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Outdoors

Kids can help clean Forest Park streams

In April, local kids can get hands-on experience in improving water quality of Missouri streams. The cleanup will be part of St. Louis Earth Day 2002.

(This article is first in an Earth Day series. Also see upcoming March & April editions.)

A Forest Park Operation Clean Stream project will be held on Sunday, April 21, from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers will clean up trash along the stream network in Forest Park in downtown St. Louis.

You also get a chance to see the big improvements being made in Forest Park. The park is being improved so it's ready to host the 100th anniversary of the 1904 World's Fair.

The Clean Stream project is just one of nearly two dozen events scheduled for this year's Earth Day celebration.

To learn more about Earth Day 2002, just click here to go to its website. The web address is www.stlouisearthday.org.

Among the sponsors of the stream cleanup is the Open Space Council. That group helps organize the annual cleanup of 160 miles of the Meramec River and its tributaries.

Council Executive Director Ron Coleman calls the Meramec cleanup "America's longest and largest on-going river cleanup project." The cleanup has been held for 35 years.

Young Saint Louis.com wanted to give you an idea of how stream cleanup works. We interviewed three Eureka High School kids who worked on last fall's Meramec cleanup.

Of course, the Forest Park streams are much smaller than the Meramec River. But, the cleanup ideas are much the same. This year's Forest Park volunteers can get a taste of cleanup and then maybe volunteer for the Meramec event.

Fifteen-year-old Zack Beavers is a sophomore at Eureka High. He said he got "wet and very dirty" during the Meramec work. "But, I thought it was worthwhile and I'll do it again," he said.

Caleb Patton is a junior at Eureka High. He said it felt "a little weird" to be searching for trash near and in the river.

"My family and I do a lot of fishing in Missouri parks and they are usually clean. But, on the Meramec, you would see whole cars in the river," he said.

Caleb said his cleanup crew saw "lots of submerged tires." But, he said the most unusual trash he saw was melted lead fragments on one of the river beaches. He said no one knew where the lead came from.

Katie Belleville is a junior at Eureka High. She said the Meramec cleanup experience wasn't "the most fun I've ever had." But, she added, "When we were working together, that made it fun."

The kids used canoes on the river to search for submerged trash.

Beavers, Patton and Belleville are all members of their school's Environmental Club.

Teacher Dianne Johnson has led the club for 10 years. In recent years, she and club members have helped on the Meramec. This year, they joined members of the St. Louis chapter of the Audubon Society in cleaning two stretches of the river.

The Eureka kids did cleanup work on land at the new Route 66 State Park along Interstate 44. Also, they used canoes on the river in Valley Park. That community is planning redevelopment of the Meramec as it runs through town.

Eureka's Environmental Club meets twice a month. Its members also do at least one service project each month.

One of the club projects involved cleanup of the school's campus. Members also have made bird houses and hung them in the nearby Rockwood Reservation. Birds attracted to the houses help park visitors on their bird-watching hikes.

Volunteers for the Forest Park Operation Clean Stream will meet before 9 a.m. Sunday, April 21. The meeting place is the lower parking lot for The Muny.

Organizers urge volunteers to dress appropriately. For one thing, that means dress in old clothes so you won't mind getting dirty. Kid volunteers need adult supervision.

All volunteers will receive lunch and a free Stream Team T-shirt for their efforts.

The Earth Day website will include contact information for the stream cleanup as well as other Earth Day events.

 

Profile

Young author is published
in national magazine

Eighth grader Andrea Bachmann learned a valuable writing lesson while getting her first article published nationally.

Her article, entitled "Halfback," is in the January-February, 2002, edition of Stone Soup. The national magazine publishes original writing and artwork by kids from across the country.

(To read the Andrea's "Halfback" article, click here.)

Fourteen-year-old Andrea said, "Earlier, I had submitted a fiction story to Stone Soup. It was rejected. However, they said, 'If you had a real life story, you should submit it.'"

That you should write about things you know is often the best advice ever given to writers, young and old.

So, Andrea went back to a personal experience she had while playing for her church soccer team. The game was two summers ago in Missouri's Show-Me State Games. The story tells about her coach's insistence that she play the unfamiliar halfback position.

"I'd only played halfback a couple times when our team was up by six goals. I'd never played that position in an important game," Andrea said. In the game described in her story, her team was tied.

Ordinarily, Andrea played fullback. That's usually a defensive position. But, halfbacks often take part in the offense.

Andrea is the heroine in this true story. She scores the winning goal to advance her team in the tournament.

She said, "Now, in outdoor soccer, I play halfback all the time."

After submitting the "Halfback" article, she waited about a month. Then, she heard it had been put in the "maybe" file. "Then, a couple months later, they told me they were going to use it," Andrea said.

She said she was "shocked" to hear that her article would be used. "I didn't think it would be that easy," she added.

Andrea said she worked on the article for less than a month. "I'd work on it whenever I had time," she said.

She said her original beginning and end of the piece stayed pretty much the same throughout. However, she said she reworded the middle of the story several times.

To illustrate the article, the Stone Soup editors called on 12-year-old Teddy Harvey of Williamsburg, Va. The editors have a list of about 75 young artists across the country they use to illustrate chosen articles.

The editors picked Harvey because they thought his style would be right for this particular article. Andrea said she has never met Harvey even though their pictures appear together in the magazine.

Andrea found out about Stone Soup on the internet. She was searching for publications that accepted kids articles for publication. (If you'd like to learn more about Stone Soup. log on to www.stonesoup.com)

One problem young writers often have is thinking of good story ideas. But, Andrea said she doesn't have that problem. "Ideas are everywhere," she said.

Andrea also feels she has a good imagination when it comes to writing.

She is now looking for other publications where she can submit articles. "I'm too old to be published in Stone Soup anymore. I was 13 when I wrote 'Halfback' but I'm 14 now," she said.

The Sperreng Middle School student has submitted a piece to Teen, Inc. magazine. "I submitted it over the internet but I haven't gotten a response yet," she said.

