Young Writers Share Stories at March 26 Workshop
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Where do writers look for inspiration to create their stories, and what are the elements of a great story? These are just a few of the questions that an enthusiastic group of 440 third, fourth and fifth graders examined at the Young Writers' Workshop on Saturday March 26th. Every seat in the Scarsdale Middle School auditorium was filled for the opening of this optional event; a sign of the strength of the commitment to the written word.
The morning opened with a keynote address from Gail Carson Levine , author of Ella Enchanted, a Newbery Honor Book. She involved the young writers in an exploration of the creative process and someone managed to engage an overflowing audience of kids ages nine to eleven.
From there, each child attended two workshops previously selected from a list of 45 offerings. Topics ranged from investigative reporting, mystery writing and journal writing to fashion writing, covering breaking news and writing for television.
The staff of instructors was impressive, and the workshop brought together not only writers, but actors, comedians,
Suzan Colon, author of Cherries in Winter: My Family’s Recipe for Hope in Hard Times taught a class on writing memoirs. Her most recent book tells the story of how her grandmother’s recipes helped the family to endure the depression.
Bookmaker Karen Reetz has her own bookbinding studio and led the group through the art of making a book.
A group from the new Picture House in Pelham was on hand to help students learn to be film critics and to translate
Drama teacher, writer and actor Erika Radin chaired a session on creating great characters. Students were charged with creating a memorable character and then writing a monologue to perform. Her cabaret, “Mom’s the Word” will
Digital innovator Gail Horwood taught a class called App Happy, analyzing was some Apps are just good and others are amazing. Then the group learned how to create their own App.
Writer Yishane Lee taught “The Art of the Interview.” Lee regularly interviews chefs, Broadway stars and Olympic athletes and worked with the students on how to ask the right questions.
In addition to the talented staff, 120 parent volunteers and 27 student volunteers helped to make the day run like clockwork. Congratulations to Leesa Suzman and her team on an extraordinary event.
Students Raise Funds for Japan
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On March 23, Edgemont High School’s Cultural Exchange Club hosted a bake sale to raise money to donate to the survivors of Japan’s recent disaster. Volunteer bakers provided about three hundred rice-balls (onigri), batches of brownies, cookies and other goods for sale. Students and faculty members crowded around the club’s bake sale, eager to make purchases. Every item was sold for just a dollar, and the club raised a grand total of about $730.
Edgemont Senior Kozue Iwasaki, who was the inspiration behind the bake sale, had the idea to form a fundraiser: “Many of my friends who are living in Japan right now have been updating their Facebook statuses, saying that they have no electricity in certain areas and are lacking simple things such as toilet paper. Even though my friends live in Tokyo where they weren’t as drastically affected by the disaster, they still experienced much of the same as those who are in Sendai.”
It seems like the citizens of every city in Japan got affected in some way or the other by the earthquake or tsunami. “My aunt was stuck in 
a car for thirteen hours on the roads because of the earthquake,” said Kozue about her family members experiencing the earthquake. Ally Martin, a junior who is part of the club added that, “[her] friends who live in Kawasaki, which is close to Tokyo, were trapped in their school for three days straight. They couldn’t reply to my emails and I went to school worried each day thinking that something had happened to them.”
Ally has already made a contribution to help Japan: “I’ve donated three hundred dollars to the Red Cross already with my family and I’m probably going to raise more for charities. The amount of money we made today was a lot more than I think anyone expected. People were extremely generous towards making donations. Some students just donated money without even taking any of the pastries.” In addition to the club’s efforts, community members are supporting Japan in many ways. The eighth graders at Edgemont are holding a coin collection soon while the Edgemont-Aid, Builder’s Club and the student body is planning on holding fundraisers as well. All of the proceeds made by the bake sale are going to be donated to an organization called the Japan Society which will help provide necessities for those suffering from the aftermath of the disaster.
Submitted by Tiffany Jiang
Tiffany Jiang is a freshmen at Edgemont Jr./Sr. High School and a photographer for the school's newsletter. She is interested in writing, photography and multimedia.
Quaker Ridge First Graders Take Initiative
It all started during recess. A group of Quaker Ridge first grade girls were discussing the horrible disaster in Japan—the visual images, the plight of the people, and the tremendous devastation and destruction. The girls decided that they had to get involved. They would create their own charity.
