As you probably know, on or near Easter we paint or dye Easter Eggs, and they’re often given to celebrate Easter or springtime. But now I’ll give you facts that you don’t know about how these eggs came to be. The oldest tradition was to paint or dye chicken eggs. But now, they are substituted by chocolate or plastic eggs filled with candy. Usually, the eggs are hidden for children to find on Easter morning and are said to be hidden by the Easter Bunny. Sometimes they’re put in baskets filled with real or fake straw to resemble a bird’s nest. The eggs are wildly known as signs of new life. An example is a chicken hatching from an egg. Did you know that Fabergé eggs were commissioned by Czar Alexander III of Russia as an Easter surprise for his wife, Maria Fyodorovna? Also, in Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches, their Easter eggs are dyed red to represent the blood of Christ, and the hard shells of the eggs represented the sealed tomb of Christ. The cracking of the eggs symbolized Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. I hope you enjoyed and learned something new from my story.  God bless!

By Gabriella Maihofer, Grade 5

Supplies
~ plastic or foam, or you can buy a hat
~ small ladder
~ scissors
~ fake gold
~ cage (optional)

First take the “hat” and cut the top off. Then place the top back on with gold on it [Make sure the top does not fall before the
leprechaun comes]. Then take the ladder and lean it up against the “hat.” If you want to make a security system, put a cage over it and make a trip wire halfway down the hat, inside it. Also you can put decorations on the hat, like a belt, clover or a cross. Have fun, and good luck catching a leprechaun!

By Grant Bell and John Ham, Grade 4

1. St. Patrick’s Day’s colors were supposed to be blue, not green.
2. St. Patrick was not Irish; he was British.
3. John F. Kennedy, an Irish president, forgot about St. Patrick’s Day.
4. There are more Irish-Americans than just Irish people.
5. St. Patrick’s Day was made in America, not Ireland.
6. In 1737, Irish-Americans who lived in Boston were the first people to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
7. Ever since 1962, Chicagoans have been dyeing the Chicago River green in honor of St. Patrick’s Day.

(Sources: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0317/Five-fun-facts-for-St.-Patrick-s-Day/St.-Patrick-wasn-t-Irish AND http://www.history.com/topics/st-patricks-day)

By Madison Miles, Grade 4

The Shamrock shake is back at McDonald’s. Do you like the shake or would you enjoy a mint dessert more? I’m going to give you a recipe for a mint dessert. I also want you to decide on my survey: CLICK HERE to vote on which you think you will like better. Me, I can’t really decide — they’re both great!

Brownie
~ ½ cup butter
~ 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
~ 1 ½ cups sugar
~ 3 eggs
~ 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
~ 1 cup all purpose flour
~ ½ teaspoon salt

Mint Frosting
~ ¼ cup softened butter
~ 2 ½ cups confections’ sugar
~ 1 ½ to 3 tablespoons milk
~ ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
~ green food coloring

By Rachel Russo, Grade 5

Leap years are added to the calendar to keep it working significantly. There are 365 days of the annual calender that are meant to match with the solar year. A solar year is the time it takes the Earth to complete its orbit around the sun, and every four years it takes an extra day to complete its orbit. This is why there is a leap year every four years in February. In fact, a sixth-grader, Grace Harley, was born on February 29, the leap year. Grace said that she is happy to be born on a leap day because it is fun to try to figure out how old she is turning. For example, Grace will actually be “5″ when she is 20. Grace said that this February she will be turning “3.” She also said that every year there is not a leap year she celebrates on the 28th of February. This is what a leap year is all about. Happy 3rd birthday, Grace Harley!

By Allyson Stibley, Grade 6

Do you have plans this New Year’s Eve? What are your yearly traditions? CLICK HERE to take a survey!

