AWE
NEWS
April/May 2011
The Student Newspaper of Andover’s West Elementary School
Ice Cream Social Fun Bash
By Taylor Bata
Drawing by Amanda Smith
The ice cream social was so much fun!
I did two surveys. One was for
teachers’ favorite ice cream. The results
were chocolate. The other survey was
for kids’ favorite thing at the ice cream
social. It was the ice cream. Who knew!
I hope you could join in on the fun!
Final Fun Fest on April 1
By Vanaja Chavva
It’s April fool’s Day!
The best Friday Fun Fest ever.
Tons of people had lots of fun.
There were so many things to
do. We were able to go play
games on the smart board, play
games in the gym like fishy fishy
cross my ocean, and had arts
and crafts. The pizza and the ice
cream were delicious. The movie
we watched, Despicable Me,
was the best movie that I ever
watched. It was so funny and
made me laugh all the time.
Overall, it was the best time I had
ever had at a Friday Fun fest!
West El wins the Spelling Bee
Spirit Award
Story and photos by Katherine Morris
and Vanessa Pierni
At the spelling bee it was very
fun. Some of the kids in the
audience got to fill out
"audience spelling bees". This
is a sheet where you are given
words and you must spell
them. The winner was Henry
GIlbert. It was cool to be
there. At the end of the
second round, when West was
up they got the word wrong,
but then the other team did too! The next word they got right and
the other team did not. WINNERS! It was very exciting. West also
won the spirit award. :) In the end Andover High School won the
whole tournament.
Enrichment
Third grade visits the Andover
Historical Society
By Emma Accardi and Lauren Fraser
At the History Society today my class had a lot of fun! I was
with my mom, Allison, Armaan and Alex. I had to wear an
apron. One of my favorite things there was a gold dress. I love
it there. Some day you should go with your family. --Emma
Accardi
The third grade had a great field trip to the Andover
Historical Society. We learned about life in Old Andover
during the 1820s. Amos Blanchard built the house that is the
home of the Historical Society. The house is very different
from homes now. The house had a well for water in the
basement, candles for lights and no television, microwave
oven, computer or cell phones! We saw how they printed
newspapers and books. We even used an old printing press!
Most of the food came from Andover farms and the spices
came from the Spice Islands (Hawaii).
We visited an old store, and learned about how they traded
items for what they needed, bartering, and used credit by
writing their name in a book.
We also learned how they put out a fire by passing buckets of
water down a line. We found out how hard this is to do! It
was so much fun, you should visit the Historical Society too!
--Lauren Fraser
The Days of Paul Revere
By Taylor Bata Photos by Danny Cronin
A Paul Revere House staff member
recently visited the 3rd graders. They
came into each of our 3rd grade
classrooms. The staff member had a
slide show that taught facts about Paul
Revere.
Each person in the classroom got to
participate in a play-acting out Paul
Revere’s life. There were fun costumes
for us all to wear.
A fun fact we learned was that Paul
Revere never said, “the British are
coming!” He actually said, “The
regulars are marching!”
Because, at that time, America
was considered to still be part
of Britain. It would just like
screaming down the halls of
West “the Americans are
coming!”
Another fun fact is that if Paul
Revere was still alive, he would
be about 330 years old. And
that’s really old!
Techsploration..Structures
Mr. Wahle from Techsploration
visited us and showed us simple
machines
By Tanya Singh and Julia Washburn
Mr. Wahle came to some of the grades and taught us all
about different science stuff. Mr. Wahle is a scientist! He
taught some of the grades abut engineering and structures!
We went to two shows! It was so interesting! He made the
show so fun to watch! After one show my class went to the
music room and did engineering with some cars Mr. Wahle
made. We saw that with different size pulleys and other
methods the car would go really slow or really fast. After we
did that he showed us a video of pumpkin launching and a
pumpkin race! Talk about fun! Mr. Wahle is so funny and he
is very smart! Move over Einstein here comes Wahle!
By Brooke Ferris
Today we saw Tom Wahle. He talked about structures.
He was really funny. He used volunteers. He showed
us all kinds of beams. He showed us all kinds of
clapper bridges. How showed us how to build a
bridge. I helped, too...it was so fun! He was trying to
make a trust bridge with balloons and they kept
popping. His little friend tried bungee jumping
and...plop!...he fell in. Cailin stood on a board and it
didn’t fall. Then, he tried it and he didn’t fall.
Ava said, “I like everything we talked about science
but he made it more fun. I hope he comes back next
year or sooner. He was really smart and funny.”
Emma said, “I think that other people, including me,
enjoyed it a lot. He made it more fun even though it
was science. I also like the volunteers that he picked.”
