Stefania Alonzo

Reader’s Digest
By Stefania Alonzo
Hour 4 and 5

Table of Contents
A Hard Time Falling Asleep (100 Word True Story).……………………………………pg. 1
My Sister’s Hero (100 Word True Story).………………………………………..……….pg. 2
Word Power Definitions…………………………………………………………………….pg. 3
Word Power Game…………………………………………………………………………pg. 4
Word Power Game Answer Key…………………………………………………………..pg. 5
Emotional Health (Health/Medical).............................................................................pg. 6
Two Most Beautiful Words…………………………………………………………………pg. 7
When Are Heart Attacks Most Likely to Occur? (Who Knew).………….....................pg. 8
Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day (Who Knew).………………………………………….pg. 9
Why Are Movie Trailers Called ‘Movie Trailers’? (Who Knew).................................pg. 10
Restaurant Chatter (Comic Strip).............................................................................pg. 11
Free Strings Classes at OTMS (Advertisement)..……………………………………..pg. 12
Ibi Ginsburg, a Holocaust Survivor………………………………………………………pg. 13
Jokes and Riddles…………………………………………………………………………pg. 14

100 Word True Story
A Hard Time Falling Asleep
I remember one time I couldn’t fall asleep, so my dad told me stories
of when I was around one. One of them was that I would take a long time to
fall asleep. My dad would put me in my crib and lay on the floor. Sometimes I
would hold his hand. Around fifteen minutes later, when my dad thought I was
asleep, I would stand up in my crib to check that he was there. Then I would
lay down again. This would happen every day, around 8 times. It took about two
hours for me to fall asleep at that age.
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100 Word True Story
My Sister’s Hero
When I was 5, and my sister was 3, my family and I went to the park.
My sister was playing with a ball and was very happy. After a while, she
dropped the ball and it rolled over to a boy who was about 5 years old too.
The boy grabbed her ball and didn’t want to give it back. My sister just
stared at him, because she didn’t know what to do. Then, realizing what
had happened, I marched over to the boy. I snatched the ball out of his
grasp and gave it to my sister. That day, I was a hero for her.
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Word Power Definitions
1. Aa- basaltic lava forming very rough jagged masses with a light frothy texture.
2. Snollygoster- A person who can’t be trusted
3. Widdershins- In a contrary or counterclockwise direction
4. Argle-bargle- copious but meaningless talk or writing
5. Blatherskite- a person who talks at great length without making much sense
6. Lollygag- to move slowly, fall behind
7. Gabelle- a tax on salt
8. Tittynope- a small quantity of something left over
9. Ulotrichous- having wooly or crispy hair
10. Lackadaisical- lacking enthusiasm and determination; carelessly lazy
11. Chanticleer- a name given to a rooster, especially in fairy tales
12. Sesquipedalianism- characterized by long words; long-winded
13. Logomachy- an argument about words
14. Jargogle- to confuse, jumble, or mix things up
15. Nudiustertian- of or relating to the day before yesterday
3

4

Answer Key for Crossword!
5

Emotional Health
Not a lot of people think about being healthy emotionally, but it is essential to living a life full
of balance, wholeness, and contentment. It is related to wellbeing and mental health. Emotional health
is thought as an extension of mental health. It is a state of positive psychological functioning. Healthy
place says that emotional health is “the optimal functioning end of the thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors that make up both our inner and outer worlds.” In other words, it is what we think, feel,and
do through the good and bad things in life. The steps that people should use to become emotionally
healthy are:
1. Knowing what your personal strengths are, helping them grow, and living with them
2. Learning to see positive things in negative situations
3. Being able to learn from mistakes
4. Being flexible in situations
5. Seeing the good things about yourself
6. Being thankful for the things you have
7. Being able to deal with stress
8. Having time to enjoy and relax
9. Living life with a sense of purpose
10. Building relationships
11. Smiling
When you are emotionally healthy, you are self-confident and start
enjoying life. You begin to relax and have an open mind and heart. An
emotionally healthy person is calm and patient with others in many
situations. Many people are not emotionally healthy. They judge
others, and aren’t fun to be around. If you want to have good
relationships, becoming emotionally healthy will help. You will find life to
be easier if you are emotionally healthy.
http://www.healthyplace.com/other-info/mental-illness-overview/what-is-emotional-health-andhow-to-improve-it/
http://www.drjeanette.com/emotionalhealth.html
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Dillon- World peace
The two most beautiful words are...
Zoha- Childhood, beauty
Ms. King- Goats, goat
Ana (Mom)- God, peace
Oscar (Dad)- God, Jesus
Valeria (Sister)- God, animals
Niki- Mellifluous, ineffable
Abby- Sunrise, diamond
Elizabeth- Bacon, spring
Zane- Mountains, life
Sophia- Love, happiness
Megan- Bunnies, Jax
Conner- Beef, cake
Caleb- Ocean, pizza
Aubrey- Majestic, beautiful
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Who Knew
When are Heart Attacks Most Likely to Occur?
Heart attacks are most likely to happen in the winter, on a Monday, and just after
waking up in the morning. Winter is connected to stress, infections in cholesterol
levels, depression, and decreased activity. Those are some causes of heart attacks.
Increased stress of returning to work is why it’s most likely to occur on a Monday.
Rushes of stress upon waking up and having thinner blood in the mornings
contribute to having heart attacks just after waking up. High blood pressure, heart
rate, and blood vessel tone in the morning also contribute.
http://myheart.net/articles/predict-heart-attack/
8

