NorthsideBackpack Connection

Northside

Backpack

DEC 2015

Connection

WAGON WHEEL DAY ENDS IN A

“BANANA SPLIT”

New Contest Details on page 3 Sponsored by:

ESPARZA ELEMENTARY PRESENTS

NOCHE CULTURE Connecting Our Families, Our Schools and Our Local Businesses In the Northside School District Backpack Connection

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Distributed into the Backpacks of 48,000 Plus NISD Elementary Students

DECEMBER

Contributiong Writers Educate and Empower Kids Art Direction Susie Fluckiger Sales Audra Miller Megan Wilson Publisher BP PUBLISHING LLC

In the Spotlight

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Noche Culture at Esparza Elementary

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Braun Station Wagon Wheel Day

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Ellison Elementary Hive Hustle

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Holiday Crafts

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Dreamers & Doers

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What Have We Gained and Lost Through Technology

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Content for the Elementary School pages contributed by each school. Backpack Connection magazines are published every six weeks during the school year by BP Publishing LLC. The advertisements in this magazine are paid for by the advertisers, which allows this magazine to be distributed free to the families of the HOHPHQWDU\ VWXGHQWV 8QOHVV VSHFLÂżFDOO\ QRWHG QR DGYHUWLVHUV products or services are endorsed by the publisher, BISD, or NISD, or any districts employees. Publishers (BP PUBLISHING LLC) are not responsible for omissions, errors or misinformation within this publication. All real estate advertised within this publication are subject to the Federal Fair Housing Act,which make it illegally to advertise any preference, limitation, or discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin or intention to make any such preference, limitation, or discrimination. We will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of the law. All persons are hereby informed that all dwellings adverting are available on an equal opportunity basis. Reproductions of this magazine in whole or part without written permission is prohibited.

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in the

Spotlight SCHOOLS CELEBRATE 50 DAYS OF LEARNING Students and staff from across the District celebrated the 50th day of school by dressing up in 50’s attire, playing fifties-themed games, and counting to 50 in about as many ways.

Here are some pictures from their celebrations.

Kindergarten students in Barbara Esposito’s class at Ott celebrated by dressing in 50’s wear, listening to 50’s music, and counting all day long! Pictured are Emma Dangler, Mia Tamez, Rosalie Garcia, Emily Quigley, Henry Moss, Ashlynn Edris, and Iyana Keene.

To celebrate the 50th day of school, students and staff at Northwest Crossing ES traveled back in time and came dressed to school in their best 1950’s attire. Pictured below are (front row) Aubrey Guzman, Anai Longoria, Emily Rivera, and Sunnie Ruttger; (middle row) Amanda Abbott, Marlena Hernandez, Victoria Haag, Marissa Tijerina, Rayne Price, and Sofia Muniz-Flores; and (back row) principal’s secretary Linda Stiles, Zander Fernandez, Paisley O’Neill, Izaiah Banos, Shawn Luttrell, Ebin Stanton, Dylan Hampton, William Wagoner, and special education teacher Nori Cortez.

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BIOGRAPHY WAX MUSEUM History comes alive at Thornton fourth graders at Thornton Elementary School participated in a “Biography Wax Museum” as a culminating event of their studies about historical figures.

Students researched their subject, wrote a report on him or her, reduced the report to a brief speech, and memorized the speech for their presentation. They also created a backdrop and dressed up as their famous figure for the living museum. Students lined the hallways, still as statues, and when the button on their right hand (a colored sticker dot) was pressed, they came to life to recite their speeches for students, teachers, and parents.

Anita Leachman dressed as James Robert Cade, the inventor of Gatorade.

Staff at Wanke ES who got in the groove for the 50th day of school .

Diego Medina as Albert Einstein

“I learned a lot from my character,” she said. “When I was performing, I felt like a professor myself, teaching people about things they did not know.”

Jessica Christman, Steven Zermeno, and Kaitlyn Kienholz

JAYCI’S WREATHS FOR HEROES Mireles Elementary School students held a fundraiser to benefit “Jayci’s Wreaths for Heroes.” Students bought leaves for $1 to decorate their classroom wreath. All the funds raised went to buy wreaths to be laid at Ft. Sam Houston National Ceremony. The students raised $2,030. Pictured are students from Hayley Shaw’s second grade class which raised $640.

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This edition’s highlighted school

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This edition’s highlighted school

Braun Station Elementary Wagon Wheel Day In 1982 Braun Station Elementary opened its doors to the kids in the community and with that a tradition was born…Wagon Wheel Day. Every school year since, the Braun Station community has spent countless hours preparing for this one day. The PTA calls vendors, sets up games and food booths, puts together class baskets to auction, and organizes the largest school event of the year. Why? One word—community.

