March Welcome Letter!
Welcome to the green month, the month that celebrates the Green Isle of Ireland. In other words, happy March everyone. This month marks the start of a new season, Spring! On the 20th of March is the spring equinox which is a day that occurs twice a year in which the amount of hours for day and night are close to the same. Watch for warmer weather, and enjoy seeing the flowers start blooming and trees start to regrow their leaves later this month.
The big holiday this month is Saint Patrick’s Day. Saint Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, though he was not born there. He was born in Roman Britain but was taken as a slave by the Irish when he was only sixteen years old. Eventually, he managed to escape and returned back home to Roman Britain. After experiencing a religious conversion later in life, he felt that no one needed to learn about God more than his former captors. Therefore he took it upon himself to return to Ireland as a priest, and teach the illiterate masses about the Holy Trinity. It is said that he used the three-leafed clover to illustrate how one could be three and three could remain as one, as in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; one clover has three separate leaves but is still just one clover. Whether or not the three-leaf clover was actually used to explain the Holy Trinity is unknown, but I think we can agree that Saint Patrick was a pretty good guy.
- Harvey Tovar
History of April Fools Day
Hey, did you know your shoe is untied? Haha, made you look, or maybe you didn’t. Silly and nonsensical hijinks like that have been a large staple of the holiday that comes every April 1st, April fools day. From corny jokes to more serious pranks and practical jokes the fun-filled holiday of April Fools day has come a long way to where it is now. Well, if the holiday has come a long way, where exactly did it come from? Good question.
For years and years April Fools has been tied to the Spring equinox. One theory to the beginning of this holiday dates all the way back to 1563 when France had changed their calendar, which at the time had started the year on the Spring equinox to the calendar we use now. People who continued to use the old calendar were often marked for celebrating the new year at the beginning of Spring, April 1st. Another assumed origin of the holiday is from all the way back to the Roman empire when at the end of March some citizens would mark the holiday by dressing up in disguises and mocking others they saw. In these two examples we see both of them revolve around Spring and the Spring equinox. This can also be explained by an old theory that claimed that mother nature had “fooled” people in the northern hemisphere by drastically changing the weather and climate around them.
Today April Fools day is celebrated worldwide with the tradition major companies and sometimes organizations have by posting false advertisements for outrageously unrealistic products and services. No matter however you celebrate April Fools day, it is always fun to play pranks and partake in (SAFE) hijinks one in a while. This April 1st, be sure to be on the watch for mischievous behavior coming your way!
- Shula Armintor
Weekly Study Tip from Teachers
Brought to you by: Ms. Brewer
For this week's study tip we asked 8th grade science teacher, Ms. Brewer. She responded with:
“My best tip is to do a little bit every day, rather than trying to cram everything in to one day. Repeated review really helps our brains remember things, so doing just a bit every day helps even more. Also, it’s easier to convince yourself to do something when you just have a little bit to do. You don’t try to avoid it because you just have to do a little bit. I’m using this now as I study German. I’m just doing 10 minutes a day, but I’m doing it every single day consistently, so it’s adding up to more learning than if I just did it once a day.”
Being consistent is very important, as Ms. Brewer stated above. Setting a designated time each day, let us say 5 P.M., helps stay consistent. The more you do something, the more you get used to it. Just like a habit. So, make it a habit to be consistent with studying, that way you won’t get behind. Speaking of getting behind, if you get everything you need to get done on that day the less you will have to do the next day and your homework/assignments will not pile up.
Thank you, Ms. Brewer, for this wonderful study tip! (Or should I say test tip?) If you have any study tips of your own, email us at ebourgeois@dentonisd.org .
- Sol Antunez
Teacher Feature
This week’s Teacher Feature is… Mr. Roarke! A huge thank you to Mr. Roarke for responding to our email! Mr. Roarke has been teaching for 12 years! His favorite thing about being a teacher is interacting with students and getting to see them when they come back to visit. During his teaching career he has taught Math and Language Arts!
When asked for his favorite food Mr. Roarke responded, “Probably Indian food (or basically anything with curry).” His most consistent favorite color is green. Some of his hobbies (or just things he enjoys) include hiking and running on trails with his two kids, gardening, and cars. A fun fact about him is that both of his thumbs are double jointed.
Another thank you to Mr. Roarke for being a part of the newspaper!
- Finlee Rogers
Passover
The Jewish holiday of Passover is celebrated on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar. Each month of the Hebrew, (or Jewish,) calendar begins on the new moon. Passover commemorates the survival of the firstborn Hebrew/Jewish children during the tenth, or final plague, during which God was said to have slain the firstborn of each Egyptian family.
Because the Israelites were released from slavery by God’s intervention, they believe it is their responsibility to come together with friends and family and reflect upon the great lessons of Passover: the blessing of freedom, the reminder that the Israelites were once slaves who have since been liberated, and the great responsibility of working for the freedom of all people everywhere.
Modern Jews eat unleavened bread as part of their celebration. This is to remind them that after the tenth plague when the Pharaoh finally let them go, they packed in a hurry and rushed off, without enough time for their bread to rise. The Torah commands Jews to observe Passover for seven days. Some Jewish communities observe Passover by not eating anything leaven like popcorn, rice, or pasta.
Symbolic foods eaten at the Passover Seder include bitter herbs to remind of the bitterness of slavery, saltwater to symbolize the tears of the slaves, a sweet paste made of fruits and nuts to symbolize the mortar the slaves used to build the pyramids, hard-boiled eggs which symbolize life and birth, and karpas (a leafy green vegetable) to symbolize hope and redemption.
The holiday of Passover, orPesach if you are following the exact translation, has a long history in the Jewish community for generations among generations. Chag Sameach (Happy Holidays).
- Harvey Tovar
.
Credits:
Created with images by pasja1000 - "harbingers of spring garden white" • Pexels - "adult diary journal"