Well, this has been a terrific year. The students have read and written a lot and I'm very proud their effort and accomplishments. We finished off with writing personal narratives and literary analysis essays. We read short stories from Edgar Allan  Poe, Greek Myths and "The Most Dangerous Game " by Richard Connell.  The 6th grade really outdid themselves and earned four ice cream parties this year for reading 1,000,000 words as a class. In 8th grade Taby Prosser read a million words by herself! Jade Lord was close behind with over three quarters of a million words himself and 30 books read! In grade 7 Julia Stitham read 40 books and she and Desire Foss both read over a third of a million words themselves, which the 7th grade team needed! In 6th grade Hailey Blanchard read 37 books to reach over a million words herself as well! Trinity Farrar almost reached a million words with over 900,000 words read and 44 books! Brooke Bagley also read about a quarter of a million words herself!  The students did so well this year toward reaching their reading goal that Mr. Tardy made sure every student  in Read180 received a new book at their reading level.  Thank You Mr. Tardy!  Keep On Reading! Keep On Growing! Have a Great Summer!

Spring Conferences

It's great to see so many parents and students at the spring conferences. I love to see students sharing their hard work and looking at their growth from the beginning of the year. Stop in whenever you can to check out what's happening in Read180.  Monday, 4/13, from 3-8 P.M. and Tuesday, 4/14, from 3-5:30.

spring is here!!

Finally!  The bulbs we planted last fall are blooming and they are beautiful! We have also planted sunflower seeds and can't wait to transplant them outdoors after vacation. They should get taller than us by the end of the summer so be on the lookout as you pass by the school during the summer.

Million Word Contest

Well, It has been a long winter, but we've done A LOT of reading and enjoyed A LOT of ice cream parties! The 6th graders are ahead in the class word count and now have over 3 million words read. The 8th graders are second with 2.7 million words read and the 7th graders are bringing up the rear with just over 1 million words read so far.  Let's see who finishes out the year in first place. Keep up the good reading everyone!

The eighth graders have already read 1,000,000 words and they earned an ice cream party!  I'm very proud of the reading they are doing. They are the first group to complete a million words in just one quarter! Yeah, eighth graders!!

The weather has been stupendous and I hate to see it change, but I know that it will be back and the flowers will blossom again. I love seeing  flowers bloom. I also love seeing all my students begin to bloom on their own as their reading skills bud and blossom.  Like perenials that come back year after year, their reading skills will continue to expand and grow stronger with time. To symbolize that yes, their reading skills will grow even though they might not notice it for a while, we planted some bulbs. Everyone planted some beautiful iris bulbs that will continue to make our school and world a better place for a long time. I hope they see their flowers and remember that they had to water them, plant them in good soil and make sure they had enough sun and fertilizer to grow. Just like their bulbs need special attention, their reading skills also need attention to grow. I can't wait to see how the garden is going to look! Hey, maybe we should read to the bulbs! I think that's a bright idea!

Kids using hypertext with their writing!

I'm so excited! I just learned a new skill as you may have seen in the last parent letter, called hypertext. It's when a word or phrase is highlighted and linked to something else such as a picture, video clip or more details. The students are finishing their first informational paragraphs and they are using hypertext with appropriate links to enhance their paragraphs. It's cool. Here's an example from a 7th grade girl in class. I think this is going to make writing more enjoyable and meaningful for them and well as for the readers.

               Music In My Community

          Immigration transformed my community in Newport by bringing music to help us express ourselves.The coolest thing I see is people walking down the street listening to music from all over the world. For example, there are lots of people who watch “Dancing With The Stars” and they dance to Latino music. Also,there is someone famous named PSY from South Korea who did the song “Gangdem Style” that everybody loves. Another example is Japanese techno music that many people listen to. In conclusion, immigration is making this community a better place with more ways to share how we feel.
                                                               By D.F.