ESA Today
ESA
January 2016
Volume II, Issue 2
Taking Part in Art By Liam Majeau
Last quarter, Ms. Alicia sent an email to parents of students in grades 1 through 5 offering art classes on Mondays and Tuesdays. Monday is the intermediate class, while Tuesday is at a more beginner level. The students that wanted to take the classes participated in an assessment to determine placement. Students are now in a hand pottery phase, and will move to drawing, shading, and monoprinting. Even though they are in separate classes according to skill level, their progress is personal. There will be no group end product, except students’ satisfaction with their own work. There will be no art for show, nor any display of pieces. Ms. Alicia is hoping that students walk away with something learned and something they can use. What the students are making:
Olivia: owl planter Dax: butter knife + spoon based off of detailed pictures Hayden: mug Juliann: pot Sian: cupcake
Olivia Faul and Sian Allen are hard at work!
Lego Robotics
Hands to work
by Ben Krueger
As you may know, Mrs. Ashleigh announced at the beginning of the year that the Lego Robotics team is going into its 2nd year; and there are going to be new teammates. For the November competition we had to make or show three things: the robots, a website prototype, and our Core Values. Core Values are like our School Prayer, because we have to be gentle, generous, truthful, kind, and brave. The team started their year off like last year, making the table that we would practice on and compete on in the future and the buildings that go on it. Then, we built our robots, and thought of the challenges we would do, and the ones we would completely skip. Some examples of the challenges to push a truck a certain distance, open a mechanical door, or retrieve a are package from a factory. Soon after that we decided what to do for our project. The theme was “Trash Trek” which was based off of picking up trash and making less trash. The team decided to make a website called Falcon Trash, where people would see trash, report to the website, and other people will pick it up, which is also known as crowdsourcing. Even though they did not pass to the next tournament, they still did a great job at the competition and so if you see a showed strength in all of the three parts to the competition, friend of yours who is or was on the Lego Robotics team this year, be sure to say congratulations.
Curtis Hidalgo
Have you ever seen a piece of trash in a river or lake and thought, ‘I wonder who put that there’? Well at ESA we try to prevent trash flying into the river right next to the school by once a week spending 15 minutes on cleaning up around campus. Every Friday after clusters someone rings the bell and that means it’s time for Hands to Work. At the beginning of Hands to Work we start with the basic stuff like, straighten cubbies, clearing desks, wiping desks, and more. Then once you’re done with that your teacher will give you a job to do like take the recycling to the big recycling bin, take the trash to the big trash can, and put the chairs up. Hands to Work is important to ESA because it helps us have a clean learning environment. Hands to Work helps our community by limiting the trash that gets into the rivers. So the next time you see trash in a river don’t worry about who put it there: just pick it up. It really doesn’t matter who put it there as much as it matters that it could kill an animal (that is what can happen if they think trash is food and they eat it).
ESA Basketball
Garden Club Information
The 5th grade basketball team has had a great season. They unfortunately lost a lot, but there were always very close games. Here I interview their post player, the person who gets all the rebounds, Harrison Hugonin.
by Anna Breaux
By Peter Menard
Q: What were your overall thoughts about the game?
A: The game was great. Although we lost, I feel that it was a great accomplishment.
Q: Who is on the team? A: Ben K, Harrison H, Christian S, Peter M, Wiltson, and Cameron Kyle, both from Epiphany Q: What do you personally wish to accomplish this season? A: This season I want to do my best, and focus on teamwork. And rebounding Q: What do you think your team needs to work on?
A: Getting into defense quickly. I feel that passing and the whole defense is something the Falcons need to work on.
The Garden Club is a club where student can express themselves and make the school a beautiful place. In the Garden Club they make compost every year so our garden will be healthy. The Garden Club hasn't started yet, but they will. Last year we also did compost and we did it over the summer. This is what it looks like now. The Garden Club definitely helped our school a lot! This will definitely help our soil and plants here at ESA!
Q: What is your favorite thing to do in basketball? A: Work with my team to build a stronger team. Thank you Harrison for these answers. Now the season has ended. In the last game against Westminster and the score was 15 - 19. The players held their heads high throughout the entire game, and they ended on a high note.
Monarch-Harming Plants on Campus
By Roman Moroux
Thanks to the Fall 2015 Vertical Gardening cluster, ESA’s milkweed plants can remain on campus without confusing Monarch butterflies.
There is a species of butterfly plant on campus called Mexican Milkweed. This is one of the many species of milkweed, which Monarch butterflies love. What will happen if we keep its flowers on through November? It will confuse the butterflies, and then they will lay their eggs here and then die. They will be tricked by thinking that they are in Mexico because the plant is native to Mexico. This is very sad, unless you clip it back. One Enrichment Cluster, Vertical Gardening, fixed the problem by cutting the flowers off the plants so that the monarchs don’t die. But the stems are okay to keep. When trimming the cluster you must be careful of the substance inside, which is toxic. This is also how the plant got its name, because the substance looks like milk. Thank you, Vertical Gardening!