By John Ham, Grade 4

On December 22nd, some of my fifth-grade friends and I decided to go Christmas caroling to collect canned goods for those in need. Natalie Pryatel, Katie Byram, Sydney Jenko, Haley Morgan, Anna Krizsa, Anna Cupach, and me, Maria Antonius, bundled ourselves up and walked around a local neighborhood singing some of our favorite Christmas songs. We collected more than 50 canned goods, a fruit basket, and five jars of peanut butter. The peanut butter was given to Parma Hospital, and the rest of the donations were delivered to the Brunswick food pantry. We had a lot of fun singing and laughing together, while doing something to help others in need. It was a good way to end the 2011 year. We plan to do more service together in 2012. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

By Maria Antonius, Grade 5

The eighth-grade Christmas play, “The Only Christmas Pageant in Town,” was a total success, but do you know what went on behind the scenes? That’s what we wanted to find out. We went behind the scenes with Miss Taylor, the director, and Erica Rogers, who played Stephanie. These are the some of the questions and answers.

1. Was it hard to put on the performance?
Miss Taylor: It was pretty hard because there was only a minimum amount of space for the students to practice.
Erica: It was hard to memorize the lines and all the songs.

2. Did you write the play?
Miss Taylor: No. The play was written by Faye Couch Reeves.

3. How long did it take you to prepare for the play?
Miss Taylor: It took about two months.
Erica: It took about 1 month.

We give a big thanks to all the eighth-graders for putting on a fabulous Christmas play for our enjoyment!

By Abby Grant and Hunter Velasquez, Grade 4

Do you like PIE? If so, then these facts are just for you. If you don’t, then hopefully after reading these facts you’ll like pie.

• The average American eats six slices of pie per year.
• Apple pie is the favorite flavor among one out of four Americans, followed by pumpkin, chocolate, lemon meringue and cherry.
• Over the years, pie has evolved to become what it is today: “the most traditional American dessert.” Pie has become so much a part of American culture throughout the years, that we now commonly use the term “as American as apple pie.”
• Pie came to America with the first English settlers.
• Pie has been around since the ancient Egyptians.
• Before pie was America’s favorite dessert, fruit pies were commonly eaten as part of breakfast in the 19th century.
• An overwhelming 76 percent of Americans prefer homemade pie over pie from a bakery or pastry shop, restaurant, diner or supermarket.
• Pumpkin pie was first introduced to the holiday table at the pilgrim’s second Thanksgiving in 1623.

SURVEY: What’s your favorite type of pie?

(Source: http://www.crisco.com/Cooking_Central/Central/Pie…/fun_pie_facts.aspx)

By Matthew Stracensky, Grade 4

Do you know what the day after Thanksgiving is? You guessed it! Black Friday! Black Friday is when people of all ages go shopping because of the terrific deals. Some people even camp out in front of the stores. The shops are full of people, and many of the supplies in the stores literally are gone by the end of the night. But this year it’s even more exciting. Many retailers, including Kohl’s, Macy’s, Target and Best Buy, are choosing to open at midnight. Some stores are even planning to give away free stuff! So, if you want to go shopping on Black Friday, the best time to go is at midnight.

Will you go shopping on Black Friday? CLICK HERE to take a survey! Happy shopping!

By Alexandra Balassy, Grade 5

• Thanksgiving was first celebrated in the U.S. in 1789.
• The birthstone for November is the topaz.
• John F. Kennedy was killed in November 1963.
• The Roman calendar listed November as the ninth month.
• The US and Canada celebrate the end of World War 1 on November 11.
• Winter once began on November 11, according to the calendar of ancient Rome.
• November was called “Blood Month” by the ancient Saxons because that was the month they sacrificed animals to their gods.

(Source: http://www.doityourself.com/stry/novemberfunfacts)

By Mary Gill, Grade 5

Are you looking for excitement? If you are, you’ll be sure to find a lot of it in the sixth grade. The sixth-graders really enjoyed turning into saints and bringing their other classmates back to the past this week as we remember All Saints Day. They dressed up and acted like they are the actual saint while giving their speeches. The saints they picked had to do with their name or what they like to do. The students were very interested every minute they was doing their research and really enjoyed doing this project. Be sure to watch the sixth-graders process in with their creative costumes on Tuesday, Nov. 1, at the school Mass.

