Our Senior Pre-school Teachers By Mackenzie White, Anna Bauer, and Cornelia Ehlebracht

Throughout all of the Spire Criers this year, nothing has been focused on

pre-school. So we interviewed the pre-school teachers.

When we interviewed Mrs. Crum she told us an interesting fact. She told

us that the circus was canceled so last year’s class was the last class to do it. Mrs.

Crum is teaching her class art, sounding out words, making good choices, and

enjoying school with play and fun. We asked her what her favorite thing to teach

them was and she answered to be independent. We also asked her what her best

memory was and she said there were too many good memories to choose from.

Another thing is that her favorite event was the circus until it got canceled. Her

favorite art project is really just watching Mr. Noble teach art and her favorite

field trip is to Merrie Christmas Park.

Then when we interviewed Mrs. Kniseley and she told us fun facts. She

told us that she had no bad memories and that pajama day was her favorite thing

to do. She also likes going on the field trip to the pet shop. She also loves the fact

that she gets to relive the life of a five year old. Mrs. Kniseley is teaching her

class about making books in Spanish about beautiful butterflies, and painting

with vibrant water colors. Her favorite thing to teach to them is science and na-

ture related things.

Mrs. Noble was the last teacher that we interviewed. Mrs. Noble is teach-

ing her class early literacy, how to read, science, how to sound out words, which

is most or less, art, and to get along with one another. Her worst memory is being

splattered in paint by a paint jug with a squirter on it. Her favorite activity is art.

Her best memory from teaching pre-school is all of the hugs she receives. The

circus used to be her favorite event for the pre-schoolers, but now it is pajama

day. Out of all of the art projects, her favorite is the one she has just finished.

When she thinks of her favorite field trip with them, she thinks of Merrie Christ-

mas Park.

We are so lucky to have had such great pre-school teachers, who make the

beginning of our years here at St. Thomas full of learning and creativity.

I ns i de t h i s i s s ue :

T h e S p i r e C r i e r S t . T h o m a s E p i s c o p a l P a r i s h S c h o o l

School news and

teacher profiles

1-3

Sports, science,

reviews and surveys

4-6

Lulu’s last advice 6

Humor page 7

Winners of the joke

and riddle contest

8

M ay 2 0 1 2

Vo l u me 2 4 , I s s ue 3

The Spire Crier staff wishes you a great summer!

P a g e 2

Ins id e S to ry Head l ine

Poetry Awards

By Sarah Steinhour, Olivia Byrd, and Cornelia Ehlebracht

The poetry awards have been going on for two years and are still a success.

We asked Mrs. Jenks how the poetry awards started and she said, “April is

the poetry month and students study poetry all year. The poetry awards are

meant to encourage children to write poetry.” The winners were Nathalie

Han, Carlos Prio-Touzet, Joaquin Porras, Frankie Sanchez and Melanie Pozo.

The winners’ poems are:

At the Farm, by Melanie Pozo

World of Fantasy, by Frankie Sanchez

The American Flag, by Joaquin Porras

Aqua, by Carlos Prio-Touzet

White, by Nathalie Han

Miss Q’s Attachment To Paris

By Anna Bauer

Miss Q’s attachment to Paris is a very fun story of how she learned

French and how she became a Paris lover. She first started to learn French

when she went to Saint Phillips and was taught by Mrs. Smith her teacher.

She also learned more French when she went to Ransom and went to Paris for

a whole summer. Her favorite saying in French is C’est la vie, mon ami!,

which translates to: that’s life, my friend. Her favorite dish -- Ooo la la -- is

coq au vin which is chicken cooked in wine.

She said that she would love to be an English teacher in Paris if she had the

chance. She was 15 when she first went to Paris. Her favorite dessert is

mousse au chocolat. Musée d’Or-

say is her favorite site in Paris.

She loves the French artist Edgar

Degas, who paints ballerinas. She

recommends reading the Nicholas

Series by Rene Goscinny. As

Miss Q might say, au Revoir.

T h e S p i r e C r i e r

Mystery Teacher

By Olivia Byrd and

Sarah Steinhour

This mystery teacher is a

girl who was born in

Pennsylvania. Her favorite

color is turquoise and her

favorite food is pasta. Her

dream vacation is to go to

Williamsburg. Her favor-

ite star is Mandy Patinkin

and he is in the Broadway

show “Sunday in the park

with George.”

Ce qui est fait n'est plus à

faire.

Don’t leave until tomorrow

what can be finished today

Miss Q. at a French café in February

Bully Free Zone

By Anna Bauer

Ways to stop bullying are right here. I am going to help you figure out ways

that you can stop the bullying. Step 1- if you or someone else is getting bul-

lied you can speak up for yourself. Step 2- talk to someone you can trust like

your parents or your teachers to stop the bullying. (Telling someone is not

tattling so don’t let them use that against you). Step 3- volunteer to get your

school into a bully free zone. Step 4-get other people to help with making

your school bully proof. These are the ways you can help yourself not get

bullied by other people. YOU have the right to SPEAK!

