In The Meantime 6th Edition

INSIDE 6th Grade Trip

ISSUE 4

The middle school j our nalists will be documenting our exper iences under quar antine. We will be inter viewing classmates, parents, teacher s and other member s of our community as well as shar ing thoughts on our own exper iences.

Please enj oy these slices-of-life dur ing this weir d, challenging time. time the cases have calmed down and they can start opening things up again.?

Maya Tafur Martinez Per sonal: Last week?s entry I talked a lot about the concept of how we are always thinking about what's new or what will happen next and how we should take the time to appreciate the past that got us into our present. Now I?m going to talk about the future and how we don?t know what to expect.

Unlike our past, we don?t know what the future holds for us. The crazy part is we don?t even know what can happen to ourselves in a single second, minute, hour, day, and more.

I like to think of time as a sports game. One second you can be winning and in another, you can be scored on. It?s not always necessarily a bad thing, sometimes change is good even if it has its minor defects.

I believe that in the future the quarantine will be lifted by the beginning of the summer, but the pandemic itself will need more time to completely end.

When that time comes around and we finally get to go outside, I would love to start going to the beach or park more. It was an old activity that I loved to do before, until the start of middle school when I never really had any time to do old activities I had time to do before.

Finally, what I wish for the near or far future is that school starts again12 and that everyone stays healthy Page and alive. I would also love to see my family that lives out of the country.

When the quarantine is lifted, Tyra hopes that she gets to spend time with her friends. She would like to do activities with them such as shopping, going to see a movie, and having sleepovers at each other?s houses. One of her friends also got their boating license and Tyra hopes to go on her friend?s boat.

Lastly, Tyra wishes for the future that she will be able to go back to school. She stated that she misses her friends at school, her teachers, being able to spend time with the people she cares for at lunch, and just the overall school environment.

Parent: Franseta Cooper, mother of eighth-grader Tyra, has her own beliefs on what will happen sooner or later in the future.

Ms. Cooper states that she isn?t quite sure when the quarantine or pandemic will end and that she can?t really make an estimate. The only thing she said is that the only information she can rely on to make a certain guess of when the quarantine or pandemic will end is from the updates from the government.

When the quarantine will terminate and everyone will be able to step outside again Ms. Cooper would love to plan an across the country road trip with her entire family. She said that it wasn?t much of a plan that she or her family did often and that?s why she would like to start doing it.

She said, ?I wish the economy would open back up.?

Ms. Cooper said that like the many families having to wait until the government allows them to continue working, she hopes that so she can continue working to support her loving, caring family.

Teacher : Ms. Rizzo, the middle school drama teacher, had many predictions and beliefs about the future.

Ms. Rizzo thinks that the quarantine will end about some time this year and the pandemic itself will probably take more time to completely terminate, but a vaccine should hopefully be available by next year or so. Ms. Rizzo said, ?I don?t see anything going back the way it was until not this fall, but the following fall of 2022.?

She also mentioned how if students were going to go back to school any time soon, it would be very hard to completely end the pandemic since it?s an environment that requires contact with other people. To add on to what she said, she especially believes that it?s even harder for her department that she teaches, the arts, since it requires a lot of movement of people being close to one another when playing an instrument, singing, dancing, and even acting among each other.

When the quarantine is over, she has biog plans.

She said, ?I?m going to have the biggest party ever with everyone I know.?

She said how it will be a party of laughter, happiness, and overall love for being with people you care about.

Finally, Ms. Rizzo wishes for everyone to stay healthy and be in good shape.

Coach Wat son?s M iam i Ch eesest eak

Instructions 1. Preheat griddle to medium high heat.

Student: Eighth-grader, Tyra Cooper-Willams, had her concerns and thoughts about what the future will hold for her and the quarantine.

