2018 Literacy Days Winners

NCSS Announces Winners of 2018 Literacy Days Competition
Posted on 12/07/2018
Landon MendozaThe Newton County School System (NCSS) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 District Literacy Days Recitation, Drama, Read Aloud, and Ready Writing competitions.

NCSS Elementary and middle schools held poetry competitions at their school and sent their grade level winners to participate in the district’s recitation contest. Competitors were judged on a number of criteria in the poetry recitation contest, including stage presence, articulation, interpretation, memory and accuracy, and difficulty of the piece.

RECITATION WINNERS

System Recitation Winners; This is Alt Text
 GRADE WINNER  SCHOOL  POEM 
Kindergarten  Landon Mendoza  Heard-Mixon Elementary  Under the Bed 
1st Grade  Amilya Williams  Porterdale Elementary  No 
2nd Grade  Reese Arnold  Rocky Plains Elementary  I Made a Noise This Morning 
3rd Grade  Will Franklin  Newton County Theme   Sick 
4th Grade  Anthony Miller  Heard-Mixon Elementary  The Invitation 
5th Grade  Madeline Jones  Mansfield Elementary  Television 
6th Grade  Emmanuele Gray  Veterans Memorial Middle  A Pizza, a Party, and a Moonlight Ride 
7th Grade  Amaya Williams  Newton County Theme  The Spider and the Fly: A Fable 
8th Grade  Aurora Gray  Veterans Memorial Middle  In Perfect Harmony 

READY WRITING COMPETITION WINNERS

In the Ready Writing competition, school-level champions were given a writing prompt and one hour to complete their essays. Students are scored on a rubric of six traits: ideas and content; organization; voice; word choice; sentence fluency; and conventions.

Ready Writing Winners; This is Alt Text
 GRADE WINNER  SCHOOL  TITLE OF PIECE 
 3rd Grade Tripp Swords  Mansfield Elementary  Lou Gehrig 
 4th Grade Rhian Graves  Newton County Theme  If You Could Travel Anywhere, Where Would You Go and What Would You Do? 
 5th Grade Kaitlin Goodman  Oak Hill Elementary  Snow Day, Fun Day! 
 6th Grade Annalie Parker  Veterans Memorial Middle  Less Time in Front of the TV 
 7th Grade Lila Whitmire  Indian Creek Middle  New Class 
 8th Grade Austin Northcutt  Cousins Middle  Space Exploration 

READ ALOUD WINNERS

Students in kindergarten through second grade participated in the Read Aloud of Best Piece Contest in which students, with the teacher’s assistance, choose a piece from the student’s collected writings to read aloud to the judges. They were scored on topic, words, order, sentences and articulation.

Read Aloud Winners; This is Alt Text
GRADE  STUDENT  SCHOOL  TITLE OF PIECE 
 Kindergarten Katie Delphin  Newton County Theme  What I Want to Be When I Grow Up 
 1st Grade Karter Williams  Oak Hill Elementary  Who is Your Hero and Why? 
 2nd Grade Bryce Grant  Porterdale Elementary  If I Could Change the World 

DRAMA TEAM WINNERS

The Middle Ridge Elementary School drama team won first place in the K-2 drama competition with their performance of “Little Green Frog.” Team members included: Gabriel Day, Serenity Harris, Kathleen Martinez, Rome Matthews, Brae’lin Merril, Serenity Moore, Mariam Sidibe, and Michael Webster.

Mansfield Elementary School’s drama team took first place in the grade 3-5 drama competition with their play, “Haste Makes Waste.” Team members included: Levi Adams, Aubrey Burton, Alex Johnson, Heidi Parish, Natalie Phillips, and Ean Pollard.”

At the Middle School level, Veterans Memorial Middle School earned the first place trophy for their presentation, “Because I’m A….” Team members included: Alasia Boggan, Jocelyn Kilgore, and Mackenzie Gayle-Redway.

Winners in all categories will now represent Newton County School System at the regional competition at Griffin RESA in February, 2019.

“The Literacy Days Competition provides students with the opportunity to perform and be recognized for their talents through the celebration of the arts,” said NCSS Superintendent Samantha Fuhrey. “I am proud of each and every one of our participants as it takes a tremendous amount of talent and commitment to participate in this type of competition. They represented their schools very well. I was impressed by the performances I saw and I know the judges at the regional competition will be, too. In addition to our poetry recitation, read aloud, and drama team winners, our district ready writing winners are also very talented. I know Newton County School System will be well represented at the Griffin RESA Regional Literacy Days Festival.”

For more information, contact Ms. Sherri Davis, Director of Public Relations for Newton County Schools, at [email protected].

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