P a g e 3 V o l u m e 2 4 , I s s u e 3

Meet The Spanish Teachers

By Nathalie Han and Maggie McDowell

T h e S p i r e C r i e r P a g e 4

Bolt Can Really Bolt!

By Brezlan Malina

A person who held the world record for the one hundred meter dash since

2008 has done it again! Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt had a recored of 9.74 se-

conds when he ran the one hundred meter dash for his first time. He repeated this

feat when he got a world record of 9.58 in 2009! On another try Bolt had reached

the world record of 8.79 seconds, that’s 38 miles per hour! Most people can’t be-

lieve he has done this because he is too tall. He is six foot and five inches tall. If

Bolt ran at an altitude of one thousand meters, the highest elevation allowable for

running records to count, he would reduce drag and facilitate another drop in

speed, and he would get in the world records book again!

Komodo Dragon: Save this Significant Reptile

By Philip Staeding

The Komodo dragon is a rare reptile. They live in the scrub and woodland. They

weigh 150 pounds or more; that makes them the world’s heaviest reptile! They

use a keen sense of smell to locate decaying animals from far away. They hunt

other small lizards and large mammals. The Komodo dragon has gray scaly skin,

powerful limbs, a pointy snout and muscular tail. This species is threatened from

hunting, loss of prey and habitat.

Top 7 Computer Games

By Carter Freeland and Philip Staeding

Minecraft is a fun game where you build to survive. Ages 8+

Roblox is a game where you play lots of assorted games. Ages 9+

Miniclip.com is an exciting website where you can play other games. Ages 6+

Towering Forever: Funland.com you have to protect the tree. Ages 7+

Duck Life:funland.com you have to train the duck to make it race better. Ages 3+

Falling sand V.2 you can do anything in this game. Ages 9+

Learn To Fly 2 you fly to destroy things. Ages 8+

P a g e 5 V o l u m e 2 4 , I s s u e 3

MATH IS IMPORTANT: Donald in MathMagic Land

By Anna Bauer Donald in MathMagic Land is a fun way to learn about mathematics. You can learn all the tricks to

mathematics and get all the answers right on your test if you just watch this video of how mathematics started

and how it is used today.

At the beginning of the show Donald walks into a world that probably no one else has seen. Some of

the animals are made out of rectangles, squares, and triangles which were obviously very smart because they

were giving Donald the answer to Pi. You also saw rivers flowing with numbers, trees made out of numbers,

trees with leaves that are numbers, or even trees with square roots. Donald was still wandering around when a

spirit called Donald’s name; the spirit was telling him about how mathematics is important and how we use it

in our everyday life.

The spirit took Donald back into Pythagoras’s days. Donald learned all about Pythagoras and what he

discovered. He learned that Pythagoras is the father of mathematics and music and that he discovered ratios,

fractions, and music. He learned that 1 string divided in half makes it one octave higher and that Pythagoras

made the scale for the harp it went 1-4/3-8/5-2later making the full musical scale.

Then they talked about Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans. The Pythagoreans had to be a male and had

to have a pentagram stamped on their hand in order to be allowed in. A pentagram is a shape that looks like a

star. They did not tell anybody about their discoveries because they thought that if they kept it to themselves

they had more power because they knew something that nobody else did.

Then they talked about the golden Ratio also known as the golden rectangle. Pythagoras discovered

that each part of the pentagram (star) was all related and that the first two lines combined equaled the third

and that the second and the third line combined equaled exactly the fourth line. The golden rectangle could

mathematically reproduce itself indefinitely.

The Greeks said that this ratio is not only law but beauty. That’s why you find it in all of their sculp-

tures. Each of the golden rectangles was proportional just like us. In the pentagram each star made the golden

rectangle. The golden rectangle forms a swirl when reproducing itself indefinitely. The Golden Rectangle

dominated the beauty in architecture throughout the world. Till this day we still use the golden rectangle in

our making of buildings, sculptures, and other kinds of architecture.

The next scene talks about nature and its beauty with pentagons. You can find a pentagram in flowers,

conks, shells, trees, bees honey cones, bugs eyes, pine cones, and even in snowflakes. Pythagoras once said

that everything is arranged according to numbers and mathematical shape.

This scene talks about how we use mathematics in our games today. We play Chess which is a contest

that’s played by two minds. We play basketball which is a game played with circles, squares, and rectangles.

Also baseball which is a game played on a rhombus. There is another game called Billiards too and that in-

volves a lot of skill and knowing all the angles. In order to play the cue ball has to hit at least three sides be-

fore hitting the pink ball. You have to subtract the fractions in order to play the diamond system.

