it’s all about fashion. Everyone wants to be in style. So what is really in style? Well we're going to tell you.

• Skinny Jeans
• Vans
• Blazzer’s
• Big hair
• Colorful clothes
• Plated shirts
• Mohawks/Tapers
• Jerkin’

By: Dixie , Alonso, Enrique , Rocy , Evelin

Opinion: We need shade

Why don’t we have shades ? We need more trees and benches. Kids are getting dark. We should have those big blue shades they have at Peralta .

adan,maria.kennedy,aleida

Band

I think our band is really great because we have great students that love to play music also our band is dedicated to play music. At Castro we have many kids that play their instruments. We also have a good music director his name is Mr. Dominguez. He was also in a in a big and great band in his time. Band is a great elective.

- Dixie and Alonso

Cross Country

Yesterday on the 23 of September we had a cross country meet at Castro Middle school. There were a lot of racers and a lot of other schools there was Atkinson, Estrella and a lot more of other different schools. Our school got 4^th place out of 98 racers. Rudy got 4^th place and Luis got 5^th out of 98 racers. They raced good yesterday good luck for there next race.

Joseph

Opinion Article: School Uniform

I think it is cool that we can wear jeans because no school can wear jeans. And I think we should wear more colors for the t-shirts like green, purple, orange, yellow, red , black, pink. Now we can only wear gray, white, maroon. I understand why we don’t have red and black and blue, but not green, purple, orange, yellow.

Oscar

I think Castro would be better if the uniform came in more colors. We can't even wear green, yellow, purple or orange. Last year, we could wear those colors and now we can't wear them. The only colors we can wear are gray, white and maroon. So I'm hoping that next year the sixth graders that are coming to Castro next year would be proud of going to Castro.

Raul

Opinion Article: Security Cameras

I think Castro would do better if we didn’t have security cameras.
I don’t think cameras are necessary because its not like we are doing something bad. What if your picking your nose or doing something embarrassing and people see you at the office that’s VERY embarrassing. That’s why I don’t think we should have cameras. It would be much better without them and more comfortable.

*Maria;p

Opinion: Backpacks at Castro

I think Castro should not make the students wear mesh and clear backpacks. We should be able to wear any kind of backpack. Because some people don’t want to wear clear backpacks. They only bring binders and that’s why some people forget their homework.

by:antonio

Opinion: Our school's food

I think that we need better food. The reason is that the food we have is nasty. Sometimes the food is hard, overcooked, and they use leftovers. That’s why some kids don’t eat the food at the school. We should vote if we want to have fast food places come to our school and sell us food. That is my opinion on our school food and how we should get better food for our school.

Andres, Aleida

Opinion Article: Basketball Nets

I think that Castro needs better basketball nets because this morning we were playing basketball and my friend shot it and it went in but the ball went rolling far. When there is a basketball net you shoot it and it stays right there trapped in the net. Only two or three basketball rims have nets on them. Everyday it is the same, because we have to go run for the basketball. Everyday I hear students from Castro complaining about the nets. The janitors should change them every month or how their condition is. Some students care because it is what they do everyday.

By: Paul
Photo By: Rocy And Evelin

Opinion Article: Castro Food

I think Castro needs better food because the food right now is old. The students want better food. The food isn’t good for everyone that eats it. The food made me sick more than once. The food doesn’t taste good and doesn’t look healthy. The students need something better, something that doesn’t make you sick and something that tastes good.

Jesus

Opinion Article: The food at castro

I think we need better food. I think all the schools food is nasty. That’s why Castro should be the school with different kind of food so it can be remembered as not only as a performing school but as a school with the best food. It’s not always nasty but most of the times. I’m not the only one that thinks this I’m pretty sure the whole school does! There has to be a change so this school can be the best in the country.


Justo P.

Opinion Article: CASTRO FOOD

I think we need better food. Castro food is nasty all the time. A lot of kids are not eating because the food is not good. If the food were good there would not be any leftovers. A lot of us are not eating because of the food.


Esteban E.

jerking

The New Boys do it better than Castro students. Some women actually know how. Guys aren’t the only ones that know how to jerk. Almost every person that jerks does the same move all over such as the reject and hiphy drop. There are also little kids that can jerk and there are also kids that can’t jerk.

aleida

adan

Three on Three

Today in the gym at 1:30pm students were playing a game. Coach Dustin was the referee and Coach Hernandez was choosing people that were raising their hand. A girl shot the ball and it went in. They were playing a version of the playoffs.

By:Paul

Today in class Mr. Uttech showed us how to use iphoto. We took pictures on photo booth and and edited it on iphoto. We could crop and change colors on iphoto. Thanks to Mr. Uttech I know how to use iphoto .