Many people have their notions on what will possibly happen in the future regarding the pandemic and quarantine situation. At first, multiple families were convinced that everything will go back to normal by April 19 which was the date school?s told their students that school will continue and students will be able to come back to school by then. Slowly, everyone realized that that information will become false and everyone would have to stay indoors for longer. ?I believe that rather quarantine will terminate around late to early May or mid of June,? stated Tyra. ?I think that by that

Ingredients

2. Add onions, green and red peppers to hot griddle.

2 lbs thinly sliced beef

3. Add thinly sliced beef.

1 onion

4. Put frozen French fries on griddle.

1 green pepper 1 red pepper 2 tbsp butter 3 tbsp red wine vinegar 10 slices provolone cheese 6 hoagie rolls I bag frozen French fries

5. When meat is cooked, divide it evenly on the griddle in 6 piles.

6. Add 2-3 slices of provolone cheese to each pile of meat and veggies.

7. Split your hoagie rolls and toast them on the griddle.

8. When cheese is melted place each pile of meat into a toasted hoagie roll and serve with the French fries.

Chloe Shapiro Per sonal: I have become very productive during the quarantine. I always complete my homework right when it is assigned, now that I have more time to do so. I have also been thinking about all the things that I want to do once quarantine ends. Visit my friends, go to my favorite restaurants and so much more. In my free time, I have been binge-watching lots of shows and have been starting to bake. Of course, I would prefer to not have this horrible pandemic, but it has shown me that I can do much stuff I didn?t know I was capable of, such as baking.

Parent: Tricia King, a middle school parent of Gabriella King, said that when she gets out of quarantine, she really would like to see her family. ?To keep busy during quarantine, I have been working a lot, going in the pool, and we also go boating,? she explained. ?I really enjoy working from home, I find it to be more relaxing.?

She said that besides not seeing her friends and family, it has been a great learning experience for her. She also said there are many positive sides to this quarantine and pandemic. ?I think that my family and I have been spending a lot of quality time with each other, I am starting to see things in

the world shift a lot in terms of real necessities, that we took for granted before.

Teacher : Ingrid DeBlasio, a middle school teacher, said, ?When the quarantine is over, I would love to be able to relax by going out to the beach, have some coffee in my favorite coffee shop and travel to Costa Rica (my homeland) to see my family when it is possible.?

Since it was Mother's Day, I woke up early on a Sunday to make my mom breakfast in bed. I made my mom French pancakes with strawberry roses, and yogurt with granola and honey in a bowl. In addition we brewed her a cup of her favorite coffee. My brothers and I also made all of these arts and crafts for Mother's Day. This weekend I was finally able to see some of my family members. Seeing them makes me feel a little bit more free during this whole quarantine time because I was actually able to see them and spend some time with them in person.

Now that I have been in quarantine for quite a bit, I am feeling excited that my parents are getting a bit more open to letting me see more of my family; but at the same time still being super cautious.

Something new that I have been starting to do a lot is playing a lot of soccer with my brother, which I am happy to do because I am playing another sport other than just volleyball.

When the weekend ended, I was obviously sad that the next day was going to be Monday, but I ended my Sunday afternoon by seeing dozens of dolphins up close while riding on my jet ski. That was absolutely mind blowing as they were playing with us, going under the jet ski and even looking up towards us.

Student: Stella Krelstein, a 6th grader, can't see her friends or do many things she would normally be able to do before. Now with the virus and quarantine she can't go see friends, play volleyball, play tennis, go to camp, go to school, or go shopping.

Since Stella has two younger sisters, it has been a bit more challenging. "It's hard because I'm always with them,? she said. ?And because they are twins, they are having issues too."

During quarantine Stella has been a little bit bored sometimes but then other times she can have a lot to do like homework for school and during the week she is doing online school which takes up most of her day.

Stella feels that she has been adjusting to virtual

Student: Sixth grader Gabriella King said that she likes online school. She claims that it is really relaxing and less stressful. She misses her friends a lot, so she has been facetiming and keeping in touch.

To help out during these hard times she has been donating some money to the church where she attends so they can buy groceries for people that have lost their jobs and are currently in need.