Despite her early success, Andrea said she isn't sure she wants a career in writing. "That's too far away," she said.

For now, she's satisfied with her school classes and her sports activities. She plays volleyball in addition to both indoor and outdoor soccer. She also takes piano lessons.

But, she is going to keep on writing. About whether she likes to write fact or fiction, Andrea said, "Fact is easier but fiction is more fun."

But, she's glad the Stone Soup editor suggested she write a fact article. That's the one that got her published for the first time.

And, she even got paid. The magazine paid her $35 for her "Halfback" article.

Andrea Bachmann's "Halfback" article

This is a reprint of Andrea's article published in the Jan.-Feb. Stone Soup kids magazine:

Halfback
By Andrea Bachmann
Illustrated by Teddy Harvey

(Reprinted with permission from the January/February 2002 issue of Stone Soup, the magazine by young writers and artists. Copyright 2002 by Stone Soup.)

The score was tied, one to one, in the second half. It was a hot July day, the kind where people say you could fry an egg on the sidewalk, or however the saying goes. The sun was beating down on the soccer field like crazy, and everyone on our team was getting tired, especially me. I don't exactly have the greatest endurance when it comes to running.

So I was taking a nice, long break on the sidelines, having a drink from my water bottle. I poured some water on my short brown hair and down the back of my red uniform to cool off. Then I sat with my teammates, watching the game. I'd been there around five minutes when my coach called me over. I got up from the bench tiredly and stood next to him. "Andrea," he said, keeping his eyes on the field, "you wanna play some halfback?"

Now, for anyone who doesn't know how soccer works, there are basically three rows of players, not including the goalie. Halfback is one in the middle. I usually played fullback, or defense, back by the goal. I liked it back there. I was used to it, I'd been playing that position since second grade at least, and it was pretty simple for me.

I did not want to play halfback. I had only played there once or twice before in practice, maybe one time in a game. And this was an important game, it would determine our place in the tournament. I couldn't play halfback. "No," I refused.

No wasn't enough for my coach, though. He wouldn't take that for an answer. To him, asking me, "wanna play some halfback?" was the same as saying, "Go play halfback position now!"

"I can't!" I begged him. "There's no way! You can't put me there, I can't play halfback!" It did no good. I couldn't convince him that this was a mistake. He insisted on putting me in halfback position anyway.

When the next opportunity came, he yelled "Sub, Ref!" and pushed me onto the field. "Let's go, Andrea, it's just like fullback, only up a little farther. It's not that hard." That was basically the only advice I got.

I dragged my feet along, talking onto the field. Come on, it's not that bad, just like fullback. You can do it, I repeated to myself. You can do this. Slowly, I took my position at halfback. I told myself I'd do a good job, but I didn't really believe it.

Honestly, if you must know, it wasn't too hard, playing halfback, but for some reason I still felt like I was doing everything wrong. I couldn't kick right or pass right or do much of anything. At least, I didn't think so.

Anyway, the game went on. Just when I thought it would be over soon, someone kicked the ball to me. I was wide open, and I didn't see anyone coming toward me as I ran to kick the ball. Suddenly, I heard Courtney, another halfback on my team, yelling at the top of her lungs, "Shoot, Andrea, shoot!"

So I did. And then I watched as the ball soared straight through the air and curved to land right in the corner of the goal. It was one of those kicks that my coach would call beautiful. I never understood how a sweaty, dirty sport like soccer could be considered beautiful, but it was. I had scored a beautiful goal. Realizing this, I screamed and laughed as my teammates joined my cheers.

I couldn't believe it. Sure, I'd scored a goal before, but never like this one, and never from halfback.

It turned out that it was the game winning goal, and it helped our team get into the finals of that tournament. We all went home with silver medals. Now, I play halfback all the time. In fact, I'd rather play there than anywhere else.

 

Lifestyle

Kids in over 500 Missouri and Illinois schools will get to hear what St. Louis Rams players and cheerleaders think builds personal character.

The new character video featuring the Rams is called "Getting into the Game: Beyond Winning." Copies of the video have been sent schools in 35 Missouri districts and two in Illinois.

The video includes comments from star Rams players such as Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk, Aeneas Williams and Isaac Bruce. But, cheerleader Michele Steptoe-Clark also is included. Her day jobs include science teaching and working on the genome project that maps the human genes.

The Rams talk about character traits such as courage, commitment, cooperation, caring and honesty.

Area educators hope local kids will use the Rams' statements as examples of how to build their own personal character.

In the introduction, quarterback Kurt Warner urges kids never give up on their goals. He said there were "hundreds of people who told me I wouldn't get to where I am today. But, I wouldn't give up."

Warner played for years on arena-league and European football teams. Then, he was only a backup in the National Football League until leading the Rams to the 1999 Super Bowl championship.

He has been named the league the NFL's Most Valuable Player in both 1999 and 2001.

Commenting on courage, Warner said that's "when all odds are against you but you push your way through anyway."

On the role of cooperation, tight end Ernie Conwell said the Rams' strength as a team depends on cooperation. "We respect each other's differences and then we rely on each other's strengths," he said.

Defensive end Grant Wistrom told about how his parents insisted that he and his brothers followed through on commitments. "That was the biggest rule in the house. Whatever you started, you had to finish," he said.

Concerning the idea of caring, defensive back Aeneas Williams said developing "your listening skills" helped you be a more caring person. After listening carefully, you are better able to make an "honest evaluation," he said.

Offensive guard Adam Timmerman got a laugh from some of his teammates when he mentioned his coaches were caring individuals. However, he added, although the coaches are tough, there is a "lot of love" within the whole Rams organization.

Wide receiver Isaac Bruce admitted that "sometimes telling the truth hurts." But, he added honesty always is the best policy.

Cheerleader Steptoe-Clark also said honesty can be difficult. But, she said, "It breeds character and respect. Being dishonest will get you nowhere."

