Made in Michigan, Page 3. Reading month fun, Page 2. An Irish treat, Page 5. Supported by readers of the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News

Transcription

1 MARCH MADNESS Issue 766 Thursday, March 17, 2011 Reading month fun, Page 2. Made in Michigan, Page 3. An Irish treat, Page 5. Supported by readers of the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News

2 2 Thursday, March 17, 2011 MICHIGAN K.I.D.S. Yak chat Happy St. Patrick s Day to all Yak s Corner readers. Go Green! The Yak celebrates by wearing green today in honor of the Irish celebration. Turn to an Irish recipe that is so tasty anytime, Page 5. The Yak will be dancing to some Irish music, too. Speaking of dancing, check out the Yak s dance at a school reading assembly, along with other school reading month fun, Page 2. Then there s the Big Dance. That s a nickname for the March Madness, or the college basketball tournament, getting under way. Detroit hosted the Final Four two years ago, but still has a big part in this year s tournament. Find out why on Page 3. St. Valentine students and staff get a lesson in Yak-dancing! Read, write, Yak! Schools are filled with reading month activities and visitors, including the Yak. He recently visited St. Valentine School in Redford to celebrate reading. Thanks, St. Valentine, for a great time! What is your school doing for reading month? Students at Susick Elementary School in Troy, below, had the chance to share their love of Dr. Photo by Cathy Collison Seuss books. Teacher Barbara Gottschalk shared with us photos from the after school program for English language learners, who went for a visit to nearby Cherrywood Nursing and Living Center on March 2, Dr. Seuss s birthday. The 14 students in grades 2-5 sang some songs, read Dr. Seuss books with the residents, and met with senior citizens who are pen friends. Also Inside: Be an art detective, Page 4. Aardvark arrival, Page 6. Your art, Page 7. On the cover: St. Valentine School students greet the Yak who dropped by the Redford School to celebrate reading! Photo by Cathy Collison Printed by: The Detroit Media Partnership Sterling Heights, Michigan, Winter Bryan, a student at Susick Elementary School in Troy, shares a book with a senior friend. St. Valentine School s team name is the Volts maybe that s why the Yak found everyone charged with enthusiasm when he visited the Redford school to celebrate reading. What is your school doing for Reading Month? Photo by Cathy Collison

3 MICHIGAN K.I.D.S. Thursday, March 17, Dancing With The Flooring Stars Michigan Plays Big Part in The Final Four What does the tiny town of Amasa, in Michigan s Upper Peninsula, have to do with the NCAA s Final Four championship games? A lot, actually. That s because the town is home to the manufacturing operations of Connor Sport Court International, which makes basketball court flooring. The Yak was lucky enough to step on the Connor floor two years ago when Detroit hosted the Final Four. Ford Field was transformed from a football arena to a gleaming basketball court. The flooring champs are key Amasa players in the tournament. Connor Sports Flooring, which was founded in 1872, is making the official basketball court flooring for both the men s and women s championship games. Conrad Stromberg, the plant manager in Amasa, says he usually gets a few calls about the flooring in March because newspapers and other media are interested in the story behind the flooring. Conrad says he and everyone that works at Connor Sports Flooring is very proud to be a part of this tradition. The floors are still hand crafted in the same way they were 30 or 40 years ago, he said of the unique portable floors the company is famous for manufacturing. According to the company, the Michigan plant makes about 750 playing courts every year for schools, gymnasiums, colleges and professional venues (stadiums). The company has built flooring for more than a dozen NBA teams, including the Boston Celtics, the Atlanta Hawks, the Philadelphia 76ers and the Oklahoma City Thunder, added Conrad. Amasa is tiny. The population is only about 250 people. We have a couple of churches, a post office and a convenience store, says Conrad. But the little town is doing big business in Michigan as the leading manufacturer of hardwood courts in the U.S. This year, the NCAA Women s Basketball Championship games will be played in Indianapolis, Indiana and the Men s Championship games will be played in Houston, Texas. At Yak s press time, we didn t know how Michigan s college teams would fare. But as basketball fans tune into the Final Four games, we can join the folks in Amasa, feeling a little home state pride in the gleaming, maple floors that were made right here in our great state. By Janis Campbell Photo Courtesy of The Kosmowski Group In 2010, the Connor flooring truck rolled up to set up the floor at the Lucas Oil Stadium for the Men s Final Four in Indianapolis. This year, Connor will be providing the floor for the Women s Final Four in the same stadium. FINAL FOUR FLOOR FACTS: The NCAA Final Four courts are manufactured from hard maple purchased from Timber Products Company, located about 140 miles north of Amasa near Munising, Michigan. Connor buys wood from about 60 different sawmills, most of them in Michigan and Wisconsin. The company started working on this year s floors in September. The total size of each court, once assembled, is 60 feet by 120 feet, an area of 7,200 square feet. About three weeks ago, the Final Four floors were assembled and inspected at the Amasa plant, and then taken apart and sent to one of the company s finishing facilities. The men s floor will travel to its destination in Houston on a special Connor Final Four truck. The women s floor travels to Indianapolis. The truck makes special stops for community events. Source: Connor Sports Flooring/Connor Sports Court International