Vanessa said, “I liked him because the structures he
built he could let people go on them. He was really
funny and that made it a good show.”
Claire said, “I liked him because he did stuff that
could’ve broke. When he went on the eggs everybody
thought it was going to collapse. It was funny when
Martin and Aidan didn’t fall but Martin did.”
Theme Day
Tootsie Wootsies
Story and photos by Ava Kirkpatrick
and Lilly Reeves
Our theme is Tootsie
day. We all dressed up
as Tootsie Rolls. There
were all sorts of crazy,
funky outfits. But the
sad thing is our teacher
wasn’t there! We got the
idea because Mrs. Coltin
gives out tootsies. Some people thought it would be
difficult but then
we thought it
was a good idea.
Since Mrs.
Coltin wasn’t
here we had a
substitute. It
was Mrs. Kelley
aka Mrs.
Tootsie.
PJ and Switch Day
By Jerry Caruso
Photo by Ryan Cook
On Wednesday,
April 6th, Miss
Little’s third grade
class had a
combination of
“Switch and P.J.”
day. David Blanco
did switch day. He
wore a wig and all
girly stuff. Some
students and our
teacher, Miss Little, wore their pajamas. The
funniest costume was David’s. The best pj’s were
Marketa’s. She had flowery pajamas. Student
Council gave our class an award for Best PJs and
Prettiest Boys and Toughest Girls. At the end of
the day, a class photo was taken with everyone in
their costumes or pajamas. It was an awesome
theme day for Miss Little’s class!
School Spirit Day
By Haywood Schwartz and
Max Tweedale
Photo by Haywood Schwartz
On April 6 it was
CRAZY!
“Haywood
dressed up like a
girl,” said Becky.
Haywood
responded, “Do
you have a
problem with
that?”
Mr. A’s class had one person dressed up like a girl. It
was Haywood. He wore his sister’s skirt and shirt.
He also had a blonde wig. Haywood liked being a girl
for a day, but prefers to be a boy. The other kids did a
West El spirit theme. Negar dressed up like a boy. We
didn’t have a special celebration. Mr. A didn’t dress
up because he’s done this theme day a thousand
times before.
Inside Out Day
By Cailin Cronin
Photo by Jane Campbell
Our theme day
was fun! The
theme we came
up with in our
classroom was
inside-out day
and backwards
day. The reason
we came up with
this theme was
that it was fun
and creative. When we came in on theme day,
everyone in my class had their clothes inside-out and
backwards! The strangest part was when we were
walking around with our pants on backwards. It felt
even weirder to sit down with them on backwards!
Inside-out and backwards day was great!
Theme Day
Sports Day
By Michael Branscombe
Photo by David Tverskoy
When a
theme day at
West
Elementary
School comes
around, no
one wants to
miss it. This
theme day
was create
your own theme day. Some are so wacky like
crazy hair day. Mrs. Gerroir’s theme was
sports. Some are Red Sox, some are
Patriots...you name it, that jersey was worn in
Mrs. Gerroir’s third grade class!
I’ve also seen some very goofy ones like boys
dressing up as girls and girls dressing up as
boys.
Superhero Day
Story and photo by Eryn Trant
Mrs. Cullen’s
2nd grade
class’ theme
day was Super
Hero day.
Everyone
dressed up as
a super hero
including Mrs.
Cullen! We
had Super
Teacher, Cool Guy, Super Baby, Butterfly Girl,
Wonder Woman, and Amazing Eryn to name just a
few heroes in our class today. The class even wrote
stories about how their superhero would make the
world a better place. All the superheroes had a
super day!
Red Sox Day at West
Story and drawing by Emma Kelley
Take me out to the
ball game,
Take me out to the
crowd.
Buy me some peanuts
and Cracker Jack,
I don’t care if I never
get back,
Let me root, root, root
for the home team,
(although most of us
sang root, root, root
for the Red Sox)
If they don’t win it’s a shame.
For it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out,
At the old ball game.
That song was sung in almost every class on opening
day for the Red Sox on April 8, 2011. West was full of
baseball spirit with almost everyone dressed in red,
white and blue. Kids and teachers had Red Sox t-shirts,
sweatshirts and baseball caps. Some students even had
Red Sox tattoos and face paintings. At lunch, some kids
brought peanuts and boxes of Cracker Jacks.
Curious George came for WERAWC. We hoped Wally
would come to West but he must have been too busy
that day.
I think West brought the Red Sox good luck. With all
our cheers West helped the team get their first victory.
Movie Review
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules
By Mara Belansky
What was the movie about?
