Saturday, April 23, 2011

Exeter-Milligan Elementary Students Enjoy Presentation from York College Traveling Children's Theatre

Asistant Director A.J. Wharton asks the first and second graders if he can sit with them.
 The White Rabbit (John Baker) reads the charges against the Knave of Hearts during Alice in Wonderland.

 The cast of the York College Traveling Children's Theatre at the end of the play helping Alice return to her world.

The York College Traveling Children’s Theatre made one of its 20 stops at schools and libraries in Exeter on Tuesday morning.

The group of 13 students who have volunteer for the activity performed “Alice In Wonderland” adapted from the Lewis Carroll novel by William Glennon with a prologue written by YC drama professor John I. Baker III.

One of the unique features of the production is the interaction with the audience. The Exeter-Milligan kindergarten through sixth graders laughed, helped point out the hidden items and asked questions at the end of the play.

This is the fourteenth year for the Traveling Children’s Theatre under Baker’s direction.  Alice did all of the typical Alice type things including following the rabbit down the rabbit hole, visiting the Mad Hatter’s tea party and playing croquet with the Queen.

The Queen of Hearts made her tarts and frequently spouted “Off with their ’eads,” to the students amusement.  Things kept turning up missing which involved many of the players chasing each other around the gym to the delight of the audience. 

It isn’t clear whether the players or the audience enjoyed themselves more.  After introducing themselves with a brief bio, the YC students opened up the floor for questions from the Exeter-Milligan audience.  The students wanted to know about the sound effects production, how the players change clothes so quickly and why they wore masks (it was explained that in the commedia dell’arte style of theatre masks are worn instead of make up).
 

Friday, April 22, 2011

Exeter-Milligan Update: Spanish I

MAKING BRACELETS IN EXETER-MILLIGAN
By: Taylor Erdkamp & Megan Zwickl

     The Spanish I Class of 2010-11 has learned mucho (lots)
of things this year. We have had fun while learning it too.
In the first semester we learned about articles of clothing
in a fun way by having a fashion show where we described
each other's clothes in Spanish. We've learned colors,
numbers, common greetings and how to tell the location of a
place. Most recently we've learned how to make traditional
Pamiente bracelets (name of the bracelets in Guatemala) by
tying a series of knots with yarn of multiple colors to
create a one of a kind bracelet. They are called Pamiente
bracelets because two are seldom alike, if you see someone
wearing one just like yours you are destined to be best
friends. We've learned so much and yet there's still
more to come this year.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Grain Elevator News


Did you see the large crane in town this week and wonder what it was?  A call to the Exeter branch of the Farmer's Cooperative revealed that the crane removed the 35 year old dryer from the elevator and replaced it with a new one at a cost of $800,000.  In the last year the Farmer's Cooperative has invested over $3 million in facilities at the Exeter Branch including the new storage tube.  Along with revenue generated from the investments the community will benefit as Exeter sales tax was collected on the items.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Exeter-Milligan School Update: Reading Mastery Group

Mrs. Audry Betka-Mager's Reading Mastery group enjoys
learning to read! After learning the new words and reviewing
some previously learned words, the children read their story
for the day. It usually begins with an information passage
which shares some important facts that relate to the story.
Then the students read the story, do some reading with a
partner, and answer some comprehension questions in their
textbook and workbook. Every five lessons, the students do a
checkout to check their reading speed and accuracy. After
completing 10 lessons, they do a mastery test. The children
are excited about the progress they are making! Pictured in
the photo: Front Row L. to R.--Cameran Jansky, Braden Capek;
Back Row L. to R.--Briana Capek, Alivia Hartman. Absent:
Emma Olsen.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Exeter sees improvements at the Smith Index Tag Factory

From the left Robin and Seth Jones, owners of the tag factory, and Kathy and Howard Jones.


This is the air compressor down in the bowels of the basement that served the tag factory. Barely visible behind the compressor is an old tunnel that led to the power plant for the building.

The Jones' spent the better part of a week fixing the damage from part of the ceiling that caved in. This photo shows much of the new construction to repair the structure.


The historic tag factory in downtown Exeter has recently received some maintenance attention.

Owners, Seth and Robin Jones, of San Diego, spent a week in Exeter recently making major repairs to the roof and structure of the building and giving the visible front a mini facelift. They purchased the building about three years ago, sight unseen.

This winter the building had a roof cave in that damaged all four floors of the building.  The Jones’, along with Seth parents, Howard and Kathy Jones of Oregon, spent a week hauling trash out of the building starting in the basement.

After the broken plaster, old beams and metal were pulled from the building they started in the basement rebuilding the ceiling structure, working their way back up to replacing the roof trusses and supports.

After the majority of those repairs were made the group brightened up the front of the building repainting the windows and covering some broken windows with steel sheeting to protect the interior of the building and prevent more glass breakage.

The Jones’ have an online business selling old car parts and have some of the parts housed in the building but hope to use the central location for more storage.

“We would love ideas from the locals on what kind of facilities are needed in the area,” said Seth Jones.  “We would like to close off the front of the building to use for some sort of retail space.  We would build to suit if the interest was there.”

In addition to more cleaning in the building the Jones’ hope to remove the front brick corner that was added on to the building bringing it back to it’s original charm.

They plan on reserving a section of the building for a small museum about the tag factory that was housed in the building from 1884 to 1962.  Many historical items were removed from the building and given to the Fillmore County Historical Society with the condition that if the building were ever restored the relevant items would be returned upon request.

Still evident in the building were many production items from the tag factory, old records and files, as well as the two walk in safes, located on different floors.  In the unlit basement the old air compressor with very large pulleys still sits in its location just in front of an old tunnel that hasn’t been explored in years.

Local historian and member of the Fillmore County Historical Society Shirley Trauger visited with the Jones’ during their stay in Exeter and was thrilled with their ownership, “I hope to see the building restored as much as possible and open to the public.  It was the world’s first index tag factory - we should be proud of that and show it off,” said Trauger.

The younger Jones’ travel all over the country with their parts business but spend the majority of their time in San Diego where they own and operate an environmental consulting business.

Currently the tag factory is not on the Historical Registry and the Jones’ have contemplated that option, but are concerned about restrictions that would be placed on any changes they might want to make to the building along with the costs of restoration.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Exeter-Milligan Update: Physical Education

From the PE Department by Darcy White

Students in Grades K-2 have been participating in the
President's Challenge Physical Fitness Testing Program.
The Fitness Program includes five events that measure
muscular strength/endurance, cardiorespiratory endurance,
speed, agility, and flexibility.  They have also been
practicing hitting a ball off of a tee and playing "tee"
ball.  They will wrap up the school year with soccer,
softball (tee ball), and other "outdoor" activities that
will get them prepared for Elementary Field Day, which is
scheduled for May 13.

Sophomores are involved in a badminton unit. They chose
partners and have been involved in quite a competitive
"round robin" tournament.  Megan Zwickl and Robbie
Androyna are the current leaders of the competition.  They
will wrap up the school year with softball, pickle ball, and
the President's Challenge Fitness Tests.

Pictured are Jackson Beethe and Brock Steuben working to
improve their cardiorespiratory endurance.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Exeter-Milligan School Update: Art Classes


Art Classes at Exeter-Milligan by Jill Shipley


The art classes at Exeter-Milligan recently learned about
Chinese
Opera masks.  They learned about the different colors used
and how they stand for different meanings and studied the
shapes used and how the designs were symmetrical.

Then they created their own mask using a paper Mache
construction.  Next they created their own opera mask design
using some shapes from examples.  Then they painted their
design on their mask.

They turned out great.