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A Morris Elementary pupil examines one of the technology classes' light show objects in the gym.
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Technology teacher Kate Olender's coding and robotics classes spent three weeks bringing to life winter-light installations.
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Morris Elementary School Celebrates Positive Behavior

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
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The celebration included games for the younger classes. 
LENOX, Mass. — Morris Elementary School students kicked off their winter vacation with a good behavior celebration. 
 
Students returned from Thanksgiving break with a challenge — to collectively get at least 2,026 ROAR tickets. 
 
The ROAR ticket represents the school's values of: Rising to a challenge, Owning your actions, Always working together, and Respecting yourself and others. It also references the school's tiger mascot, said fifth-grade students Rosalie Cass, Charlotte Burke, Liadan Moriarty, and Sammi Simonelli in unison.
 
The event was very "exciting," they said. 
 
Students earn ROAR tickets by demonstrating positive behaviors such as using kind words and manners, showing leadership, helping friends, and following school expectations.
 
The 321 students in prekindergarten through fifth grade surpassed the school's goal by a great deal, said Holly Soules, assistant principal. 
 
"We're also very proud of earning the right number of more tickets," Charlotte said. 
 
The festivities were not only a reward for the students' positive behavior but also showcased their skills, community, and the positive culture in the school
 
The daylong event included a light show made by each grade's coding in technology classes, two ice carving demonstrations by artists Peter Vacchina and Robert Markey, who created the letter M and a tiger, winter-themed games, and hot chocolate and cookies. 
 
The day also included letter making that will be sent to about six community organizations including the Town Hall, Fire and Police departments, and some community members, Soules said. 
 
"Art always has a good impact on students. Art and music does something to the brain. It makes people feel good," Markey said.
 
"When I work with kids and they make art, they feel so much better than they felt before they started." 
 
Vacchina, who is a retired high school science teacher, recollected how class outside was the highlight of many students' day. 
 
"Watching us work on these crystal clear chunks of ice — can't ask for anything better on a day before vacation," he said. 
 
The event "builds a community within a school. It builds friendships. We're always talking about working together and being good friends [and] good peers to each other," Principal Brenda Kelley said. 
 
A highlight of the event was the demonstration of collaboration between different grade levels. Each aspect of the event, from its decorations to the festivities, centered around the collaborative nature the school nurtures. 
 
As soon as you walk into the school there were origami snowflakes hang from the ceiling, made by Kyle Betters and Melanie Counsell's fifth-grade classes with their second-grade buddies.
 
The school kicked off its winter carnival on Monday morning, two days before the winter break, with the Walking Holiday Light Show. 
 
Each grade in technology teacher Kate Olender's coding and robotics class spent three weeks bringing to life winter-light installations by building structures from cardboard, programming lights and robots, or troubleshooting technical challenges. 
 
The process taught student design process, computational thinking, coding concepts, and problem solving, she said. 
 
"They feel like they're giving something back to their community. They have pride in their work, and they get to show off what they're learning," Olender said. 
 
The students are really learning how to develop their science, technology, math, and peer modeling skills, Kelley said. 
 
Following the installation, the gym opened back up to make room for winter-themed activities, including building a "snowman" in the gym using physical education equipment.

Tags: holiday story,   Lee schools,   morris elementary,   

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Pryor & Peacock's Whimsical Furniture Environmentally Friendly

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
 

The company uses digital printing to create the upholstery fabric, saving water and saving vintage furniture from ending up in landfills.

STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — A unique furniture store has popped up on Elm Street this month.

Mom-and-daughter store Pryor & Peacock is hosting the pop-up storefront from Aug. 13 to Aug. 25 at 6 Elm. The New Marlborough business is co-founded by Rosalina Wright and Luca Shapiro, who is also the creative director. 

Their online shop was created in 2024 but they wanted people to see the pieces in person, so they're renting the space for a limited time before a long-term tenant moves in.

The store sources prints to create unique fabrics and reimagines vintage and antique furniture acquired at auctions, local shops, and online.

"We source prints from all over the world that date from the late 1600s up through mid-20th century, and Luca turns those prints into fabric by manipulating them, scanning them, oftentimes has to add or subtract things, and then we manufacture the fabric using only digital printing, which is very environmentally friendly, unlike traditional textile printing," Wright said.

Upholstering the furniture can take weeks of work. Shapiro looks for the perfect design for each piece and, if need be, uses Adobe Photoshop to extend the art work to fit or enhance the print.

"One of the most difficult parts comes in marrying the fabric to a piece of furniture because we only use antique and vintage frames also to be earth friendly, and they're also more beautiful and durable than new furniture," Wright said. "So the image has to go with the furniture, so that takes a lot of work."

One of Pryor & Peacock's missions is to be environmentally friendly. Digital printing doesn't use the same amount of water as traditional textile productions do nor does it contaminate water with ink according to their website.

Not only are they saving water, but they are saving furniture from going into the landfill while also using more durable furniture that doesn't break as easily as current pieces. They started their business to create something unique and to help the environment together.

"It's creating something nobody else is doing. People can't continue to buy throwaway furniture. Six percent of American landfills is furniture, and digital printing not only opens up the possibility of being able to put unique images on a piece of furniture, but it also is, as I said, environmentally friendly. So, for us, the excitement is to take an old East Lake settee that somebody's going to store in their barn and forget about, and make it something completely new and surprising," Wright said.

They hope their furniture helps bring a pop of fun to someone's home.

"We think our furniture is very whimsical and surprising, and most furniture today is oatmeal colored couches and gray neutral chairs, and it's boring," she said.

The two named their business after their mothers' maiden names to honor them and believe the name reflects their pieces.

Shapiro works in interior design outside of the business and the two liked working together and thought it would be great to start a business together. Shapiro says they can work well together and that her and her mother, Wright, has flipped houses before and have the same eye for design.

"So it's very easy for us to work together. When we see something, generally we agree on whether it works or doesn't work on a piece. We agree on the color schemes and that sort of thing. So it's very fun and fulfilling to work together," Shapiro said. 

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