Who Knew
Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day
In Europe and the US, May 29 is Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day. This holiday is about good
fortune and prosperity, and has been celebrated since the early 1900s. Families would put a piece of
cloth, usually from their bedroom, or linen in the cupboards they used to store food. They believed
that putting the cloth of linen would help have more abundance of food and children. As technology
improved, refrigerators were invented. Now, people put pillows on fridges instead of cloth or linen in
cupboards. This holiday is a simple way to try getting good fortune and prosperity.
https://www.thefactsite.com/2013/02/put-pillow-on-your-fridge-day.html
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Who Knew
Why are Movie Trailers Called ‘Movie Trailers’?
The first movie trailer was made in 1912 by Broadway producer Nils
Granlund. He decided to show cut up clips from a movie, but after the movie
had happened. As time went on, the movie trailers became more popular. At
first, the trailers were made by the theater companies, but then movie studios
began making them themselves. The trailers were always shown after the movie,
but in the late 1930s, theaters began showing them before. They were called
movie trailers because they were originally shown as trailers, after the movie.
When they started showing movie trailers before the movie, the name had
stuck, so they didn’t change it. Since the 1930s, they have been called movie
trailers.
https://priceonomics.com/why-are-movie-trailers-called-trailers/
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Restaurant Chatter
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Free Strings Classes at OTMS!
Go to OTMS for FREE strings classes! All you have to bring is your
instrument, and a method book (depending on how advanced you are). Classes
for fourth to eighth graders available! Class times vary from 7:45 to 2:50, and
are 45 minutes long. Located at the end of the school, after the eighth grade
entrance. You will learn the basics like how to sit properly, how to hold your
instrument and bow, and how to count rhythm and read notes. As you become
more advanced, you’ll be able to do vibrato, tune your own instrument, and
play in different key signatures and positions. You will also be able to play
songs that are more than a page long with different parts. Soon you’ll be able to
play like the professionals!
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Ibi Ginsburg, a Holocaust Survivor
Ibi Ginsburg was one of the few survivors of the Holocaust. Ibi was born in Hungary to a strict
and religious Jewish family. On March 19, 1944, the Germans invaded Hungary. The Jews were told to
wear yellow Stars of David on their clothes, which included Ibi and her family. All of the Jewish people
were sent to live in crowded, isolated ghettoes (they were small sections of cities where Jews were forced
to live, separated from the rest of the cities by walls and barbed wire fences). After two weeks of living in
the ghettoes, Ibi and her family were told to pack for a three day journey. They did as they were told, but
didn’t know where they were going. After the three day journey, they arrived at Auschwitz Birkenau,
which was a camp. Ibi and her family were separated. Her father was taken first, and then Ibi and her 13-
year-old sister were taken to a different part of camp. Her mother and two younger sisters were led to
another direction, where they were immediately taken to gas chambers to die.
Ibi and her 13-year-old sister had clothes and possessions taken away, had their hair shaved off,
and had to wear a camp uniform. They had to live in a wooden building with concrete floor, and sleep on
bare wooden bunks. There was very little food, and they had to stand for hours so they could be counted.
After three months they were taken to work in a slave labor camp in Germany. When Germany was
losing the war, they were taken on a forced march to a concentration camp. There, they were freed by
Americans on May 1, 1945. Ibi Ginsburg, her father, and 13-year-old sister were able to survive the
Holocaust.
Sister, Father, and Ibi
Ibi and Her Mother
http://holocaustlearning.org/survivors/ibi-ginsburg
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Jokes and Riddles
A teacher says “whoever answers my question can go home.” A boy throws a book on the floor.
“Who was that?” the teachers asks. “Me,” the boy says “and now I can go home.”
A girl named Rory was in the hair salon where the hairstylist was doing her hair. “What’s your name?”
the hairstylist asks. “Rory” she replies. “What a beautiful name,” the hairstylist says. “My 2-year-old
nephew is named Rory!”
In school, a first grader heard someone say that an apple a day takes the doctor away. He didn’t like
going to the doctor, so he believed it. He ate around 10 apples that day. Those apples didn’t help him.
Instead, he got so sick he had to go to the doctor.
A 5-year-old girl loved horses, so her parents brought her to a carousel. She got on a horse and the
carousel began to move. When the ride ended, she got off and told her parents “I thought horses
were bigger and made noises! This one acts like a statue!”
Q: What has a tongue but can’t talk?
A: A shoe
Q: What has a head, a tail, and no feet?
A: A coin
Q: Tiny Tim the turtle had a box of teeny, tiny chocolates, which he brought to his mom Tiffany for
mother’s day. His mother lived in Texas, where she taught children how to tie their shoes. They said
hello, and Tiny Tim gave her the box of chocolates. Then, he left to go to Australia. How many t’s are
in that?
A: Two t’s are in THAT
Q: Which weighs more, a ton of feathers or a ton of bricks?
A: Neither, they both weigh a ton!
Q: What starts with a P and ends with an E and has a million letters in it?
A: Post Office!
Q: What is full of holes but can still hold water?
A: A sponge!
Q: What has two hands, a round face, always runs, but stays in place?
A: A clock!
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