Pioneer Press Volume 5, Issue 3 March 16, 2023 1 If you have heard from a little bird flying around, you would know that there was a play at Sevastopol. It was a play with a little twist to everyone's favorite fairy tale, Cinderella. The play was the Hammerstein and Rodgers Cinderella version. The play was very fun, and it gave kids something to do after school. Some of the things they practiced included singing, dancing, and running through the scenes to make it perfect. The play took place on March 10th, 11th, and 12th. Hopefully you were able to make it to one of the performances! We asked a few of the participants about what it was like to be in a play and what their part was. Shaylyn Asher, a 5th grader, said, “It's very fun to be in the play, and sometimes we have practice after school. On those days, we just practice songs and sing, but on other days we get to do some action.” Some people liked it because they could be their own person and not be judged by what they do. They also got to be with friends and have fun. “It lets me get a feel for other characters and puts myself in others' shoes. Also, I get to be with friends,” said Ryder Ortmayer, another 5th grader. The costumes in the play were made just for Sevastopol. According to Amy Ensign, they were created amazingly. The team worked on the costumes for a long time and put their heart and soul into them. After they were done, they ran what is called a “tech week” where they put everything together as they practiced on the stage, with the curtain closed, of course. All of the participants in this play seem to be very brave and enthusiastic. If you made it it to one of the shows, you were able to see how much hard work went into the play. Caroline, a 4th grader, said that, “It's an amazing experience to witness after the play is over. When everyone claps for you it feels amazing.” Most of the kids were happy about how the production went, but also felt sad that it's all over. After many months of practice it is hard to believe that they are finally done! Hopefully you were able to enjoy one of these amazing shows! If not, check out some of the pictures from the show. Next year, maybe you could be part of the performance! “Cinderella” By: Jillayna Fameree & Mayra Cordua Stenzel
2 Spelling Bee By: Grace Olson, Clara Kellan, & Kailee Gilbert Have you ever been in a Spelling Bee? This is a competition to see who can spell the best. First, there's a classroom Spelling Bee and the top two winners from each class move onto the school wide Bee! These twelve students who won the classroom rounds, are given a harder set of words for the school-wide Spelling Bee to practice. Usually, for the school-wide Bee, teachers get the opportunity to bring their students to the gym, so they can support their friends and fellow classmates in the competition. The school-wide Spelling Bee was held on Friday, January 13, 2023. The first place winner was Maggie Thomas (5th grade), second place was Ella Grooters (5th grade), and the third place was Layla Rankin (3rd grade). Nice job to all the competitors! These events are made for all people, and all you have to do is practice spelling words. It is never too early to start practicing for next year! GeoBee By: Brennan Rass Every year in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades classrooms a Geography Bee takes place. The GeoBee tests kids’ knowledge on geography topics like location, physical features, national landmarks, history, and fun facts. The top two kids from each homeroom go onto a school-wide GeoBee. All tests have rules, even the GeoBee. For the GeoBee there are only a few rules, but they are important to follow. The first rule is very simple, you cannot look at others' answers. The second rule is you cannot have a cheat sheet; this means no answers written on your hand or anything like that. The third, and final rule, is just try your best because you never know, maybe you’ll be the one with the gold medal. The classroom rounds took place at the beginning of March. The schoolwide GeoBee took place in Mrs. Ayer’s 5th grade classroom on March 15. When the finalists arrived they were greeted with a mini globe trophy that had jelly beans in it! Then big test began. By the end of the day, we knew who our champions were! Our school champion for the 2022-2023 school year was Michal in 5th-Grade! With 2nd place being Griffin (4th-Grade) and Brennan R. (5th-Grade). Congratulations to all of the GeoBee finalists! This year’s 12 finalists
3 -Jump Rope for HeartBy: Selma Gigstead Every February Sevastopol takes part in a program called Jump Rope for Heart, or some people know it as Kids Heart Challenge. What is It? Jump Rope For Heart is a fundraising event that has become one of the most popular annual events for elementary and middle schools throughout the United States of America (USA). This event has thousands of schools and millions of kids participating across the USA every year. The program has raised more than $1.2 billion since its foundation in 1978. How Does it Work? Jump Rope for Heart is designed with four simple goals: 1. Get kids active by having them jump rope and do other healthy exercises 2. Educate kids about their hearts and other heart-healthy habits 3. Raise money for kids in need of heart surgery and other outreach programs 4. Teach kids the value of community service The program does all these things by involving elementary and middle school kids in a three to four week “learn to jump rope” program, usually done during physical education classes (P.E.). P.E. along with Kids Heart Challenge, teaches kids to be active, healthy, and smart about their life choices. This program happens through the month of February. The gym and school are plastered with fun heart healthy posters and other cool educational materials. Along the way, kids are encouraged to fundraise by asking friends and family for donations that will be sent to the American Heart Association. These donations help support kids in need of heart surgery or other procedures. In doing this, kids will receive prizes for a certain amount of money they donate. Kids can then see their progress, and their classes progress online. They are also encouraged to practice a number of important life skills that can help create healthy lifestyles. Sevastopol School donated $9,509.60! Beating the school goal of 8,000 by $1,509.70. Way to go Sevastopol!
