The Courier of Riverton School
Fall 2022
Welcome to Riverton Public School, Mr. Zagorski
Let’s meet Mr. Zagorski, the new principal of Riverton School. He is very friendly and we think that the students should get to know him. Here are some questions that me, Ruby Baum and my friend Jessi Walker asked him in a face to face interview.
Before working at Riverton School, he was a principal at a school in Maple Shade for three years and a Stem Supervisor for four years.
Here are some basic facts about Mr. Zagorski.He has two sons, Luke who is in 8th grade and Ben who is in 6th grade. He also has a dog named Lola. He lives in Berlin. That is about 45 minutes from here. He chose to work at our school because he wanted to work at a K to 8 school.
He likes getting to know the students and guessing their names. He is 6 foot tall and was born in 1981 and his birthday is August 8th. That makes him 41 years old.
In school, he played football and wrestled. He has three brothers and he is the oldest son.
Now time for some of the favorites. His favorite word is perseverance and his favorite colors are blue and yellow. His favorite number is 13. Last but not least, his favorite animal is a dolphin.
We were delighted that we got the privilege to interview our new principal. We had a great time sharing our time with you Mr. Zagorski!
By Ruby Baum and Jessica Walker:
First Day of School
The Riverton School's Little Free Library
Did you know that there is a little library outside of Riverton School. It was built and painted last year. Mr Sutcliffe built it and the Art Club 8th graders who graduated in 2022 painted it.
You may have seen the little library outside of Riverton School. It is mostly filled with children's books, it also has some chapter books. Mr. Sutcliffe, Mrs. Sutcliffe’s husband is a retired middle school teacher who taught woodworking. He built the little library. The school received a whole lot of books from friends and other teachers over the summer that they used to stock the little library.
Kids can take a book if they donate a book. Or you could take a book, take it home to read and return it later.
By Izzy Primavera and Analee Rodgers
Celebrating Monarch Butterflies
Guess the Teacher
This teacher has taught at this school for 14 years. This teacher has a mini golden doodle named Phoebe. This teacher has a son named Jake who’s birthday is August 18th and is two years old, This teacher also has a baby girl named Lilly. Her birthday is June 19th and she is four months old. This teacher has to buy over 300 diapers a month! It took this teacher several weeks to learn all of the students' names. Now this teacher looks at the pictures of the Pre-K and kindergarteners to study the new students and learn their names of the newest students. You most likely will see this teacher wearing t-shirts, shorts, and sneakers every day. Can you guess the teacher? By Dean Condodina The name of this teacher will be published at the bottom of this issue.
Guess the Teacher
To play Guess the Teacher read my interview with the mystery teacher and see if you can figure out who he or she is.
I wrote down five questions for this teacher to respond to. I have not included their name, your goal is to guess the teacher before you get to the end of my article. I wish you good luck and have fun!
This teacher has worked at Riverton School since he or she graduated from The College of New Jersey. He or she has been a teacher for 32 years.
This teacher used to work as a waitress in Wildwood, NJ for many years. He or she also worked teaching in a summer program called “Science Explorers'' for a few summers in Avalon, NJ. This teacher loves science.
If this teacher could have another job that wasn't being a teacher he or she would be an event or party planner with Mrs. Walter.
Their favorite part of teaching is being creative and coming up with fun projects for their students to work on. This teacher's classroom is on the second it is the biggest classroom on the floor and have been for a long time. This teacher has only taught elementary school.
Can you guess teacher?
by Josh Schwartz
The name of this teacher will be published at the bottom of this issue.
An Interview with Dr. Sullivan
You might see Dr. Sullivan walking around the playground at recess. She has been working at Riverton School for 25 years! She has a daughter, Lauren. Lauren is 21 years old and goes to college in Vermont and is studying to be a speech teacher. Dr. Sullivan also has a son, Liam. He is 18 years old and goes to college in Connecticut. She lives in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania .
She loves chocolate cake with chocolate icing as a dessert. Her favorite food is pasta and anything that is chocolate.
