The Newton County School System (NCSS) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2022 District Literacy Days Recitation, Drama, Read Aloud, and Ready Writing competitions held in December at Newton County’s Porter Auditorium.
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.
System Recitation Contest Winners
GRADE |
|
WINNER |
|
SCHOOL |
|
POEM |
Kindergarten |
|
Giovani Gibson |
|
Porterdale Elementary |
|
"The Pig" |
1st Grade |
|
Kalise Hampton |
|
NC Theme School |
|
"Mother to Son" |
2nd Grade |
|
Matthias Deacon |
|
NC Theme School |
|
"Sick" |
3rd Grade |
|
Lizeth Gonzalez Rodriguez |
|
South Salem Elementary |
|
"The Skiing Incident" |
4th Grade |
|
Alondra Pioquinto |
|
South Salem Elementary |
|
"Rapunzel, Rapunzel" |
5th Grade |
|
Xander Wheeler |
|
Live Oak Elementary |
|
"Touching the Sky" |
6th Grade |
|
Queen Johnson |
|
Liberty Middle |
|
"One Perfect Rose" |
7th Grade |
|
Tiana Watley |
|
Clements Middle |
|
"Shots Fired" |
8th Grade |
|
Maren Poynter |
|
NC Theme School |
|
"The Listeners" |
SYSTEM 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.
System Ready Writing Winners
GRADE |
|
WINNER |
|
SCHOOL |
|
TITLE OF PIECE |
3rd Grade |
|
Jaycee Combs |
|
East Newton Elementary |
|
"if I Could Go Back in Time" |
4th Grade |
|
Lowell Howard |
|
NC Theme School |
|
"If I Could Change the World" |
5th Grade |
|
Anthony Hortman |
|
Oak Hill Elementary |
|
"What's Your Most Memorable Day" |
6th Grade |
|
Alexander Munguia |
|
Cousins Middle |
|
"Less Time in Front of the TV" |
7th Grade |
|
Braxton Allen |
|
Indian Creek Middle |
|
"New Class" |
8th Grade |
|
Charles Henderson |
|
Indian Creek Middle |
|
"Space Exploration" |
SYSTEM 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.
System Read Aloud Winners
GRADE |
|
WINNER |
|
SCHOOL |
|
NAME OF PIECE |
Kindergarten |
|
Ian Coley |
|
West Newton Elementary |
|
"A Hero Is" |
1st Grade |
|
Carter Mills |
|
Oak Hill Elementary |
|
"If I Had Three Wishes" |
2nd Grade |
|
Justice Johnson |
|
Oak Hill Elementary |
|
"If You Could Change the World" |
SYSTEM DRAMA TEAM WINNERS
The
South Salem Elementary School drama team took first place honors in the K-2 drama competition with their performance of “The Four Little Pigs.” Cast members included
Alison Orellana-Segovia, Jaxon Lee, Yazmin White, Alaina Ford, Maya Monk, Layla Brown, Ayanna Hinds, John White III, Kendall Jones, and
Mason Bridges. In the grade 3-5 competition,
Porterdale Elementary earned the top award with their performance of “Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters.” Cast members included
Lamarion Battle, Anayi Burney, Skylar Hamerter, Torin Petty, Preston Moses, Cali Clemments, Lewis Meeks, Amir Abong, Alivia Winter, Jamir Boyd, and
Faley Slaven.
Clement’s Middle School’s drama team won top honors in the middle school competition with their performance of, “Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day.” Cast members included
Jessica Benton, Mariah Edwards, Morgyn Gay, Carleigh Hardegree, Nelani Jones, Skyy Lacy, Khamaya Leary, Genesis Nash, and
Kennedi Zachary.
Winners in all categories will now represent Newton County School System at the regional competition at Griffin RESA in February, 2023.
“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.”
She added, “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.”