Poetry Out Loud Celebration

On Monday students from all four elementary schools gathered to participate in the 5th annual Poetry Out Loud celebration (formerly "Poetry Slam").  This remarkable event, coordinated by Hope Valley principal Mr. Gencarelli, invites students to stand before an audience to read aloud an original work of poetry.  Each presentation was a treat, and it was wonderful to watch the students enjoy a moment to shine on stage!

It was a beautiful, sunny day so we gathered in the high school courtyard.  Please enjoy these happy memories of an lovely June evening!

Mermaids in the Sea

By Joandrie, Grade 2

Swimming up

Swimming down

They swim all around

Whales and dolphins are their friends

To them the fun never ends

Shiny shells and leftover things

Is what they call their treasures

Don’t get too close or they’ll steal

Your heart forever.

Skiing

By Paige, Grade 4

Sliding down the slope pushing with my poles,

Riding up the chairlift, flying over jumps.

 Learning more and more,

Falling over and over,
Skiing with my family, skiing with my friends, skiing all together,

Because friendship never ends.

         Down a black diamond, right over a jump, plop on my back, Back up again.

         Going to a race, I’m gonna win first place, passing my opponents, I just won the race.

Super duper tired, snoozing in my bed, super duper tired, I think I might be dead.

         Back up on the slopes, warm up in the green, back up on the diamonds, flying down with speed.  Again another race, again I won first place, again back in my bed, again I think I’m dead. Now my trip is over, we’re packing up the car, putting on my headphones, listening to some tunes.  No I’m back home, laying in my bed, lot of memories in my head.

Spring is Coming, Spring is Coming!

By Harper, Grade 1

Spring is coming, spring is coming!

Spring is in the air

Bears are growling

Birds are singing

Coyotes are howling

Spring is in the air!

Trees are budding

Flowers are blooming

Bees are everywhere

Lots of rain, no more snow

Spring is in the air

Spring is ending

Summer vacation is near

Swimming, playing, running, camping

It’s my favorite time of year!

My Magnificent Mother

By Alisa, Grade 3

Sweet,

nice,

confident mother

I love her.

With all my heart.

She’s the best.

I will never let her go.

Help me?

I’ll help you.

Sweet, sweet mother,

I love you.

Brushes

By Jordan, Grade 4

There's all different brushes

Any brush is useful

There's dog brushes and cat brushes

There are toothbrushes and hair brushes

All hygienic in a way

And there’s even working brushes

Like paintbrushes

Different sizes and shapes

You choose which one you'd like to use

I'm so proud of all the students who not only wrote their own poetry but also confidently stood up on stage to share their writing with us.  Awesome job, everyone!!

Rooster Games 2018

On Thursday our fourth graders participated in the 10th Annual Ashaway School Rooster Games!  All of the students who read at least five of the books on the list of nominees for the Rhode Island Children's Book Award were invited to participate.  The six teams (each a mix of boys and girls from all of the fourth grade classrooms) competed in a variety of games that were based on books from the list.

Rooster Games Champion Readers!

I had five students who earned special recognition by reading all 18 of the RICBA nominees that I bought for Ashaway School.  I started off the games by awarding Champion Reader medals to these students!

Three of the games are set up on Google Slides.  They are projected onto the large screen above the stage, and the students collaborate with their teammates to come up with the answers.  Then they use marker boards to display them and earn points.
 
Students match pictures from each book to their titles in the Illustration Round, they answer multiple choice and short answer questions in the Question Round, and they identify which book is being represented in the Object Round.

In the pictures above you can see the students pointing to a piece of paper.  I give each team two "pointing pages" (letters for Multiple Choice and a list of the book titles for Illustrations and Objects) so they can point to their answers rather than saying them out loud.  The kids are always so excited when they know an answer that they usually blurt it out -- loudly enough that neighboring teams can hear!  It takes some practice, though; their enthusiasm usually wins out at first!  

For the "table top" round, the teams are matching the titles of each book to the very first line in the story.  

A really popular round is Charades.  Students take turns acting out a word for the rest of the team to guess.  If the team guesses the word they earn a point, and if they can then identify which book the word represents they earn a bonus point!  As always, I was really impressed by the creativity on display!

This year my "Mystery Round" became expanded!  In the past I've come up with a game inspired by a book on that year's RICBA nominee list.  We've done the Homophone Hustle for Rain

Our luckiest student!

Reign, an assortment of balloon relays inspired by A Whole New Ballgame, and a "minute to win it" game based on Neighborhood Sharks.  This year I was drawn to Fortune Falls, which was not only the first book I read on the list but also one of my favorites.  The setting of this story is a town where superstitions are all REAL: step on a crack and your mother is going to the hospital with a broken back!  The idea of being "lucky" or "unlucky" is of extreme importance, and that inspired this year's game, Luckiest Student of the Day!  Well, really it was a series of games.  Students tried out their luck on a variety of games of chance in order to earn stamps on their papers.  The student with the most stamps at the end of the Rooster Games is the winner!  (As it turned out we had a four-way tie, so I drew one of the four papers out of a bag to identify who was truly the luckiest!)  

Students pulled a straw out of a cup; if the tip was colored red they earned a stamp!  (If it was green they earned TWO!)

Students pulled a card out of a deck.  If it was a Queen they earned a stamp.  If it was a Queen of Hearts they earned TWO!

Students pulled a marble out of a bag; if it was red they earned a stamp!  If it was green they earned TWO!

Students rolled two dice; if they rolled a 6 they got a stamp.  If they rolled doubles of any number they earned TWO!

Students pulled a plastic egg out of a bag and opened it; if it contained a cotton ball they earned a stamp!

This year our Rooster Games winner was Team Yellow!  There's no prize for winning the Rooster Games, but at the end of the day all of the students who qualified to participate in the games gets to enjoy a pizza party sponsored by our P.T.O., so they truly are all winners!

It was a really fun event, and it couldn't have happened without the support of our fourth grade teachers, our parent volunteers, and our Ashaway School P.T.O.  My sincerest thanks go out to them all!