Wingspan

By Wingspan Staff

The 2022 Bookfair once again didn't disappoint as students and adults browsed and purchased many exciting new books. The theme this year was "Lights, Camera, Read" and Mrs. Belkin once again did an amazing job decorating and providing a very fun week of activities for students and teachers alike.

What books did you purchase? Care to share a review for next month's Wingspan ?

As we close out 2022 in a month, what better way to finish off the second half of the year than joining Overlook's own Wingspan, the monthly student created publication. We are always eager to add staff for such jobs as :

-Writing articles on current school events or topics that interest kids

-Writing articles about events happening outside OMS but impacting our lives

-Creative writers

-Photographers

-Artists

Contact Mr. Duncan by email (bduncan@awrsd.org) OR come to any meeting (generally 1st and 3rd Wednesday of every month)

By Wingspan Staff

Veterans Day is a time for us to pay our respects to those who have served. For one day, we stand united in respect for our veterans.

This holiday started as a day to reflect upon the heroism of those who died in our country's service and was originally called Armistice Day. It fell on Nov. 11 because that is the anniversary of the signing of the Armistice that ended World War I. However, in 1954, the holiday was changed to "Veterans Day" in order to account for all veterans in all wars.

We celebrate and honor America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good.

By Wingspan Staff

Thanksgiving may be America’s most beloved national holiday, but its history is all over the place. Even the details of the famous feast between the Plymouth Colony settlers and the Wampanoag Native Americans in November of 1621 are sketchy. The best account we have is a letter from English settler Edward Winslow that never mentions the word “Thanksgiving,” but tells of a week-long harvest celebration that included a three-day celebration with King Massasoit and 90 Wampanoag men “so we might after a more special manner rejoice together.”

Over the centuries, that briefly-mentioned feast week has taken on a life of its own, with each generation adding its own take on the fall tradition

By MJ Peterson

Mr. Cyrus

Computer Science Teacher

Why did you come to Overlook: I went to Overlook many years ago, and we talked about making a computer science program.

Dream job as a child: Making repairing computers easy

Favorite color: Green

Favorite animal: Bison

Mr. Casey

Custodian

Why did you come to Overlook: It was a good opportunity.

Dream job as a child: Rescue personnel.

Favorite color: Blue

Favorite animal: Deer (Buck)

Mrs. Rheume

6th Blue Math Teacher

Why did you come to Overlook: I live in Ashburnham, and it was a really short commute to Overlook. I also love the community.

Dream job as a child: Veterinarian, pharmacist.

Favorite animal: Cats

Favorite color: Green (but I still love team Blue)

Mr. Szalay

Visual Arts Teacher

Why did you come to Overlook: I taught graphic design at the high school for 15 years, but then the superintendent terminated my position. He moved me to the middle school because the former art teacher retired.

Dream job as a child: I was always drawn to art.

Favorite animal: Monkeys.

Favorite color: Watercolor!

By David Holdbrook Smith

• Flour, Baking Soda, Salt, and Cocoa Powder: The dry ingredients give the cake volume, flavor, and leavening.

• Eggs: Two large eggs, at room temperature, will mix in and give the cake batter the perfect finished texture.

• Granulated Sugar: Don’t be shy, these cupcakes are certainly not sugar-free! But they’re not overly sweet either.

• Vegetable Oil and Milk: This adds the perfect moistness to these chocolate cupcakes.

• Vanilla Extract: A good quality pure vanilla extract brings out the richness of the cocoa, plus it will make your kitchen smell amazing while these bake.

• Chocolate Frosting: Canned frosting works perfectly fine.

• Mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups: To make 12 turkeys you’ll need twelve of these, unwrapped.

• Candy Eyes: I used small candy eyes that I found at the craft store. Bigger ones might be cute too.

• Reese’s Pieces: We only need the orange ones. You can snack on the rest! Cut six of them in half, carefully, to create beak shapes.

• Red Gummy Worms: These will turn into the wattle of the turkey.

• Candy Corn: To make this turkey tail design, you’ll need ten pieces per turkey.

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C.

• Mix Dry Ingredients: In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt).

• Mix Wet Ingredients: In a separate bowl, combine the eggs with sugar, oil, milk and vanilla.

• Mix Batter: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix until incorporated but not over mixed.

• Bake: Fill the cupcake liners ¾ of the way full. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center. Allow cupcakes to cool down in the pan. Be sure they are completely cooled before frosting and decorating.

• Frost: Cover each cupcake with a thin layer of chocolate frosting.

• Decorate: Using the image as a guide, create a turkey design on each cupcake. Start by using a mini Reese’s cup as the turkey’s head, adhering the eyes, beak, and wattle with a bit of frosting. Then use the candy corn to create the turkey’s tail.

By Tatum Bahosh

Do you need a book to read? Well I got one for you! This book is called Front Desk. There are 3 books in the series, Front Desk, Three Keys, and Room to Dream. Kelly Yang (the author) recently came out with a fourth book called Key Player. Front Desk is about a young immigrant whose family struggles with their home and their job. Front Desk has 235 pages.

Mia Tang, the story's protagonist, is a 5th grader when she begins working with her parents at the Calivista Motel just five miles from Disneyland. Front Desk details the family's first year managing the hotel including little daily occurrences, diversity issues and the building of community at the motel.

By MJ Peterson

Margosha’s head didn’t peek over the surface once over the hour I stood there. I went back to my spot near the dumpster with my tail between my legs. Had I killed Margosha? I just meant to put her in her place, not hurt her. As I walked down the sidewalk, I caught up with hundreds of small, wet paw prints dotting the pavement.

I followed the prints, they went right to my dumpster. Margosha was under it, cold and shivering.

For a moment, a ferocious rage filled me. There Margosha was in my spot once again!

However, that was when I realized that I was wrong, not her. Margosha had never done anything to hurt me, she was just thrown onto the street just like I was and found my pack of dogs to be her place.

Nowhere on the street belonged to any of us, the only way we could survive together in this city was if we shared all the resources among each other.

By MJ Peterson

I was wrong

I was ornery and stubborn

But I am strong

And my anger has outburn

Margosha is right

Margosha is innocent

There’s no need to fight

Forgiveness is imminent

Because Margosha is right

Margosha is innocent

By Brooke Newcomb

One day there were two people whose names were Clover and Ezra and they were Famous for being immortal and they are about 1,010 years old. They were getting ready for the snow and they didn’t know that there was going to be a blizzard this year at midnight on November 24. They didn’t have any food so they went to the store to get some then the store closed without them knowing so they stayed there until the storm was over and they had a lot of fun and they made a big mess there. They left wrappers and chip bags everywhere, ice cream tubs were empty and spoons were left on the counters. In the morning they left and cut the cameras.

Email: bduncan@awrsd.org
Website: https://oms.awrsd.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=1761296&type=d&pREC_ID=2077881
Location: 10 Oakmont Drive, Ashburnham, MA, USA
Phone: 978-827-1425