Michele's inclusion in the video was a good choice. To spectators, cheerleaders may seem like just pretty entertainers. But Michele's jobs in teaching and gene research show she has a depth of character.

The Rams also stressed the need for all kids to have good role models. Wide receiver Tory Holt and running back Faulk said they were fortunate to have their mothers as strong role models.

Faulk told about his father dying early in his life and his mother working two jobs to keep the family together.

End Wistrom said he was very fortunate to have "two fantastic parents." He said they didn't always like everything he did. "Sometimes, they told us what we did was terrible," he added. But, they were always supportive.

Winstrom said not every kid has supportive parents. But, each person needs to find good role models. He added, "Make sure you find the right ones."

The "Get into the Game" video was a cooperative effort of the Rams, Channel 4/KMOV, the CHARACTERplus program of the Cooperative School Districts. Another sponsor is the Diversity Awareness Partnership.

In addition to the video, participating schools get a class lesson plan for each character trait. These also help kids and teachers to learn reading and communication skills.

The St. Louis County branch libraries have a full schedule of special February events celebrating Black History Month 2002.

The library headquarters and the 18 branches will have events during the month-long celebration. The Prairie Commons branch will have the most events, five. But, every county library will have at least one event.

(For a complete list of events for each library, just click here to link to the county library's Black History month website (http://www.slcl.lib.mo.us/events/bhm/index.html), or visit the main county library webpage at www.slcl.org.)

Also, you can pick up a complete printed schedule, entitled Dream Weavers, at your county library branch.

A number of the attractions involve noted local African-American personalities and groups. Several of them will appear at more than one branch.

For instance, the Anoa Dance Theater will appear at six different libraries. The group was started in 1984. It features dancers, vocalists, occupational therapists, musicians, arts administrators and writers.

The local Moja Moyo musical group will appear at five different libraries. The group includes eight drummers and eight dancers. By the way, Moja Moyo means "one heart" in the Ki-Swahili language.

Kenay Ajanaku and Company also will be at five different libraries. Ajanaku is a master storyteller and drummer, who talks about Africa through stories, songs and sounds.

Storyteller Loretta Washington will share her favorite African-American stories at three different libraries.

One of the library presentations will tell the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, an all-black fighter squadron that flew 1,578 missions protecting bombers during World War II. Not a single bomber under their protection was lost during those flights.

Twenty-two pilots and six ground crewmen from the St. Louis area were in the Tuskegee Airmen.

Another way to celebrate Black History Month would be to go to Lambert Field and see the huge Black Americans in Flight mural that hangs there.

 

Health

Kids who've quit smoking now
teach others of dangers

Shannon Oliver's older sister taught her to smoke when she was eight. Then, she showed her friends how to light up.

Now that she's smoke-free, she "feels bad" about encouraging her friends to smoke. She said they are still smoking cigarettes.

This month, the 14-year-old eighth grader and some other Hancock Place kids who have kicked the habit start creating lessons about the dangers of smoking. Later this semester, they'll present their information in elementary school classes in the district.

Shannon said, by sixth grade, she was smoking up to 1 1/2 packs of cigarettes a day. Then, she enrolled in the Hancock Place Middle School's anti-smoking class and started cutting back. She finally got smoke-free late last year.

The anti-tobacco program in the Hancock Place district is sponsored by BJC Health Systems. It has two parts. First, there are classes to help students kick the habit.

Second, BJC instructor Andi Boyd helps the smoke-free kids to create lessons for younger kids on the dangers of tobacco.

Eighth grader Erica Pound is another kid who started smoking early. She said her older sister taught her to smoke when she was seven.

At the peak, she was using about a pack a day. "I'd smoke about half of them and give away the other half to friends." She said he used her lunch money to by cigarettes.

But, she said, "When my friends started to quit smoking, I quit also." Another factor in her decision was an anti-tobacco speaker who had lost his voice box to cancer. She said, "That made me sick."

The 14-year-old said it took about five months before she had quit altogether.

One of the high school students in the non-smoking group that's working on anti-tobacco lessons is 16-year-old Rocky Tucker. The junior said he was eight when he started smoking. "My friends smoked and we thought it was cool," he said.

He started to cut back on smoking when he entered Boyd's program. Another thing that helped was his participation in sports. He plays baseball and takes part in kick-boxing.

He said his sports conditioning improved when he quit smoking. "If you smoke, you won't make it through the kick-boxing conditioning," he said.

Junior Erica Ellebracht said her participation in sports also helped her quit. She participates in cross country, softball and basketball.

But, she admitted, "Mostly I quit because I didn't want to die." The 17-year-old admits she's a hypochondriac--a person who's always worrying about her health.

She said her older sister taught her to smoke. Recently, Erica said she helped her sister, who's in college, to kick the habit.

Fourteen-year-old Angie Hasenfratz started smoking at age 10. She said she finally got smoke-free during Thanksgiving weekend last fall.

She said she enjoyed the opportunity to teach younger kids about the dangers of tobacco. She was one who took part in the peer-to-peer teaching a year ago even though she hadn't completely stopped smoking herself.

About the teaching, Angie said, "It was actually fun."

Teacher Boyd said she sometimes uses kids as teachers even if they haven't completely broken the habit. Boyd said, "It helps bring across the fact that quitting smoking is hard."

One of the features of last year's lessons for the younger kids was a skit that helps younger kids learn how to say "no" when their friends urge them to smoke.

Erica Ellebracht said the skit is set in a school bathroom where kids are trying to get a non-smoker to light up. The high school junior said, "When you get up to our level in school, smoking in the bathrooms is really bad."

Rocky Tucker said he thought the younger kids listened to the smoking messages. He said, "I've talked with some of those kids outside of school. Whenever they see me, they always say, 'Hi.'"

Asked if the friends he started smoking with as a young boy were still friends, Rocky said, "Yes." He added, "But, they don't smoke when I'm around."

 

News

A group of city students last month got a chance to learn how their local government is connected to world problems.