She also said that she prefers to teach at school because it is easier for her to engage with her students in person. She said that

Daniella Arango Per sonal:

classes online are more fun and easier for the students to engage in.

school pretty well. Stella said, "It is also kind of hard though as now everything is online and it's hard to learn, and you can't talk to your teachers in person."

She also added, "I've learned to do a lot of stuff online and be more proactive with my stuff and help around the house more." She also thinks that we should all be more cautious and wash our hands, if not things can get worse and we won't be able to do the things we love.

Stella has been doing a lot of crafts like drawing and tie dying. She has also started to bake a lot more than she used to. "I have been baking a lot of cakes, a lot of brownies, a lot of cookies. I made tanghulu and pancake cereal."

Parent: Robert Netkin, father of sixth grader Marielle and ninth grader Sam, explains that positive side of quarantine is that he gets to spend a lot more time with his family which he likes, but the negative side is that he and his family sit around the house a lot.

In Mr. Netkin's opinion, he thinks that this virus is very sad because it is affecting people. He said, "If we think about all the people that it is affecting and how many people have gotten sick and how many people have died, is a very sad thing."

Mr. Netkin added, "Also if we think about how this virus has affected jobs and how hard it is to go and find work now it is difficult because there aren't too many jobs out there anymore."

For the most part, Mr. Netkin loves to spend more time with his family. He said, "That's a great thing but of course spending more time with each other, you know, sometimes I aggravate my kids and my wife. So sometimes they get mad at me."

Mr. Netkin would not say that he has been doing new activities. He has been mostly doing activities with his kids like air hockey and going on bike rides, and his daughter has been making a lot of snacks and food that have been delicious. Some of the things that his daughter, Marielle, has been making include homemade tortilla chips, fruit smoothies, sorbet, and more.

Teacher : Daria Cirisano, a fifth grade teacher, doesn't leave the house that much as most of us, but she has the role in her family of being the designated grocery store person. She said "I have both my daughters at home, so I am at the grocery store about every two or three days, with my little mask and my gloves."

"So I do get out to the grocery store, I do get out to pick up take out food, and I do get out to drug storesBut other than those three, I have not been to a store or a restaurant since this started." said Mrs. Cirisano.

Something that Mrs. Cirisano has been doing more during this time is going on bike rides a lot more.

She has gone on bike rides with her sister and that has been a positive.

As her daughters are home with her during quarantine, everyone is working or studying in their rooms. Her family has learned to be mindful of others while doing their own work.

"Everyone is going a little bit crazy since we can't go out much, but we go on runs or jogs around our neighborhood." said Mrs. Cirisano. "And this time is also not the best for my daughters because they miss their colleagues and they miss going into their offices."

For Mrs. Cirisano, virtual school has been going pretty well. She said, "I feel that I am doing a good job with this whole online teaching."

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Alex Pool Teacher : Ms. Chomin has really enjoyed learning to teach online. She said, ?There are difficulties with not being able to see friends and family in person; not being able to connect with students, and with my colleagues in person.?

She added, ?I think it has been a cool experience for everybody to try out online learning.?

During this time, she has been cooking a lot. For example, she has been making bread and tried making sourdough. She has been trying out some other recipes as well. She eats mostly vegetarian so she has tried recipes for that like cooking vegetables, chilis, soups, and other things like that.

Another activity she has been doing is biking. Ms. Chomin got a new bike just before the quarantine and made the best of it. She has been using the bike a lot and enjoying it.

Also, she has been sewing too. Some projects include tote bags and masks for herself, her husband, and her sister who is managing a grocery store which is risky right now.

Ms. Chomin has been spending time with her husband and cats. She says that it has been nice to spend time with them and be with them.

When Ms. Chomin is able to leave the quarantine, she wants to go to a beach and swim. Those two

things would be the first things she wants to do! ?I live in LIttle Havana so there are these little Cuban coffee stands and windows at local restaurants,? she said. ?I miss being able to stop on my way to work and buy a cup of Cuban coffee. That was a simple thing that was part of a routine that i didn't really think about and now miss.?