Also she recently went on a fancy vacation to London. She loves going to Cape May, and loves going to the beach. She has been working with Mrs. Blackwell, Mrs. Walter, Ms.Durante, Ms. Knoll, and Mrs. Sutcliffe for almost the whole time she's been teaching at Riverton. She has been worked with Mrs.Eck since she started working at Riverton. She is looking forward to working closely with Mr. Zagorski.
Her favorite sports team is the Philadelphia Eagles. She loves shopping, reading, running, and riding bikes .She grew up in Connecticut with her sister. Her favorite color is red and one of her favorite candies are gumdrops, and Reese peanut butter cups.
She loves golden doodles. She has 2 cats named Stanley and Lola also a cocker spaniel named Sophie. Her favorite sport to play is tennis and she likes to watch golf. She is a really kind person and super cool!
By Analee Rodgers
Five Fun Halloween Facts
Have you ever wondered where Halloween started? Or why do we carve faces into pumpkins? Read more to find out.
The tradition of Halloween originated from a Celtic festival called Samhain. Later in the eighth century, the pope changed Samhain into a new festival named All Saints’ Day, also known as All Hallows. The day before, October 31, was known as All Hallows’ Eve. All Hallows’ Eve eventually turned into Halloween.
We carve faces into pumpkins because the Irish carved faces into turnips to ward off a spirit known as Stingy Jack, who put a lump of coal into a turnip to light his way. When the Irish reached America, they started to carve faces into pumpkins, which are native to America.
Do you know what the most popular Halloween candy is? The most popular Halloween candy is Skittles. Did you know that?
Candy corn used to be called chicken feed. Why? Well, corn is used to feed chicken and it’s called candy corn, so it’s only natural to call it chicken feed. Also, the old boxes had a rooster on the front.
Two jack-’o-lantern related facts: 1. The fastest pumpkin carving took only 16.47 seconds. 2. The most jack-’o-lanterns in one town was 30,581. That’s a lot!
I hope you learned something new about Halloween. Happy Halloween!
— Nolan Herron
100 Days of the Dress
Why is she doing this?
"I started the 100 Day Dress Challenge on the first day of school. I really liked the idea because it made me worry less about what to wear and made it easier to get ready in the morning."
I asked Mrs. Vasile if she ever gets tired of wearing the same dress all day?
She said, " I am trying to use other things I already had to jazz it up and make it look a little different each day."
This challenge was started by a company called Wool& that sells dresses made of wool. They wanted to show people that they need fewer pieces of clothing in their closets than they think and that wool is durable (lasts a long time) and versatile (you can wear it in different temperatures). Wool is also a sustainable material. That means it’s good for the planet because it won’t run out. It comes from sheeps’ fur.
Mrs. Vasile said she loves wearing the dress. It is comfortable. This dress keeps her warm when it's cold and cool when it's hot.
I asked Mrs. Vasile, " What are you going to do when the 100 Day Challenge is finished?"
She said, "I don’t know yet! Miss Durante said maybe I should wear my wedding dress, but I have to see if it still fits!
Stay tuned!
By Angelina Rios
Fire Safety Assembly
In October, we had an amazing fire assembly. We met an actual firefighter from the Riverton Fire Department. Students also saw a fire truck too. We saw a video about fire safety and saw all the parts of a fire truck. The weirdest part was that we had a fire drill immediately after.
By Nolan Herron
Fables Written by Mrs. Vasile's Class.
The mom said good luck honey. I will be there. The baby rabbit went to the race and the winter fox looked like he was going to eat him but he did not. The race judge said ready set go. The winter fox ran and ran. And the rabbit was hopping. The rabbit's mom said go go go. The baby rabbit was looking at his mom and ran into a tree because he did not stop and the winter fox won. And he said, ha ha you ran into a tree.Then a week later he lost a race and he felt bad about what he said. Then the rabbit got a knock on his boor. And the winter fox said sorry and they were friends.
Moral: Don’t make fun of people if they don’t win.
By Eden Brugler
The Ape Lies
Moral: Keep your promises.
By Colby Hardin
Missing Recess
Moral: Don’t wait until the last minute to get your work done.