Eighth graders at Compton-Drew Investigative Learning Center are studying world issues such as global warming and toxic waste. The kids are looking to see if what they can do locally to improve these situations.

But, a trip to St. Louis City Hall last month also gave the kids a variety of information they plan to use in their personal lives.

For instance, 13-year-old Shannon Carr found out what offices she'd have to visit when she starts her own business.

Carr said, "I want to be the first black woman president of the United States. But, I also want to be a business owner. I want to have a chain of either restaurants or stores."

Therefore, on the city hall tour, Carr was on the lookout for those offices that give business permits or do inspections.

Fifteen year old Whitney Meredith said she knew quite a bit about the form of city government. But, she said she enjoyed "seeing the city aldermen talk." The kids were on hand when the board of aldermen held one of their meetings.

The students got an extra bonus. The mother of classmate Joseph Burton works in the city building permits office. Lisa Burton took time to give the kids an "instant tour" of all four floors of the city hall.

Twins Katherine and Kristine Golden said the tour helped them better understand city government. Thirteen-year-old Kristine said she sees the government is "carefully planned and not just thrown together."

Fourteen-year-old Minh Chau Pham said an assistant to Mayor Francis Slay gave her names of people at city hall who could help with her class study. She said her team of five students are just about finished with their study of the "greenhouse effect" on climate.

Asked how her team will present their information, Pham said, "We were told to think out of the box. So, we're using dancing, poetry, singing and rapping in our presentation."

Fifteen-year-old Desmond Holmes said his team is going to explain about toxic waste with a play. "We'll first throw out a lot of trash. Then, we think about it and come back and clean it up," he said. He said local people can help solve big problems.

Thirteen-year-old Margi Doshi said her team will explain global warming by doing a newscast. She said, "I'm going to be a scientist that they interview." Other team members include a news anchor, a reporter and a weatherman.

Thirteen-year-old James McClure said his team is studying deforestation. That's the problem of cutting down to many trees all over the world. He said destroying trees can hurt humans because trees convert carbon dioxide into oxygen.

He said his team will do a skit that has them riding on a bus talking about the problem. "Then, we'll act like we turn on the radio and do a rap song on deforestation," he said.

Teacher Karen Turner led the field trip to City Hall. She's been teaching the combination science-math-literacy classes on world problems for five years. This class on local government is sponsored by Citizens' Education Clearinghouse Program (CECH) at University of Missouri-St. Louis' College of Education.

The CECH also sponsors classes on voting during election years. For instance, Young Saint Louis.com did two stories on state-wide voting by kids in September, 2000, and December, 2000. (If you'd like to read those stories, click onto the Past Stories tab at the top of the home page and call up those two editions.)

Like Shannon Carr, who wants to be president and a business owner, some of other kids had their career goals planned.

Minh Chau Pham wants to be a surgeon. She set her education goals high, hoping to go to either Harvard, Stanford or Yale. But, when she finished her medical education, she wants to return to St. Louis because "all my family is here."

Desmond Holmes want to be a paleontologist. He said, "I've got pictures of dinosaurs all over the walls in my room. And I've got video tapes of all three Jurassic Park movies."

The Golden twins also have career goals. Katherine wants to be either in science or psychology while Kristine would like to be in forensic medicine with the FBI.

 

Music

Fifth grader plays in
Symphony Music School concert

Two years ago, 10-year-old Wilbur Song took up the violin. This month, the fifth grader will play second violin in a Webster University Symphony Music School String Orchestra concert.

Song was introduced to the violin in third grade at Oak Brook Elementary School. "I signed up for a 30-minute class. I liked it so much that I asked my Dad if I could take private lessons," Song said.

He has been taking lessons for two years. His teacher is Mikhail Lobko, a Russian music teacher here in St. Louis.

Also, his mother purchased a "one-quarter sized" violin for him while visiting China. She made the purchase in Shanghai 1 1/2 years ago.

That violin is a little small for him now. But, a local violin shop owner is building a "one-half sized" violin especially for him. "He says I could play it now but it hasn't had the final finish put on yet," Wilbur said.

With his new violin, he's also going to get a new bow. He broke the bow he uses with the smaller violin and his dad had to fix it. He used a wrapping of string which is held together with glue.

He thinks the new violin will last for two or three years before he needs a still bigger size.

Wilbur's rapid improvement on the violin has earned him an award. He was the AmerenUE Bright Star for January. The award is given by radio station KFUO/Classic 99.

(For information on the Bright Star program, you can log on to the KFUO/Classic 99 website at www.classic99.com.)

His Oak Brook Elementary music teacher, Melanie Murphy, nominated Wilbur for the AmerenUE award. She said his playing "took off like a rocket in third grade. His ability and stage presence were remarkable right from the beginning."

Wilbur was the only third grader to perform a solo that summer at the Parkway Schools string instrument camp.

Asked about his interest in music, Wilbur said, "I like to listen to music. I like to play music. It makes me feel good."

He said the good feeling comes because "I can feel myself get better at playing."

Wilbur said he doesn't have any special pieces of music he likes the best. "I like whatever piece I'm playing at the time," he said.

He takes violin lessons from Mr. Lobko once a week, on Saturday mornings. Then, he also practices at home about 50 minutes a day.

He said his violin teacher asked him to give a demonstration for parents of prospective students. He was to show how much improvement was possible in a short time.

His appearance on Saturday, Feb. 9, with the music school string orchestra will be his first public concert. However, he does play with fellow Oak Brook students at school concerts.

Wilbur admits that he's got a lot to learn about how to play the violin. "My teacher says I have to make my hands relax more," he said.

He also admits he gets nervous sometimes while playing. "Sometimes, when I get off a little, I screw up the whole piece," he added.

He's the only family member to take music lessons. But, his father, Keming, does play a Chinese instrument called the "erhu." The name means "two string," Wilbur said.

His father has an "erhu" instrument. It looks a little like a violin. But, the instrument has only two strings and the strings of the bow run between those two strings on the instrument. The "erhu" stands on the floor while it is being played.

