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Show Thursday, December 25, 2008 AMERICAN FORK CITIZEN Page 11 ATO R S Legacy Elem. students offer help to veterans in Salt Lake City N E W SAN D IDEAS FROM CIAS S R 0 0 MS AND E D U C Karissa Neely NORTH COUNTY STAFF David Geels's sixth-grade class at Legacy Elementary . School in American Fork found the Christmas spirit this year, "and they ended up infecting the entire school with it, too. Geels's class project was Operation: Op-eration: Help-a-Vet, this year's Legacy Project. This is the third year Geels has done a Legacy Project with his class. He does it as "a way for students to look beyond themselves to the needs of others," he said. His class collected items for hygiene kits and backpacks to donate to the veterans at the Veterans' Hospal in Salt Lake City. "Several of the students have family that have served in Iraq, and it was something they felt strongly about," said Geels. "Initially we were going to set up booths outside local stores and solicit donations, but it was hard to find enough merchants who hadn't already made commitments to other organizations to set up outside their store. So we went to the best source of giving, and Include a Linda Butler north county staff Colorful and fun pinatas are popular at parties. Traditionally used in festivities fes-tivities by Hispanic cultures, breaking a pinata has become a popular pastime at birthday parties and other gatherings. Breaking open your own home-made pinata on New Year's Eve can be a fun family traditioa Although pinatas are widely known throughout the Hispanic world, some historians believe that pinatas originated in Asia. According to Wendy Devlin at www.mexconnect.com, Marco Polo discovered the Chinese fashioning figures of cows, oxen, and buffalo, covering them with colored paper, filling them with seeds and hanging them to greet the New Year. Using sticks, they'd hit the figures, causing seeds to spill forth. The remains of the figures fig-ures were gathered and burned, and people collected the seeds and ashes, which were said to bring prosperity throughout the new year. These earliest pinatas traveled trav-eled to Europe with Marco Polo. During the 14th century the pinata was adapted to the celebrations cel-ebrations of Lent. The first Sunday Sun-day became "Pinata Sunday." These pinatas were fashioned from clay and were round like water pots. When the custom spread to Spain, the first Sunday in Lent became a fiesta known as "Dance of the Pinata." The first pinatas were plain pots, but in time they became more showy decorated with colorful rib- Woi tof D. 26, U.tll Jm. I, 2009 Beverly Hills Chihuahua W. S. la. hi. fen. WO 1 7 M pa Forever Strong W. S. Im. hn. Ihn. SM I HO p WNOnrfcnhilMOpa High School Musical 3 M. SfTta W hn. SM US 7J0 1 MSp MIXmTwilnlMOSHStJOp T-TT7 w .0 r & MMe Vfllley Care Center 25 E. Alpine Drive Pleasant Grove ..- ) 785-3568 Several of the students have family that have served in Iraq, and it was something they felt strongly about. David Geels TEACHER that's the children at Legacy and the community here." The students set a goal of making 100 hygiene kits and getting 50 backpacks. The kits were to contain a washcloth, wash-cloth, bar of soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, shave cream and a razor. Each grade level was asked homemade pinata in your I p . 1 various pinata customs with E v.vii 1 religious instruction. They ere- PifillttS I l t I ated a brightly decorated ball bons, fringed paper, and tinseL Ancient American cultures had their own kinds of pinatas. To celebrate the birthday of their god of war, Aztec priests placed an ornately decorated clay pot on a pole in the temple. The pot was filled with tiny treasures. When broken with a stick or club, the treasures fell to the feet of the god's image im-age as an offering. The ancient Mayans played a game where the player's eyes were covered while he struck at a clay pot suspended by a string. Spanish missionaries to the Americas integrated the a Behind this ear lies an engineering masterpiece " Open Ear Technology is the most revolutionary development in hearing care since the introduction of digital hearing aids. Come in for a FREE hearing evaluation and give them a try with our NO OBLIGATION ROAD TEST if i V i to donate an item, but there was such a tremendous response, re-sponse, the kits ended up containing con-taining more of each item than initially planned "One teacher commented how some of her little second-graders second-graders came into class with their arms loaded with boxes of toothpaste," Geels said. The students exceeded their initial goal and were excited to have so many kits and backpacks. back-packs. Geels and some of his students braved the snow and traffic Dec. 18 to deliver their kits and backpacks to Salt Lake City. One student summed up , the feelings of the project. "I thought this was an amazing experience, and I'm very glad that we were able to help our veterans after all they do for us." Last year's class raised money through the Hoops of Hope foundation, helping to build an AIDS clinic in Sina-zongwe, Sina-zongwe, Zambia, Africa. This year the students wanted to do something that hit a little closer to home. "They were all really excited to do this