By Evelyn Cajina-Chung
Donkey and the Rat
Moral: If you are unkind to anyone it will always come back to haunt you.
By Angelina Rios
The Shark and the Dolphin
Moral:No act of kindness is ever wasted.
By Sam Cohen
Sharing The Fables
An Interview with Ms. Deal
You may see Ms. Deal in the lunchroom or working in Ms. Pfeiffer’s room or working with the kindergarteners! She is pretty busy.
Before she worked here, at Riverton School she worked in the marketing department as a buyer for a bank. Ms.Deal designed products and learned how things are made.
“ I even got to travel a few times a year and actually went to Japan once. Japan was amazing!”
When she was a kid she used to be a dancer. She took ballet and jazz classes.
Ms. Deal said she does not stress a lot. She said life is short and tries not to stress about things that get on her nerves. In the summer time she goes to the beach to listen to the waves. She said the beach is her happy pleas.
Ms. Deal enjoys being an aide and she said she enjoys helping others. Ms Deal said the students make her laugh and smile every morning.
By Eden Brugler
Pink Out Day! October 21, 2022
The Riverton School Library Book Character Pumpkin Contest is Underway
Mrs. Penwell came up with a fun way to celebrate reading each October. The Favorite Book Character Pumpkin Contest! Students get a pumpkin and decorate the pumpkin to look like their favorite storybook character.
Mrs. Penwell’s favorite book character is Bad Kitty because she went to college with the author. The character she would choose to do for the contest would be either Wilbur or Charlotte from “ Charlotte’s Web”.
Here are some pumpkin characters that people made, Spiderman by Nate B. in 2K, Sara Sanderson by Mila Y. in 5W, Harry Potter by Henry K. also in 2K, Garfield by Liam Y. in 1E, and Biscuit by Alice S. in 3T. Mrs. Penwell likes when the teachers create pumpkins for the contest because they are amazing.
Check out these awesome pumpkins in the library or look for photos off all the entries on the Riverton School Instagram or Riverton School Library Facebook page.
Some other contests that 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students can look forward to this school year are; Can you Read Your Height in Books? Battle of the Books is a reading competition for intermediate grade students.
By Ruby Baum
A Halloween Acrostic Poem
Haunted houses are on my street. Are you
Afraid?
Lanterns are lighting up the moon and so are
Lamps.
October 31 is when Halloween happens.
Witches roam the streets on Halloween night. Halloween is an
Eerie and
Enchanted October night.
Nightfall is when Halloween happens.
— Nolan Herron
Halloween Jokes
Halloween is right around the corner. Here are some jokes to tell on Halloween.
What would you call two witches sharing a room? Broommates
What can you catch from a vampire in winter? Frostbite.
Why didn’t the skeleton go to prom? He had no body to dance with
What did the bird say on Halloween? Trick or tweet.
Where do ghosts like to travel on vacation? The Dead Sea!
How do you know vampires love baseball? They turn into bats every night
What is skeleton’s favorite dessert? I scream
By Dean Condodina
PHILLIES!!!!!!!!
Red October is here! I put on my “Phitin’ Phils” shirt then, I headed to Citizens Bank Park. I have been to two games this October.
I have been to the fourth game of the NLDS (National League Division Series) with my mom and my sister, Casey. I’ve also been to the fifth game of the NLCS (National League Championship Series) with my mom and my sister, Casey. The NLDS game was exciting when they won. It was two outs, two strikes, and three balls. They got a strike and the Phillies won.
The NLCS playoff game was very, very exciting when they won. The Padres had 2 runs and the Phillies had 1 run. Then out of nowhere, Bryce Harper hit a 2 run home run! Then, the Phillies had 3 runs on the board and the Padres had 2 runs . It was so exciting to be in the stadium. I was screaming and at the same time I was waving my rally towel. I was so happy when the Phillies won! They made it to compete in the World Series!
If you ask Siri or Alexa who will win the World Series, they say, “The Phillies”. I hope the Phillies win the World Series.
By Dean Condodina
Reporters Wanted
Ms. Durante, Courier Advisor