Star Beacon Issue 1

The Star Beacon

East Montpelier Elementary School -- Spring 2021

About this publication

The Star Beacon provides a learning space and a showplace for East Montpelier Elementary School students to share their curiosity, creativity, news and entertainment.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

In the new raised-bed garden plot, aspiring gardeners water Early Wonder beans and French Breakfast radishes.

Reporting by Hazel

I met with Karen Dyer about the new garden project. East Montpelier Elementary School used to have a garden, but the land went dormant. Karen wants to fix the garden up and make it a great place to learn about plants, seeds, and growing things. They have planted green beans, radishes, cabbage, tomatoes, broccoli and more.

Karen wants to make the garden a place where kids can work in the garden and learn about gardening and other skills such as planting, responsibility for watering, biology, and growing your own food. One of Karen’s big goals for the garden is to be able to produce fresh produce for lunch and breakfast. Also, Karen wants to start a garden club for all grades.

This year a group of second and third graders has been taking care of the garden. Hopefully next year everyone who wants to work on the garden can work on the garden. Karen hopes to have all grades help out. If you would like to get involved in the Fall, please contact Karen Dyer at kdyer[at]u32.org and she’ll talk with you or your teacher.

Cont'd on pg. 4

Why East Montpelier Elementary School Should Have Its Own Newspaper

Opinion by Margaret

I believe newspapers are important things. They connect people and announce upcoming events and news. A school newspaper allows students to share their views, and is a great project to work on in school. I believe that we should have a newspaper at EMES.

One reason we should have an EMES newspaper is because newspapers announce upcoming events. Say, for example, we are having an assembly. Instead of going on the intercom to say so two minutes before, the newspaper will tell everyone beforehand.

Or maybe baseball practice is starting? People would know to sign up if they wanted to play. A newspaper is efficient in that way.

Cont'd on pg. 4

News & Culture

Mind, Body, and Spirit: Strong Girls

Reporting by Rick and Abbe

Strong Girls coach, kindergarten and first grade teacher, Jillian Zeilenga loves crossfit. She likes the training and challenges her body and mind get. She also enjoyed the community of support and encouragement from other women she found in crossfit when she began five years ago. She wants girls to know that “being a strong girl is beautiful and that beauty looks different on different girls.” She emphasizes that there are “many ways of finding your own strength,” and she’s coaching a new program that teaches girls the power of supporting one another in their pursuits. They have speakers come talk and coach. They play a baseball game that has strength, dexterity, and calisthenic challenges between bases. They strength train with a variety of weights. They learn about positive self-talk, resilience and encouraging one another. Since Strong Girl participation is across grades, older role-models support and inspire younger participants. -- Rick

On the fields of East Montpelier Elementary School there is a new after-school program called Strong Girls where girls of all ages do fun activities, runs, and workouts together. There are over 30 girls participating in this program!

I asked the girls to say what they love most about Strong Girls and what's their best activity. About the whole starting girls’ squad said they loved “tire flipping in the rain.” We flip big truck and lawn mower tires, working with them as weights. We also flip a huge tractor tire. Elise, a Strong Girl, says “I like lifting weights because it makes me stronger.”

We are doing our baseball games in different groups, but the thing the girls love the most is hanging with all their friends and working out together. I overheard some kids talking about how much stronger they got while doing Strong Girls. When doing these workouts, girls begin to build confidence in themselves and feel better about themselves. While kids take shifts, the ones who are resting cheer on their teammates to encourage them to work harder. Sometimes our bodies tell us that we are working ourselves past our limits too fast, and that we need a break and to refuel our energies.

Our coach Mrs. Z is bringing us to Green Mountain Community Fitness. We are going to be running a mile, doing burpees and sit ups, and so much more. For some who don't know what burpees are, they are when you jump up, jump down, touch your stomach on the ground, and then jump back up. The Strong Girls workout at GMCF will be about 2-3 hours long. That is double the time we were doing before. Afterwards, we will be getting lunch together. The weather is going to be so hot. It's going to be in the 90s!

Strong Girls tireless training with tires
Image by Tawnya

We are definitely going to be sweating by the time we are done, but I know it's going to be fun doing it and encouraging others. A Strong Girl named Hazel says, “I like cheering people on and being in a community.”

