Lemonade War brings fun, competition to Elm Street

First-grade classes at Elm Street Elementary School develop their own lemonade creations in an attempt to win over the taste buds of the rest of the school.

The first-grade hall at Elm Street Elementary School was as busy as an ancient bazaar on Friday, as the Lemonade War took hold between five classrooms, each with a recipe they felt worthy of each taster’s approval.

There were Fairy Tale Freezies, Mrs. Loveman’s Luscious Lemonade and Blue Monster Berry Lemonade. Along with teacher Ashleigh Tatum’s class’ strawberry lemonade smoothies and cotton candy infused lemonade from teacher Ashley Greenway’s class.

The competition is connected to a book on the reading list of the firstgraders, “The Lemonade War,” and kicks off the entrepreneurship activities the students will be involved in this year, said Elm Street Elementary Assistant Principal Laura Walley.

Each class had a booth set up outside of their classroom along with materials for making, dressing or serving the lemonade.

Hand-drawn advertisements plastered the walls or walked the halls, with some students donning large sheets of paper with holes cut out for them to stick their heads through.

Ice cream was an ingredient in Tatum’s and Gina Loveman’s classes’ lemonade;

though, teacher Gina Loveman would not disclose anything about

her class’ recipe except for the key being simplicity.

“Simple is best,” said Loveman, who told tasters, “If you’re smart you’ll vote for us,” before giving them a roll of Smarties.

Some classes opted for some more extravagant creations, such as teacher LeAnn Bradford’s students opting for Sour Punch candy straws to compliment their Blue Monster Berry Lemonade, which included blueberries and pomegranate. At the end of the hall, Greenway’s students put to use their cotton candy machine by wrapping Dum-Dums lollipops in the whipped sugar that would then be stirred into a cup of their lemonade.

A handful of students would work in shifts in the hall with their teachers, while students and teachers from other grades stopped at each booth for their sample. Each taster was given a ticket, which, after they’d tried every offering, would make it into the bucket of their preferred stand.

At the end of the day, the final tally of tickets pointed to Ashley Anglin’s class as the winners with their Fairy Tale Freezies, which were not so frozen.

Anglin said the lemonade mixture was supposed to be put in the freezer but, by mistake, was placed in the fridge. The jello-like concoction pulled through and put this year’s bragging rights in the hands of her students.

Spencer Lahr / Rome News-Tribune Elm Street Elementary School first-graders Jessica Camel-Velasquez, Lakhiya Turner and Bentley Nelson are all in teacher Gina Loveman’s class and are working their booth in the Lemonade War on Friday.

The first booth of the Lemonade War competition at Elm Street Elementary School on Friday is manned by Ashley Anglin’s class, serving up Fairy Tale Freezies, which due to their placement in the refrigerator instead of the freezer were jello-like....

First-grader Aubrey McDearmont takes a picture of thirdgrader Kayla Vicente. The picture booth was part of the additional offerings at teacher Ashley Greenway’s class’ stand.

Spencer Lahr / Rome News-Tribune First-grader Terrelyn Bowers grabs some lollipops wrapped in cotton candy. The treats were stirred into the lemonade, changing the color and certainly adding some sugar.