Wingspan

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 you, 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: Lucas LeGrand

Hello everyone! Today, I’m here to talk about Thanksgiving. We are going to find out how it began, and why we celebrate it today. Well, let's get to it!

Long ago, the settlers called the Pilgrims came to North America. They came in search of new land, gold and riches. In 1620 when the Pilgrims came (which they have been for over a century), the Wampanoag people needed help. You see, the reason for this is because in the last century of trading, the people of Europe had brought deadly diseases that were killing all the native people around. You see, you're probably thinking, “Why would the Native People need the help of the people that gave them deadly diseases?” The reason the Wampanoag people needed help is because 2/3 of their tribe died and their leader was scared of invasion. A rival tribe called the Narragansett might invade and wipe out the rest of the Wampanoag. That's why they needed help. The people of the Mayflower though were in no condition to help. It was November when they landed in Massachusetts, so it was cold, and they weren't prepared for such harsh weather. They stole food from the Native People and robbed jewelry from graves. Then a Native American named Samoset came to the camp of the Pilgrims. Later, Samoset would bring Oosamequan, the leader of the Wampanoag. Samoset and Oosamequan talked to John Carver, the Pilgrims leader, and pretty much said"if you do not attack us we won't attack you".

Later, a Native American that the Pilgrims called Squanto, taught them how to grow crops, and how to use fertilizer to help their crops grow. In 1621, the Pilgrims had a good harvest and had the Native Americans to thank. But then, the Native Americans heard gunfire from the Pilgrim camp, and brought 90 men to see what was going on. It turned out that they were just celebrating the good harvest. The Native Americans joined the harvest, and hunted deer so they had more food. They ate and drank for 3 days, and had a good time.

242 years later...

It is 1863, and Abraham Lincoln established Thanksgiving as a national holiday so the people would stop fighting with each other during the Civil War.

There you have it, that is Thanksgiving explained. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you all soon!

By: Kaelyn Hildreth

What did your family do for thanksgiving? There is a LOT of thanksgiving traditions that we have at my house, like the wishbone tradition. For the wishbone tradition, you take out the v-shaped bone and dry it out for several days, and when it is dry, two people pull the wishbone until it breaks. Whoever gets the largest piece will (hopefully) get their wish.

By Meghan Dorsey

For COVID-19 updates, we are still mandating masks in the school. The mask mandate has been extended to January 2022

By: Stella Deschenes

In recent news the Pfizer vaccine has been approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) for 5-11 year olds. The vaccine made by BioNTech has been proved safe for this age group. They tested the Pfizer vaccine on around 3,000 children. Other vaccination news is that there is a booster shot for both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for anyone over the age of 18.

Scientists continue their amazing efforts to make our world safe again with the ongoing virus. With the holiday season approaching quickly I encourage everyone to stay safe and be aware of our surroundings. Have an amazing Thanksgiving and as always thank you so much for reading.

By Keira Dodd

You may not know this but your mental health is extremely important. Mental health is how you feel emotionally. It is what keeps you motivated and how you feel. If you are not the happiest, want to raise your spirits, your mental health is struggling or are looking for things to do I have a suggestion. You could use a gratitude journal.

A gratitude journal is a journal where you can write what you are thankful for and positive things you love to focus on in your life. Studies show that focusing and journaling about these things can lower your stress levels. Gratitude helps relieve anxiety and depression, helps lessen trips to the doctors, and helps your immune system. This does not only help you internally but also helps you externally. Studies also show that it helps college students. Doing this can make you feel so much better it will help your stress and help you sleep better. A gratitude journal helps you appreciate the small things in life.Your journal is a peaceful place that holds all your positivity. Gratitude helps you feel appreciative and positive. Get ready to throw your negativity away, and bring more joy into your world!

Having a gratitude journal does not mean you have to spend hours on buying things, making things and writing a whole essay. You can spend a minute every morning or night and write one thing you are grateful for. It's a simple task of writing a few words a day to help you. Whether you get a journal or buy one. Then you can organize spaces and decorate the pages as you want, just figure out where you are going to write and then write it. You can put as much or little effort as you want. But the whole goal is to come up with things you're grateful for. Try to put it into your schedule and get in the habit of it. Or carry it around with you to journal about the greatness you found out and about. It also helps to write it in the morning so you have a positive mindset for the rest of the day.