Recently, the Strong Girls came up with an idea. They wanted to make a fundraiser for kids going to new homes. They may be being adopted or going into foster homes. We think they should give kids a backpack full of things to make them feel at home. We would like them to have a water bottle, a blanket and pillow, arts and crafts things, and a notepad. Maybe some snacks or some cool toys and stuffed animals and a little bit of hand sanitizer will help them get started in a new place. Find Mrs. Z or a Strong Girl if you want to donate something, or just drop it in the office. -- Abbe

Art & Opinion

Be safe, respectful, and responsible.

New School Troubles

Racism Should Not Be Normalized

Fiction by Lillian

It’s my first day at my new high school, and I just got out of my mom’s car. I walk through the parking lot, taking deep breaths to prepare myself. I walk into the school through the big open doors, and my heart starts racing as all the noise fills my head. Come on, you can do this. Don’t be a scaredy-cat.

I take one more deep breath and start walking again. This place is so much bigger than my old school, and I have no idea where anything is. Luckily, there’s a big map on the walls beside the entrance. I walk over to it and try to see through the people crowding around it. I wait for them to go by, because I don’t want to squeeze through and annoy them.

Once they’re all gone I run my eyes over the map and look for where my homeroom class is. C’mon, where is it? A few seconds later I find the class on the map. I grab a paper copy, which they had hanging on the wall. I walk down the hall, towards my class, trying not to bump into anyone. I take a left, then I find it.

The door is open, so I just walk right through it. I see my teacher, Mr. Ross, sitting at his desk. “Good morning… Actually, I don’t recognize you. May I have your name?” He calls. I freeze for a moment. I hate talking to people I don’t know very well, but I know I have to because he’s my teacher.

“Oh, my name is Benjamin. Benjamin Moore. But I prefer to be called Ben. And I’m new here,” I reply kindly.

“Ah, well, welcome Ben. You can come have a seat,” he says, gesturing to an empty desk. I walk to the desk and sit down, putting my backpack down beside me. There were already many people in the class. Some are on their phones, some are reading, and others are just sitting, doing nothing. I decided to sit and do nothing too. I prop my elbow on the desk and I rest my head.

There’s a large whiteboard at the front of the room that reads “Mr. Ross” and has many posters hanging around the sides. It wasn’t long before the rest of the class was there and seated. Mr. Ross stood up in front of the class and cleared his throat, which made everyone look his way. “Welcome class, to a new school year. I’m Mr. Ross,” he says pointing to his name on the whiteboard, “or you can just call me Ross. I will be your homeroom teacher for this year. Before I take attendance there is a new student here,” he continued, looking at me. “Would you like to come up front, introduce yourself, and tell us a bit about yourself?”

Cont'd on pg. 8

Editorial by Kaite

Racism is one of the biggest problems in our world. People judge others based on their skin color, what shape their eyes are, and just features they have that are different. But guess what? People can’t control that. They are born that way, and just because there have been dangerous people of any race, doesn’t mean that they’re all dangerous.

First, let’s talk about racism against Asian people. The hate crimes against Asians have been growing rapidly, all because some believe a Chinese person started the virus. And just because some people think someone from China started the Covid-19 virus, doesn’t mean that it is true, or that you should blame all Asian people. That’s like watching one of your two cats rip up your couch and then getting mad at the other cat solely because he’s also a cat.

But that’s not it. Sometimes people who cosplay (dress up as characters, but not for Halloween) tape their eyes back to make themselves look more Asian. Or they color their faces to look like another race. Let’s talk about black face now. Black face is when someone who is not black paints themself or gives themself black features with makeup to look “black.” According to CNN, actors painted their faces to mock black people and “the way they acted.”

When people apply specific eyeliner to make themselves look more Asian, this is called "Asian fishing." Asian people have expressed their discomfort with this practice, but others don’t listen. Asian fishing is wrong because Asian people are mocked for having small eyes. Half of the time the people who Asian fish look exaggeratedly more Asian than Asian people do.

Believe it or not, mocking Asian or Black language and accents is racist too. I know people who have done this to be funny, but trust me it’s not funny. Again, people of color have expressed their discomfort with this ridicule, and asked people not to do it. But it continues.

