UKELODEON

For The Next Generation

St. Nicholas students put on a successful Spring Fair

by Taisa Hnateyko

PASSAIC, N.J. - Our first Spring Fair at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic School in Passaic, N.J., exhibited many of the things the classes learned throughout the year.

Pre-K kids made toys like drums, castles, piggy banks and more all by themselves, using recycled material. Kindergarten's projects were all about the ocean. They made ocean dioramas and a huge cardboard boat.

Grade 1 made dioramas on animals such as lions, dolphins, penguins, tigers, bears and other interesting animals. They also painted paintings of the animals they were assigned, and learned about the solar system.

Grade 2 made posters, wrote books and took pictures of frogs. They actually had four pet frogs! Every day the children watched them grow from little tadpoles and kept logs on each frog. In the exhibit there was still one frog with a tail.

Grade 3 is my class. We did a subject sampling. For English we wrote biographies. For science we chose any kind of science diorama. Mine was the Solar System.

The higher grades, 4-8, were done by subject.

Sister Tharasia, the religion teacher for Grades 3-6 had a big display on the Year of the Family. The students drew pictures of the Sacraments, the Ten Commandments and all of the Holy Days. Some students even made a model of an Iconostas using holy cards.

The Ukrainian section had posters of Ukrainian costumes, and they even made some Ukrainian dolls!

The Grade 5 reading exhibit was interesting. They made story mobiles on books like Harry Potter, Nancy Drew and "The Lord of the Rings."

Poems written by Grades 4-8 were displayed on the walls. They wrote sense poetry, limericks, concrete poetry, free verse and cinquian.

The students really learned a lot from the social studies exhibit. In the "New Jersey and Fourth Grade, Perfect Together" section, Grade 4 made projects like a model phonograph invented by Thomas Edison, model lighthouses of New Jersey and even New Jersey native Whitney Houston on a light-up stage!

The science corner was turned into a rainforest. All the students brought in stuffed animals of an animal that lives in a rain forest. On display was also a lung experiment that showed how you breath in and out. There were also posters of the lungs and heart.

The Spring Fair was only supposed to be a few days, but so many people were coming to see it and said it was so good that our principal, Sister Kathleen, decided it should be open the whole month of May.

Taisa Hnateyko is the third grade class president at St. Nicholas School.

Hartford SUM members enjoy picnic in the park

HARTFORD, Conn. - The Hartford branch of the Ukrainian American Youth Association (SUM) held its annual end-of-the-educational-season picnic at Mill Woods Park in nearby Wethersfield, Conn., on June 3. As seen in the photo on the right, SUM-ivtsi of all ages enjoyed the camaraderie and outdoor activity as they celebrated the conclusion of yet another fruitful year of activity before the start of the summer camp season.

Plast ceremonies mark end of year

EAST HANOVER, N.J. - Members of the Newark Branch of Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organiza-tion concluded the 2002-2003 school year of activity with ceremonies at which youths received awards, promotions and merit badges. A very special part of the evening was the ceremony during which Katria Misilo was awarded the prestigious St. George Medal in Bronze for saving the life of a neighbor. The rare presentation was made by the Chief Scout (Nachalnyi Plastun) Lubomyr Romankiw (see photo on the top left). UKELODEON readers may recall reading about Katria's heroism in the October 2000 issue. She was 11 years old at the time that her quick thinking and application of the Heimlich maneuver saved a choking neighbor in Short Hills, N.J. Also during the end-of-the-year ceremonies, girls from the Berizky troop recited the Plast oath as they became full-fledged members of Plast, having completed the requirements to attain the rank of "uchasnyk" (see photo on the bottom left).

Mishanyna

This month, because many of UKELODEON's readers are headed off to camp, we've dedicated Mishanyna to just that. Your assignment: search for listed items - most of which you'll need to pack for your stay at camp - in the Mishanyna grid. Happy hunting and good luck at camp! (Why not write to us and let us know what you're doing? Yeah, a letters from camp section!)

ax, backpack, binoculars, blanket, canteen, compass, flashlight, hiking boots, insect repellent, lantern, matches, mess kit, pocket knife, poncho, rope, shovel, sleeping bag, tarp, tent

St. John's kids present spring concert

NEWARK, N.J. - Pupils of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic School presented a spring concert of songs reflecting the Ukrainian and American heritages, as well as Ukrainian folk dances. The concert was one part of a weekend of activities at the school on May 31-June 1 that included a picnic, an open house, a general knowledge fair, registration for the coming school year and a "Ukrainian Kitchen." Above, the littlest singers perform to the delight of the audience.

Our name: UKELODEON

UKELODEON: it rhymes with nickelodeon. Yes, that's a kids' network (spelled with a capital "N"), but the original word referred to an early movie theater that charged a nickel for admission.

According to The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, the root of the word, "odeon," is from the Greek "oideion," a small building used for public performances of music and poetry.

Our UKELODEON is envisioned as a public space where our youth, from kindergartners to teens, can come to learn, to share information, to relate their experiences, and to keep in touch with each other. Its contents will be shaped by the young readers of the next generation.

OUR NEXT ISSUE: UKELODEON is published on the second Sunday of every month. To make it into our next issue, dated August 10, please send in your materials by August 1.

We especially encourage kids and teens to submit articles and see their names in print! BECOME A UKELODEON REPORTER! Please drop us a line:

UKELODEON - The Ukrainian Weekly
2200 Route 10 - P.O. Box 280
Parsippany, NJ 07054
fax, (973) 644-9510
telephone, (973) 292-9800
e-mail [email protected]

(We ask all contributors to please include a daytime phone number.)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 13, 2003, No. 28, Vol. LXXI

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