To get started on your journal simply dedicate pages for different prompts. Your first page, you can tell about yourself or any introduction to your journal. Then dedicate the next few pages to one prompt for one day each month.Then do that over again for each month.

Next, personalizing your journal! You can color the pages or draw on them. You can put stickers on the pages. Put pictures of great memories. Anything you want that fits your style.

What should I write? Well you can write anything that can lift your spirits but I can give you some prompt ideas. Some easier things you can write are people you are thankful for. You could write what makes or made you laugh. What qualities you love about your friends, family, or pet. Things you love that your friends and family do for you. Or you could write about memories you love, even places you love or make you feel at home. Instead simply just write what you are thankful for like food, water, or a pet. Quotes you love, things you are looking forward to, things you want to thank people for or simply the best part of your day. And be honest! Also if you can not come up with any words you can talk about your senses or even use pictures. If you are feeling negative about the present then talk about old loved memories. And when you think you are getting the hang of it you can give an explanation of why you love it.

There are so many benefits to gratitude journaling. That's why I would recommend it to anyone!

By: Amy Dorsey

Winter is approaching, make sure you have everything you need! Soon winter will be here and the cold will strike. Here are some surprising facts about winter that even shocked me, the earth is closest to the sun during winter... Snowflakes aren’t always unique… Only 1 in 10 of us call winter our favorite season. Winter, as many of you know, winter is the coldest season, the lowest average as 16 °F (-8 °C). The season of winter is also known as the season of cold. Winter starts in the month of December till the month of March. The peak of winter is in the months of Jan. and Dec. In many regions, winter is associated with snow and freezing temperatures. Winter also has a lot of different cultures involved because there are many different holidays, some being Hanukkah: December 10-18, Soyal: December 22, Christmas: December 25, Kwanzaa: Dec. 26-Jan. 1. Have fun in winter, and be safe!

By Abigail Suarez

Our School has been doing great with sports this year! Due to Covid restrictions most sports require masks. I myself play basketball for the Spartans and I understand how hard it is to keep your mask on.I encourage people though, to push through it because we shouldn’t let Covid stop us from doing the things we love if there’s an opportunity for it. Basketball tryouts were held on Monday November 15. I wish the best of luck to the boys and girls who tried out. Field hockey finished off super strong. The 8th grade girls won an amazing 8 games and only lost 2. The 6th grade won 7 games, lost 4 and tied 2. Girls and boys soccer has also ended.The school has done a very great job with keeping sports alive with all of the issues happening. I am very thankful for that.

By: Abigail Suarez

Chess: The chess club meets on Thursdays every month.

Drama: The drama club is doing a play about frozen.Best of luck to the performers!Meetings are held in the Team room with Ms. Daigle and Ms. Corliss every Mondays and Fridays after school until 3:30.They are currently working on their Frozen play that will be played in May 2022.

Yearbook Committee: The yearbook committee meets once a month on Wednesdays from 2-3:00. Meetings are held in Mr.Young’s room.

Quick Stop Cafe: The quick stop cafe is open on Thursdays in the mornings.They serve yummy hot cocoa,orange juice and muffins.

By: Joshua LeGrand

Welcome to the second edition of Our Wacky World! I would like to thank the people who responded to the survey for the first edition of Our Wacky World. The topics you could vote for were “Food”, “States of the USA”, “Great Britain”, or “Other”. The one with the most votes was… FOOD! That means today’s article is going to be all about the weirdest, wackiest, and wildest food facts out there! Let’s go!

You’ve probably heard of Hawaiian pizza, and nowadays, it’s pretty controversial, but we’ll get into that later. What you probably didn’t know is that, despite the name, Hawaiian pizza actually wasn’t invented in Hawaii. You want to take a guess as to where it was actually invented? If you said the United States, then you’d be wrong, but you’d also be very close. The answer is actually Canada! Let me explain. In the 1950s, pizza was beginning to gain a lot of popularity in North America. This is probably because soldiers returning there from Italy after World War II had tried pizza there. In 1962, following a wave of Tiki culture after Hawaii became a state, Sam Panopoulos, owner of the Satellite Restaurant in Ontario, Canada, started putting canned pineapple on his pizzas, along with ham and bacon. It was an instant success, and spread throughout North America at a lightning fast rate. Now, people were choosing sides; now, you either liked Hawaiian pizza or you didn’t like Hawaiian pizza, a small issue that still exists today. In a survey conducted by Margaritaville, 58% of people said that pineapple belongs on pizza, while 42% said that it should be banished from the pizza universe forever. I’m a big fan of pineapple on pizza, and think that it should stay on pizza. What do you think? Does pineapple belong on pizza?