Wagon Wheel Day is a day where teachers are sure to reconnect with former students, families make lasting memories, and traditions are carried on. Wagon Wheel Day is a day for the Braun Station community to celebrate the effort and hard work from their staff, their PTA, and their volunteers.

Wagon Wheel Day is about fellowship, friendships, families, and fun!

Not only does the Braun Station staff attend and help out working their class booth, but their exemplary PTA ensures that each year is better

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than the last. National Junior Honor Society student volunteers from Stevenson Middle School, O’Connor and Marshall High School, and even surrounding charter schools come to help and participate.

This year on Saturday, November 14 Wagon Wheel Day had food booths, inflatable human gerbil balls, sweet treats, cake walks, bungee races, face paintings, and SO much more!

There were games and activities for every age. The top contributing families from the BSE Fall Fundraiser got to turn Mr. Jack Funkhouser and Mrs. Karen Littlewood into a human banana split! The administration and nd staff are SO excited to participate in anything that promotes community ty involvement and support of one of the best public schools around.

Families from Braun Station and from the surrounding community come together each and every Day year for Wagon Wheel W because it’s clea clear that BSE is not just an ele elementary school. BSE IS th the Braun Station Community!

Commu

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This edition’s highlighted school

ELLISON ELEMENTARY

HiVe HUSTLe On the evening of November 6, the Ellison Elementary community braved the elements and turned out in their hundreds to take part in the Hive Hustle Glow Run. The rain held off and the 5Ksponsored run began just after sunset as participants ran or walked the black-lit circuit sporting glow-in-thedark T-shirts, glow sticks and necklaces. Volunteers lined the route handing out water and spraying runners with silly string, while music encouraged everyone toward the ¿QLVK OLQH 7KH IXQ FRQWLQXHG after the run with prize drawings for toys and sports gear as well as a silent auction.

This fun family event was designed to promote healthy

living within the community ZKLOH UDLVLQJ IXQGV IRU ¿HOG trips, the AR program, bike rodeo, and PE, art and music equipment. PTA President Melissa Moran expected

HYHQW SUR¿WV WR EH LQ WKH region of $10,000! Thank you to everyone who came out, despite the rain, to support (OOLVRQ (OHPHQWDU\¶V ¿UVW fundraiser of the year.

Barrett Greene, Max Lloyd, Oliver Shapcott and Finlay Montoya.

Mia Brown and Oliver Shapcott.

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H Holiday Crafts l Made With Household Items!

Christmas Break is such a fun time of the year for our kids, but chances are you may be hearing “I’m bored!” at least once! Trying to shop for craft supplies isn’t convenient during the holiday rush, so we found easy and fun crafts that your kids can make using items you likely have at home.

Elf Yourse Kids of any lf! age will lo ve this sill and cut ou y craft! Sim t a headsho ply print t of your ch paper, pain il d, then let t, markers, th em use o r whatever at home to supplies yo make them u have selves an e display yea lf . These wil r after year. l be fun to

nd Cotton Ball Snow Garla white Christ-

be seeing a It isn’t likely that we will owe found a way to impr mas in South Texas, but ll love this craft. Simply vise! Your older kids wi n d to string up some cotto use a needle and threa re a window or anywhe balls, and hang them by own snowy scene! you want to create your

Paper Plate Crafts ts There are so many fun things you can make with paper plates! Just get out whatever craft supplies you have at home and let the kids see what all they can create. Here are some fun ideas we found.

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'UHDPHUV &

DOERS

By Alice Johnson he Christmas season can be such a wonderful time to give and to share. Many have traditions of giving much. But what if we need or want to spend less? Maybe along with adjusting our spending, we can benefit from adjusting our thinking as well.

This brings to mind a story I first heard many years ago. I have repeated it enough that I no longer remember where it originated, if I ever knew. Nevertheless, I am going to share it again because, especially at this time of year, I need to hear it again.

It was a cold winter’s evening in a city far north of our Hill Country homes. It was approaching Christmas and snow has already fallen a few times that year as a woman rode a city bus home in the early winter darkness.

She was dressed appropriately for this cold weather.

Another woman boarded the bus at one of its many stops. Although she smiled at the bus driver and paid her fare, she was wearing only a threadbare dress—not enough to protect her against so cold a night. Wrapping her arms around herself, she made her way to a seat.

The woman already on the bus grew uncomfortable. No one should be cold and suffering as she imagined this woman was—especially at this time of year in this country. She debated what to do—wishing she had the means to help. Perhaps she could tell her about some of the charitable agencies in their community that could give her some help. But would it be appropriate to talk to a stranger in such a way? If only she had more money herself!

Then something happened. The bus came to another stop and a passenger got up to leave. As he passed the trembling woman, he dropped his own

T

gloves in her lap and got off the bus.

As the first woman sat there dreaming of what she might do or wished she could do, this other passenger simply did something. It was by no means grandiose, but it quietly made a difference.

