The Snow Fort by Ty Pastore Whew! Finally, we had made it outside! Even as I stepped out into the freezing cold air, I felt great. The air was cold, but the excitement that I felt inside me was greater. “Snow fort! Let’s build a snow fort,” someone from the back of the line yelled. I was all for making a giant snow fort. One of my classmates (Nicolas Dow) had brought a snow molding brick to school. He actually had brought three. Before we had gone out on the playground, Nick had handed both Robert Sprung and me one of his snow molding bricks. He gave the third
Winter 2011
Brunswick Beacon Scent Tracking in Science Class
one to himself. Outside, about five minutes after we had started building the Snow Fort, my friend Ryan Glanville came up to me. (He came up to me because I was the one putting the Snow Fort together while the other kids filled up the snow molders. I had set my snow molder on the ground, because I had no use for it. I was busy improving the designs and adding to the snow bricks the guys had given me. I had a lot of improving to do, because about half of the bricks the guys gave me had big chunks of ice in them and the snow bricks were unstable.) Then he said “Hey Ty. Can I help you build your snow fort?” I hesitated for a moment, and then I said “Sure, Ryan. Go take the snow molder over there and get to work.” Then I pointed to where my snow molder was and he got right work. He was as fast as a machine! He could make a new brick in about a minute! I ran back in forth, collecting bricks, adding them to the fort, running back to the person who gave it to me, and then running back to the fort to improve the bricks making. Even in the cold, I was sweating. As I looked down at the fort, I saw that it was slowly coming together. I had made the first row of bricks. If you stood up in the fort, you would be completely protected foot and down! “Wait a second.” I thought to myself. “Foot down is not that much protection. We have to start making the second row on brick. The bricks would go right on top of each other, and form a high wall.” I looked around for my friends making the fort with me. “Hey guys! Congratulations! We have made it to our second row of bricks,” The guys came running to look at our fort so far. “That’s some serious progress,” Nick said.“Hmmmm,” Ryan said. “Doesn’t look like much of a fort to me.” “It’s something,” Matthew Goodman said. As the guys congratulated themselves, I told thm to stop being so happy and to get back to work. They agreed. As I counted the people who were building this fort, I counted five. The other ten people were making a snow couch. The other three were having a snowball fight. As I watched the ten people who wer building the fort, I almost laughed out loud. “Hey,” said Joshua Johnson. “I wonder if this thing can hold me up.” “No,” Mclain Kingery said. But it was too late. Josh had stood on the couch. It crumpled beneath his feet. Suddenly, I heard a voice saying SNOW BRICK! SNOW BRICK I turned around and saw Ryan smiling at me. He handed me the snow brick maker and I made the brick. I handed it back to him. He and the other boys were just coming with a brand new snow brick from each of them (that’s three snow bricks) but just then the teacher yelled LINE UP! 3 T/F! I took a final glance at the Snow Fort. We had only made three rows of wall, but it was still great.
Third graders learned how animals use their sense of smell in the snow with Mr. Martell.
LV owl X B r e p Su ait nno t w a c e ! W unday until S
Wick Honors Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hawaii by Tommy Sandford
In 2009, I went on a trip to Hawaii with my Dad’s family. That’s twenty-‐one people. We went to all of the Hawaiian Islands. My family and I were on a cruise ship called, “Pride of America.” One time we went snorkeling in the ocean. There were a lot of gift shops and I got a Hawaiian license plate that said, “Aloha State.” There were three pools on board. They were a lot of fun to swim in. The Hawaiian Islands are a great place to visit. I hope I get to go there again. I don’t care if it is sooner or later, I just want to visit Hawaii! An Interview with Mr. Coughlin by Drake Miller
3 C/E Totem Pole
Recently, Drake met with Mr. Coughlin to conduct an interview for the Beacon. On Tuesday, January 25th, Brunswick School gathered in the Burke Field House to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The decorated puzzle pieces above were created by Lower Schoolers and displayed at the assembly. Each piece is reflection of the teachings and beliefs of Dr. King.
