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Show Thursday, August 30, 2007 AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN Page 3 NEWS AND IDEAS FROM CLASSROOMS AND EDUCATORS v '4' '' ' it. i .... W MM'.'' f ( Siblings Matthew, Emily and Aubrey Taylor will all tell stories at Blliiiigs sBnare Barbara Christiansen NORTH COUNTY STAFF The Taylor children have different dif-ferent approaches, but they all enjoy telling tales so much so, in fact, they all passed the . auditions to be youth tellers at the Timpanogos Storytelling i Festival which begins today, j Eight-year-old Matthew, 9-year-old Emily and 12-year-old Aubrey Taylor each will be telling some of their favorite tales. Emily and Matthew will tell on Thursday; with Aubrey on Friday. Storytelling in the family began when Aubrey, now in seventh grade at American Fork Junior High School, was in the second grade at Barratt Elementary School. "We didn't even know about the festival then," she said. Amer. Fork Barbara Christiansen ' NORTH COUNTY STAFF 1 1 It's been just 10 years since Lone Peak High School opened, relieving some of the overcrowding at American Fork High School. This fall's enrollment at AFHS, however, has hit a record number, and has school officials scrambling to meet the students' needs. "Last year we had 1725 students," assistant principal Jeff Schoonover said. "We thought we would be around 1700 this year. We had planned on and were given money for that number." "This year I would say we are close to 1840 students," he said. "It must be new construction construc-tion and growth in the area. We have a lot of students that want to come to AFHS, too, because be-cause our academic programs and staff have been excellent." The increase in students has brought some challenges. "We are trying to figure out where to put the students," Schoonover said. "Some teachers teach-ers have 35 in a class, some have 40. We will have to reorder reor-der textbooks again. This our fourth time reordering." A hint of the problem came Andrew Cottrell This week's column is all about the ladies. The ladies that work hard every day doing do-ing what they love. That's right, this column is all about the American Fork ' - W'f "When I won the school it was a shock to me there was more. We really liked it." At Barratt, they have class competitions, followed by those at the grade level and for the entire school. Two winners are named from each school and there are open auditions to fill in the rest of the slots. More than 100 students auditioned this year and 24 or 25 of them were chosen. "I really wanted to do it and thought it would be fun," Aubrey Au-brey said. "It was fun. I really liked big audiences. I really like getting lots of people laughing." Mom Patty Taylor said that fit her daughter's personality. "She is a born performer," she said. Her siblings followed her example. 1 "It looked run," Emily said. High experiences growth pains Students pack the halls between when students began online registratioa "We were able to see things online," Schoonover said. "It is really nice. We had new student stu-dent registration on the sixth (of August). We were pretty well packed already." In addition to ordering more textbooks, the school High School Drill Team The president of the drill team is Kelsey Dalton. Captains Cap-tains of the drill team are Aly-son Aly-son Miller and Hillery HalL Now we all see them perform per-form during half time at the football games but do you think that is all they do? If so you are sorely mistaken. I interviewed Alyson Miller about drill team to see what really goes oa Monday through Friday these girls get up and go to drill at 6 a.m. "WW" j.-tf' the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival this weekend. teles at Stotryteim Festive "I thought it would be fun telling tell-ing stories." She had a similar reaction to the one Aubrey had, but she had one major difference. "It was fun getting up and having people clapping, but I didn't really like the big audiences," audi-ences," she said. Aubrey said the experience helped Emily. "She was shy before storytelling," story-telling," she said. "It kind of helped her gain confidence." This is the third year Matthew Mat-thew has been involved in storytelling. sto-rytelling. "I started in kindergarten," he said. "I told the story of The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Big Hungry Hun-gry Bear. I did it because I like bears. Bears and dogs are my favorite animals." This year, he wrote his own classes at American Fork High has had to place orders for additional desks. "Right now we actually have some students at tables," Schoonover said. "We are waiting wait-ing for more desks to arrive." Cafeteria manager Robin Hansen said her crew is always busy, but has been handling about 50 additional Every B-Day they are there at 6 a.m. and stay through first period. Every Thursday night they go from 6-9 p.m. All of this practicing is leading lead-ing up to the state competition at the end of their season in the spring. But what exactly does the team practice? The work on several dances including jazz dance, hip-hop, lyrical, military dancing and kick dancing which Alyson says is like the can-can. The theme V story. It's called "The Tomina-tor," Tomina-tor," and is about his experience with a