It was about a kid named Greg and
his older brother Rodrick. Rodrick is
told to spend more time with Greg.
And give him some 7th grade advice.
What was Katie’s favorite part?
Katie’s favorite part was the end.
Greg was very generous and nice.
What is your favorite character?
Holly. She is the girl Greg has a
crush on. If you want to know more,
read the book. Or see the movie.
Sports
Baseball
Tennis
Story and photo by Cale Flatley
By David Tverskoy
Andover’s Department
of Community Services
(DCS) has a pre-season
baseball program. this
year, I decided to try out
the program before Little
League started. Coach
Mike Fay runs the
program and helps
players get better
through drills and also
Coach Fay
short games.
I had an email interview with Coach Fay. He told me he
started coaching when he was 17. He said he coaches six
other sports: football, basketball, hockey, lacrosse, tennis
and soccer.
I asked him who the best baseball player ever was, and he
said Carl Yastrzemski! Coach Fay said, “He was my
childhood hero. I loved Yaz, everyone did. He helped the Red
Sox win the 1967 American League pennant! He also won
the Triple Crown that year, which means he led the league
with 44 home runs, 121 RBIs and had a batting average of .
326! I think those were his numbers. He was so exciting to
watch and he won so many games with his bat, his arm and
his glove!”
Coach Fay thinks the Red Sox will win the World Series this
year!
I asked Coach Fay if he thought it was okay to be friends
with a Yankees fan. He said, “Yes, of course. They’re my
second favorite team. I love watching Red Sox-Yankees
games.”
CoachFay told me to keep up the good work both on and off
the field.
In the beginning of
April tennis fans
gathered in Monte
Carlo to watch Monte
Carlo Rolex Masters
Tennis Tournament. All the top10 tennis
players, but Novak
Djokovic entered the
tournament. This
tournament is played
on clay courts. The tournament prize money was
2,227,500 euros. Fans were surprised that #3 seed Roger
Federer lost to #17 seed Jurgen Melzer in the quarterfinals. The final was the rivalry of the 2 top Spaniards #1 seed
Rafael Nadal and #6 seed David Ferrer. Rafael Nadal won
the final, dominating Ferrer with the score 6:4 6:4. This
was Nadal's 6th straight title proving that he is the King of
the Clay indeed.
Soccer
By Emma Kindlan and Ashley Smith
Lacrosse
By Lilly Reeves
It's lacrosse season and a lot of
people play lacrosse! I'm going to
tell you a little bit about the game.
The equipment is different for girls
and boys. First you need a stick
with a net. Boy sticks have
bigger pockets. You also need a
mouthguard in case you get hit in
the mouth with a ball. Lacrosse
balls are really hard. Boys wear
helmets and have gloves. Girls
only wear face masks. What you
want to do is score by throwing
the ball into the net. I play
lacrosse. It's a really fun sport.
Photo by Emma Kindlan
What do you like about soccer?
Brooke I like soccer because I get to score goals.
What is your favorite number for soccer?
Jenna Four
Nicole, a 6th grader who used to go to West, said her
favorite sport is soccer.
What soccer team are you on?
Maya Sunflowers
Do you like to play offense of defense?
Sofie, a first grader, said defense.
Happy Spring!
By Lauren Fraser
By Danny Cronin
Bob and the
Ocean Times
By Mara Belansky,
Vanessa Pierni and
Lilly Reeves
Travel
April Vacation
Disney World
Story and photos by Amanda Morin
By Nikhil Gorur
Disney World is a
magical place
where dreams
come true. There
are seven parks in
Disney. Far too
many to go to in
only one trip. On
the first day we
went to Epcot. My
favorite ride in
Epcot was Soarin. It was so fun. The second day I went
to Animal Kingdom. I saw lots of animals. The third day I
saw the morning parade and the nighttime parade. I
was so tired I fell asleep on my dad’s back. The fourth
day I was at Blizzard Beach. My favorite ride was Lazy
River. It was pretty relaxing to me. I loved that
awesome really, really fun trip!
April vacation is a lot of fun.
I got to play Wii, watch movies and run.
Wii Sports Resort was fun to play.
I played it almost every day.
Gods Must Be Crazy was a cool movie.
I liked it because it was funny and groovy.
I went to my cousin’s house for a play
date.
I came back home very, very late.
April vacation was a lot of fun.
I wish there was more but now it’s done!