What was your favorite subject when you were growing up? History If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? To the South Pole What is your favorite food? Cheeseburger What is your best quality? Knowing what I should and should not do
Art by Aidan Kennedy
Where did you grow up? Greenwich and I went to Brunswick
Scooby Doo is looking for Daphne. by Andres Cevallos
What is your favorite color? It depends on the day. \
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Family Trip to Saint Martin by Ty Pastore
“But I’m so tired,” I said. “Well, you can stay home if you like. You don’t have to come with us to Saint Martin.” My mom replied. I grumbled, and got out of bed. “Please get out of your pajamas and get dressed.” That’s exactly what I was doing. My mom told me she would be putting our suitcases into the car. As I got dressed, I looked at my alarm clock. The time was 6:30 in the morning! Knowing that made me even more tired! When I was done getting dressed, I woke up my brother and sister. They were more excited then I was about getting up at six in the morning. After all of us were done getting dressed, we hopped into the car. We were hiring a retired police man named Dom to drive us to the airport, partly because my parents were too tired to drive us at such an early hour. Even though the car ride to the airport was really short, my brother and sister got bored and asked my parents if they could watch a movie on our family’s new Macbook Pro. My parents said yes. “Yes,” my brother and sister both said at the same time. I didn’t really care if they watched a movie of not, because I was busy staring out the window and waiting to see our exit. We made it to the airport pretty fast. A security guard helped us get our belongings out of the car. He escorted us into the airport. We were at the JFK airport, and we were flying American Airlines (AA). In the airport, we saw a few gift shops, a few jewelry stores, and a food place. Not much. As we waited, I tried to play games on our Macbook Pro, but the airport didn’t have any Wi Fi. So I was pretty much stuck doing nothing at the airport. Finally, after what felt like years, our plane started boarding. We were riding on a big plane. Unluckily, we hadn’t gotten First Class seats, even though I wanted to get them. But when I sat in my seat, I didn’t care about First Class. We had our very own screen! The screen was placed right in on the seat in front of us! Every single person on the plane had their very own private screen! I watched Despicable Me. It’s such a great movie! When our plane landed, we were in Miami, Florida. Right after we got off the plane, we got right into another airport. We waited. It was just like the wait for the last plane, except this wait was longer. Finally, our plane came. When I got on, I wasn’t surprised to see that there were no screens in the whole plane. I’ve never been in a plane with no screens on the back of the seats in front of you! When we landed, we were on the Dutch side of Saint Martin. The island is cool because it has two sides. A French side and a Dutch side. After we landed, we walked about a quarter of a mile to a car rental place. We rented a pretty bad car (in my opinion). Since our hotel was on the French side, that was where we were driving. We soon made it to the hotel. Our hotel was located in Grand Case. When we got there, it was about 10:00 at night. I slept like a log. In the morning, we went to the hotel’s restaurant. On the way we met a really nice dog named Olé. At the restaurant, I ordered pancakes. The next day I ordered more pancakes. The next day I ordered an Eggs Benedict (which is two poached eggs atop an English Muffin). It was OK, but I didn’t really like it. The next day I got a Morning Sandwich, which was just about the best thing I had ever tasted. In a few days, my cousins would be coming. I couldn’t wait! When they did come, I had a great time with them. Here is a list of who came: My family and I, my Uncle Tom, my Aunt Debby, Sam, Kate, Uncle Jack, Aunt Anna, John, Tom, Ben, and Kelsy, Uncle JP, Aunt Esther, Delia, and Grammy. Uncle Rich and his family couldn't make it because of the blizzard. After a few days, Kelsy (who is a teenager) had to leave early because she had wanted to spend New Year's with her friends. When she left though, she was sad to leave. With my other cousins, I played basketball, went swimming (and body surfing), and finally, we all had a blast playing a great game of running bases. On New Year's day we all had ginger ale ice-cream floats. When all the cousins left, the island wasn’t the same. Since we got to stay an extra few days the cousins had to leave before us. It was sad, but we still had a great time! And on the last few days we were there, I even got an awesome new shirt (which I will be wearing on the next Civies Day). My family trip to Saint Martin was the best vacation I have had in my whole life.
Ty Pastore & Family
Fourth Grade Presents… THE THIRTEEN COLONIES First graders created MONDAY, FEBRUARY 14TH personal mittens & hats. 7PM – 8PM Featuring: Christopher Magliocco as Leif Erikson Cole Pierce as Ponce De Leon Connor Belcastro as Ben Franklin Ryan Dahnke as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Jack Withstandley as Sibyl Ludington Koby Ofori as Abigail Adams Christopher Bass as Samuel Adams Danny Axelrod as John Adams Theo Coupe as Bill of Rights Daniel Augustine as History Police #5 Jonathan Wiener as History Police #6 Drew Pyne as Betsy Smith Hank Michalik as Game Show Host George Coyle as George Washington Walter Stratton as Martha Washington
Fourth graders practice for the big performance.