4 ❀Monthly Words❀ By: Addison Solberg, Jaya Lama, & Rori Orlock This year we are doing a program called Character Strong. This means all students should be building lifelong skills! There are nine words for the nine months of the school year. The words are: Respect, Responsibility, Gratitude, Empathy, Perseverance, Honesty, Cooperation, Courage, and Creativity. We will tell you about few of the words below and what the words mean, how we should think about it, and how you can find the word in your daily life. Perseverance Perseverance is when you have to push through something that you may not want to do. For example; a test, homework, running a mile, swimming laps, getting a 3-pointer, memorizing play lines, and much more. Perseverance is a hard thing to do sometimes, especially when the task you're doing is something you want to skip, but everyone has to persevere at one point. A way that you can persevere is to think of what you want to achieve and practice every day to achieve it! Honesty Honesty is when you are honest, or tell the truth. In our classroom we have a daily check in on how we feel. Our teacher, Mrs. Ayer, said it is being honest with ourselves. Honesty can come in many forms from being honest to parents, friends, teachers, and ourselves. When you’re being honest, people can depend on you or trust you. Being honest is a huge part of our lives. Cooperation Cooperation is following expectations, it can be at home or at school. This can help get you ready for success. This is a big part of most jobs. You have to work with a business partner or a team. At school, some kids don’t like working with partners because they find it annoying. If you do find yourself with someone you may not like to work with, try to compromise with them and make it a win-win. Courage Courage plays a big part in how people see you, and helps determine who you are. Courage can be helping others, doing monkey bars, standing up to a bully, or many other situations. For most people, courage can take a long time to figure out, for others it can just happen suddenly. Either way, courage is also a big part of success. Creativity Creativity can be fun. You can create an endless amount of possibilities. Creativity can mean more than just art, for example, it can be part of creating a robot, or doing something on your homework that is out of the ordinary. You could get a grade on creativity even. Creativity builds character!
5 Spring Sports By: Brennan Collins & Michal Dereszkiewicz DI Update By: Jaya Lama, Rori Orlock, & Addison Solberg Do you know what DI is? If you don't, then this is a great article for you! It is an event where you really have to use your brain and think creatively. There are seven challenges, each where you have a specific task. You are required to do an eight minute skit. Everything also has to be made, even down to the costumes, props, and scripts. In part of DI, you need to do an instant challenge, which is exactly what it sounds like. A quick challenge where you have to execute a task. This year we have two elementary teams and one middle school team. One of the elementary teams, Da Magix, had a challenge called FarFetch (Scientific). Thay have to create a tall tale that includes an exaggerated character and a hyperbolic trait. They got first place in scientific elementary level and instant challenge. They will be moving on to state. The second elementary team, The 7 Musketeers, had a Flip the Script Challenge (Fine Arts). They had to take a well known tale, and tell it through another character's point of view, plus add a literary device (figurative language), and a scenery flip. They took fourth place in elementary level. They will be moving on to state. The middle school team, The Ultiments, had a challenge called the Thrill Ride (Engineering). They had to assemble a roller coaster and design a launching mechanism that starts moving a golf ball along a roller coaster, and show the riders’ experience while riding a roller coaster. They got First in Engineering secondary level and instant challenge. They will be moving on to state. DI is very fun and makes you think differently about how to do things. If you see any of these team members, tell the “Good Job!” If you would like to join DI, then you should give it a try! Have you been wondering what kind of sports are available during springtime? Well then, this article is for you! Spring sport sign ups have begun If you have any questions on how to sign up, please talk to Mrs.Tanck, the sports director. Now, let’s see the different kinds of sports that are available. The first few sports available to play during springtime are baseball and softball. You may be asking, “Didn’t we already get flyers for softball and baseball?” Those flyers were only for hitting lessons, not the actual teams. There are two different types of leagues you can join, the LAKESHORE league, which is only played against local teams, and a tournament league, which is a STATEWIDE baseball and softball team. Registration for these sports have already started. Another sport you can join is soccer! Summer soccer runs through SAY: which joins teams together from all the local schools. For more information on how to sign up, ask your parents to check out their Facebook page. Now you know all the different teams you can sign up for. Have a sporty spring!