-dixie

Iphoto

TODAY WE USED I PHOTO.WE USED I PHOTO TO EDIT PHOTOS WE TOOK. I PHOTO LETS YOU MAKE A PHOTO LOOK BETTER. I LEARNED HOW TO USE I PHOTO.SO THAT’S WHAT WE DID TODAY.

ANDRES

Intervention

Today we all went to different classes than usual. We were having intervention. We are having intervention because some people need help on certain classes. I have science because I don't really understand, because it's hard and I do want to understand, but it's really difficult. I think hypothesis is really hard to understand because you have to go over some steps before doing a problem.

Alondra

An uncle's obituary

On Labor Day something bad happened to one of our family members. My uncle passed away. When we all heard that we all broke down and cried. It was hard for my mom and my cousin, my aunt and also me. After that we called his family to come and see his funeral this past Saturday. We went to El Paso, Texas seeing him buried made me surprised and so upset.

But when I help my cousin and aunt and prepared for the funeral I was also crying with them. All of us were wearing black and white. At supper we were quiet listening to some of his music but then my dad was talking about the pass with laughter. When we all finished,my family was leaving back to Phoenix AZ. My sister and me said bye and with tears and hugs we said goodbye to my uncle.

My dad was driving back on the road and I started remembering how my uncle made a birthday party when I was 9 yrs old and it made me cry seeing him here at my graduation or cheer me up when I’m sad like right now.

But he will always be here with me.

Delma

Boys Soccer Team Game Today

There is going to be a boy’s soccer game today. They are playing a team called Meadows. Last time they played against Estrella they lost 2-1 and their record is 0-1. I don’t know if they’re going to win today, but I believe that they can win today. I know that we had a bad game last time but we can still win some games I hope.

OSCAR

SPORTS

Volleyball - Castro V.S. Estrella
Estrella Wins

Soccer - Castro V.S. Estrella
Estrella Wins

Castro Middle School played real hard playing Estrella in volleyball and in soccer. Estrella won both in volleyball and in soccer. We will try even harder and win our next games.

-dixie

On Saturday, we went to a soccer tournament.There were four teams in our bracket. There was our team Coyuta, then Olympia, North Scottsdale and Real. In the first game it was Coyuta vs. North Scottsdale. Scottsdale beat our team 4-0. Then we played against Olympia. We beat Olympia 5-2.Then we played against Real. We won 4-1.Then we played against North Scottsdale for the championship. We lost 3-2. We got second place North scottsdale got first place. We got medals, and a trophy. North Scottsdale got the same thing as us. There trophy was a little bigger then ours.

Arturo

On Saturday, we had a soccer tournament. I went to go help my friend’s team his name is Luis. The name of the team is Olympia. The first game that we played was ay 12:30 we stayed 2-2. The second game that we played was against Coyuta and we lost it was 5-2. The third game that we played was against North Scottsdale and we lost 5-1.

Alonso

Photo Elements

On Friday the 11th, Mr. Uttech’s class went outside and took pictures of different elements. We took pictures of cvi [center of visual interest], repetition, rule of thirds, framing, emotion, action, and leading lines.

Tony

The boys and girls soccer games

Yesterday the girls and boys soccer team lost. The girls lost 5-4 to Estrella. The boys lost to Estrella too. They lost 2-1. The boys and girls soccer team has not started the season good.


Andres

President Obama's speech

President Obama is talking about how everybody is different. We all should do well in school and finish school and go to college and get a good job. He wants us to meet our goal and don't ever give up. If we give up we're giving up on our country! So kids, keep doing well in school. Go to college and get a good job. President Obama said that if we keep doing well he would try buying every school computers and supplies. He also said not to give up never ever!

adan

President Barack Obama's speech

Barack Obama was at Arlington,Virginia on September 8,2009. He gave a speech to students so they wouldn’t leave school and so they would have a goal. He was talking at a high school.
Here are some things he said.
“Don’t quit on yourself or your country.”
“Set your own goals.”
“Asking for help isn’t a sign of weaknes it is a sign of strength.”
“If you have bad grades it doesn’t mean you’re stupid it means you have to work harder.”

Esteban E.

President Obama really cares about our education and that we have the right to have an education. Because some students want to be succesful in life have a good job. ”We have the reponsibility, “ Obama said. ”You have the right to an education.” All he wants us to be is successful.

-ALEIDA

Obama's speech

Tuesday in our social studies class we watched President Obama’s speech were he talked to kids kindergarten though 12th grade about education. He mentioned that students’ education is very important and there’s no excuses for us not to learn. “If you quit, you’re not just quitting on yourself,” Obama said. “You’re also quitting on your country.”

ivette