Thanksgiving turkey. Matthew told his definition of a good story for telling. "It has a beginning, a middle and an end," he said. Emily added that a good story should have actions and use facial expression. Aubrey agreed. "It has got to have, like, lots of action in it and facial expression, expres-sion, movement and voices," she said. "You should transform into other characters and have the audience enjoy your story." Patty Taylor said she tells her children that a good every should have a problem which needs to be solved. The siblings use different methods to prepare. "I practice a lot," Aubrey said. "A couple of weeks be- BARBARA CHRISTIANSENNorth County School on Aug.28. students a day more than last year. She anticipates that number num-ber will continue to increase. Schoonover said one area which needs to be addressed is student parking. "We definitely need more parking," he said. "We needed more last year. There is no place to really put it." for this years drill team is R.I.S.E. The R is for respect, the I is for integrity, the S is for strength, and the E is for energy. When asked about the overall over-all drill team experience, Alyson Aly-son said, "It's really fun and really hard but our team gets along really well." We wish the best of luck to this year's drill team and thank them for the hard work they put into their dances and representing our school. r-4 fore, we tell it for the school. We pretty much know it. When something big comes up, we practice more." "I start two or three weeks before," Emily said. "I practice a little before the thing." Aubrey said she hears Emily practicing. "She will be in her room ad night, telling her story over and over," she said. Emily said she has done even more. "My dad says the first year I used to practice in my sleep," she said. Matthew said he practices about a week and a half before the telling. Aubrey said there are some challenges about having the three from the same family involved in-volved in the same event. "If they are in the same age All schools Labor Day There will be no school Monday in observance obser-vance of Labor Day. American Fork High School Welcoming activities In conjunction with "Hello Week" student council members mem-bers handed out carabineers to each student and staff member as they came to school. The student council will also be hosting a "Hello" Spirit Bowl assembly today. A "Hello" dance will end the activities Friday after the football game. School pictures School pictures were taken this week during English classes. Student handbooks were also distributed at this time. Any student who missed school pictures will have an opportunity opportu-nity to get their picture taken on picture make-up day, Sept. Dress code As a reminder re-minder to parents and students, stu-dents, the school dress code will be enforced at school as well as all school-sponsored activities. Students and parents par-ents should review the dress code in the student handbook. Students who are dressed inappropriately will be given on oversized T-shirt to wear until they are able to change into appropriate clothing. American Fork Junior High School Pictures School pictures will be taken today and tomorrow to-morrow during class. Picture liofeSii BARBARA CHRISTIANSENNorlh County group, they are going against each other," she said. "They want each other to do their best and try to help each other Whatever happens they are OK with it." Whether they wear regular school clothes or dress up for the festival depends on the type of story they are telling. Last year Matthew dressed up like a pirate for his story. Aubrey would like to continue con-tinue telling stories, but may like to be an actress also. "I would like to be in movies," mov-ies," she said. She enjoys musical musi-cal theater and has put singing in her stories. Emily said she may try a different dif-ferent route in her future. "Maybe I will do something else like write the stories" she said. "I like writing more than telling." packets may be purchased at the time that the pictures are taken. Recognition The administration admin-istration has recognized the good things that teachers are doing. Parents are asked to share their positive experiences experi-ences with teachers with Principal Prin-cipal Murphy. Kudos may be sent via e-mail to tcmalpine. kl2.ut.us. Please include the teacher's name, what heshe did and your name. Yearbooks Yearbooks may be purchased for $30 through January. Beginning in February, the cost will go up to $40. Brunches Parentprincipal Parentprin-cipal brunches will be held again this year. The first one will be in September. This is an opportunity for parents to meet with Principal Murphy to discuss issues regarding their student's education. Watch for more information. Volunteers sought Parents Par-ents are needed to help with Cave Patrol. The Cave Patrol monitors the halls during lunch to easure a safe atmosphere at-mosphere for all students. Parents are needed for 30 minutes during either first or second lunch and can help once a week or once a month. Willing parents are asked to call Hollie Baxter at 763-1849 or by e-mail at htbaxtermsn. com. Forbes Elementary School Screenings Hearing screening for grades K, 1, 3 and 5 will be next Thursday. Vision screening for the same grades will take place Sept. 10. 1 !OPY |