Drawing by Nikhil Gorur
Washington, DC
By Yuting Shi
Washington DC was awesome and so was the
view. It took a long time to get there though but
it was fun. I went with my friend, Emily, and we
stayed together in a hotel. We went inside the
White House, the Capitol building and the
Washington Monument and we saw the Lincoln
Memorial. We went to the Smithsonian museum
and it was amazing and cool. On the last day, we
first toured the White House, then we went to
the visitor center and got free souvenirs to
keep. Then we went back home. The trip was
from 10:47 am to 12:02 am and the trip was
over.
The Capitol
Washington Monument
Travel
HAWAI’I By Armaan Vasowalla
New York City
By Max Tweedale
Pearl Harbor
water falls
snorkeling
Diamond Head
Dole
lizards
sea turtles
luau
beach
macadamia nut factory
volcano
legends
Maryland
Story and drawing by
Puloma Bishnu
Have you ever been to Maryland? If you
haven’t, there are a lot of fascinating things
to see.You can see the White House from
Maryland. There’s a restaurant called 208
Talbot and it has a wine bar in it. The
cuisine type is American. There are a lot of
places to see, stay and eat.
dolphins
'Ukulele
Over April
vacation I
went to New
York City. It
was a lot of
fun. I went to
the High
Line park on
Friday.The
High Line is
The High Line
a railroad
track that turned into a park where you could walk
around and relax on benches. After that we went to
a diner for dinner. The food was delicious. For
dessert, we went to Chelsea Market for ice cream.
The next day, we went to the Intrepid Sea, Air &
Space museum. We looked at a lot of planes from
World War II. After that, we went in a submarine.
The last thing we saw at the museum was the
Concorde plane. The Concorde plane could go
faster than the speed of sound. It could fly from
New York to London in about two hours and thirty
minutes. For lunch, we went to Two Boots, my
favorite
restaurant. I
had a
calzone.
I’d definitely
recommend
that you visit
New York
City if you
haven’t been
British Airways Concorde
to the High
Line or Intrepid museum.
Interviews
Chloe Aguilar and Paige Tubinis
spoke with the blonde and
glamorous Mrs. Walker
Photo by Jane Campbell
Favorites
song America
instrument the voice
play Free to Be You and Me
color obviously, green
candy fudge
thing to do when you were
a kid go to plays
thing about being a music teacher I get to hear
children sing.
Where were you born? St. Louis, Missouri
Would you rather kiss a frog or be a frog? kiss a
frog
What do you like to do in your spare time?
travel
That was our interview with Mrs. Walker! We
love you Mrs. Walker!
Alfonso Morell spoke with his
teacher, Mrs. Dufton
Photo by Nolan Howard
This is a story about Mrs. Beth
Dufton. Mrs. Dufton is my
second grade teacher. Mrs.
Dufton went to Wheelock
Teacher’s College for four years
and then went back for three
more years for her Masters
degree. She taught first grade,
third grade and fifth grade and
now is teaching second grade. She has taught second grade for
five years. The total amount of teaching first, second, third,
and fifth grade is twenty-two years. Mrs. Dufton wanted to
be a teacher because she likes to watch kids learn and she
was inspired to be a teacher because she liked to work with
kids. A funny story about Mrs. Dufton was when she was
teaching 3rd grade she had a classroom chameleon that
escaped. Mrs. Dufton remembers writing book reports when
she was in second grade. The greatest moments Mrs. Dufton
ever had while teaching were watching each class graduate.
When asked how she could teach twenty-two kids at a time,
she said, “Practice and routine”.
Mrs. Roos
By Becky Winters
Photo by Alfonso Morell
Were you an assistant principal before
you became principal? Yes, I was for 13
years.
Were you a teacher before you were
principal? Yes, I taught 2nd,5th, and 6th
grade.
How did you get hired at West? I had a big
interview with ten people.
When did you get hired at West? 1995,
when I was 21 years old.
What other jobs did you have at West? 6th
grade, 5th grade, assistant principal
SOME FAVORITES
animal whale
food lobster with hot butter
movie The Sound of Music
book Harriet the Spy
color royal blue
thing to do kayaking with my family
sport rowing and kayaking
theme day at school Nurse B. Day last year
What’s your favorite part of the school
year? WERAWC"
What’s your favorite thing about
WERAWC? meeting the performers
How do you get authors and illustrators
to come to WERAWC? We send scouts to
other schools or artist festivals to preview
future performances.
Interviews
Ms. Spinale
Mrs. McCarron
By Taylor Bata
Photo by Mara Belansky
Mrs. McCarron is a
kindergarten teacher here
at West. She has been
teaching at West several
years.