Wilbur said he doesn't know how to play the Chinese instrument.

Although Wilbur likes to play music, he doesn't think that will be his only career choice. He wants to be both a musician and a scientist. He's particularly interested in entomology, the study of bugs.

"Ever since I've been five, I've liked bugs. I always felt bad when people killed them," he said. Bugs can be very helpful and useful to humans, Wilbur added.

Wilbur moved with his family to the St. Louis area from San Francisco. They now live in Ballwin, in west St. Louis County. He has an older sister, Jane, 17, and a younger brother, Luke, 6.

 

Reading

Diana Johnson and Roger Wright Jr. were having trouble keeping up their level of reading in school. Now, they're catching up, thanks to volunteer tutors from a unique YMCA program.

Ten-year-old Diana is a graduate of the YRead program after a year of twice-a-week sessions with volunteer Michelle Hatfield. Diana is a fourth grader at Annunziata Learning Center.

Nine-year-old Roger started in YRead last May. So the fourth grader at St. Louis Charter School has four months of tutoring sessions left with volunteer Alicia Jones.

Both kids started in the program after they fell up to two years behind their school classmates in reading ability. To be accepted in YRead, the youngster and his parents have to agree to attend two tutoring sessions a week for a full year.

Diana graduated from the program last November. That meant she had made progress in closing the reading gap in her school.

She told her volunteer tutor, "My classmates don't laugh at me anymore about my reading."

Roger said his school teacher already has noticed his reading progress. "She was proud of me because I read a whole page in class without making a mistake," he said.

Reading test scores show lots of St. Louis elementary and middle school kids aren't reading at grade level. The ability to read is the key to learning almost all other subjects in school.

There are a lot of volunteer tutoring programs in the St. Louis area. But, most of them are for younger kids. The YRead program gives a special focus to helping kids from seven to 14 years of age.

That's the same group of Young Saint Louis.com wants to reach. And, the way YRead volunteers help is very similar to the reading lessons found on the For Adults layer of the YSL.com website.

Diana met her tutor at the Buder branch of the St. Louis City Library. That's the same branch where Roger is now taking his lessons.

Roger said his lesson starts by reading some short books from the library. He said, "Then, my tutor has me read from her workbook. I read and she helps me if I get to a tough word.

"She has me try to sound out that word to see if I can find a little word within the bigger word."

Diana said her tutor would point out the difficult words before she started to read. The tutor also had her try to look for smaller words that are part of the difficult ones. That way, she could get a clue to what the bigger word meant, she said.

Both of them said the tutors would ask questions after they finished reading. Roger said, "My tutor wants to make sure I understand what I just read." (The YSL.com lesson plans also suggest discussion questions after a kid finishes reading one of the website stories.)

Diana and Roger now are doing a lot of reading on his own. Both said they like the Harry Potter books. "My aunt is reading one to me," Roger said.

Diana had one of the Harry Potter books read to her twice. "Now, I'm reading it on my own," she said.

Both of them have seen the movie.

Diana's favorite books are adventures and animal books. She said she has three adventure books featuring twins Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. "I've also got five of their videos," Diana said.

Roger said he likes adventure stories.

Kathy Adkisson is the program director for YRead. It is headquartered at the Carondelet Branch of the YMCA of Greater St. Louis.

She said, "Our main thrust is to use literature to teach reading."

She said the YRead tutors are volunteers "from local churches, colleges and the community." They get special training in helping kids learn to read. The tutors also have to agree to work one-on-one with a kid for a whole year. The tutoring sessions are held twice a week for one hour each time.

If you or your parents would like to learn more about the YRead program, you can call Kathy Adkisson at (314) 353-4960 or e-mail her at literacy@ymcastlouis.org.

 

Books

This month's book reviews

A book about Missouri's best-known writer

Some of us watched the story of Mark Twin's life on public television just a few weeks ago. There is a biography of Twain's life for kids, published by Scholastic Books, which tells his story in print. The book, by Clinton Cox, is called "Mark Twain, America's Humorist, Dreamer, Prophet." Not only is the book interesting reading, but also it has many of the pictures in it that you might have seen on the TV special.

Most kids in Missouri know that Mark Twain's real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, and that he grew up in Hannibal, Missouri. He was born in 1835 in another small Missouri town. Probably, his most famous books are "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" and "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Both of them draw on Twain's experiences in growing up along side of the Mississippi River. As a young man, he was a riverboat pilot on the Mississippi. The name "Mark Twain" came from a call that boatmen used to signal the pilot that the water was deep enough for the steamboat to move ahead safely.

"Tom Sawyer" was written while Sam Clemens was a grown man and looking back with fond memories of his childhood years in Hannibal. "Huckleberry Finn" was written still later in his life and reflected his hatred of slavery and the racism that existed after the Civil War.

Sam Clemens, or Mark Twain, wrote many other books also. Two others, popular with kids, were "The Prince and the Pauper" and "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." Since Clemens' home as an adult was in that New England state, he had become a "Connecticut Yankee." Of course, he never forgot his roots in Hannibal, Missouri.

This biography is not just about Mark Twain's childhood. In his younger life, he had many adventures besides just being a steamboat pilot. He developed his writing skills while working as a newspaperman. He used these skills to write books about his adventures in various places around the world. He became a world famous lecturer and entertained audiences in the major cities in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. He married, had a family of daughters, and lived in a mansion in New England. Before he died in 1910, the boy from Missouri was one of the most famous men in the world. The author, Clinton Cox, does a good job of telling the story of Twain's life.

 

The story of Missouri's writer of
popular children's books that were
made into a TV series

Most kids in Missouri have heard about or read "Little House on the Prairie" and other books about that pioneer family. Since the woman who wrote the books lived in Missouri when she wrote them, most kids learned a little bit about Laura Engalls Wilder. The book "Laura Engalls Wilder, Young Pioneer" written by Beatrice Gormley is another recent addition to the Childhood of Famous Americans series. It is a good book to read for any girls or boys who want to know how a writer of good stories came to write them in the first place.

