Volume III Issue IIII 2012-13 Lower School
Insight & Innovation
Newspaper Staff Alexia Barr Molly Braun Grace Coale Cecilia Duncan Gabrielle Finn Ellie Hartman Sumner Hill Mary Clare Marshall Hadley Noonan Mairead O’Connor Isabelle Pipher Sofia Pye Lily Santangelo Claudia Schmidt Maia van Biesen
Cub Chronicles The Enchanted Forest
Elves on a Shelf
By: Lily Santangelo
By: Mary Clare Marshall Elves on shelves are stuffed animals that watch
The Enchanted Forest raises money for the Junior
you for Santa. On December 1st Santa flies
League of Greenwich. Stores, restaurants, the Girl
through the air and drops the elves on the shelves Scouts, the Boy Scouts, and other groups decorate and into chimneys. To get an elf on a shelf, you Christmas trees. They each pick a theme. If you see write a letter to one. I think you still can but no promises. Every night all of the elves fly up to the North Pole and tell Santa what you have been up to. In the morning they fly back to your house and hide in a new place. Whatever you do, DON’T TOUCH THE ELF! If you do, it will lose its
variety of different trees including Hello Kitty, Lilly Pulitzer, Cupcakes, Hot Wheels, the Avengers, Cars, Zoo Animals, Forest Animals, and so many more. There were also gingerbread houses. Some were for
elf is in your room, you have probably been bad.
sale and some you could bid on. There were tons of boutiques. There was one boutique just for children
back to the North Pole. This December I hope
and siblings. You could go in the boutique with
you have fun with your elf on the shelf.
some money and come out with beautifully wrapped gifts. It is a truly wonderful fundraiser.
magic powers. Also, if you have siblings but the
Dr. Ann Marr
one you like, you can bid on it. This year there was a
On the night of Christmas Eve, Santa takes the elf so they could pick out gifts for parents, aunts, uncles,
Inside this issue: Elves on a Shelf
Pg. 1
The Enchanted Forest
Pg. 1
Black Friday
Pg. 1
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade
Pg. 1
Christopher Columbus Statue
Pg. 2
Hurricane Sandy
Pg. 2
The Nor’Easter
Pg. 2
Sandy—Hurricane of the Century? Pg. 2 Virgin Galactic—Take a Trip to
Pg.2
“Celebrities, Politics, and My Mom”
Pg.3
No Homework for France!
Pg.3
David Blaine
Pg.3
Grandparents’ & Special Visitors’ Day
Pg.3
Black Friday By: Gabby Finn
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving. It is also one of the most popular shopping days. It is busy in the shops as it is the start of the Christmas shopping season. Black Friday got its name because shopkeepers make a profit for the first time all year and so are in the black. Some people literally shop till they drop! Many shops open at 12 am in the morning and people come to shop at that time. Nothing stays on the shelf for long on Black Friday. A lot of stores have super sales so people feel they have to buy, buy, buy! The day after Black Friday has now become “small business Saturday” and we all should buy locally.
Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade On Thursday, November 22, 2012, a tradition was in the making. Floats, Broadway exhibits, and balloons were ready to start. First came cheerleaders, then floats and balloons.
There were lots of sing-
ers on the floats with kids in costumes. Did you notice how everyone
Christopher Columbus Statue
Hurricane Sandy
By: Maia van Biesen
By: Ellie Hartman
In Columbus Square, NYC, there is a statue of Christopher Columbus. This statue had a temporary living room built around it so you could see the statue close up. The statue appeared to be standing on the coffee table in the middle of the room. To see the statue you had to get tickets. The tickets were free! The living room structure closed on December 2nd. The artist who made the living room is Tatzu Nishi. (He’s Japanese.) The sculptor who sculpted the statue was Gaetano Russo. (He was Italian.) The statue is 75 feet tall including the Columbus part of it. The part that is Christopher Columbus is 13 feet tall. The statue was built in 1892, 120 years ago. The living room let people get a better look at the Columbus part of the statue. To get up to the living room, you had to go up six flights of stairs. The wallpaper in the living room had many American things on it such as: Mickey Mouse, a hot dog, Elvis Presley, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, the Empire State Building, Marilyn Monroe, Michael Jackson, and some cowboys.
Hi Everybody, You all probably know about Hurricane Sandy. Well, some of you may not know that some states and counties got hit very hard, like Staten Island. Many people lost their homes because of floods, fires, and many more things. For weeks, many girls at school still did not have power. Also we had no school for over a week — so now because we have taken so many days off from school, we will have a full day of school on December 20 and another day of school on December 21. So many changes!
The Nor’Easter By: Mairead O’Connor On the first day back at school after Hurricane Sandy, there was a big surprise for us. A snow storm! Although a lot of girls got home late, playing in the snow made up for it. I left school early that day because I had my yearly doctor’s appointment. I got lucky because the roads were slippery, so my mom did not take me back to school after my doctor’s appointment. Some of the girls on my bus did not get home until 10:00 pm that night. Even though it took a long time to get home, they made it there safely.