What is your favorite
color? Green
What is your favorite
sport? Baseball
What is your favorite
thing you did last
summer? I spent seven peaceful nights and eight
glorious days in the Grand Canyon National Park on a
whitewater rafting trip with my daughter, husband and 35
other people from around the world, camping along the
Colorado River in the wilderness, sleeping under the stars
and experiencing adventures of a lifetime each day with
hikes, excursions, learning history about the Grand
Canyon, and meeting so many wonderful new people who
were on our trip.
What is your favorite thing to do in your class? Read
stories aloud and watch my students learn and grow
every day as individuals and as a whole-class family
group!
What is your favorite subject to teach? Kindergarten
math!
What is your favorite part of being a kindergarten
teacher? I love how five and six year old children see the
world and people around them, how excited
kindergarteners are to learn every day, playing my guitar
and having the kids think I'm actually GOOD at it, and
being able to be the first teacher to teach children who
are (mostly) in their very first year of their public school
life!
This is Mrs. McCarron’s first interview and I thought she
sounded like a fun and creative teacher! I am glad my
brother is in her class this year!
Interview with 3rd grader
Nick Criniti
By Jerry Caruso
Nick Criniti likes sports. He likes basketball, hockey,
lacrosse but his favorite is baseball. He likes baseball
because it gets him fit and it is fun for kids. His dad and
the Red Sox inspired him to play baseball. Nick’s dad used
to play baseball and his mom was a cheerleader. Two of his
cousins play hockey as well. He subscribes to Sports
Illustrated Kids and loves it! His favorite teams are the
Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots and the Bruins. For sports video
games, he plays 2011 NHL and 2011 MLB.
His teacher, Miss Little, like the
Kentucky Wildcats. He likes to play
baseball with his dad and plays
volleyball with his mom. Well, you
heard it here, Nick Criniti likes sports!
By Richard Li Photo by Nolan Howard
What is your favorite color?
Blue
What’s your favorite food?
Italian
Dessert? Anything chocolate
What is your favorite hobby?
Exercising outdoors in warm
weather
When did you become an
assistant principal? Three
years ago...July 2008
What do you do during your spare time? I spend time with my
family.
Do you have any kids? No.
Would you like being anything else besides an assistant
principal? A meteorologist
What is your favorite book? To Kill a Mockingbird
What is your favorite place? Italy
Mrs. Coltin
By Mackenzie Rose
Photo by Ava Kirkpatrick
Have you always wanted to
be a teacher since you were
little?
I have always wanted to be a
teacher since I was a little girl. I
use to play school with my dolls.
How long have you been
teaching and in what
grades have you taught?
I have taught for a long time and
mostly every grade.
What do you do during your
free time on the weekends? I like to do active things like bike
rides and film festivals. I also like to get together with friends to eat
good food.
What was your favorite subject in school? Art was my
favorite subject.
What is your favorite food? Maine lobster is my favorite
food.
What is the best vacation you ever had? The best vacation
I had was my visit to Argentina.
Interviews
Matthew Devaney and Amanda
Morin spoke with Mr. Larry, Mrs.
McDermott and Ms. Macinnis
Sydney Berry and Abigail Layman
spoke with Mr. I
What was your favorite April Fool’s trick?
Mr. I has two siblings. One sister
and one brother. His favorite
color is blue. He has a blue
phone, blue eyes and even a blue
watch.
His favorite sports are track and
field, football and volleyball.
He has been a gym teacher
since 1968. He has also taught
p.e. to eight different schools
counting West El. He has been
teaching at West El for over 39
years.
He has one daughter that is 28
and one son that is 22. Also, he
has two grandchildren who are six years old and seven months old.
Ms. Macinnis When her parents went on vacation, she put a
fake For Sale sign up.
Mrs. McDermott Her dad said there was no school because
there was a snow day.
Mr. Larry Telling Mrs. Blygh there was no school that day.
What did you do on April vacation?
Mr. Larry I was in bed with Lyme disease and poison ivy.
Ms. Macinnis I went to Turks and Caicos.
Mrs. McDermott I went to a museum with Mrs. Wrobel.
What did you do for Easter?
Mrs. McDermott I had my family over for dinner.
Mr. Larry I went to my in law’s for lunch.
Ms. Macinnis I took my puppy for a long walk and made
shrimp scampi for dinner.
What is your favorite subject?
Ms. Macinnis My
favorite subject
besides P.E. is
science.
Mrs. McDermott
My favorite subject
besides library is art.
My favorite book is
Scaredy Squirrel.
Mr. Larry I liked
science.
Photo by Ryan Cook
Spring Word Search
By Max Tweedale
spring
showers
March
April
flowers
sunshine
grass
birds
umbrella
thaw
baseball
soccer
lacrosse
Answers on back......
Photo by Nolan Howard
Photo by Eryn Trant