Laura Engalls was born in 1867. Her childhood and her adult life were spent living on a farm in various places in the Middle West. For a good part of her life there were no automobiles or airplanes. People lived in homes without running water or electricity. People did not have furnaces or air conditioners. So summers were really hot and winters were bitter cold.

Laura Engalls' father moved his family around, looking for better land to farm so he could support all of them. Laura worked hard from the time she was a little girl. She remembered all the hardships the family went through. She also remembered how much she loved her life and family and how much fun they had even when times were tough. She loved to read books when she could find the time. She had wanted to be a writer from her earliest days. She did well in school and, for a few years, taught school herself, before she married a farmer. She occasionally published articles in local newspapers.

She and her husband, Almanzo Wilder, moved to Missouri to operate a farm and apple orchard. Laura raised a family and continued to work hard as a farm wife. She really didn't write her first book until her family was all grown. One of her reasons for starting to write books was that she wanted modern kids to know how pioneers had lived - the way she had lived in her childhood.

Laura's writings about her childhood were so interesting and fun to read, that she became famous across the country as an author of excellent children's books. She stayed on the farm and continued to write about her early life until she was nearly 90 years old. She finally died in 1968 just after her ninetieth birthday. Missouri children, as well as school children from around the nation, visit her home in Southern Missouri to show their respect for Laura Engalls Wilder and the stories she wrote.

 

A biography for girls who want
to learn to fly airplanes

Probably, the best-known female airplane pilot so far in history is Amelia Earhart. "Amilia Earhart, Young Aviator," by Beatrice Gormley, is the story of the life of this young woman, who tried to open doors for girls to become whatever they want to be.

Amelia, called "Millie" by her family and close friends, was born in the late 1890's when girls were expected to wear lace petticoats and stay quiet and clean and neat. Always being ladylike was not for Millie. She wanted to be outside and be active in sports and never liked to wear dresses.

As Millie was growing up, airplanes had just been invented. The early ones were crude and unsafe. Automobiles, also, were just being refined to the place where they were becoming a dependable way to travel. Amelia first venture into new vehicles was in buying and driving a car. Even that was an unusual step for a young woman, since women just were expected to be interested in machines.

After World War I young army pilots came home from the war. They had loved flying and flew planes around cities and towns, offering plane rides to anyone willing to pay for a short ride. Amelia became excited about flying a plane and, almost in secret, began taking flying lessons. She loved flying so much that when she was still a young woman, she bought her own airplane. She became fairly well known as one of the very few women who flew in air shows and flying contests.

Amelia wanted to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, just as Charles Lindbergh had in 1927. No one thought a woman could do it. In 1932, Amelia Earhart, became the first woman to fly alone across the Atlantic. She became famous in Europe as well as in America. Other women wanted to dress and be like her. She used her fame to open up opportunities for women in aviation. She also helped people to become aware that going by airplane was becoming a safe way to travel long distances in a much shorter time that by ship, train, or car.

Unfortunately, in 1937, when attempting to fly around the world, Amelia Earhart was lost somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. Radio contact with her plane was lost. No one knows for sure what caused her to disappear. Numerous searches have been made to solve the mystery, but no one has been able to come up with exactly why or where she went down with her plane. Still, she left behind a record that keeps people talking about her yet today.

 

A book that's almost a ghost story

Kit Watson has just moved from another section of England to an old coal mining town called Stoneygate. After the death of his grandmother, his family had moved back to Stoneygate to take care of Kit's aging grandfather. Kit is thirteen years old, very serious, a good student in school, and a talented story teller and writer. Right after school starts, Kit meets John Askew, a classmate, who comes from a poor family where he is often brutally beaten by a drunken father. Askew points out to Kit that they are both descendents of coal-miners from an earlier time, many of whom lost their lives in mine disasters. He shows Kit a monument in the cemetery with both the names Kit Watson and John Askew on it - names on a list of dozens of names of young boys who were killed in a mine explosion and cave-in about a hundred years earlier.

Kit's grandfather had also been a coal miner. He, too, along with John Askew believes that the spirits of some of the young killed miners were still roaming around in the abandoned coal mines. Between the stories of his grandfather and the influence of John Askew, Kit begins to have dreams about the young miners and struggles to know the difference between his imagination, his dreams, and the real world around him.

Actually, Kit and John, in their imaginations reach back even further in time, to visualize families of cave men who lived in that section of the world thousands of years earlier. These experiences of a connection with the past take over John Askew's life, to the point where he finally runs away from the unhappy life he leads in Stoneygate. He is living like a cave man in an abandoned coal mine. Kit feels responsible to bring him back home to reality but feels that if he isn't careful, John might instead lead him into his world of unreality.

This is a book that really makes you think. The author leaves it to you to determine what is real and what exists only in the imaginations of his characters. The book's title is "Kit's Wilderness" and was written by David Almond. Don't read it unless you are the kind of reader that can comfortably go beyond what the author actually says to draw your own conclusions about the meaning the author is trying to convey. If you can do that, this is a good book.

 

Math Puzzler

Think "out of box" on the
February, 2002, Math Puzzlers

Mr. Math Puzzler wants to help you increase your chances of answering correctly all the February, 2002, Math Puzzlers. His suggestion: Think about different ways to answer questions and then make multiple entries.

You know by now that Mr. Math Puzzler sometimes thinks "out of the box" when coming up with answers. He wants to encourage you to do the same.

For an example, the answer to Question No. 6 in January's Puzzlers depended on how you defined "positioned on a straight line." Most of your answers figured the "straight line" meant getting the satellites re-aligned along the radius of the orbits. That's the way they were aligned in the original illustration..

By doing that, most of you answered 9 hours.

With the "straight line" as a radius, Satellite X-1 had to make a complete orbit in nine hours. Satellite Beta would go around twice in that time and Satellite Parking, three times.