Thanksgiving Traditions
What is happening to our lunchboxes?! by Henry Fuller
Olivia Faul
Welcome back from the break! I thought it would be fun to interview some of our teachers about their holiday traditions. One of the things we are all thankful for are our teachers. Here is what they said:
Miss Kate: Most of her family lives in Wisconsin, so she celebrates Thanksgiving with her friends that live here. Instead of Thanksgiving, They call it “Friendsgiving.” Miss Kate and her friends don’t usually celebrate Friendsgiving on Thanksgiving, so everyone can be with their families. They each cook a dish to bring to the celebration. She doesn’t like turkey, so she either brings ham or pork tenderloin. After dinner is over, they play fun games! When Miss Kate was little, it was her job to make the turkey, raspberry pie, and set the table with name cards and her grandmother’s Christmas plates. Every year her grandmother would buy a new plate to add to her collection. Now Miss Kate has the plates and is thinking about using them for this year’s Friendsgiving!!!
Ms. Kate's favorite Christmas plate
Miss Deb: Miss Deb’s Thanksgiving is more traditional. She spends Thanksgiving with her family. One is from Washington, one is from Oklahoma, and the other lives in Mandeville. They all go to Miss Deb’s sister’s house in Mandeville. Her sister and brother-in-law provide the main meal. They always have turkey and then everybody brings their favorite dish. She brings green bean casserole, and one of her sisters the brings a homemade macaroni and cheese. Miss Deb’s parents provide breads and other goodies. They all sit down together and meet for a Thanksgiving meal about mid-afternoon. Her dad always says grace. they are finished eating, they always have After coffee and dessert and then sit down and watch football games together.
I hoped you enjoyed learning a little more about your teacher’s traditions!
A Word of Inspiration By Amélie Poret
“I have a dream!” -Martin Luther King.
Do you have a dream that you want to put out there? You can because “anything is possible” like Dr. Seuss says. If you have an idea put it out there! I had a dream. I loved to write and I made Story Bird club. If you have an idea, just put it out there and find an adult to help you make it happen. Dreams are not just in fairy tales! They are also in reality and you can make them happen. “Stay in the Struggle!”
Have you ever left your lunch box on the picnic tables and remembered it when it was too late thinking, “oh well, I will get it tomorrow?” Then the next day it is there, but not on the picnic tables. It’s on the roof! This is because raccoons are attracted to the smell of food. They bring lunchboxes to the roof and start thumbing through them looking for leftovers. When the search is over the leave the lunch boxes up there. Some people have been wondering is why are they smart enough to bring it up but not down. I have never had this happen to me and hopefully it won’t. The people’s lunch boxes stay up there until either the wind blows it down or rain washes it off. I myself know only a little about this matter and want to explore it further. This is a sad and annoying event. If you don’t want this to happen to you, don’t leave your lunch boxes on the tables, or else the raccoons will get them.
Lunch Bunch By Anniina Garrison
Do you like Hot Lunch? It’s a common question during your lunch time. It is said that some students do or don’t enjoy hot lunch! Some enjoy Hot Lunch while others may not. Let’s hear what new 5th Grade student, Ariana Felton, has to say. Q: What do you think about Hot Lunch? A: I think Hot Lunch can be a lot better, when you get the food, it’s always cold. Q: Is there anything that you do like about Hot Lunch? A: I like how they have a variety of choices. (Ariana admits that she does like different choices every day.) A poll of selected students has been taken of which 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students like or dislike Hot Lunch. It turns out that 19 students in both 2nd and 3rd Grade enjoy Hot Lunch. In 4th grade, 11 students like Hot Lunch, while 1 Student does not. In 5th grade 10 students like Hot Lunch. Meanwhile, 8 Students dislike Hot Lunch! Do you agree or disagree with these Students? Any other opinions? Hot Lunch has a bunch!
Cross Country By Allison Aucoin
Cross Country is a running sport. I interviewed someone on the ESA Team: Camille Movassaghi! Here are the questions and answers. Q: What is cross country? A: Cross Country is [a sport] where you run and do races. Q: How do you think your team is doing? A: The team is doing really well and running fast. Q: Are you proud of the team? A: Yes very much. Q: Do you enjoy practice? A: Yes, very much. I wish I could go there every day. Well I think Cross Country is a pretty cool sport, what about you?! Maybe, you will think about joining soon or just interested in running. Give a little or a lot of cheer to the Cross Country team!
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