The Last scene talks about the mathematical mind and how mathematics is created. The shape always

starts out in your mind and then moves on towards the paper. Your mind’s imagination can run forever until

you want it to stop. I like to think that there is no paper large enough to hold your mind’s wildest imagina-

tions. As Galileo Galilee said “Mathematics is the alphabet in which god has written the universe.”

T h e S p i r e C r i e r P a g e 6

Have you ever wondered what the world’s top ten favorite candy bars

are? The first is SNICKERS. The second is TWIX. The third is KIT-KATS.

The fourth is BUTTERFINGERS. The fifth is HERSHEY BARS. The sixth is

MILKY WAY. The seventh is the 3 MUSKETEERS. The eighth is 100

GRAND. The ninth is BABY RUTH. Last but not least the tenth is

CRUNCH. Now these are the internet’s top ten favorite candy bars. We had

some of our preschoolers and kindergarteners vote for their favorite candy

bar, with quite different results!

So over all the Hershey Bar wins all the St. Thomas vote.

Snickers III

3

Twix III

3

Kit Kat IIIII 5

Butterfinger 0

0

Hershey Bar IIIII IIIII II

12

Milky Way 0 0

3 Musketeers 0 0

100 Grand I 1

Baby Ruth 0

0

Crunch II 2

Favorite Candy Bar Survey

By Anna Bauer

Dear LuLu

What do you do when your mom makes you wear something

really ugly?

Love, Ugly Clothes Girl

Dear Ugly Clothes Girl,

Tell your mom. Your styles may just be different. If you show

your mom what you like she will realize that she was doing

something wrong buying those clothes OR when your mom

buys those clothes you can embellish yourself with your own

style.

Love, LuLu

Dear LuLu,

What do you do if you do if you’re not good at Presidentials?!

Love, Not an Athlete

Dear Not an Athlete

If you are not good at Presidentials don’t worry. Not everyone is good

at sports. You may be good at something really amazing.

Love, Lulu

The year’s last letters to Lulu, whose identity remains a secret!

P a g e 7 V o l u m e 2 4 , I s s u e 3

Poor Yorick

By Jacob Murphy

Make Her Laugh At That!

By Jacob Murphy

There once was a man who lived in an old house. One day a hurricane came and blew the house away. “What

ever will I do?” he exclaimed. Luckily he had a neighbor who was a master fencer that helped him rebuild the

house. The moral of the story is good fencers make good neighbors.

Today’s Horoscopes

Aries: Your horoscope is the same as Capricorn

Libra: Your horoscope is the same as Sagittarius

Taurus: Your horoscope is the same as Aquarius

Scorpio: Your horoscope is the same as Libra

Gemini: Your horoscope is the same as Taurus

Sagittarius: Your horoscope is the same as Pisces

Cancer: Your horoscope is the same as Gemini

Capricorn: Your horoscope is the same as Virgo

Leo: Your horoscope is the same as Cancer

Aquarius: Your horoscope is the same as Aries

Virgo: Your horoscope is the same as Scorpio

Pisces: Your horoscope is the same as Leo

This newspaper is published by the fourth and fifth

grade Journalism students for the students of

St. Thomas Episcopal Parish School.

Fifth Grade Staff: Anna Bauer, Connor Bass,

Carter Freeland, Nathalie Han, Brezlan Malina,

Maggie McDowell, Jacob Murphy, Mackenzie White.

Fourth Grade Staff: Olivia Byrd, Cornelia

Ehlebracht, Luis Mendez, Philip Staeding,

Sarah Steinhour, Mia Williamson.

Journalism Advisor: Mrs. Katrina Murphy

W E ’RE ON THE WEB

AT S TEPSMI A . OR G

5692 North Kendall Drive

Coral Gables, FL 33156

(305) 665-4851

Email us at

spirecrier@stepsmia.org

T h e S p i r e C r i e r

V o l u m e 2 4 , I s s u e 3

S t . T h o m a s E p i s c o p a l

P a r i s h S c h o o l

Mystery Teacher: Mrs. Dean

Correction: Last issue’s Mystery

Teacher was incorrectly named as

Mrs. Dean; it was really Mrs.

Crossin.

P a g e 8

Winners of the Joke and Riddle Contest

Organized and judged by Sarah Steinhour, Cornelia Ehlebracht, Olivia Byrd & Luis Mendez

For this issue we did a joke and riddle contest. Students from all grades entered and these are the winners,

Phillip Newcomm (1st place), Olivia Bacardi (2nd place), and Megan Maguirre (3rd place).

Phillip Newcomm: Why did the boy eat his homework? Because his teacher said it was a piece of cake.

He also wrote another, Why do baseball players never get hot? Because of all their fans.

Olivia Bacardi: Knock knock. Who’s there? Owls. Owls who? Yes they do.

Megan Maguirre: What stays with you during the day and late at night goes away? A shadow.

Thanks to everyone else who entered! We enjoyed the laughs!