YOUNG AUTHORS VAN NUYS CHILDREN DISPLAY WORKS AT OWN BOOK FAIR.Byline: JOHAN Johan may refer to:
Every year, students at Cohasset Street School in Van Nuys unleash their creative juices Creative Juice is a daily craft show hosted by Emmy-nominated hosts Cathie Filian and Steve Piacenza on the HGTV and DIY Network. Nominated for an Emmy in the Best Lifestyle Host category in 2007. They are up against Paula Dean, Martha Stewart, and Emeril Lagasse. and let them flow into their very own books, which they make from scratch. Cohasset recently held its ninth annual Child- Authored Fair, showcasing books written and bound by the students. The students wrote about their families, what they want to do when they grow up and other interests close to their hearts. Each class in kindergarten kindergarten [Ger.,=garden of children], system of preschool education. Friedrich Froebel designed (1837) the kindergarten to provide an educational situation less formal than that of the elementary school but one in which children's creative play instincts would be through first grade created a book collectively, with one page contributed by each student. Children in second, third, fourth and fifth grades wrote their own books. During the fair, parents and students walked around the different areas of the school and read the child authors' books. ``We must have had at least 100 (parents) here,'' said Principal Cherie Spamer. ``It's remarkable considering most of the parents have two or three jobs.'' Cohasset has 860 students who speak 17 different languages. Most of them do not speak English when they start their first day of school. The children come from families who move around a lot, and most of the parents do not have high school diplomas A high school diploma is a diploma awarded for the completion of high school. In the United States and Canada, it is considered the minimum education required for government jobs and higher education. An equivalent is the GED. , Spamer said. But by the time the students reach third grade, their test scores are at or above the national average, Spamer said. However, less than 10 percent stay with the school for that long. Spamer, who created the book fair when she came to the school nine years ago, has made reading and writing a priority for her students. Each student keeps a log of the books and pages they read throughout a semester se·mes·ter n. One of two divisions of 15 to 18 weeks each of an academic year. [German, from Latin (cursus) s . The log is tallied and put in a display case at the school. Many students do more reading than required, and the project has been very helpful for those trying to learn English. ``It's this recreational reading that teaches the children vocabulary,'' Spamer said. ``This is how they really learn English.'' CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Emanuel Zavala, a fifth-grader at Cohasset Street School in Van Nuys, holds a book about Texas. Each of his classmates Classmates can refer to either:
Johan Mengesha/Valley News |
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