By Julia Ham, Grade 6

“It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” was a very amusing video. If I had to rate this classic movie, it would be 5 stars. This is all about Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin. Meanwhile, Charlie Brown is always getting rocks for Halloween. Snoopy is a World War 1 Flying Ace, and there’s so much more. Fifth-grader John Monnin says, “I give this movie 4 and a half stars.” Another fifth-grader, Delaney Hanlon, gave it 5 stars. How much did you like this movie? Take my survey by clicking here.

By Rachel Russo, Grade 5

Have you ever wondered why people carve pumpkins? If so, why in October? Here’s the reason: Fall is the time when pumpkins ripen. The word “pumpkin” first originated from the Greek word pepõn, which means large melon. Then the French, English, and finally, the Americans changed the word into “pumpkin.” Pumpkins and squash are believed to have come from the ancient Americas, particularly Central America, going all the way back to 7000 to 5000 B.C. These early pumpkins were NOT the traditional orange, round, upright jack-o’-lantern fruit people think of today when they hear the word pumpkin. The early pumpkins actually had crooked necks and stored well. In America, the pumpkins that we know are grown for carving. They’re fairly large in size, have upright strong walls, and are hollow inside. This allows people to carve out faces and put a light inside to illuminate the face. Then on Halloween night, you can see all the jack-o’-lanterns other people have made. I hope this helps you to understand the history of what is now called the “pumpkin.”

(Source: allaboutpumpkins.com)

By Gabriella Maihofer, Grade 5

*** CLICK HERE to take a survey by Lia Paolucci, grade 5, about what kind of face you would carve into your pumpkin.

I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the day before Halloween, and we were getting our Halloween costumes ready. Everything was going smoothly, until it happened. The lights flickered on and off and then finally stopped. That’s when I noticed the Halloween decorations were torn down and our costumes and candy bags were missing.
I promised myself that day I would figure out this case.

First I dressed like Sherlock Holmes, because you can’t be a mystery solver without being dressed like one (or at least I thought back then). I dusted for fingerprints, but there weren’t any. I thought of suspects who would do such a thing. Maybe it was Samuel Casey who lives across the street; he likes to get the most candy so he’s probably eliminating the competition, I thought to myself, and I jotted him down as my first suspect. “What are you doing, Michael?” My little brother Billy ran into my room. “Why are you here? I thought you had soccer practice,” I asked. “It was postponed until after the rain stops,” he answered. “Anyways, back to my question. I have two things to say. One, where did you learn the word ‘postponed’? You’re only in first grade!” I said. “I knew you were going to ask about soccer, so I looked it up in the uh uhhh…” he interrupted. “You looked it up in the thesaurus,” I corrected him. “The second thing is I’m trying to figure out who took our Halloween stuff. You could help me. You could even be Watson!” “Who is Watson?” he asked. “He’s Sherlock Holmes’ partner,” I answered. “I’ll do it!” he said excitedly.
The next morning I woke up Billy, saying, “It’s Halloween! We don’t even have a whole day to figure out this mystery!” “Ok, ok,” he said, rubbing his eyes. “Come on, come on! Get your Watson stuff on!” I shouted. “Not so loud,” my mom said. “Let’s get to work,” I said. “Think of people who might have done this.” “It could have been Samuel Casey,” Billy replied. “I already have him written down,” I said, “That’s good thinking, though. We need to think of someone sneaky enough to do it.” “It was Nathan Muyer!” he exclaimed. “He’s a technical genius!” “Let’s dust for fingerprints,” Billy said. “I already did that,” I told him. “Did you dust the light switches?” he asked. “I didn’t,” I said. “Let’s go!” We ran down the stairs with our dusting materials. It was too bad there weren’t any. “Dang it!” yelled Billy. “I know,” I said. “Well, at least we know it was probably done through technology. Now I really think Nathan’s involved,” said Billy. “Let’s ask Mom to track down and locate the computer that did this.” We raced to Mom, and somehow Billy outran me. I was going to ask her, but Billy beat me to it. “Mom, can you locate the computer that hacked into our lighting system?” he asked. “Okay,” she said sort of giggling. We waited for what seemed like hours, fiddling with pencils and playing football with erasers. Finally she said “I found it.” We dashed downstairs and I finally beat “Watson” — I mean, Billy. We typed the address into the GPS. When we arrived I noticed our destination was our elementary school!