Sandy Hurricane of the Century? By: Grace Coale
Hurricane Sandy hit many areas badly! Some of the worst areas were New York City, the Jersey Shore, and Staten Island. It also hit Connecticut where my brother lost his house. Sandy was 450 miles wide and winds were felt in Ohio and all the way to Wisconsin. It was so bad many homes were flooded out and caught on fire. Although Hurricane Sandy was a bad storm, many people consider the hurricane of 1938 the “Storm of the Century.” It took place on September 28, 1938 and hit Long Island and parts of New England. One of the reasons the 1938 hurricane was so bad was there was no hurricane warning. There was a young forecaster who predicted the storm, but the head forecaster said that he was wrong. Seven hundred people died in the 1938 hurricane. One hundred and twelve people died in Hurricane Sandy. Two billion trees were lost in 1938, and 8,900 homes and buildings were destroyed. Even though Sandy was a horrible storm, in my opinion the hurricane of 1938, “The Long Island Express,” was the “Storm of the Century.”
Virgin Galactic Take a Trip to Outer Space! By: Isabelle Pipher
Virgin Galactic is a new “travel to space” company that launches space ships with new and very improved technology. This idea was first tested on October 4th, 2012 this year! Richard Branson was the first to develop this idea. He is the owner and the man who thought this out. Mr. Branson got this name from his airline company, Virgin Airlines. My older sister, Lauren (she’s 26), just started a new job selling tickets to people all over the world who want to go into outer space! She recently sold a ticket to someone living in Australia! The space ship launches from a desert in New Mexico. It takes about six hours for the total trip. “The space ship travels faster than the speed of sound and once outside of the Earth’s atmosphere there is no gravity so the passengers will float” Lauren explained to me. The company has sold over 550 tickets so far. The first flight will be summer of 2013. The flights are very expensive. The technology is really amazing. I’ll bet it’s a smooth trip and amazing to be able to see the Earth! The really cool part about it is that any ordinary person can now fly into outer space, not just astronauts!!
other person spoke.
They didn’t get angry
“Celebrities, Politics, and My Mom” or yell even when they totally disagreed. By Sumner Hill Mom, Why did you moderate the debate called “The Rumble 2012”? The debate wasn’t between two candidates but, rather, between two very smart people who are celebrities. I think it is important to be able to listen to and debate other people’s opinions. Because Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly are celebrities, a lot of people who are their fans wanted to hear what they thought.
I think they were good role models in how people can have different views but remain open to hearing the thoughts of others. Why did they debate each other? Both men respect each other even when they disagree. They both think it is a waste of time for people to just yell their opinions at other people and not listen or be open to changing their opinions.
What was your favorite part of the debate? It was when Jon Stewart used a secret lift he had built in to the floor. He pushed a button and it lifted him above Bill What did you do? O’Reilly. Jon is 5’7” and Bill is 6’5” so I determined what questions to ask them. it was really funny watching Bill’s reaction It is kind of like being a traffic cop. I as Jon went up and down. It added humor and also was in charge of making sure they gave laughter to the event, which made people each other time to talk. Sometimes it was feel comfortable. tough because they both like to talk a lot! I had to ring a bell to make them stop. I Why did you want to be part of the Rumble? felt like a teacher. I like and respect both guys. They used the event to raise money for charity and I What did they do? thought between that and showing people how They argued about things like our economy, to respectfully disagree was important. Jon the wars, and social services but they also listened when the other person spoke. They has young people watch him and Bill has older people watch him. This way everybody didn’t get angry or yell even when the was watching and hearing the other side.
No Homework for France! By Isabelle Pipher
David Blaine By: Hadley Noonan
Last month, President Hollande of France declared
From October 6-8th a man named David
“No homework”! His perspective is that school is for
Blaine was next to the Hudson River working
learning and home is for comfort. President Hollande also feels that this is better for kids whose parents
magic. Every year he does some crazy thing.
can’t help them with learning at home. The schools
This year he decided to get “electrified” for
have wonderful teachers to help the kids while in
three days. When I went in, I got a wrist
school. With all the out-of-school activities, like pi-
band and ear plugs because the music was su-
ano or soccer, kids need to practice hard and do not
per loud. David Blaine was wearing a metal
need more pressure from school work at home. President Hollende encourages kids to practice math, reading or writing all the time, but wants to make everything equal for everyone. He says that this new rule will only continue for two years to see if it really is better to have no homework. What would you think if we had no homework?
suit and sitting on a stool. A lot of people came! With a parent’s permission you can go on YouTube and watch David Blaine 2012!
Grandparents’ & Special Visitors’ Day By:Cecilia Duncan On Tuesday, November 20th, the Lower School held its annual Grandparents’ and Special Visitors’ Day. It was wonderful to see so many people with happy faces walking the hallways. The morning began when the visitors checked in and got their nametags. They then went to the auditorium where they were greeted by Mrs. Hayes and Dr. Marr and then heard speeches by fourth graders Lianna Amoruso and Caitlyn Dahnke. Each lower school class got to put on a wonderful performance – singing, dancing, or playing the recorder – and they all did an amazing job. The visitors next went to the classrooms where they sat by the desks and got to see the books and work that we do every day. They got a chance to meet and talk with our teachers. For some classes Mrs. Campana stopped by and said a prayer or told a maxim (a short story that Jesus told certain people). We did different activities, for example, visiting the science lab or touring the library. Before we knew it, the morning came to an end, and the students went home with their special visitors. It was the beginning of our Thanksgiving holiday break.