This year we received a grant from the Page Ahead Children’s Literacy Program awarding our school with three books for each of our students. Our students love to read! We are so thankful to all the supporters of Page Ahead for their generous donations to fund these books. Please read these heartfelt thank yous and see what a big impact this grant has had on our students.

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Here in the poems by one of our sixth graders, Kasandra, you will find wisdom beyond her years.

Life
You can live life
And have fun with it
Like you can with a
Friend, you can live
It to learn, don’t be
Scared of what’s
Gonna
Happen to you outdoors,
Just have fun and
Live it to its fullest.

School Bullies
School bullies think they’re bad,
They think they are at
the top of the kid chain.
They don’t stop if they hit
a good target, but,
Don’t let them take you
down, just don’t get in
their way.

Being Yourself
You should be yourself
Because if you start
Being a follower then
You will never find
Who you are again.

Telling the Truth about Yourself
You don’t want to
Copy friends because
They will just lead
You into trouble, and
If you are yourself, then
You will get more
Friends.

Mrs. Wilkinson
Mrs. Wilkinson is
A nice woman,
And cares about,
All of us,
She wants us to
Have fun but,
At the same time, to do our best.

Mrs. Smith
Mrs. Smith is
A wonderful teacher
And also cares
About us, when
She was younger
She use to hate
Math and now
She teaches it.
She is great.

Categories: Poetry
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The colors and designs of these masks are as diverse as our school’s population. The metal masks are based on the principles of design balance and specifically symmetry. Students could create any kind of design of mask as long as it was symmetrical. They used permanent markers on metal. Look at the playful shapes and patterns in the art of our intermediate students.

Categories: Art
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As our sixth graders studied figurative language they thought it would be fun to personify a few common objects and concepts. Their writing is thought provoking, and at times sparkling with humor. Please enjoy these personification poems and share them with your friends!

I am the sun.
I live in the sky.
My favorite colors are black, blue, and yellow.
I like to wear a yellow shirt and yellow pants.
My job is to make flowers happy.
My family is the stars and my friend is the moon.
I go to

I am the sun.
I live in the sky way up high.
My favorite colors are red, orange, and yellow.
I like to wear bright clothes everyday.
My job is to heat the earth and make brightness.
My family is the sky and my friends are the clouds.
I go on vacation all around the world to make brightness.
My favorite holiday is summer because that’s when I’m used the most.
I move by floating up in the sky.
Lyric

I am paper.
I live in a box.
My favorite colors are red, white, and blue.
I wear lead and I like to wear colors.
My job is to help kids do their math.
My family is scratch paper and my friends are pens and pencils.
My vacation is to fly like a plane.
My favorite holiday is the 4^th of July.
I move by flying like a plane.
JuveI am a hockey puck.
I live on the ice.
My favorite colors are red, white, and blue and did I mention black?
I like to wear black leather coat.
My job is to get slapped around by these things called sticks.
My family and friends are ice and Mr. Goal.
For vacation, I seem to never get a break. What’s up with that?
My favorite holiday is Christmas dude.
I move by gliding across ice while getting beat up by the stick gang.

I am a mouse.
I like to live in a Barbie house with my Barbie wife.
My favorite colors are white and brown.
I like to wear nothing because I don’t like clothes.
My job is to steal cheese from other people.
My family is a cat and my friend is a rat.
I like to go visit my uncle Geronimo Stilton.
My favorite holiday is give me cheese day.
I move through my cool toy car.
ToubeeI am a clock.
I live everywhere.
My favorite colors are all colors because I come in all colors.
I like to wear spinning hands.
My job is to tell people what time it is.
My family and friends are numbers and dashes.
On vacation I go to 12:00 midnight.
My favorite holiday is the holiday where most people look at the time.
I move to different numbers and time with my hands.
SamanthaI am a taco.
I live in a shell shaped house.
My favorite color is golden yellow and bumpy brown.
I like to wear brown pants, green shoes, and yellow shirts.
I am the manager of Taco

I am wood.
I live in a desk.
My favorite color is yellow.
I like to wear erasing clothes.
My job is to go where my master tells me to go.
My family and friends are thick and thin.
I’m on vacation when I go back in my desk.
My favorite holiday is sharpener day.
I move when my master makes me.
Tim