6 Spring Flower Competition By: Ella Grooters and Shaylyn Asher 4K K 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th In December 2022, we had a Christmas Tree Competition in the small group rooms for 4K through 5th-Grade to help spread Holiday Cheer. This spring we held a Spring Theme Competition! In this challenge, all the elementary grades battled to decorate with the best spring decorations to help get ready for Spring! Just like every competition, there were some of the rules are; you can use any school materials, you have to have one main centerpiece, you have to have a spring saying, and NO home materials. The biggest part of this challenge is that everyone should pitch in! Preston Surfus wondered, “Are there going to be judges?” There are judges; all elementary teachers and staff, who don’t teach the homerooms, voted on what window display they liked best. This was a BIG job, and a hard decision because everybody did such a good job! The results came in right before printing this article: 1st Place: Kindergarten 2nd Place Tie: 2nd & 4th Grade Good job from all of the classes! Check out their designs!
7 Spring Concert By: Jackson Toivonen and Will Ortmayer What do a saxophone, a trumpet and a drum have in common? They all play in Sevastopol’s spring concert. The spring concert is a fun band performance that families can attend. Fifth grade, middle school, and high school are going to do their hardest to deliver an astonishing concert. Fifth graders will be playing “Shark Attack," and “Bring On Da Band.” They will be playing in the gym on April 17th at 6:30. We hope we will see you there! What is Your Birth Flower? By: Maggie Thomas and Madelyn Jarosh You may have known that you have a birthstone, but did you know you also have a birth flower? In this article, you will find out what your and other people’s birth flowers are, as well as some character traits that go along with that flower. To find out your birth flower, just look at the diagram to the right. In addition to these flowers symbolizing your birth month, they also represent character traits. Below is a list of the flowers and the traits they represent. ❖ January - Carnation/ Snowdrop - admiration, deep love, affection, purity, luck, gratitude ❖ February - Violet/ Primrose - modesty, spiritual wisdom, faithfulness, humility ❖ March - Daffodil - new beginnings, vanity, good luck, prosperity, faithfulness ❖ April - Sweet Pea/ Daisy - purity, innocence, fertility, motherhood, transformation ❖ May - Hawthorn/ Lily of the Valley - motherhood, purity, sweetness ❖ June - Rose/Honeysuckle - love, beauty, honor, faith, devotion ❖ July - Water Lily/ Larkspur - positivity, open heart, dignity, grace, first love ❖ August - Gladiolus/ Poppy - strength of character, faithfulness, integrity, infatuation, persistence ❖ September - Morning Glory/Aster - wisdom, valor, faith, royalty, purity, innocence ❖ October - Marigold - passion, creativity, drive to succeed, desire for wealth, beauty and warmth of the rising sun ❖ November - Chrysanthemum - loyalty, honesty, love, deep passion, get well wishes ❖ December - Holly/ Narcissus - hope, wealth, the only one, good fortune Check out your flower/s and your friends’! Do your traits match you? Whatever your birth month or flower, you are unique in your own special way, so just be you!
8 Ouch! That hurt…from staff! By: Ella Grooters & Shaylyn Asher We asked teachers if they have hurt themselves in the past. They are allowing us to share their story from their point of view. Mrs. Asher slammed her hand in the car door. When asked on a scale from one to ten on the pain level, she said it was a nine. What was she doing? She said, “I was getting out of the car and heading into the house and I had a bag in my hand, so I shut the door with my arm and then my hand got stuck.” Be careful of car doors! Mrs. Ploor tore the achilles (uh·ki·leez) playing volleyball with high schoolers. She had a pain level of ten. What was she doing? She said, “I was practicing with the high schoolers for volleyball and as I went up to block, I tore my achilles. I felt like I was 17 again because I was with the high schoolers.” Always stretch before doing anything involving athletics. Mrs. Grooters t- boned a car when she was driving a four wheeler. Mrs. Grooters she was driving a four wheeler when she crashed into a car. The pain level was a ten out of ten. How did this happen? She said, “I was driving over a hill and at the bottom of the hill was a car, the four wheeler and the car crashed at the same time or t-boned. “When I was at the hospital, they had to scrape gravel out of my hair and the doctors said I was screaming in agony.” She also commented that she doesn’t remember any of this happening. The doctors told her what happened. Mrs. Schroeder tore her ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament), located around the knee joint, running on a treadmill when her foot caught in the treadmill. Her pain level was a 10 out of 10. This happened in April, and she couldn't get into the hospital until August for surgery. When it came to October, she needed physical therapy until January 15. Be careful treadmills are dangerous.