We walked to the door, and luckily it was unlocked. We looked through each room that had a computer, and when we reached the computer lab we saw our costumes right behind Mr. K. “Why did you steal our costumes and decorations?” Billy asked. “Have you ever heard of The Halloween Ghost?” Mr. K asked. “No,” we answered. “Well, every year I pull a Halloween prank on someone in the school, and they decided to call me The Halloween Ghost,” he said. “Can you just give us our costumes so we can leave?” I asked. “Well, I guess you deserved it,” Mr. K answered. As we walked back to the car I thought I should’ve suspected Mr. K in the first place. We barely got back in time to trick-or-treat, but we got a bunch of candy including Kit-Kats, Butterfingers, M&M’s, and Hershey’s. The next year we teamed up with Mr. K for his Halloween prank, and The Halloween Ghost lived on. The End.

By Grant Bell, Grade 4

***CLICK HERE to take a survey by John Ham, grade 4, about your Halloween costume!

Halloween used to be a time when people remembered the love, warmth and light of their ancestors, but now it seems to be all about candy, ghosts and goblins. We can still remember the dead and the love they had showed us. This holiday is mostly counting the blessings that we have, and when we have a little candy we’re filled with happiness. Long ago, they used to dress up as saints, but now it is all about the scare. So, get your scare on this Halloween!

Survey: What is your favorite Halloween candy? Click here!

(Source: http://www.nwethoughtkabbalah.com/spiritualhalloween.htm)

By Allyson Stibley and Alaina Ricciardi, Grade 6

Boo!

• Chocolate candy bars top the list as the most popular candy for trick-or-treaters with Snickers #1 and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups #2.
• Pumpkins also come in white, blue and green: perfect for great jack-o-lanterns!
• The top Halloween costume for boys in 2010 was Spider-Man, and for girls princess was #1.
• Ohio is the second-largest pumpkin-producing state, producing more than 100 million pounds of pumpkins annually.
• The Catholic Church designated Nov. 1 as All Saints Day, and the day before became All Hallows Eve, eventually shortened to Halloween.

(Sources: examiner.com; nationalgeographic.com; about.com; tlc.howstuffworks.com)

By Ben Gorecki, Grade 4

Imagine yourself running through a field of flowers in the sun. You lie down in the grass and watch the clouds go by. All the stuff you are imagining is……………….. SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Spring is the BEST season because it is not too hot and not too cold. The AWESOME things in spring are……. SPRINGY THINGIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One springy thingy is Easter! As many of you know, Easter is when Jesus rose from the dead after he died on the cross. The Easter Bunny also comes. I asked two students what they wanted from the Easter Bunny. A fourth-grader said she wants lots of candy. Bradley F. from fifth grade said he wants an Ipad 2. Cool! I want an Ipod Touch! Another Springy Thingy is itsy bitsy baby animals! Some examples are bunnies, birdies, chicks and skunks! (Yes, even skunks!). I love the little bunnies! They are so CUTE! Another Springy Thingy is the warm weather! I love SPRING! My favorite Springy Thingies are the warm weather and the baby animals! At the end of this story there is a poll about your favorite Springy Thingy. Take the poll and tell me what your favorite Springy Thingy is. Bye, and stay SPRINGY!

By Ashley Scheutzow, Grade 5