4 4 Thursday, March 17, 2011 MICHIGAN K.I.D.S. An eye for art Be an art detective at the DIA When it s too rainy or blustery outside, the Yak is always up for an art trip inside. The Detroit Institute of Arts has a special exhibit that is a test for your brain and your eyes. Fakes, Forgeries and Mysteries explores how art experts figure out if art was really created by the named artist, or whether someone meant to deceive others into believing the art is by a particular artist. The whole exhibit is one big lesson. It lets you be an art detective, too. You learn how museums and galleries protect art collections by using science, technology and art historical research to make sure their art is the real deal. In the case of some artworks from the past, even the experts declare the artist to be a mystery. You ll see a video on the DIA in action, tracking the history of an art gift down to every clue, including labels and numbers on the back of This granite Head of a King once was dated back to the ancient Egyptian period, but it is a forgery, made by Oxan Aslanian, who was a 20th-Century forger of Egyptian art nicknamed the Master of Berlin. the painting. (In this case, the DIA detected that the art had a forged signature.) Along the way there are some interactive exhibits and magnifying glasses you can borrow to try and find a clue. Can you find the symbol on an antique plate? The Yak held up the magnifying glass to every detail and still couldn t find the symbol! (Once you can t or can find the clues, you can open a little door mounted on the wall to find the answer.) In another case, the Yak saw three drawings. Which one or ones were really by the artist? The clues included some facts on the artist s style, and even looking for traces of graphite (pencil) under the ink. The magnifying glass came in handy. The Yak and his friend were able to follow the clues and tell the forgery apart from the truth. But that s not easy even for experts. As the Yak learned, modern technology and laboratory work is helping experts now more than ever. In one example, an X-ray revealed brush strokes under the painting, a telling clue to reveal the truth about the painting. Brush up on your art! Check out this amazing exhibit before it closes on April 10. By Cathy Collison For information and hours, see This art, titled Laughing Boy, painted about 1620 or later, was not a forgery, but was done in a style of painter Frans Hals. It is by an unknown artist.

5 MICHIGAN K.I.D.S. Thursday, March 17, 2011 Make an Irish Yak Snack 5 Happy St. Patrick s Day! Everyone is Irish on St. Pat s Day, as they say. So this year, the Yak is celebrating by making a traditional Irish cake, which calls for one of Ireland s principal grains: oats. We love delicious, nutritious oats, of course. We eat oatmeal regularly for breakfast and we often make oatmeal cookies. But in Ireland, they also use oats to make biscuits, cakes, pancakes, breads and even stuffing. Wheat is grown, too, as it is in the United Sates, but oats and barley are better suited to the damp Irish climate. This recipe is a keeper, one of our favorites. Think of it as Irish gingerbread gingerbread made with oats instead of only flour. No need to dye it green that would be yucky. But this week, you might want to enjoy it with a glass of cold green milk! (Just add a few drops of green food coloring to the milk and stir.) Photo by Per Kjeldsen Irish Gingerbread What you need 1 ½ cups oats (the kind you cook for five minutes to make old-fashioned oatmeal, not instant oatmeal). 1 ½ cups flour 2 rounded tablespoons butter, softened, and a little extra to grease the pan 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 large egg, beaten ¼ teaspoon salt ½ cup sugar 2 tablespoons molasses or real maple syrup 1 cup buttermilk 2 heaping teaspoons ground ginger What to do 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 2. Using your fingers, lightly grease an 8-by 4-inch loaf pan with the extra butter. 3. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, baking powder and flour. Then, using clean hands or a spoon, blend in the butter, sugar, salt and ginger. 4. With adult help, in a small pan, warm the molasses or maple syrup slightly. Remove from heat, add the beaten egg and buttermilk and stir well. 5. Gradually stir the molasses mixture into the flour mixture and combine well. Make sure you don t see any dry spots! 6. Pour the mixture into the loaf pan and bake on the lower rack of the oven for about an hour. (Ask an adult to test the cake for doneness. It s done if the toothpick inserted in the middle of it comes out clean. If the toothpick is wet, continue baking for up to 15 more minutes.) 7. Ask an adult to remove the cake from the oven. Let it rest for five minutes before removing it from the pan. Set the cake on a metal rack and let it cool completely and set for at least three hours. By Patricia Chargot Note: This cake is wonderful for breakfast, with jam. If you can, let it set overnight before cutting.