Per sonal: At school, we had a meeting about graduation. I didn't realize how close to the end of the year it has become. I was looking forward to graduation, but I am glad that there is still a way to do one. It is crazy to end middle school like this. Something I could never see coming or imagine.

In classes, final assignments are coming up. They seem similar to things we did before quarantine so that doesn't seem out of place. I think online school is a hard way to end the year.

I decided to bake again, and I made pumpkin muffins. I wanted to make them healthy so I used cauliflower flour. To me, I thought they were gross because of the flour. I made them on Mothers Day as a gift and my mom liked them as a healthy snack.

Parent: Online school has been mostly okay for Melissa Netkin, mother of Sam and Marielle. Her kids don't enjoy online school as much as being in the classroom, but her family has adjusted well to it.

Angelina Belin Per sonal: Now since some things have started to open like the tennis courts, I have been playing nonstop. I have been playing with one of my friends and my father. But, of course, there are some exceptions that you have to make like wearing your mask when you go in and out and the workers always have to clean the benches and the door handle before each use.

Besides playing tennis, online school has gotten easier, and now I have gotten the hang of how everything works. In the beginning, I couldn't really concentrate because I would always find a way to distract myself from the class, but then I started to concentrate on the classes.

I am able to learn from home but it would definitely be easier to learn from school. This year has gone by so fast and we only have three more weeks of school left. I really hope this will be over for the summer.

Teacher : Mr. Russell Mofsky, a music teacher at Miami Country Day, said that most of his time has been making lessons and planning for classes.

The beginning EBO is recording themselves playing a song and then having Mr. Robert put all of the sounds together for the graduation. It is a lot of work for Mr. Mofsky to plan and make sure all of the kids are able to play at least a quarter of the song and be able to play in the virtual "ceremony."

Mr. Mofsky has been helping kids get where they need to be for the ceremony and has had a lot of extra helps to try to help kids. Mr. Mofsky has been working

really hard to get everything into shape.

Mr. Mofsky said, "I really want all of this to end and I miss every single student, and I miss teaching and interacting in person." Hopefully,--- all of this will end soon.

Parent: Aline Finn, the mother of Alicia Finn, at Miami Country Day said, "My family and I have been making different types of dinners from each country."

Aline has been cooking with her family and has been making different dinners and meals from different cultures. So far she has had a Mexican, Brazillian, and Italian nights. She would get some of the recipes off of the internet but for the Mexican and Brazillian recipes, she knew from the heart because she is Mexican and Brazillian.

For the Mexican dish, her family made enchiladas.

For the Brazillian dish, they made feijoada. They made carpaccio for the Italian dish.

Aline Finn said, "My favorite dish out of all of them was the Mexican dish because that dish we already made once and it brought out a lot of flavors."

Aline's family has a special "secret" recipe for the Mexican and the Brazillian dishes. Her family put a special touch on their food, but she could not share what it was. Aline says cooking runs in the family.

Cooking is a great way to make time go by, and a great way to have fun with your family. Time with family during this time is precious. Now everybody can be with

Her kids are still able to get something from online school. Everyday she asks if they are learning or is it just busy work, but they find they are getting something out of it.

In her free time, she has done lots of baking, cooking, running, walking, bike rides with her family, playing games, doing crafts, making masks for the police department, and binge watching tv.

She didn't realize how much she would miss having the freedom to go where she wants whenever she wants, which is something lots of people take for granted.

The first thing she wants to do when she can leave the lockdown is see her friends and go out. She just wants to see them!

Student: Eighth grader Lindsy Temes has been watching lots of Netflix. She has just started Outer Banks. Also, she just finished her favorite show, All American.

She heard good things about Outer Banks as well so she decided to start it.

Another thing she has been doing is baking. She just made a vanilla cake and she says it turned out really well!

Also, her birthday just passed as well. Her birthday was not what she expected it to be a couple months ago, but she still enjoyed it.

Lastly, she really missed seeing her friends and everybody at school while gone.

the people that they love.

