Volume 2 Issue 7

Multicultural Day

On May 5th the 2000 Multicultural Day took place. At 1:15 all of the Ralph Brown’s children were in the school gym. They were wearing their t-shirts they made in class. The older kids sat in a circle and the younger kids sat in a smaller circle in front of the older kids. Mrs. Adams did the opening announcements. After that Darko and Tyler from P5 made a speech about the meaning of Multicultural Day. Then some Ukrainian girl dancers preformed the Hahilky, which is a Ukrainian dance. After that Room 125 sang Mama Paguita from Brazil and Tielee Beelee Bee, a Canadian song. Next four children from Room 111 did the Philippino Stick Dance. The Native Dancers and singers performed next. Next, native poems of Chief Dan George were read by Amber Tacan-Head and Alysha Smith from Room P5. At the end everyone sang This Land Is Your Land and Oh Canada. It was a wonderful afternoon were children got to see and hear some songs and dances from different cultures.

Multicultural Dance Program
By Audrey

From April 17 to April 27 the Multicultural Dance Program started. People form different cultures came to our school and showed our students their type of dancing. There was Middle East Dance, Philippino Dance, Aboriginal Dance, Hispanic Dance, and West African Dance. These are the people who spent their time and showed and taught our students at Ralph Brown: Jamila Rashane (Middle East) Susan Bellmonte (Philippino) Barbra and Becky Nepinak (Aboriginal) Pedro Colon (Hispanic) and Evans Coffie (African).

Baby-Sitting Course
Ardelle

On Monday, April 10th, Tuesday, April 11th, Wednesday, April 12th, Monday, April 17th, Tuesday, April 18th, and Wednesday, April 19, students will be going to the baby-sitting course that takes place at Ralph Brown. The teachers who will be instructing this course are Mrs. Duffy and Mrs. Diakiw. The children will learn baby-sitting basics and how to be a good baby-sitter. It is a six day course. It will start from 3:45 to 4:45. They will also have to experience baby-sitting with someone they know. They won’t get paid and the parents have to watch them baby-sitting their child or children. The students taking the course will not be able to miss a lesson unless they have a really good excuse and tell Mrs. Duffy or Mrs. Diakiw. On Wednesday the students will be having an exam on everything they’ve learned. Good luck and have fun!

Isaac Newton Play
By Audrey

On April 28th Room P5 and 111 went to Isaac Newton School. Once again the musical school has come up with another show!! The play was called Titanic II: The Love Boat.

The students that went thought that it was very entertaining. Students from our school really enjoyed going to that musical, fun filled, creative school. So far Isaac Newton has played a lot of shows for our school. Other shows that they have played for our school were: Grease, That 90’s Show, and Wizard Of Oz.

Boys' Baseball
by Kirk

Mr. Chubey has started boy’s baseball. It is for everyone from grades 4 to 6 in Ralph Brown. The practices are at noon. On May 29th the boy’s will be having a tournament with other schools for the championship! So by that time Mr. Chubey will have a team of boy’s to represent our school in the tournament! The players will have to be good at catching and batting. Good luck to everyone who signed up.

Girls' Baseball
By Ardelle

Baseball season has started, and the girls and boys of Ralph Brown School are practicing, practicing, and practicing! The try out cuts have not been decided yet. The pitcher for girls has not been decided yet, too. Kasia Dolna, Kelly Lukianchuk, Alexandra Kozelko are some of the girls who tried out for pitcher. There will be a tournament for the girls and for the boys. The girl’s tournament is on May 30th, 2000. The girls are mainly working on their throwing and their catching skills. Thank you to the base coaches who have been helping the girls on running from base to base, on when to go, and when to go back. Good luck on making the team! Have fun, and good luck during the tournament.

Grandparenting Program

Once again the students go to the Holy Family Nursing Home to visit their own buddy grandparents. Every month 12 grade 6’s from Ralph Brown School go the Holy Family Nursing Home to spend some time with folks at the nursing home. Every time when Easter comes around the students and their grandparents make Pysanky. The students make and design their own Easter eggs with their own imagination and creativity. When they are all done the students keep one for themselves and give one to their grandparent!

Bus Ridership
By Katrina

On April 26th, all the Nursery kids to the grade eights had Bus Ridership. You have Bus Ridership for safety reasons. First you will know how to behave on the bus. Second, to refresh your memory of the basic rules. Finally, so you will know what to do in case you’ve gotten into some kind of an accident or car crash.

Here are some of the basic rules. You should always remember: no chewing/drinking food on the bus, keep your voice down so the bus driver can hear what’s going on, no opening the windows without a teacher around to help you, sit back in your sit because of the simple reason on the bus you have no seat belts. You should always remember these rules. You probably remember most of them but having Bus Ridership is just so you’ll know what to do and so you will have good field trips the rest of your life...as long as you remember these rules.

Mother's Day
By Katrina

May 14th is a special day for all the mothers. It’s Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day is a special time of the year that you get to really tell your mom how much you really love her. Every classroom will be making cards and special gifts for their mom. Maybe for once in your life you could give her a day off from dishes, laundry, vacuuming, cooking, and other household chores. Give her a break. Mother’s day only comes once a year. Just like your birthday or Christmas think about all the things your mom has done for you. Your mom would really appreciate it I’ll bet. You really appreciate it when you get gifts so I bet your mom would appreciate it. And don’t forget to say “Mom Happy Mother’s Day I hope you like your nice clean house, and your apple pancakes, I even cleaned up my room just for you.”

Pysanky

Once again the children at Ralph Brown School had a chance to make Ukrainian Easter Eggs or pysanka. Most of the grades had a chance to make them. Below are the instructions for making pysanka.

1. Lightly draw the basic design on the egg in pencil. If you make a mistake do not use an eraser on it. Remember that light pencil lines will not show up in the final design, so mistakes are OK.

2. Heat the head of the kistka in the flame of the candle for 20-30 seconds. Then scoop a little beeswax into the funnel of the kistka. Reheat the kistka in the flame until the wax is melted. If you leave the kistka in the flame too long it may catch on fire. If this happens, slowly blow out the flame.

3. Especially in the beginning, test the wax flow from the kistka on the newspaper before writing any lines on the egg. Occasionally the kistka will let out a blob from overfilling. If this happens there is nothing that you can do. The wax bonds instantly to the eggshell: even if you try scraping the spots will still appear in the final design. Try to incorporate it into the design.

4. Apply wax using the kistka to the egg. The dye will not go anywhere you apply wax. You don’t need to reapply wax every time you dip it in dye just apply the new lines for the colour. Leave the eggs in the dye 10 - 15 minutes, or until desired effect is achieved. Remove eggs with a spoon and dab dry. The dye sequence goes from light to dark.

5. After removing the egg from the final dye, it’s time for the fun part. Take the egg and hold it near the side of the flame. Do not hold it over the flame because the carbon will collect on the shell and darken the design. Wait until the wax looks wet and wipe off with a clean tissue.