Word of the week

Immunity The power to keep yourself from being affected by a disease. I want to be vaccinated so I have immunity to getting sick from certain diseases.

Current Events/Vaccines

Every day our bodies are bombarded by bacteria and viruses. The ones that get inside our body meet our immune system which is ready not only to kill the invaders but also to create memory cells that will help defeat them more quickly the next time they try to attack. When people are vaccinated against […]

All things wise and wonderful, all creatures great and small

Dogs and cats and rabbits … RPC has got them all … and they all need good homes.

Gingerbread House vandalized

Word of the week

Atone Atonement To do something to make up for a wrong. I need to atone for being mean to a girl at school. Apologizing to her and asking her to forgive me will be my atonement.

Book Review

Flight for Freedom: The Wetzel Family’s Daring Escape from East Germany By  Kristen Fulton  Illustrated by Torben Kuhlmann Suppose you live in South Paris and you are ruled by a communist government.  You are not allowed to watch cartoons, wear blue jeans and you have to wait in long lines for a banana just once […]

How do they say that in…

English     atone, atonement French      expier, expiation Spanish      expiar,   expiación Italian       espiare, espiazione German     büßen,  Sühne Chinese    Shúzuì 赎罪, Shúzuì 赎罪    

Current Events/ Yom Kippur

What is Yom Kippur? Yom Kippur’ means the ‘Day of Atonement’. That is, the day when Jewish people try to make up for any wrong things they might  have done. It is a day of fasting which starts at sunset on the 10th of Tishrei and finishes when night falls on the 11th Tishrei. This […]

Public health not open to debate

To the Editor: At the recent SAD 44 School Board meeting (reported in the August 26 Citizen), two community problems grabbed space at the table, and ate everyone else’s lunch. First: when heckling and bullying take over an official public meeting, it is the responsibility of the Board Chair and the Superintendent to close the […]

Current Events/Labor Day

Labor Day is a holiday on the first Monday of September each year. But what does it celebrate? It celebrates everyone who works and helps the country prosper. Most workers get the day off, but not everyone. Workers who are considered “essential” like police officers, hospital employees, ambulance staff, firefighters, store employees, all have to […]