Now for three fast facts about food that you probably didn’t know, starting with this strange fact about cheese. Did you know that cheese is the most stolen food in the world? About 4% of all the cheese made is stolen. There is even a black market for the dairy product! Fact number 2: Did you know that bananas are classified as berries, but strawberries are not? That’s right, strawberries aren’t actually berries, but bananas are. Weren’t expecting that, were you? And finally, fact number 3: Imagine you are grocery shopping, and you pick up an apple to put it in your cart and you see a sticker on that apple. They are on most fresh fruit in grocery stores. What you might not know is that those stickers are 100 percent edible. You can take a bite out of the sticker and not get sick at all!

That’s all for this edition of Our Wacky World! Please make sure to vote for the next topic using the link below. Until next time!

VOTE HERE

By Marko Peterson

The two boys hid in the corner, giggling at the young girl who was approaching the door. They ran from the window to the classroom door as she opened the door into the building and began walking toward the classroom. The boy with black, curly hair glanced up at the bucket full of water they´d set up on top of the strategically closed classroom door.

¨This isn't a good idea, is it?¨ he asked the brown-haired boy, who was staring at the door, waiting for the girl to open it.

¨Don´t be a chicken, Lonnie,¨ the brown-haired boy told him. Immediately after the brown-haired boy had spoken, the young girl opened the classroom door, and the bucket fell.

The brown-haired boy laughed as she yelped, she was drenched in water, and the bucket had hit her on the shoulder.

¨Corbin!¨ she cried, pointing at the brown-haired boy. Corbin kicked the bucket aside, grabbing Lonnie and booking it out of the classroom.
¨GET BACK HERE!¨ the young girl screamed.

¨That wasn't nice!¨ Lonnie shouted. ¨She's going to tell the teacher now!¨

Corbin clearly wasn't listening, he never did. Every time Lonnie attempted to teach him something valuable he ignored him. Then every time Corbin ignored him, something happened that proved Lonnie´s point. All Lonnie had to do was wait for that moment, it happened every time.

Lonnie waited hours, anticipating the moment when Corbin would get what he deserved. That moment never came.

¨Great,¨ Lonnie muttered. ¨I guess I´ll teach him myself then.¨

Lonnie walked back to the empty classroom, grabbing the bucket Lonnie had stolen from the janitor's closet. He wasn't going to do the same thing Corbin did to Bee, he knew he couldn't fight fire with fire. Especially not with Corbin.

Maybe if he got Corbin´s parents involved that would teach him. It seemed like he always got himself out of trouble every time they approached him about it. All Lonnie wanted was for Corbin to be less of a jerk.

Lonnie hesitated, thinking his plan over. ¨It's for the best,¨ he told himself.

Lonnie soon asked Corbin if he could come over to his house, and the moment he saw his mother was home, he knew he had the right plan.

His mother was a tall and prominent figure, absolutely enough to discipline Corbin. His father was working that day.

¨Corbin, can I talk to your mom for a moment?¨ Lonnie asked his best friend, a slight smirk forming on his face.

¨Um, why?¨ Corbin responded, there was still no sign of worry on his face. Lonnie assumed Corbin wouldn't sniff him out until his mother finally disciplined him.

¨I just need to ask a question about her workplace, I'm interested in it,¨ Lonnie quickly replied.

¨Oh!¨ Corbin answered. ¨Okay!¨

Lonnie strolled into the kitchen where Corbin's mother was, and tapped her shoulder. She jumped slightly and looked behind her, spotting Lonnie.

¨Oh, yes, Lonnie?¨ she murmured, quiet as always.

¨Hi, Gwen!¨ Lonnie said. ¨I need to talk with you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lonnie was inside Corbin´s bedroom, he could hear Gwen´s stern voice outside the bedroom. Judging from where her voice was coming from, he assumed she'd taken him into her bedroom to scold him.

Corbin walked back into his bedroom in shame, glaring at Lonnie.

¨Did you learn your lesson?¨ Lonnie asked him, crossing his arms.

¨Whatever!¨ Corbin retorted, but still, he had a slight smile on his face.

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