fresh air - Quaboag Current

PAGE 12 A Turley Publication • www.turley.com I Thursday, February 9, 2012
– education –
OSV to hold February vacation week
STURBRIDGE - Keep the kids busy
during February school vacation week at
Old Sturbridge Village with a mix of invigorating outdoor
fun and cozy indoor activities and handson
crafts. Visitors can enjoy a winter scavenger
hunt, sleigh rides, ice skating (bring
your skates), and sledding on 1830s-style
reproduction sleds (all weather permitting).
Indoor activities include candle-making,
making a Washington cake and paper
George Washington militia hat, marbling
paper, and writing with a quill pen. Children
can make and take a “thaumatrope”
– a 19th-century toy that fools the eye. For
all times and details: 800-733-1830; www.
osv.org .
Everyone named “George” or “Martha”
gets free admission to the Village during
Presidents’ Day Weekend, Feb. 18-20.
Visitors can take part in traditional toasts
to George Washington and other famous
American Patriots, and learn more about
the country’s fi rst president during presentations
of “I Cannot Tell a Lie: Celebrating
the Life and Accomplishments of George
Washington in Story and Song.”
Skirts will swirl on Sunday, Feb. 19, as
the Old Sturbridge Village dancers present
a Washington Birthday Ball. Beforehand,
OSV historians will discuss 19th-century
hairdressing techniques (including bear
grease and sausage curls) in “Her Crowning
Glory”; etiquette for the ball in “Please
Take Hands”; and 1830s ball accessories in
“Frills and Furbelows.” Visitors can learn
various dances of the time, including contra
dances and cotillions, forerunners of
today’s line dancing and square dancing.
According to Old Sturbridge Village
historians, George Washington’s birthday
was one of only a few holidays celebrated
in 19th-century rural New England, and
CLUES ACROSS
1. Permanently
disfi gure
5. Demilitarize
10. Flat-bottom crater
14. 6th Jewish month
15. “l836 siege” of U.S.
16. For in Spanish
17. Bunco games
18. Musical world for
the iPhone
19. Smile
20. Charlotte’s Web’s
White
21. His wife
became salt
22. For example
23. Perceived
27. Violet-red color
30. Prizefi ghter
Muhammed
31. Dentist’s group
32. Lowest feudal class
35. Passover feast and
ceremony
38. Netherlands river
42. College teacher
43. Associated press
44. Exist
45. Wyatt __, OK Corral
46. Antlered cervid
47. Church
announcement of a
proposed marriage
49. Dried leaves of
Catha edulis
50. Anoint
52. ___ Lilly, drug
company
54. Red plus yellow
56. Holy places
59. Exclamation of
surprise
60. Million barrels per
day (abbr.)
62. Farm state
63. Hold onto
66. 79504 TX
68. Speed of sound
70. Condition
of comfort
71. Blemished skin
72. Wingloke structures
73. Nanosecond (abbr.)
74. Herd of unsheared
sheep
75. Castrate a horse
Dipping candles at Old Sturbridge Village
the man was elevated to mythic status by a
young nation struggling to fi nd a sense of
unity. Washington became a larger-thanlife
fi gure who the entire nation could rally
around, exemplifying all of the virtues that
the citizens were coming to value.
Many of the well-known stories about
Washington were not really true, including
the famous tale of the cherry tree chopped
down by Washington as a boy. This story
was fabricated by the president’s fi rst biographer,
Mason Locke Weems, an itinerant
bookseller who had likely never even
met Washington. In fact, nearly all of the
anecdotes in the fi rst edition of Weems’
book about Washington were fi ctional,
but the biography was wildly popular and
future editions included even more madeup
tales.
George Washington was, however,
one of the best athletes of his day, a physically
imposing man of great strength and
endurance. A fact not well known by his
contemporaries is that he frequently fell
ill. Instead, his biographers focused on the
fact that Washington was never wounded
during the Revolutionary War, though he
had several near misses.
CLUES DOWN
1. Ceremonial staffs
2. Sun-dried brick
3. 007’s creator
4. Married woman
5. Obstruct
6. 12th Jewish month
7. Opposite of minored
8. Leave out
9. Twice Pres. of
Harvard, Derek
10. Gas usage
measurement
11. Swiss river
12. Spirit in The
Tempest
13. Kitchen stove
24. Crocus spice
25. Raised railroad track
26. Injure permanently
27. Partial paralysis (pl.)
28. School in Newark,
DE
29. Individual baking
dish
32. Democratic Party of
Germany
33. Poetic word for
before
ANSWERS APPEAR ON PAGE 19
34. Eggs of a fi sh
36. Environmental
Protec. Agency
37. One point N of
due E
39. Express pleasure
40. Macaws
41. Seaport (abbr.)
48. Tagging the base
runner
51. Inspector General
53. City of Angels
54. Made from an Oak
tree
55. So. Am. ratites
57. Thai money in 1928
58. Expressed pleasure
60. Nutmeg seed covering
spice
61. Small indefi nite
quantity
64. Between E and SE
65. Chest muscle (slang)
66. Used for hitting
the ball
67. Tooth caregiver
68. Military Aircraft
Group
69. Brew
Tornado poster fundraiser
catches public interest
HEALTHY I FROM PAGE 11
statistically, this is the fi rst generation of
children that may not live as long as their
parents.”
