By Janice McIntyre
City Editor
Lemonade has been on the minds of teachers and students in the El Dorado School District because of a book titled, “The Lemonade War,” by Jacqueline Davies. The children’s book tells the story of an exciting summer spent by a loving but competitive pair of siblings, Evan and Jessie Treski, who operate separate lemonade stands during the summer.
Since Aug. 23, all elementary school students in the El Dorado School District have been reading, “The Lemonade War,” which takes a practical look at economics using a brother and sister who compete with lemonade stands. After reading the book together, students and teachers were given the opportunity to compete in a variety of areas. Students could write business plans or create videos to showcase what they learned by reading the book.
Videos were submitted and judged and winning classes received a Chromebook, according to Rhonda Simmons, assistant superintendent. Winners were classes at Hugh Goodwin, Northwest, Retta Brown and Yocum. Simmons showed a video during the regular meeting of the El Dorado School Board Monday night, of Hugh Goodwin students singing a song about “The Lemonade War,” titled “The Treski Family,” to the tune of “The Addams Family.”
Elementary students in the district operated lemonade stands, wrote papers, created posters, made lemon play dough, designed lemon cups and planted lemon trees. They learned about underselling – Evan Treski charged a lower price for his lemonade to beat the competition – his sister.
Then Jessie Treski started expanding her market by taking her earnings and opening more lemonade stands. (Thirteen fourth grade girls agreed to set up lemonade stands (franchises) for one-third of the profits – “plus tips” – two of the franchise operators said in a Hugh Goodwin video.
Students held up signs in the video that read, “The Lemonade War,” Jacqueline Davies and profit, location, negotiations, reconciliation, goodwill and underselling, to show what they learned by reading the book and completing projects.
Also during Monday night’s meeting, Alva Reibe, principal of El Dorado High School, gave a report on activities at the school.
Using a video presentation, Reibe showed students who received academic letter jackets – presented to high school students who have maintained a 3.75 grade point average during their high school career.
High school students participated in the National Day of Writing and answered the question, “Why I write.” Reibe said one high school class wrote eulogies for characters in the well-known William Shakespeare tragedy, “Romeo and Juliet.”
The principal said during this year at EHS, students have been working on “being kind, giving back, cooperation, working together and team building.”
Social Studies classes acknowledged the Drug Awareness Campaign and staff and students at EHS have been addressing bullying. Reibe explained that school officials address bullying issues – even when incidents occur off the school campus – “when it spills over to school.”
Shelley Forbess’ students used “Slinkys” to investigate wave characteristics and Wildcat 101 students participated in Career Technical Education classes. EHS Senior Kaylee Vickery participated in a three-day seminar in Boston and Dave Davison, another EHS student, was named as the 2017 “Most Valuable Player” in the Chess Association for Arkansas Schools.
EHS students raised money during Fine Arts Fright Night and collected hygiene items for Hurricane Harvey victims. Students in health classes built 3,400 shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child – all part of their “giving back” initiative. Theater students presented “Hansel and Gretel” and donated proceeds to the El Dorado School District food pantry.
Some students toured the city on the trolley with El Dorado Mayor Frank Hash and members of the Beta Club participated in “Socktober” and collected 459 pairs of socks for Turning Point and The Call.
Janice McIntyre Can be reached at 870-862-6611 or at [email protected].