Student: Isabel "Izzy" Margaret Coleman a sixth-grader at Miami Country Day School, said, "I have been having family game night every night with my family."

I zzy Coleman

Izzy has been playing games like Monopoly, Life, and Phase 10. Her family and her favorite out of all of those games is Monopoly. They eat dinner and dessert then they take a ten minute break to relax and just talk. After 10 minutes they get out a game.

On Friday they played Phase 10. On Friday night Izzy won the game.

Izzy said, "I have also been reading a lot more for myself."

Reading is a great way to make time fly especially if it is a good book. It can also be entertaining if you are really into the book.

Izzy hopes that this will soon end and that by the time seventh grade begins we will actually be able to go to school.

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courts opened up, so I played for the first time in around seven weeks. I was very excited. I am going to start playing on the weekends and some days before school and after school. Being able to go on the court again made me feel amazing. I forgot how great it feels to go outside and play your favorite sport. Though I was a bit sore after I still had a lot of fun being on the court for the first time.

read to stay occupied.

She is starting to read a book called Middle School Matters. At first, Ms. Ehinger had some struggles. She couldn't get herself into a routine, but she pushed through the struggle and overcame it by reading articles on how to maintain a routine and follow the instructions. Now Ms. Ehinger is very organized and has a routine she follows everyday.

Teacher :

Parent:

Ms. Ehinger, the seminar teacher and guidance counselor at Miami Country Day School said, during her quarantine she has been cooking, cleaning, watching tv, and teaching. Ms. Ehinger tried to make some new recipes. She made homemade pita bread, pizza dough, and cookie cake. The recipes were very easy to make. She made them out of a cookbook.

During this quarantine, Darah Gilderman, a parent at Miami Country Day School, has taken up yoga.

She has gotten very serious about it and started an online class on yoga to teach to other people.

Though she doesn't involve her kids in meditation, they do other exciting things together. They cook, read, go on their boat and go outside on a walk.

They have been cooking a lot of stir fry vegetables and quesadillas with broccoli and cheese.

Lucas Bacardi Shriftman Student: Jake Berra, a sixth grader at Miami Country Day School, said that during his quarantine he has mainly been playing piano, going to school, and playing video games. He has taken up the piano during his quarantine and learned how on Youtube.

On the weekdays, Jake goes to school, does homework for one or two hours, does outdoor exercise, then does more homework. Then he either plays video games, or plays the piano, or watches tv.

Jake tried to cook, but didn't do very well, so he stopped cooking. To stay fit at the start of quarantine he did ten pushups a day. Then every day he would do one more than the last day.

Per sonal: This week was very exciting for me. The tennis

Ms. Ehinger went to campus to get some books to we made our way to Lake Okeechobee I noticed how there are lots of farms and landlocked cities.

David Bejar Per sonal: Another week of quarantine has passed, but this week has been different then all the others. From Monday to Wednesday, the week was normal until I learned that my family and I were going on our RV to Lake Okeechobee. We had left on Thursday and planned to return home on Sunday morning.

The way to Lake Okeechobee was relatively short for a RV but it was quite interesting. The first thing I realized is people in Miami aren?t really social distancing. I saw lots of people out and about which I didn?t really like to see. Another thing I learned is how much Florida can change. In the beginning of the trip we started in Miami where we are almost completely surrounded by water. But as

On Friday we slept in and went to a flea market and got dinner at a food truck. The flea market was really fun, I got two NBA jerseys, my little brother got my dad a toy car, my Mom got some cups, and my Dad waited in the RV. The food truck was great, it had tacos, quesadillas, and sopes. I had never heard of sopes until I ate it, it was really good. Sopes are made with a tortilla on the bottom and had beans, cheese, lettuce, and salsa.

On Saturday we woke up early and saw the sunrise, went on a bike ride and ate at a very interesting gas station. The sunrise was very nice, it looked like one in Miami but without any of the buildings or just like I did. It is free on steam and it should be expecting more updates very soon. There are new players every day and there are often nice people in severs who will help you when you need it. There is more I could talk about, but it?s all the technical stuff. You don?t need to know them in order to do what you need to. I hope I?ll see you soon, at the facility.