I call this being a dreamer or a doer. I like this story because I tend to be a dreamer who can’t wait till the day I can do these beautifully charitable acts you hear on the news or read in the paper. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to do those things, unless in the meantime, they stop me from being a doer of simple things now.

Years ago I copied down a quote

by Mother Teresa who as a nun served the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, India. Our situations may be very distinct from Mother Teresa’s, yet the basic needs of those around us are much the same. She said, “Be kind and merciful. Let no one ever come to you without coming away better and happier. Be the living expression of God’s kindness: kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting. . . .” Mother Teresa was a doer.

In the past as a substitute teacher and parent, and currently as an instructor in the Boerne ISD, I have often witnessed what one teacher specifically instructed me to do. She wrote that I should be at the door to her classroom when her students arrived so I could give them a big welcoming smile. She

said you never know if it is the first— or only—smile they will get that day.

These loving teachers are doers.

When I was working at an elementary school in Salt Lake City, UT, I used to drive by a stern-faced elderly crossing guard every morning.

I was a little intimidated by him, but I decided to smile and give him a little wave every morning as I drove by. He still kept his serious face for the most part, but he’d wave back. Then one morning after some time had passed, he signaled for me to stop. Nervously, I rolled my window down. The crossing guard told me, “I want you to know that you make my day, every day.” I was truly amazed. It took almost no effort on my part to smile, yet I was able to make a difference in someone’s life!

The great part was, I also had a new friend.

At Christmas we celebrate the birth of the best example of a doer—He who loves and serves us all. I keep a bookmark in my scriptures that has a picture of the Savior at the top of it. It also has an anonymous quote that I need to read more often. It prompts me to be a doer: “Always hold firmly to the thought that each one of us can do something to bring some portion of misery to an end.”

Whatever our circumstance this year or any year, we can still be doers and not just dreamers. This is the challenge I’ve given myself—again!

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What Have We Gained—and Lost— through TECHNOLOGY?

By Amanda Grossman-Scott

I

am constantly amazed and grateful for technology in my life. I have an app that tracks how many steps I’ve taken. One that tells me at what location my preteen left his phone. I can track the stars and constellations and see what time my Amazon order left the packing facility. I can check my bank balance and my kids’ grades, find a coupon 30 seconds before I check out and order dinner to meet me at home.

These are things I never imagined but now it seems I can’t live without them. I’m hard-pressed to delete any of my apps when memory space is tight.

We’ve gained a lot, to be sure. I’ve kept in contact with family members, learned things I didn’t know with a simple search and occupied my children on long trips with podcasts and movies.

But lately I’ve been wondering what we’ve lost. When I’m having a minor crisis, I’ve found myself turning to my dependable group text or Facebook “friends” for support. Eight years ago I would’ve turned first to my husband, then picked up the phone and had a conversation with a friend— using our voices.

When my children misbehave I find myself googling their seemingly bizarre behavior—instead of sitting down with them and asking, “What’s up?” Do you remember Columbine? I was riveted and glued to my TV. Same with 9/11. Now it’s just become daily life, fodder for politicians and instantly made into memes.

Is what we’ve lost what makes us human? Our empathy and compassion?

The wonder of well—wondering?

I was on a road trip with my kids last summer. All the devices died. We were in the middle of the desert. I heard the last DS snap shut, accompanied by a sigh, and two seconds later “I’m bored.”

I remember when my kids were toddlers and we didn’t have a tablet, an ipad, and ipod, a couple of DS’s and a Kindle (etc, etc…) and I thought it was good for them—to not be constantly entertained, to have to find things that are interesting to them or be creative on their own.

It WAS good for them. But somehow they’ve forgotten how to entertain themselves.

Back to our road trip through the desert. We’re in our car, artificially-cooled air blowing in our faces, not even noticing the absolute exquisite splendor of our surroundings.

I ask them if they know how to catch air, to surf on it with their hands. I instruct them to roll down their windows (which is something they’re never allowed to do!) and show them how to allow their hands to surf on the wind. My youngest leans closer and her hair blows in the night air and she says, “It feels like flying!”

This is what we’ve lost. This

...somehow they’ve forgotten how to entertain themselves.

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is something screens can’t replicate.

Humanity. Family togetherness. Life experience.

I can show my family a thousand pictures of the desert. All beautifully photographed from different angles, but it won’t replicate the feeling of BEING in that vastness, together. Of feeling the overwhelming heat of noonday or the quickly cooling air and beauty of the moonrise. Of knowing we are ultimately dependent on each other for survival.

Amanda Grossman-Scott is Board Vice president and Head Writer for Educate and Empower Kids. She has written for various magazines, newspapers and blogs and has been active in the journalism industry intermittently for the last 15 years.

She studied Journalism and Communications. Amanda is from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and now lives with her husband and three children in San Antonio, Texas.

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