project," Geels said. with seven projecting cones, each cone representing one of the seven deadly sins greed, gluttony, sloth, pride, envy, wrath and hist. Pinatas were also made in the form of grotesque gro-tesque faces, representing the deviL The blindfolded player represented repre-sented the force of defying eviL Blindfolded, he relied on faith as he struck at the pinata with his stick. The stick represented virtue, for it was believed that only virtue can overcome eviL Once broken, the candies and treats that fell from the pinata were the reward that comes to those who have faith. These days pinatas come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes. siz-es. Making your own pinata is easy, and it can be a fun activity activ-ity for kids between Christmas and New Year's. A homemade pinata is essentially a balloon covered with paper mache, and decorated Each layer of paper mache strips takes about 20 to ', 'WW 'terH fi'T '(Villi GROWING Redrcrnentjs nota time f I k . . K ... mm. A successful KWirement Kequirei wiKipiwe - a common misconception is mar as wunaraw my money in retirement my wealth must decline as 1 "'- ! well. 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Ite rraioW naming Hf irwgh to you by At H onJWIionosFin, CUC jUTT ClfAfUjC t If you would like Free Financial Planning Kit, please send us an ' 1156 South State Street, Suite 202, Orem, Utah 84097 I email or give Currently Offering Yearend orem $ pleasant grove alpine W 7 - r irl L I '., ' 1 I " 1 David Geels on truck bed and some of his sixth-grade students load up their hygiene kits to deliver Dec. 18. The students collected supplies to give to veterans at the Veterans Hospital in Salt Lake City. I Learn more about pinata history and symbols at this Texas school site: http:tiny. ccpinata I History and photos: http: tiny.eepinatahistory contains a detailed I Dozens of professionally-made professionally-made pinatas on this site may help spark your creativity: creativ-ity: http:www.pinatas.com Pinatass1.htm 20 minutes to apply, but it needs 12 to 24 hours to dry between each layer, so be sure to allow 4 to 5 days to complete the project. A large 12- to 14-inch balloon can hold plenty of goodies. Blow up the balloon and tie it off. Tie a 2 to 3-inch long piece of string around the knot. Use this string to suspend the balloon bal-loon as it dries. i Mix the flour glue by whisking whisk-ing a scant cup of white flour WEALTH DURING YOUR GOLDEN YEARS to forget what afforded you the ability to retire In the first place - wealth generation! H t J . I '.II I.I .11. us a call. ? Tax Planning Reviews Sometimes, saving money isnt easy. We cad help. Whether you're looking for a simple savings account, a CD, an IRA, or automatic transfers from checking to savings, we have the savings vehicles for every need. Call 222-9006. I. y--p J - i New Years bash j into one cup of water. Stir until port the pinata by running a I smooth about the consisten- long piece (5 to 6 feet) of nylo cy of pancake batter. Leftover string vertically around the pi glue can be refrigerated over night, though we Ve found it easier to mix up a fresh batch each day. Tear newspapers into 2-inch wide strips. Dip a strip into the glue, slide it between two fingers fin-gers to remove the excess glue, then smooth it onto the ballooa A cereal bowl makes a good stand to steady the balloon as you work. Several children can work together to support and add strips to the balloon. Place the first layer of strips vertically. Make sure all the strips are smooth and the balloon bal-loon is completely covered, except ex-cept for a 2- to 3-inch opening at the balloon knot. This is where you'll insert the candy. Hang the pinata in a warm spot but not directly over a heater. Too much warm air can cause the balloon to expand and burst the paper mache covering. It takes about 12 to 24 hours for the balloon bal-loon to dry. Next, make a harness to sup Office: 801-225-9411 Email: infogurrcpa.com ave vor I 11 r-v. David Geels long piece (5 to 6 feet) of nylon string vertically around the pi nata Tape it in place. Run a sec 1 t ond piece of string at a 90-de-gree angle to the first, crossing ' st the bottom, and tape in place. You may want to add a third piece of string for extra support. sup-port. Tie the strings together. This string is what will suspend the pinata as people attempt to hit it. Cover with a second layer of flour glue newspaper strips, as above. If you run these strips horizontally, it will be easier to see if the balloon is adequately covered. Add a few extra strips over the top part of the harness strings for added strength. Hang the balloon to dry. Cover a third time and hang to dry. Pop the balloon with a pin and carefully pull it out. For very young children, three layers of paper may make the pinata's walls thick enough. For older children, add a fourth layer lay-er of paper strips. Work quickly quick-ly so the previous layers don't become saturated and soft. 75 66 DDI 6S5 East 110 South. It'Am. Fork Aanm fam lukt'i Oyw " Business 374-C395 305 North Fret-dona Pfovo SM (Ifl r f your first year SS" -- 'fx V- cry.". u , a Fax: 801-225-4318 Website: www.gurrcpa.com o f mm .feMj s tvri i iff: , WesternilJ Community DanK Life's needs. Life's bank." MTMr:MNICOMMUNITYAtM(.COM |