Broghan Muhlig Per sonal: I have been getting into a game called ?SCP: SECRET LABORATORY?. It is a game where a bunch of players are given specific roles in a match and have to accomplish some duties. An SCP is a creature or being or even an occurrence that is outlandish which requires Special Containment Procedures. There is a community just dedicated to creating these SCP?s, some more popular than others. The game uses some popular SCP?s and puts them into a testing facility.

When players die, they enter the spectator chat and they can spectate other players. It is very common and almost guaranteed that you will soon respawn as Chaos or MTF, so it?s not like you have to wait for the round to finish so you can play again.

The game is really fun and it is all community-driven. I have been enjoying it very much recently and it is nice to talk to other people during this quarantine. It has been really fun talking with people and thinking about ideas of how to win the game, but also it is nice to converse with people in the spectator chat.

All the little moments I have had in the game and knowing that it was all done with real-world people are kind of heart-warming. I really want the game to become more popular and I want people to share memorable and funny moments with each other,

Teacher : Michael Finny is the middle school Dean of Students. He has been trying to stay as busy as he can outside out work. Of course, the switch to online school has been difficult for him to adapt.

After a lot of time and training, it?s been getting easier.

He says that he still sees problematic students or students that show up late to classes. But he said he doesn?t have to deal with many cases of bullying because it's harder for students to be mean to each other without putting in the effort.

He has been busy outside of school doing things with his family. He said his family has been doing more puzzles and things like that. He also says he has been doing many chores. One thing he had to do was clean his pool. He hasn?t had to do that because he had a pool cleaner, but because of the quarantine, he had to do it himself.

Another thing Mr. Finny has done is that he had recently is that he had repainted his house. It used to be a baby blue, but now it is a somewhat grey color. It is obvious that Mr. Finny has done many things to preoccupy the time in quarantine.

houses which was pretty nice. My personal favorite part of the trip was the bike ride around the lake.

The ride was 8 miles in all and for the majority of it I was alone. Even though being alone may sound boring, it really wasn?t. I got to go as fast as I wanted while having a beautiful lake in the background, at one point I was going twenty miles per hour. As the trail goes on you start seeing less civilization and more bugs and water. One thing I really did not like about Lake Okeechobee were the bugs. There were love bugs, hornets, bees, and all types of other bugs. Even though they don?t bite, love bugs were by far the worst.

Lastly, early Sunday, we made our way back home for Mother?s Day. I really enjoyed spending Mother?s Day with my Mom. We went for a walk, watched movies, ate Joe?s Stone Crab, and watched the Micheal Jordan documentary.

Parent: Ted Korff is the father of 8th grader Nicholas. Mr. Korff has been very proactive during the quarantine, both in mind and body. ?You got to keep a positive attitude.?

Mr. Korff said, ?I go running outside, I go walking, and I go play with nick outside to play tennis,? He said that 2 times a week, he would drive down to bel harbor and he would run down the beach.

Sometimes, Nick would even go with him. He has also done a lot of push-ups and sit-ups.

Mr. Korff has done a lot to try and stay proactive mentally, too. He even said it is one of the most important things to do during quarantine is to stay informed. ?I?m watching a lot more documentaries on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video,? Mr. Korff goes on to say that he has taken the time to read more books.

Mr. Korff said that one thing he has been watching videos on Curiosity Stream with his son. It is a service with many informative and educational videos. It is obvious he has taken the time to try and strengthen his intellect and to be informed.

One other thing Mr. Korff has done recently is that he has been cooking a lot. ?I cooked my wife, Lidia, salmon eggs benedict for Mother?s Day and I just made her chocolate-covered strawberries.

Icook a lot of pasta dishes, breakfast omelets, various things like that.?

Mr. Korff is trying to use this time to do many things he doesn?t usually have the time for. It is obvious he finds it important that he tries to stay knowledgeable about what is happening and what he can do to better himself.