Eyestone’s young writers make big impression

May 13, 2009

By JoAn Bjarko
The Wellington

The young writers at Eyestone Elementary School spent three evenings together this school year, showing off their accomplishments to themselves and their parents.

“We all had some good laughs with our teachers, our parents and our siblings,” said Odalis Munoz, a sixth-grader who brought her 17-year-old sister to Writing Night.

“It was a really great bonding experience,” added Sophie Bibbey, also in sixth grade. “I learned something about Mom I didn’t know before.”

Eyestone Principal David Sobson said the concept for Writing Night emerged when he and teachers starting looking for ways to bring parents into school life. Student achievement correlates with parent involvement, he explained, and writing was one of Eyestone’s weaker academic areas.

“Parents really want to know what’s going on in the school academically and how they can help at home,” he said.
Sobson is happy with the interest the activities generated. Nightly participation ranged from 421 to 559 over the three events, which started with a meal and ended with students reading and writing with their families. The school provided translators for Hispanic families and day care for the younger sisters and brothers.

The first night focused on narrative writing and the second on expository writing.

“Parents in a couple classrooms couldn’t stop writing,” Sobson said. “They were saying, ‘I haven’t done this in years.’”
Fifth-grader Alberto Jimenez and his father together wrote an article about monkeys. On his own, Alberto wrote about bats and read the story to his mother at Writing Night.

Sidney Cooley, also in fifth grade, was happy to bring her dad to Writing Night because she doesn’t spend as much time with him. She wrote a tall tale about a bird that grew a lot.

Fifth-grader Shelby Enke wrote about a girl who wandered into a forest and was helped by a magical creature.
Teachers for the various grades provided different materials for their students to use with their writing assignments. Some students brought family pictures to glue into “life books,” and others had journals. “We will still have them when we’re older,” noted second-grader Madelynn Keselburg.

Students interviewed after the final Writing Night agreed they improved more than their writing skills.

“Performing in front of my parents helped me get rid of stage fright,” said fifth-grader Lydia Allen, “and it helped me be a better writer.”

Stephanie Ortega added that students not only had to read to their parents, but to other parents as well, which was more difficult.

The older students researched topics in advance. For example, Sara McFarland studied animal shelters and euthanasia. She said the extra writing experience will help her and the other fifth-graders when they move into middle school next fall.

“It helped me put more detail into my writing — more than I usually do,” admitted Lupito Jaquez-Betancourt.
Parents also said Writing Nights were a positive experience, according to Sobson.

“A lot of people are surprised when they see the level of accomplishment that is expected today,” he said.