I am an apple.
I live in a fruit bowl.
My favorite colors are red and white.
I wear a red jacket and a white T-shirt.
My job is to be eaten.
My family is other apples and my friends are bananas and green apples.
I like to go in lunch boxes.
My favorite holiday is every day.
How I move is I roll.
Sierra
I am love.
I live in people’s hearts.
My favorite colors are red and pink.
I like to wear a golden arrow.
My job is to make people love each other.
My family is happiness and my friends are joyful.
I go on vacation in people’s hearts to make them fall in love.
My favorite holiday is Valentines Day.
I move slowly in to your heart.
Oxana

I am gold.
I live in everyone’s greed and in fancy jewelry stores and casinos.
My favorite colors are gold, silver, and yellow.
I love to wear my silver tuxedo.
My job is to shine with all of my might and make people want me. (I also work for Greed Inc.)
My family is silver, copper, bronze, metallic blue, and my friends are electric blue and yellow.
I go to casinos and ancient cities for my vacations.
My favorite holidays are Christmas, New Years, and the 4^th of July.(I love seeing shiny and bright lights)
I am exchanged for goods or I am crafted into jewelry.
Glen

I am a crumply paper.
I live in a crumply old desk.
My favorite color is white. Duh!
I wear a shirt with writing and no pants.
My job is to make the teacher mad.
My family and friends are other crumpled up papers and stinky markers.
I go on vacation at the teacher’s desk.
My favorite holiday is the WASL.
I move by turning into an airplane.
WilliamI am chocolate.
I live in a wrapper.
My favorite colors are black and brown.
I like to wear wrappers.
My job is to make kids eat me.
My family and friends are kids, mom, dad, grandma, and grandpa.
I would take a vacation to the North Pole.
My favorite holiday is Christmas and Halloween.
How I move is by a hand.
ChristinaI am a water bottle.
I live in

I am a kiwi.
I live in a tree.
My favorite colors are black and green.
I wear a thin skin and fur.
My job is to taste good.
My family and friends are apples, bananas, oranges, and watermelon.
I vacation all around the world.
My favorite holidays are Christmas and Easter.
I roll when I move.
Jazmine

I am a rat.
I live near a mouse trap.
My favorite color is grey.
I wear a scraggly grey coat with fuzzy grey pants.
My job is to pester.
My family are pigs and my best friend is a mouse that was eaten two weeks ago.
I love to vacation in the sewer.
My favorite holiday is Thanksgiving.
I move in a sly, skiddery motion. You can hear my feet pitter patter on the floor…..in your house!
Hanna

I am happiness.
I live in

Categories: Poetry
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For the first time this year our kindergarteners publish their stories. Look at the great illustrations, letter formation, and thoughtful writing. Way to write kindergarten!

Categories: Writing
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Our fourth graders have been writing stories blending scenes of real life with their imagination. Have fun reading these stories full of voice, action, and humor!

Categories: Writing
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Hello World! We are learning how to express our thoughts clearly and support our ideas with details and anecdotes. Our first writer, Kaelan, shares his passion for his favorite animal, the great wooly mammoth. Our next authors share their thinking about a variety of topics. Happy Reading!

Reading!

By Leric

        Have you ever had something that you love to do in your free time?  Well I definitely do!  I like to read in my free time because books are very interesting.  I like reading books because it helps me unwind.  Also, I never want to put the book down and reading also brings me to my happy place.

        First, reading helps me unwind because if I’m mad or sad and I get a book it helps me calm down.  Also, if I’m angry or anything, nothing else matters in the world except me and the book.  Reading a book always helps me calm down.

        Then, I never want to stop reading or put down the book.  I never want to put the book down because it’s so exciting and interesting and I just want to keep reading on.  When I start reading it’s like the book is glued to my hands and I can’t get it off.  I hate when I have to stop reading.

        Next, when I read it brings me to my happy place.  I get lost in the book as if I was actually there and doing what the characters do.  When I read it seems like everything just disappears and I don’t have to worry about anything.  Reading is my escape land!

        Finally, I love reading because it’s awesome and fascinating.  I think that each book has its own personalities and that’s the fun of it.  I absolutely love to read.