6 6 Thursday, March 17, 2011 MICHIGAN K.I.D.S. Aardvark Debuts The Detroit Zoo has a big birth announcement: There s a new aardvark, Roxanne, for zoo visitors to meet. The name means bright star. This is the third baby aardvark born at the Detroit Zoo. She was born in January and weighed only four pounds. Now she s already four times that size. As a grownup aardvark, Roxanne will weigh between 90 and 145 pounds and be about 5 to 6 feet long. Yakking about the news A weekly wrap-up for young readers Baby aardvark Roxanne with her mother, Rachaael. The aardvark s most amazing feature to the Yak? It s a tie between the super snout and the totally long tongue. That snout, explains the Detroit Zoo, acts as a filter, letting scents in and keeping dirt out. An adult aardvark s sticky tongue can be up to 12 inches long and helps the aardvark catch insects. More Zoo Mascots? Speaking of zoo news, the Yak is a reading mascot, but he likes to track the news of other mascots. A new mascot at the North Carolina Zoo has a funny name; he s nicknamed Snotty the Snot Otter! The Wall Street Journal put this mascot news on its front page. The new Snot Otter mascot shines a spotlight on the North Carolina Zoo s hellbender conservation efforts. The snot otter, or hellbender, is an amphibian, a type of salamander. The hellbender is North America s largest salamander, but pollution is threatening its habitat. Local students at Randolph Community College in Asheboro, North Carolina, designed the mascot. Roxanne is the third aardvark born at the Detroit Zoo. Detroit Zoo photos Up and Away! If you saw the movie, Up! then you ll be amazed that scientists in California tried the real balloon stunt. They attached 300 helium-filled balloons, which lifted a 16-by 16-foot house up to the sky. The test was part of a show for the National Geographic channel called, How Hard Can it be? You can see the film now on Don t try this at home! KIDS MAKING NEWS Oscar Choir Sings Out One school choir is still recovering from big TV appearances, including a performance at the Academy Awards last month. In New York, Public School 22 (PS 22) of Staten Island, made headlines performing at the big awards show for movies, the Oscars. This fifth-grade choir sang Somewhere over the Rainbow at the end of the awards. They also appeared on the The Oprah Winfrey Show among other shows. Detroit Choir Online Kids at the Detroit Academy of Arts and Sciences Show Choir have been making headlines, too. They have been singing the praises of Detroit in their own adaptation of Empire State of Mind, the Jay-Z and Alicia Keys hit. You can catch a video of the group through Wayne State s WDET station. Check it out at community/mlk/tribute2011.php and stay tuned to Yak s Corner for their concert news later this spring.

7 MICHIGAN K.I.D.S. Thursday, March 17, Think about art! Today s artists use a lot of green! With spring just around the corner, you expect to see the green leaves on trees, the green grass and green sprouts for flowers. And how about green frogs? There are many variations of green hues. See what art you can create for spring using shades or hues of green. By Deema Bunni, 7, Troy By Kevin Zaya, Troy See more art online in the Yak Art Gallery at By Juliana Jameel, 8, Troy By Diana Yousif 10 Troy By Anna Valdez, 10, Detroit By Kody Lewis, 11, Southfield Send us your art The Yak loves your drawings. The Yak also loves spring! Time to send drawings of your favorite spring activities. Draw on white 8 -by-11 paper and use bright colors. Be sure to print your name, age, city and phone number clearly on the back of your drawing. Send your art to Yak s Corner Art P.O. Box , Detroit, MI

8 8 Thursday, March 10, 2011 Yak s take-home page MICHIGAN K.I.D.S. brought to you by: About the White House visit» A total of 44 students and 10 teachers and parents visited the White House» The bus ride from Detroit to Washington, D.C., took 11 hours» The group was made up of honor roll students in fifth through eighth grades. Source: Detroit Public Schools From left, Jonathan Barksdale, Jordan Dixon, Krista Hidgon, Kenedi Wesley, and teacher Rose Caldwell visited the White House on a recent trip to Washington, D.C. They are pictured outside their hotel. DPS students visit the White House Thirty-two students from Paul Robeson Malcolm X Academy recently traveled to Washington D.C. to participate in a special Black History Month celebration at the White House. Paul Robeson Malcolm X Academy was one of 50 schools from across the nation to receive a special invitation to bring several of its students, along with parents and teachers, to the White House on February 26. In the spirit of collaboration, Robeson Malcolm X also invited students from Halley Middle School, Marquette Middle School and Marcus Garvey Academy to travel with them to the White House. Four students from each school attended. Robeson Malcolm X Principal Dr. Jeffery Robinson represented Detroit Public Schools at a special reception held on February 25 at the White House, where President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted educators from across the country. It was wonderful, Robinson said of his chance to meet the Obamas. Just being in the same room with the President and First Lady as they discussed educational policy was an unforgettable experience. A last-minute change in the First Family s schedule prevented the students from meeting First Lady Michelle Obama and her daughters, Sasha and Malia, but the students took it all in stride. I was very proud of them, Robinson said. They were excited about just being in the White House. They got to go through all the rooms and were acknowledged as special visitors. The White House is planning to do something for them to make up for the First Family not being there. While in D.C., the students also visited the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial and took a tour of the city. Build skills for reading tips to try Activity:» President Obama reads 10 letters from the public every day in order to stay in tune with the concerns of the American people. What issues in your community are you concerned about? Let President Obama know about them by writing him a letter and sending it to: The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC You might even get a response from him! Source: Detroit Public Schools