Oakridge Reads
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Enter to Win!
Arizona State professor Dr. Steve Graham found in over 30 years of research that "reading and writing skills are closely linked. When you increase how much students read, they become better writers and the opposite holds true as well, As students write more frequently, their reading skills improve."
So check out these contests and encourage your chid to try one out. They may be surprised how much fun it can be to write and in the process improve their writing and reading!
BOOK FAIR - December 5th - December 11th
WAIT! This is a book fair, right? Not a contest! True, BUT...throughout the book fair students WILL have chances to win books if they enter contests such as "Caught Reading", "Lollipop Pull", and the "I wish I could win" scavenger hunt.
We're open 7:45-4:00 every day and just on Thursday, Dec 5th, we're also open 5:30-7:00pm for the 6th grade band concert. Click here for the class shopping schedule.
So come shop the book fair! Read the research below and learn why book ownership is so important. Buy books for your home! Buy books for our classrooms!
RESEARCH:
Studies have shown for a long time that “home libraries are strongly linked to children's academic achievement. A new large-scale study, featuring data from 31 countries, found there are long term benefits from owning your own books as well.” How many books are enough to benefit a student? 80-350. Those who owned 80 books had average reading and writing scores. Scores increased along with the number of books in the home up to 350. Above 350, no significant increases in literacy scores were found.
Purchasing books for classroom libraries also helps improve student literacy scores. See this Clemson University article for details.
NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a fun, empowering approach to creative writing. The challenge: draft an entire novel in just one month. Why do it? For 30 wild, exciting, surprising days, you get to lock away your inner editor, let your imagination take over, and just create!
Participants begin writing November 1 and must finish by 11:59 PM on November 30. The word-count goal for our adult program is 50,000 words, but the Young Writers Program (YWP) allows 17-and-under participants to set reasonable-but-challenging individual word-count goals.
Website: https://ywp.nanowrimo.org/
Boy's Life - "The Best Book I Read This Year"
Write a 500 word essay “The Best Book I Read This Year” and enter it in the Boys’ Life 2019 “Say Yes to Reading!” contest. The book can be fiction or nonfiction. But the essay has to be in your own words — 500 words tops. Enter in one of these three age categories:
- 8 years old and younger
- 9 and 10 years old
- 11 years old and older
First-place winners in each age category will receive a $100 gift card from Amazon.com. Second-place winners will receive a $75 gift card; third-place winners, a $50 gift card.
Click HERE to learn more. Deadline is December 31, 2019.
Engineer Girl Writing Contest
Scenario:
The spaceship Vestigo is on a 20-year journey taking a large group of people from Earth to a new home outside our solar system. The passengers are from 2- to 50-years-old and will have little contact with Earth. They will have access to books and other resources onboard the ship. Many are experts in different fields. Vestigo is equipped with artificial gravity and large areas for growing food. Living quarters are like compact apartments.Everyone onboard will need education and training. They will need to maintain the ship and to prepare for life on a new planet. Most people will need to be skilled in more than one area.
Submissions:
Think of a skill that could help people who grew up on the Vestigo survive on a new planet. Use the engineering design process to figure out how they might learn that skill onboard the ship. You must submit an Engineer’s Note that briefly explains the learning tool you designed for your character. This note should describe for the judges why you chose this particular method or technology. It can be up to 250 words.
Then, write a story about a Vestigo passenger your age who learns that skill using the method or technology you designed. You may include artwork or graphics to illustrate your story, which should be no more than 1,200 words.
Deadline is February 1, 2020. Click here for more details.
Letters About Literature Contest
Have you ever read a story that changed your life? Literature is a powerful tool that allows us to gain knowledge about the world around us, and understand perspectives we may not have considered before. This is an opportunity to write an author and explain how their writing impacted your world view. Write your letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre explaining how that author's work changed your way of thinking about the world or yourself. In South Carolina, there are three competition levels with three winners at each level:
* Level I for children in grades 4-6
* Level II for grades 7 & 8
* Level III for grades 9-12
For each level, first place winners receive $100, second place winners receive $50, and third place winners receive $25, courtesy of the South Carolina State Library Foundation.
Click here for details. Deadline is January 10, 2020.
Calling All Artists and Writiers
The Scholastic Awards look for writing or art work that demonstrates originality, technical skill, and the emergence of a personal voice or vision. Click HERE for details.
The Ocean Awareness Contest
More Contests!
Student Spotlights
FYI....OMS Annual Spelling Bee
@ ImaginOn 300 East Seventh St., Charlotte, NC 28202 sometime in February. Exact
Click HERE for study lists
Tuesday, Dec 17, 2019, 08:45 AM
OMS Media Cernter
Can she repeat?
Carmyn Phongsa, Team 8-2, was last year's
OMS Spelling Bee Champion.
She returns this year to defend her title.
Can she be beat?
Good Luck Carmyn!