My Favorite Animal

By Kaelan

Your favorite animal is an elephant? Well, mine is a woolly mammoth. The woolly mammoth is my favorite animal because of the shaggy way they look, how it survived, and how they became extinct.

The first reason wooly mammoths are awesome is that they had two layers of shaggy hair. The over-layer of hair keeps the snow and rain off their torso, and acts like an umbrella. The under-layer of hair keeps in the wooly dude’s heat. Their hair is mostly brown, with black touches. The mammoth’s tusks look like an elf sledding hill. The tusks are sloped. The big man’s ancestor was an elephant that weighed four tons! That is two tons bigger than the wooly mammoth! Two tons would equal 51 of me! I think it is amazing how it would take 51 of me to equal up to one wooly mammoth.

Another reason wooly mammoths are my favorite animal is that it is amazing how they survived back in the ice ages. It is so cool how they adapted to every season. They are an herbivore. They eat bushes, leaves off trees, and grass. In spring and summer the mammoth stocks up on food, and they get fat. That is how they survived in winter. They lived off their fat. In the winter they used their tusks to break the ice, and move the snow to get at the plants underneath. There’s no way I could survive back in the ice age!

The third reason the big man is my favorite animal is it’s interesting how it became extinct. One reason why they went extinct is wild boars would attack them while the innocent wooly mammoth was minding their own business. They protected themselves by ramming the boars that tried to attack them. They would also try to step on them, but only one in six million, would actually be successful, because the wild boars moved as speedy as a mouse. Another predator was the Native American Indians. I think the most interesting reason they became extinct was a mammoth would ram another wooly mammoth if it meant getting food. The mammoth would start shoving and ramming and stabbing until one would collapse to the ground. All it would take is only one ram to kill me! If wooly mammoths were still around our race would become extinct instead of the other way around.

As you can tell, my favorite animal is the wooly mammoth. I wish the wooly dudes were still alive so I could have a little baby mammoth as a pet.

Is It Just a Stage?

By Glen

Many people think that kids’ cussing is just “a stage”, but I have a few different ideas. I think that kids’ cussing is a problem, but I am not all against it. I think that kids cussing may be due to kids thinking it’s cool to act older, kids catching too many shows and movies with cussing involved, and because they use cussing as an act of anger. Did you know that the number one excuse when a kid gets caught cussing is: “My mom does it!” or “My dad says that all the time”…?

Those excuses might just be to cover up because some kids think it’s cool to act older. First, kids hear adults and teens cussing all of the time! For example, my cousin cusses every time I see him, the problem is last time I saw him, (about 3 years ago) he was only 13years old! Finally, they think it’s fun to act older! (I betcha in about 20 to 30 years they’ll think the exact opposite).

Speaking of them liking to act older, kids hear cussing on T.V. and movies all the time! First, even family friendly movies are starting to have cussing all of the time. In the hit movie, “Are We There Yet?” Ice-Cube swears, them the kids yell at him, so he swears again! Another example is “The Simpsons”, where people, including some kids, swear all the time! Wow, those people need to cool it!

In fact, kids see adults and kids cussing so much when they’re angry, and see it so much on T.V., that they are starting to use cussing as an act of anger! For example they cuss at their opponents during a fight. Like, one time, I saw someone punch somebody. That somebody called the puncher a cuss word! Also, when in arguments with others, they cuss and yell at one another. I want to conclude with they’re starting to cuss at their parents! Wow! Anger issue! All aisles!

As you may notice, and I will once again state, I’m not really with or against kids cussing. O believe that it may be that kids think it’s cool to act older, they think cussing is okay because they hear or see it on T.V. and movies. Finally, kids use cussing as an act of anger. So, think it over, you may agree with me.

Categories: Writing
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Second Graders are studying the weather and are tracking the changes of the inside and outside temperatures. We are impressed with how these young scientists not only collect data, but are very observant. Their writing reflects both their passion about science and their flair for descriptive writing.

Categories: Science
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Look at all the thinking that went into solving this story problem about Dylan making an apple pie. Notice the process to visualize the information they need, and notice the variety of ways these mathematicians solved the problem and got to the correct answer. Way to think second graders!

Categories: Math
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Look at all the thinking that Oksana has done in response to her reading. Our students are learning about strategies that good readers do to get the most out of their texts.

Categories: Reading Response
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