Congratulations to 3rd graders Joshua Martinez, Bella Corona, and Emily De Leon, who are students in Ms. Jennifer Martinez’s class and work weekly with Writers in the Schools (WITS) writer Yolanda Schulte-Ladbeck.

Here is Bella’s poem:
What I Learned from my Uncle

I learned from my Uncle how to be funny.  I know how to make my Mom and Dad laugh.
I learned from my Uncle how to communicate in sign language.  I can teach my friends now.
I learned from my Uncle how to look for pictures in the sky.  I can find me riding horses in clouds.
I learned from my Uncle how to say kind words.  I don’t say bad words and I stay away from strangers.
I learned from my Uncle how to decorate my room.  I have stars in my room that glow.

To read the other winning poems, please visit Helms Elementary website.  Go, students!

Photo by immsm via Flickr

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I love music because it clears my mind.  When I’m in a good mood, I listen to Indie music on the radio.  The first time I ever heard Radio Lollipop (a fully equipped radio station staffed by a team of volunteers at Texas Children’s Hospital) was January 31, 2011.  I was in a bed feeling down on the 9^th floor.  It was just my second day, and I was thinking about home.  When the music came on, I listened for a while.  Music is a way to daydream for me.  Someday I’d like to be a professional cello player. I learned how to play in 5^th grade, and I feel in a better place when I play.  I had to quit when I got sick, but I want to start again.  Writing is another art that I like.  I use it to express myself.  I don’t share everything I write, but I think it helps me to get it out.  I remember I wrote a story once about two kids in an enchanted forest.  I don’t get writer’s block usually.  The words just flow out and onto the paper.  If I could tell people something, I would say that there are lots of ways to express yourself and to go out and find your passion.  For me, it is music and writing.

By Jasmine, 10th grade

When: Saturday, January 14, 2012 from 3-5 PM

Where: River Oaks Bookstore, 3270 Westheimer @ River Oaks Blvd., Houston, TX 77098, ph. 713-520-0061

Cost: Free and open to the public

More about the author

Deborah Frontiera grew up in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and came to Houston in 1985. She taught kindergarten, pre-K, and K-5 science in HISD for over twenty years and was part of the Project A.C.C.E.S.S. curriculum writing project. Experienced at presenting workshops for teachers and writers, she is published in fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and children’s works with eight books currently in print. For more information, visit her website.

Every summer Writers in the Schools (WITS) partners with Rice School Literacy and Culture Project (SLC) to host Summer Creative Writing Workshops across the city of Houston.  We are pleased to let you know about their January Early Literacy Conference, which takes place this Saturday, January 14th, at Rice University.  If you value creativity in the classroom, then you won’t want to miss this!

Here is a blurb from their website:

A 2010 IBM survey of international business leaders cited creativity as the most important skill in today’s economy. How does this finding impact the real world of schools, teachers, and students? Join the School Literacy and Culture Project of Rice University’s Center for Education for our 13th annual half-day early literacy conference as we focus on practical ideas for supporting creative thinking and problem-solving in the classroom.

Dr. Patsy Cooper (SLC’s Founding Director), Associate Professor of Education at Queens College, City University of New York, and Karen Capo (SLC’s current Director) will deliver the opening address. Karen will set the stage by asking the question, What is Creativity and Why Does It Matter? Patsy will provide our first perspective, The Very Practical Role of Imagination in Early Literacy.  This year we will offer two featured breakout sessions. We are pleased to welcome Anthony Brandt, Associate Professor of Composition at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, who will inspire all educators with his session, Why Young Minds Need Art.  Also,Patsy Cooper will reprise her popular keynote from last year, Let’s Try It Again: A Positive Approach to Helping Young Children Recover from Their Missteps and Misbehavior.

Other breakout sessions for teachers of toddlers through second grades, led by School Literacy and Culture Project (SLC) staff and guests, will include several on SLC’s renowned language/literacy based storytelling curriculum for first time attendees as well as a variety of other sessions addressing special interests such as toddler literacy, bilingual concerns, integrated curriculum, and creative writing for the school-age child. Details will be available in mid-December on this web page.

Attendance is limited, so please register early! For the past few years, the conference has filled quickly.