But, Mr. Math Puzzler thought of the "straight line" as a diameter across the whole orbit. That's how he got his re-alignment time down to 4 1/2 hours.

His way, Satellite X-1 would go just half way around the orbit and end up aligned at the bottom of the orbit. Satellite Beta goes around once and ends up on top as it shows in the question's illustration.

Satellite Parking goes around 1 1/2 times and ends up aligned at the bottom of the orbit, like Satellite X-1. This way, the lapsed time is 4 1/2 hours.

In the February Puzzlers, you may find a question that could be answered two or more ways. If so, just print out extra entry forms. Then you can answer a question more than one way. With two or more entries, you can increase your chances of winning.

Mr. Math Puzzler has another tip for you.

We've had the Math Puzzler as a feature of Young Saint Louis.com since last September. Since we keep past editions on file, you can review the past questions and then check the answers at the same time. That'll help you see how Mr. Math Puzzler thinks "out of the box" sometimes.

To look at past issues, click on the Past Stories tab at the top of the home page. Then, by clicking on October, 2001, you can see the answers to September, 2001, questions. You also can do that with other months since then.

Then, you'll have clues on how to out-think Mr. Puzzler in the future.

Each month, YSL.com publishes a series of six Math Puzzlers. We make a little competition out of it. But, the Puzzlers also are designed for whole-family fun. The more fun you have with math, the easier the math concepts will be.

And, if you think of the questions in different ways, you can double your fun.

Also, if you send in multiple entries, you increase your chances of earning our EXTRA BONUS. Remember, all entries with six correct answers are put into a hat and up to three will get $10 Border's book certificates. (YSL.com wants to award book certificates.)

Submit your answers to this February contest by using the form below. In March, we'll publish names of those who answered all questions correctly. We'll also include explanations of the answers. (For answers to the January Math Puzzlers, including the tough Question No. 6, click here.)

A reminder: We've made these Math Puzzlers quite challenging, especially for younger kids. But, we don't mind if you solicit help from a parent or older brother or sister. In fact, you might want to make this a family activity.

Here's how to enter:

1. Print out the following entry form.
2. Fill out your name, address and telephone number.
3. Give your answers to the six Math Puzzlers.
4. Put your completed entry into a stamped envelope.
   
   
5. Mail your entry to:
   
   Math Puzzler Contest
   Young Saint Louis.com
   7733 Forsyth Blvd., Suite 350
   Clayton, MO 63105
   
   
6. All entries must be postmarked by the 15th of the month to be eligible for a book prize.

-------------------- Clip here to make entry --------------------

Entry for February, 2002, Math Puzzler Contest:

Name: ________________________________________

Address: ______________________________________

City:_____________________, State:______ ZIP______

Contact phone no.(____)____________________

The Math Puzzlers
(February, 2002)

1. Which is larger: one-half times one-half of a dozen dozen or one-half dozen halved and cubed?

Answer:___________

 

2. If two gallons of paint are required to cover all the faces of one cube, how many gallons will be required to cover all exposed surfaces of this figure, including the faces on the bottom. (All cubes are shown; there are no hidden cubes.)

Answer:___________

 

3. You walk into a room where there are three boxes. One is marked "gold;" another marked "silver" and the third marked "gold & silver." You are told that all three labels are wrong. If you can figure out the correct contents of each box by looking at the contents of only one box, you can have all the gold and silver you can carry out of the room. How do you proceed?

Answer:___________

 

4. A local tennis tournament has 128 entrants for its singles competition. How many total matches will be needed to be played, including the championship match, to determine the champion?

Answer:___________

 

5. What size square has a perimeter that is equal (in number only) to its area?

Answer:___________

 

6. Five friends are going to the movies. When they arrive, there are only six seats together left in the theater. The manager will let all five friends in for free if one of them can tell him how many different seating arrangements are possible for five people with six empty seats. All five were let in free. What was their answer?

Answer:__________

 

Question No. 6 is the stumbling block;
No winners this month

Many of the entries in the January Math Puzzler competition got five of six answers correct. But, the answer to Question No. 6 eluded everyone.

The most common answer was 9 hours. And, it seemed to be the "logical" answer. But, Mr. Math Puzzler had a different idea of what "positioned in a straight line" meant.

He was able to get the satellites re-aligned along his straight line in half the time, or 4 1/2 hours.

Many of you thought of the "straight line" as a radius from the Earth to the outer edge of the orbits. That's the way the satellites showed in the illustration for the question.

But, Mr. Puzzler's "straight line" was a full diameter of the orbits, running on both sides of the earth. The illustration for the answer to Question No. 6 shows how that works.

Question No. 6 was the only one where all your answers were incorrect. For many of you, the other answers seemed to come easy - although Mr. Math Puzzler thought he was making the questions very challenging. .

For some tips by Mr. Math Puzzler on how to increase your chances of getting future answers right, see the February Math Puzzler story. (To get there quickly, just click here after you review the January answers that follow.)

Answers to January, 2001, Math Puzzlers

1. The clerk misunderstood the order for rope. He reversed the feet and inches and the customer got only 30% of what she ordered. What was the length of rope really ordered?

Answer: 9 ft, 2 inches

Explanation: There's a way to solve this with algebraic formulas. But, this is also one where starting with an "educated guess" can put you on the road to the right answer. One way to focus your guess is to assume the rope won't be higher than 11 feet. That's because the "reversed" number can't have an inch figure over 11.

So, start with 11 feet, 10 inches and work down. Eleven feet, 10 inches, when reversed comes out 10 feet, 11 inches. That doesn't fit the 30% comparison. By working this way, you'll eventually arrive at 9 ft, 2 in. A lot of you got there on this question.

 

2. Jerry went shopping. He spent half of what he had plus $5 for a shirt. Then, he spent half of what was left plus $5 for a mystery novel. Finally, he spent half of what was left plus $5 for stationery. Then, Jerry had nothing left. How much did he start with?