King said the purpose of the school nutrition
bill is to create a healthier environment
and a healthier culture in schools.
“A small component of it is competitive
foods, which means we can’t be having
bake sales while school lunch is going
on,” she explained. “We can’t have cake
and things like that in the classrooms and
expect children to choose healthy foods.
It’s an important bill and we are proud
of the initiative that the state has taken.
It’s taken 10 years and a lot of back and
forth as to whom we were going to partner
with.”
She said when the competitive bill
takes effect in September, the school will
no longer have any products with artifi -
cial sweeteners. “We feel that change is
better when we do it in a step-by-step
manner,” King said. “So, we’ve been
slowly making the changes.”
She said the Healthier U.S. School
Challenge is a USDA program that
benchmarks schools to make sure they
are serving enough whole grains, fruits
and vegetables, particularly the whole
rainbow of vegetable colors. “We have
always followed a traditional meal plan,
and it’s only been since 1995 that the
schools have had these standards to work
from,” she said. “We’ve always opted for
the traditional plan because we want to
know how many servings of vegetables
and how many servings of fruit and
whole grains are available.”
King said she is proud of the program
at Quaboag. “Kids are eating better, they
are getting better nutrition and they are
used to eating whole grain pasta and rice,
because we’ve been serving it to them for
six years now.”
She said in the fall, the school will be
required to offer nutritional labeling for
every single item they offer, whether it’s a
packaged or prepared item.
King said that one of her strategic planning
goals is to continue to keep working
on access to school meals, including
breakfast. The schools offer breakfast
for $1.45, which includes hot meals, grab
and go items such as muffi ns and breakfast
sandwiches and fruits. “For a whole
year in our elementary schools, we served
sandwiches with one slice of white bread
and one slice of wheat to get the children
accustomed to whole wheat bread. We
called them ‘zebra sandwiches’ and now
all of our breads are whole wheat.”
She said it’s very important for students
to eat breakfast before school, but
TURLEY PUBLICATIONS COURTESY PHOTO
STURBRIDGE – Tantasqua Senior High School student, Joel Kass with the help of Technical Division CAD
teacher Larry LaBelle has created a photomosaic poster depicting the damage done by the tornado. The
poster captures images of the initial devastation through the present rebuilding efforts. The images are arranged
in such a way so the viewer can visualize the actual tornado. The poster is being sold as a fundraiser.
Proceeds from the sale of the poster will go to area tornado relief. The price for the 24”x36” color photo
poster is $22. If you are interested in purchasing a poster, contact the Tantasqua Regional Senior High School
Technical Division Offi ce at 508-347-3045 ext. 5108 or email walshc@tantasqua.org.
it can be a challenge due to lack of time
and bus schedules. She said she has been
working with Project Bread, which is a
child nutrition outreach program funded
through the Department of Education.
The principals of the Warren and West
Brookfi eld schools attended a meeting
with representatives from the program.
“We put together a process where kids in
grades 4 – 6 will be able to pick up a to-go
type breakfast, including milk, that they
can take to their classroom. We want to
try to increase nutrition for kids,” King
said. “We have some studies from Project
Bread that show that school breakfast is
linked to academic achievement. The kids
that eat breakfast more often are going to
improve their academic performance.”
A study conducted at a Denver, Colorado
elementary school showed that tardiness
dropped 15 percent and discipline
referrals dropped by 50 percent after
the implementation of a school breakfast
program.
“Children typically get up and get
ready for school in 15 minutes and many
don’t take the time to eat breakfast,” King
said. “And we know that 70 – 75 percent
of children don’t eat breakfast every day,
so they are coming to school a little bit
fatigued, their stomach isn’t feeling well
and maybe they have a little bit of a headache
going on, and they are expected to
be alert and ready to learn.” She said approximately
15 – 20 percent of students
are eating breakfast at school and she
would like to see those numbers increase.
“We have a 40 percent free and reduced
lunch rate across the district and I’m feeling
that we still have room to grow with
the kids that are in those categories as
well as the students that are not.”
King not only wants to improve the
students’ physical health, but their mental
health as well. She will soon begin a
“Zen” tea program. “I even bought some
pretty tea cups,” she said. “I want to create
a wellness environment for our juniors
and seniors who are really stressed out
because of college applications, SAT’s,
AP courses and all the stuff of life.”
Currently, the price of lunch is $2.50
and while the school does use some
USDA foods, as the lunch prices would
skyrocket if they didn’t, King said 75 percent
of the food served is handmade. “We
make our own pizza using whole-wheat
dough, we make our own sauce, and we
grate our own cheese. We use fresh basil
and garlic. I feel sometimes that if kids
aren’t complaining, they must be happy,”
King laughed. “And we haven’t gotten
many complaints. We love our kids and
we want them to be healthy and happy.”