The first grade girls are Samantha Friedland, Juliette Silk, Julia Schnipper, Chloe Wise, Julia Raskin and Nicole Cohn. By the end of recess, they had a name, logo, plan, and of course… a handshake. They were “Friends For Change”. They took the logo to one of the mothers who designs clothes and created t-shirts.
“Friends For Change” had its first event on Friday, March 18. The group created posters, baked cookies, popped popcorn and made 
lemonade. They raised $442 at that event alone and to date have raised $1,200! The Girl Scout Organization heard about their efforts, endorsed the group, and pledged assistance as well. More events have been discussed. All proceeds are going directly to the relief effort in Japan. Congratulations to these little kids with big ideas!
Who said that recess was all play?
Submitted by Rhonda Schnipper
Fourth Graders Save Endangered Species
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Right now, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) conservationists are working on the ground, across four continents and five oceans, to save some of earth's most spectacular and imperiled wildlife. From Thailand’s tiger territory to the nesting beaches of leatherback turtles in Gabon, and from the steamy South American jungles of the jaguar to the elephants and gorillas of the African forests, WCS is making groundbreaking discoveries and crucial progress against great odds.
In order to continue the important work of saving the wild animals and wild places, Greenacres 4th grade students in Mrs. McDermott’s and Mrs. Cooper’s classes embarked on an endangered species project to help. Specifically, each fourth grade student selected an endangered animal to study and then conducted research.
From their learnings, keynote presentations were developed about the animals. As part of the project, the eager students created pins, magnets, bookmarks and many more items to sell. All of the students’ parents attended the presentations and bought the handcrafted items. Close to $700 was collected from the sale of these items and donated to the Wildlife Conservation Society.
The students learned so much about these adorable animals and had a wonderful experience. Mrs. Cooper 
started this program nine years ago at Greenacres and it is our hope that the tradition will continue for many years to come.
If you would like to make a donation to the endangered species, please use the address below:
Wildlife Conservation Society
Attn: Donation Services
2300 Southern Blvd.
Bronx, NY 10460
Ballroom Dancing at Heathcote Elementary
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The fifth graders at Heathcote participated in Dancing Classrooms, a project of the American Ballroom Theater Company, Inc. Over a 10-week period, the students learned six social dances (foxtrot, merengue, rumba, tango, swing and waltz.) The program also aims to build social awareness, confidence and self-esteem. The ballroom dancing program was funded by the Heathcote PTA. – Text courtesy of Fifth Grade Teacher Lisa Onofri and picture from Jon Thaler. See more photos at JonThaler.com .
Babar to be Featured at Children's Concert
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The Hoff-Barthelson Music School will feature a special Children’s Corner Concert at the Music School, 25 School Lane, Scarsdale on Friday, March 18 at 6:30 pm. L’Histoire de Babar, le Petit Éléphant (Babar the Elephant) by Francis Poulenc will be performed by pianist Gena Raps and narrated by Ronald Spivak. La Cheminée du Roi René by Darius Milhaud will be played by faculty artists Joseph Piscitelli, flute; Elizabeth Condon, oboe; Dorothy Duncan, clarinet ; Karen Froehlich, horn and Janet Grice, bassoon. La Cheminée is a woodwind suite in seven movements that recounts 15th century King Rene’s daily rituals: a procession, hunting, the entertainment of jugglers, and jousting on the River Arc.
As part of the L’Histoire de Babar, le Petit Éléphant performance, the Hoff-Barthelson Preschool’s Recycled Materials Art Project will be on display. Each year the 3 and 4-year-olds in the HBMS Preschool listen to and hear the story of a particular piece of music - Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Saint-Saens’ Carnival of the Animals, and Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf in past years - and then build a 3D representation of that piece from a wide assortment of recycled materials. This year Babar the Elephant has been rendered in brilliant colors from paper tubing, feathers, string, twine, egg crates, cardboard and the like! Currently on display in the Children’s Library at the Scarsdale Library, the entire project will be reassembled for display at the March 18 performance.
Not recommended for children under 3, tickets are $12 for ages 3-12, $18 for 13 – adult, and $6 for Hoff-Barthelson students under 18. For information about this event call 914-723-1169 of email [email protected].