Cont'd on pg. 5

Newspaper -- cont'd from pg. 1

We should have an EMES newspaper because a student-led newspaper allows students to give their views. Kids have different ways of explaining things than adults do, and it would be great exercise for kids to take charge and lead the people who are usually leading them. Also, a story is investigated. Kids will learn to ask questions, dig deeper and unearth the whole story.

EMES should have its own newspaper because it’s a great project to work on. Working on a newspaper together allows students to collaborate. People would learn to get along. It would be a great social project in a time where there haven’t been a lot of social interactions.

I believe EMES needs its own newspaper. It would inform the public of current and upcoming events. A newspaper would allow students to share their thoughts. And it would be a good collaborative social activity. Let’s make it happen! ~

Garden -- cont'd from pg. 1

This project wouldn’t be possible without all the donations from the community. Many people donated material. The Vermont Community Garden Network, Sandal Cate, and Deedee Swenson donated seeds and plant starts. Fontaine Sawmill donated boards. Vermont Compost gave us a deal on soil. Mr. Blanchard donated his time, tools, and energy. Thanks so much to everybody who donated!

Thank you to Karen for fixing up the garden and giving it a new life! ~

(Top) Building a raised bed plot for radishes and other vegetables.
(Bottom) Radish sprouts for salads
Images by Karen

(L) Beans and curiosity
(R) Multitasking
Images by Rick

Art & Culture

Wild Things by Annabelle

Racism -- cont'd from pg. 3

People are sometimes racist to Asians by disrespecting their traditions, or the way they do things. Some cosplayers dress up as characters with kimonos (a traditional dress), and sometimes they don’t wear them correctly. As long as they don’t accessorize them, apply too much makeup, and research how to wear them properly, wearing kimonos is fine.

Racism against black people is one of the most well-known forms of prejudice. One of the biggest things going on with racism against black people is police brutality. There have been many black people of all ages killed (or injured) by police for no reason.

The George Floyd case is an example. According to The New York Times George Floyd was arrested after a store clerk called 911 because he allegedly paid for cigarettes with a fake $20 bill.

George Floyd was already pinned under three officers when the first squad got there. He was already dead. Derek Chauvin, one of the police officers, had held his knee to George’s neck, even though he couldn’t breathe. When George passed out eight minutes later, Officer Chauvin still kept his knee there for another minute. Though Mr. Floyd might have commited a minor crime, there was no reason to kill him. It was a minor crime. Derek Chauvin got charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter (later on the prosecutors added a charge for second-degree murder).

Another big problem with racist behavior against black people is people using the n-word. I’m not going to say it. This word was used against black people when slavery was still a thing, and is one of the most offensive words you can possibly say. A lot of white peoples’ reasoning for saying the n-word is: “It’s just a word.” They’re right, it is just a word. But it is a word that has a lot of history of the abuse of power behind it, and a word that means something terrible. But sure, just a word...

I hope that as you’ve read this piece, you’ve learned why racist behavior should be less normalized, and what people of color go through. Even if you did learn, I advise you look into more cases of prejudice and racism, and maybe get yourself or a parent involved in not seeing racist behavior as normal. ~

Summer Begins
Poem by AJ

The sun is rising. The flowers are blooming. Summer is coming to warm up our hearts. We laugh and play, rolling in the grass until the sun goes down. We’ll have three months of camps and fun, and at the end, school will start to come closer.

Poetry Corner

Barred & Snowy Owls
Images by Ted

Poems of the Natural World

Platypus
Poem by Flynn

Slip out of my burrow,
Diving in the water,
Eyes closed tight,
Don't need them to see
what I want to eat.

Bunny
Poem by Flynn

Little bunny,
Hopping in the grass,
Eating buttercups.
Twitchy nose,
what do you smell?
Is there a cat nearby?
Is there a dog?
Or butterfly, flutter by
in the great blue sky.
Nibble, nibble,
tender dandelions.
Having fun in the sun,
Field of clover, come on over!
What fun to be a bunny,
wild and free!

Dancing eyes
Poem by AJ

Happy tears falling from your eyes.
You're happy, excited
and joyful.
They dance in your eyes
and then fall down
and more come
until they
stop.