Skating into 2011 by Andy !Burney
My family and I went speed skating and cross-country skate skiing into the New Year. First, my Mom, sister, Dad and I went speed skating. It was a day with a bright blue sky and mountains in the background. You could see the sun reflecting off the gleaming ice like a mirror and perfect skate marks. Speed skaters were wearing skin-tight suits and were going amazingly fast. Did you know speed skates have 17 inch blades, more than twice as long as a hockey skate and that the blade is half the width of a hockey skate? Since that is true, you have to have a different skate stride from a hockey stride. The experienced speed skaters also taught you how to skate. In the evening, while my Mom and sister made New Year’s Eve dinner, my Dad and I went cross-country skate skiing with headlamps. For skate skiing, a person uses short skate skis with long poles. The skis don’t have climbing wax. Instead, they are waxed with fast, downhill wax. We had 10 miles of trails freshly groomed like corduroy, waiting for us to ski on. It was snowing lightly and so peaceful we stopped to smell the balsam and listen to the silence. We thought we could hear snowflakes falling on our noses. It was like being lost in a winter wonderland. Skating into the New Year was a lot of fun with my family!
Second grade art class is always a blast with Ms. Amussen. Recently, the boys worked with printing blocks to create buildings and learn about architecture.
Mr. Coughlin Meets with a Third Grader by Zach Russell How long have you been teaching? This is my 13th year teaching at Brunswick. Where do you like to go on vacation? Anywhere off the beaten path, especially Africa. What is your favorite thing to teach? Honestly, I like teaching all subjects. That’s one of the joys of teaching third grade. What are some of your favorite free time activities? Running, eating, traveling, and spending time with Paola, my wife and Thomas, my son. Who is your favorite football team? I thinking football as soccer… Manchester United Devils and for U.S. football in the NFL, it is the Patriots. What is your favorite baseball team? The Red Sox..
Donkey Kong Country Returns by Zane Bhatti
NFL Teams by Keegan Gilsenan
NBA Teams by Gabriel Mehra Underwater! The ocean is really cool! by George West
My cousin turned three! by Owen Neviera
A third grader shares about his trip to Vietnam.
Second graders practice percussion instruments with Ms. Wamunyu in music class.
The dog was chasing the bird. by Will Forshner
Football Teams by Reed Signer
Cartoon by Ty Pastore Colorado by Tommy Sandford In 2008, my Dad and I went to Colorado. We went on a gondola. The height we went up to was 10,565 feet. I was only six and walked one whole mile. I love Colorado and hope to visit there in the future.
First graders at work with Mrs. Das during writing time. First Grade Habitat Holiday by Peter Kapp
Lower Schoolers building in the snow.
Joke
by Jamie Hesser If two wrongs don't make a right, what did two rights make?
The first airplane!
Last week first grade learned about the rainforest, oceans, and deserts in a special event called Habitat Holiday. We learned what animals eat and where they live. The moms brought in some good snacks like mangos, seaweed, and pita.
College Football by Logan Darrin Art by Christopher Israel Third Grade Totem Pole
Snowball Fight by Michael Neviera
Basketball by Nick Boehly
We had a snowball fight over the weekend.
Boys are great at this game Always play hard Stay focused Keep going strong Energy is what you need Try your best Be awesome Always listen Love this game Look forward to playing
Tex and Rex went to the arcade. by T. J. Lewis
Lower School “Big Brother,” visiting time.
Hockey by Aidan Redahan
Third Grade Totem Pole
My Marine by Jamie Hesser On December 16, 2010, my cousin Ben Kiernan came to my class for a visit. He is a marine who just came home from Afghanistan after being injured by a bomb explosion. The marines flew him from Afghanistan to Germany to the United States in three days. We wrote him Veteran's Day cards that said 'thank you for serving us, hope you feel better'. Ben came to our class to say thank-you for the cards. Ben is doing great. He met Michelle Obama in the Naval Hospital. She said he had really pretty eyes. Ben goes to physical therapy almost every day. He is about to have his tenth surgery.
Hockey Art by Andy McBurney