9 Upcoming Holidays! St. Patrick’s Day Do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day in your community? It's a day to celebrate Luck! This year, it will be celebrated on Friday, March 17, 2023. This holiday was originally celebrated in Ireland. Ireland is an Island Nation on the westernmost edge of Europe. The first recorded St. Patrick's Day celebration in America was in St. Augustine, Florida, in the year 1600. The main colors are green, gold, and white. Common good luck charms for this day are horse shoes, a four-leafed clover, and a rabbit's foot. And remember you don't have to be Irish to be lucky on St. Patrick's Day. Have a good time if you are going to celebrate this holiday by going to the parades. Even if you aren’t, we still wish you a good St. Patrick’s Day. Best of luck to you! By: Grace Olson, Clara Kellan, & Kailee Gilbert Mother’s Day By: Clara Kellan, Kailee Gilbert &, Grace Olson Does your family celebrate Mother’s Day? This year it will be celebrated on May 14th to honor the things that mother’s do for their children. People commonly give gifts to their mother’s as a way of sharing their appreciation for them. Mother’s Day isn't only about moms, it can also include aunts and grandmother's as well. In fact, over 152 million cards are sent on this day to everyone that is a mother figure. You can easily make a card or a gift without spending any money! You can make cards out of paper or make flowers using origami paper. No matter what you're doing, Mother’s Day is made to make your mother feel special for everything she's done to have a perfect child like you. So, enjoy it! Spend Mother’s Day with your relatives and have fun. Check out these Teacher Mom’s!
10 April Fools Pranks By: Silas Martin & Ryder Ortmayer April Fool’s Day, the one we wait all year for. Everybody loves a good trick! Well, unless it’s on you. Have you ever wondered why we do these tricks on April 1st? Back in 1563, France changed their calendars and instead of having New Years on April 1st, they changed it to January 1st. Some people did not get the news, so they were called “April fools” and were pranked or even had paper fish put on their back (maybe that’s where we got the “kick me” idea from). Now that we know where the pranks originated, let's look at some popular ones: ● Silly Sucker: If your family members ● like suckers, you could sneak one, unwrap it, and replace the candy bit with a brussel sprout or other vegetable. Wrap it again and put it back. ● Fake an Oops: Take some nail polish, coffee, or other objects and mix it with glue. Make a spill on construction paper and when it dries, put it anywhere in the house. It will look like someone made a big mess. ● Cookie Monster: Take an oreo, unscrew it and eat the frosting from inside. Replace it with white tooth paste and put the sandwich back together. Put the cookies back in the container. Do you like being pranked? If not, that's ok not everyone does. Let’s see how your classmates feel about being pranked. Heidi from fifth grade says it’s fun, even when you don’t expect it. Like in the morning. Silas from fifth grade says it is not fun to wake up to annoying things! Aubri from fourth grade thinks being pranked is fun because it's in the April Fool’s spirit and you can get back on whoever pranked you. What is your opinion on pranks? Whatever it is,we hope you can have a happy and fun April Fool’s Day! And remember to stay safe.
11 Spring Crafts By: Rori Orlock & Grace Olson Bored during Spring break? No worries! These crafts will fix that. We will look at things like ,tissue paper flowers, and toilet paper bunnies! Make sure to have adult supervision while doing these crafts. ______________________________________________________________ Tissue Paper FlowersMaterials: pipe cleaners, tissue paper, scissors Step 1: Choose your choice of color for the tissue paper. Make sure it is tissue paper, any other kind of paper will make it too thick Step 2: You will need 4 sheets of tissue paper. Fold them into an accordion fold, keep it as a stack. Take a pipe cleaner (your choice of color) and cut it into 4 pieces. Step 3: Then wrap the pipe cleaner around the tissue paper stack. Carefully pull off each layer. Add a stem if you want, use the pipe cleaner as a stem. Enjoy your nice bouquet! ______________________________________________________________ Toilet Paper BunniesMaterials: toilet paper roll, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, beads, a marker, paper, and colored paint (Optional) Step 1: Take a toilet paper roll and coat it in a colored paint. You don’t have to do this if you want a brown bunny. Step 2: Once the paint has dried, cut out bunny-like ears out of paper and glue your colored choice of ears together, then to the inside of the toilet paper roll. Step 3: Add googly eyes, and pipe cleaners as whiskers Step 4: Use a marker for a mouth, and finished! These Easter crafts can help you occupy your summer. If you want to make other crafts you can search some up on Pinterest, or Arty Crafty Kids.
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