Seasonal seams
Haiku by Charlie

Leaves fall to the ground
in color, making a quilt
of mismatched patterns

Sweet Nightingale
Tanka by Charlie

Sweet nightingale
a bird that always has a song
to play in the morning
and at dusk, right before night
when it’s just right

Time for another
Poem by Mavis

Cool mist in the air,
little snowflakes here & there.
You can feel winter is coming
& going. You better get ready.

Little humps of snow disappear.
Time for another season.
Flowers blooming everywhere.
The fog starts to clear up in the air.

Spring is coming now.
It's so magical, don't ask me how.

The Star Beacon

Visit our website for all things EMES

Canine Listicles

Should Kids Mine Cobalt?

Thought and opinion by Jordan

Unknown Breeds
1. Affenpinscher
2. Barbado da Terceira
3. American hairless terrier
4. Anatolian Shepherd Dog
5. Australian Kelpie
6. Australian Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog
7. Azawakh
8. Barbado da Terceira
9. Barbet
10. Basset Fauve de Bretagne
11. Bavarian Mountain Scent Hound
12. Belgian Laekenois
13. Bedlington Terriers
14. Belgian Sheepdog
15. Belgian Malinois
16. Bracco Italiano
17. Caucasian Shepherd dog
18. Dandie Dinmont Terrier
19. Danish-Swedish Farm Dog
20. Drever

Cute Dogs (my opinion)
1. Entlebucher Mountain Dog
2. French Spaniel
3. German Long-haired Pointer
4. German Short-haired Pointer
5. German Shepherd
6. Husky
7. Beagle
8. Gordan Setter
9. Jingo
10. Karelian Bear Dog
11. Mountain Cur
12. Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever
13. Border Collie
14. Rafeiro do Alentejo
15. Rhodesian Ridgeback
16. Segugio Italiano
17. Shiba Inu
18. Small Münsterlander
19. Stabyhoun
20. Weimaraner

Opinion by Jake

I think that kids should not mine cobalt because it’s backbreaking work with little pay. Health hazards are large and the safety precautions of the mines are lax, and there is already enough danger outside the mines. Did you know that these kids’ cobalt mining labor is in your phones, iPads, and tablets? Specifically, cobalt is used to make lithium-ion batteries and used in alloys.

One reason that kids in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) should not mine cobalt is because the work is too hard for kids and pays little money. Kids in the DRC who mine the cobalt work twelve hours a day, every single day, and only get paid an average of $2 or $3 per day! So after all that work, this is one of the most unfair things in the world. Seriously, cobalt can be sold today for an average of $16 per pound in the USA. These kids mine pounds of cobalt per day but only get pennies per day!

People in the USA earn about $378 (on average) for the same amount of work time working. That is about a $375 difference! And the people in the USA mines probably have safer, easier jobs. Also, here it’s adults who work in cobalt mines, but in other countries like Brazil and the DRC, kids go to work at 7! That means mining kids could spend all of their childhoods mining all day long, every day, and lose both their childhood and education.

Kids should not mine cobalt because of the many health hazards. Safety precautions in mines are lax. These mines can be super deadly to humans and these kids don’t even have gloves! Kids who mine cobalt don’t have masks to protect them from the rock dust in the air. They don’t make kid sizes. It’s common to get respiratory illnesses when mining cobalt. Also, without proper masks, they have no protection against deadly gasses!

Kids should not mine cobalt. There is already enough danger outside the mines. They could get really sick or even die. There are many viruses and illnesses in Brazil and the DCR, specifically malaria, ebola virus, measles, hemorrhagic fever, polio, typhoid, and cholera. There is a lot of personal danger outside the mines because of poverty, even if you don’t count thieves. Kids in mining areas are vulnerable to a lot of crimes, even murder or assault! The less danger that those kids are around, then the safer they will be. If possible, they should be at home and in school.

You might think that mining cobalt is a good way to completely change our petrol cars to electric and I agree, but we can't have kids mining in these conditions. If anything, machines should do the mining. We can help stop the child labor mining in Brazil and the DRC by making machines that could mine cobalt quickly and safely. This could be better for the earth and its kids. ~

Top: Strong Girls lift weights at GMFC, Image by Tawnya
Bottom: Image by anonymous

Fiction

New School Troubles by Lillian Cont'd from pg. 3

My heart starts racing again. Ba-dump, Ba-dump, Ba-dump. I was hoping he wouldn’t ask me to do that, but I guess I’ll just have to get it over with. I get up from my seat and take a deep breath. When I get up to the front of my class, I suddenly feel sick. Everyone is staring at me, waiting for me to start talking. “Um, I’m Ben, I’m 16. I just moved here from the state of Ohio,” I say.