Answer: $70

Explanation: To get this correct answer takes a number of algebra steps. But, many of you found the correct answers. We start with X being the final answer.

 

3. There was a contest to guess how many beans were in a jar. Herb was off by 6, Sally was off by 5, James was off by 4 and Lucy was off by 3. Susie was correct. One guessed 19, one guessed 22, one guessed 29, one guessed 25 and one guessed 30. What was the right answer?

Answer: 25 beans

Explanation: This is another answer that can be found with "educated" trial and error. Arrange people by order, such as Herb, off 6; Sally, off 5; James, off 4, Lucy, off 3, and Susie, off 0. Then, starting with Herb, figure out which numbers off by 6. The only combination is 19 and 25. Then, check out Sally's off 5 number and you see 30 is 5 off of 25. Using 25 as the correct answer, James' off 4 number is 29 and Lucy's off 3 number is 22.

 

4. Jim climbed a rock wall at half a mile per hour and descended twice as fast. The trip took 12 hours. How far was it to the top?

Answer: 4 miles

Explanation: You can see that if going up takes twice as long as going down. That means two-thirds of total 12-hour round trip is (or 8 hours) is spent going up and one-third (or 4 hours) in coming down. You know you made progress at a half-mile per hour going up so the answer is 4 miles.

 

5. Fifteen knights were invited to a sumptuous meal at the castle. Before sitting down, each of the 15 knights shook hands with each of the other knights. How many hand shakes were needed?

Answer: 105

Explanation: The answer is arrived at by figuring a progression of handshakes. Knight No. 1 needs to shake hands with the other 14 knights. But, Knight No. 2 only requires 13 new handshakes because his shake with Knight No. 1 is already accounted for. Knight No. 3 only needs 12 new shakes, because his handshakes with Knights No. 1 and No. 2 are accounted for in those knights' shake totals. This continues until Knight No. 15 has no new handshakes because his shaking is accounted in the other 14 totals. And 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 new handshakes adds up to 105.

 

6. Different things orbit the earth at different speeds and distances. For example, satellites and space instruments released by the space shuttle are only several hundred miles away from earth, while communication satellites circle at a distance of about 22,300 miles.

In this puzzle, Satellite X-1 orbits our planet once every nine hours, Satellite Beta once every 4 1/2 hours and Satellite Parking once every three hours. At time zero, the satellites are positioned in a straight line. How long will it take for all three objects to position themselves again in a straight line?

Illustration A

Answer: 4 1/2 hours

Explanation: Compare the original question illustration (A) with the answer illustration (B).

Illustration B

If you ran the satellites around until they lined up like Illustration A, the lapsed time would be 9 hours. But, if you consider alignment along the whole diameter it would take only 4 1/2 hours. That's because Satellite X-1 only needs to make a half-orbit to get aligned to Satellite Beta, which makes a whole orbit in that time. Then, Satellite Parking aligns at the bottom of the orbit (with Parking) by going around 1 1/2 times in its 4 1/2 hours.

 

Fun and Games

Fun and Games

Note that the words used in Young Saint Louis.com crossword puzzles are all taken from the articles appearing in this month's issue. When you have completed the puzzles, you can look below to find the answers!

Young Saint Louis - February #1

Across	Down
6. studies dinosaurs 8. not met before 9. character elements 10. made-up stories	1. destroy forests 2. helps with new ideas 3. control one's fear 4. showing how to do 5. see a job through 7. doctor who operates

 

Young Saint Louis - February #2

Across	Down
1. a small play 2. one-on-one teacher 5. cause cancer 7. athletic training 8. unlike any other 9. to give support	1. maintains efficiency 3. feed into big river 4. suited to conditions 6. works without pay

 

Happy Valentine Day

Across	Down
4. shoots love arrows 6. expresses affection 7. red flowers 9. a celebration 10. sweets for the sweet	1. makes greeting cards 2. secret admirer 3. embarassed look 5. shortest month 8. symbol of love

 

A few school transportation jokes

Teacher: What's big and yellow and comes in the morning to brighten your mother's day?
     Pupil: The school bus!

How do bees get to school?
     By school buzz!

Teacher: Abraham Lincoln had a very tough childhood. He had to walk seven miles to school everyday.
     Pupil: Well, big deal, he should have got up earlier and caught the school bus like everyone else!

A few more school jokes

Mother: What was the first thing you learned in school?
      Daughter: How to talk with my mouth closed!

Did you hear about the cross-eyed teacher?
      Yeah, he couldn't control his pupils!

Where did knights learn how to slay dragons?
      In knight school!

Teacher: You copied from Fred's exam paper, didn't you?
      Pupil: How did you know?
Teacher: Fred wrote, "I don't know" on question 5, and on the same question you wrote, "Me neither"!

Pupil: Dad, can you help me find the lowest common denominator in the problem, please?
      Dad: Don't tell me they haven't found it yet! I remember looking for it when I was a kid!

Mother: Why did you just swallow the money I gave you?
      Son: Well, you said it was for my lunch!

And finally (applause!)

Knock. Knock.
      Who's there?
William.
      William, who?
William be my Valentine!

 

Answers to Fun and Games

Note that the words used in Young Saint Louis.com crossword puzzles are all taken from the articles appearing in this months issue.

Young Saint Louis - February #1

Across	Down
6. studies dinosaurs 8. not met before 9. character elements 10. made-up stories	1. destroy forests 2. helps with new ideas 3. control one's fear 4. showing how to do 5. see a job through 7. doctor who operates

 

Young Saint Louis - February #2

Across	Down
1. a small play 2. one-on-one teacher 5. cause cancer 7. athletic training 8. unlike any other 9. to give support	1. maintains efficiency 3. feed into big river 4. suited to conditions 6. works without pay

 

Happy Valentine Day

Across	Down
4. shoots love arrows 6. expresses affection 7. red flowers 9. a celebration 10. sweets for the sweet	1. makes greeting cards 2. secret admirer 3. embarassed look 5. shortest month 8. symbol of love