Mr. Ross interrupts, “Would you mind speaking a bit louder so that the back of the class can hear you?” Ugh. Now I really don’t want to say anything. Plus, I’m already talking as loud as I can. I start talking, well, it’s more like yelling.

“My name is Ben, I’m 16, and just moved here from Ohio,” I repeat. Suddenly, I forget all about myself. I have no idea what to say anymore. I look around the room, trying to remember, then I continue talking. “I enjoy drawing, and I have a dog named Jackie.” I stop talking after that, and Mr. Ross smiles at me, which I think is my cue to go sit down. I walk back to my seat, awkwardly, and sit down. I hated that. I really, really, really hated that. I feel a tear trying to escape my eye, but I keep it in. Come on. Don’t cry now. Not in school.

Up at the front Mr. Ross is holding a clipboard, which seems to have a bunch of names on it. He must be using it for attendance. He looked around the room, counting each of us, making sure no one was absent.

“It seems everybody is here today,” he says quietly. I’m not sure if he was talking to himself or the class, but the class didn’t say anything, so I just did the same.

The class continued to talk amongst themselves, leaving the teacher to do his work, which was marking us all here today. When he was done he stood up and looked at the clock, then at all of us. “Your first class should be starting soon. You guys can start making your way there,” he announces. Everyone starts putting their stuff away and getting up from their chairs.

I grab my backpack and stand up out of my seat. I put my backpack over my shoulders and start walking towards the classroom door. I wait for the doorway to clear out before I walk right through it. I turn right, towards the main part of the school. It was very loud and crowded, which I didn’t like. I just tried to keep away from everyone.

I pulled out my map of the school. I looked over it, searching for my first class. Math. Why does math have to be first? It’s definitely my least favorite subject. I pushed my thoughts aside and continued to look over the map. I looked it over and found that the class was up on the second floor of the building. I put the map back in my backpack, and start making my way up the stairs, towards my next class. Right as I was about to walk into the class, the bell rang. I walked right into the classroom and saw my math teacher greet me. Her name tag read “Mrs. Bell.” I went to sit down in my seat, and soon everybody else came storming in.

Math went by very slowly, but I was glad when it was over. Mrs. Bell was really nice. At least compared to my old teachers. They were pretty strict. Math was boring. All we did was go over most of the basics, and stuff we did last year to “warm-up our brains”.

After math I have Science, Social studies, then Lunch and free period. After that is Art, which is my favorite subject, and then I have History, my second favorite subject. I enjoy learning about all the historical events that happened hundreds of years ago. After History is Gym and then Biology.

I just finished my last class, Biology, and am now sitting on my bus to get home. Throughout the day I stayed to myself, avoiding any kind of social interaction, especially with the older students. They’re scary. My favorite class was definitely art. My art teacher Mrs. White, is also the nicest teacher I’ve met so far. My least favorite class was still math. I’ve never really been great at it. Long division really messes up my brain.

I sit on the bus by myself, listening to the conversations spreading around the bus. Though I shouldn’t be listening, it’s the only thing to keep myself entertained on this long bus ride. When the bus stops at my house, I get up from my seat and walk to the front of the bus. “Goodbye, have a nice evening,” the bus driver says while I get off.

“Thanks, you too,” I say quickly before stepping down onto my driveway. I walk up to my house and open the door. When I walk inside I see my black and white, fluffy dog, Jackie, waiting for me right in front of the door. She runs up to me, begging to be pet.

“Oh, Hello Jackie,” I say while bending down to pet her, “I love you.” She was as soft as a cloud. I squat to get down to her level, and Jackie just starts licking my face. Eww. I stand back up and wipe my face. By that time my mom had come up to greet me.

“Hey honey, how was your first day at school?” she asks, hugging me.

“It was good,” I reply.

“By the way, my friends, the Browns and their son, are coming over later, and we’re going to be going out to dinner,” mom adds. I really don’t feel like meeting any more new people today.

Cont'd on pg. 10