Creative Writing Contest 2019

Are you creative? Do you like to write? Submit a creative writing piece, and if you win you will get a prize. There will only be one winner. Your piece can be a poem, a short story or a part of a short story if it is too long. (Please note that we will use a plagiarism checker!)

Requirements:

• Minimum of 250 Words
• Maximum of  5 pages
• Font: Times New Roman
• Font Size: 12
• Double Spaced
• Prompt: ANYTHING! Use Your Imagination To The Fullest!

The Submission Is Due February 13th.

Ready To Begin? Fill Out The Form Here!:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScT8DjObYuG2o9ve3PLKQWoDsTEg-qj3aTNo5F6vHUV8H-bJg/viewform

The Newspaper Project

Mariah Escatel

It has already come to many eighth graders’ attention that the year is ending. Along with this comes many assignments due for eighth-graders, such as the history project, math placement tests, CAASPP testing, science finals, book reports, portfolios, resume, and by far the worst– the dreaded newspaper project.

The newspaper project is a massive book report created to “challenge your mind.” The project is done in Mrs. Ortega’s eighth-grade language arts and reading honors classes. It is a detailed book report that is in the form of a newspaper. Students are challenged to act as if they are living in the book they are reporting about. The report consists of multiple articles including a summary, book review, conflicts, and many more. Students describe it as intimidating, and astonishing.

Story Contest

Mia Grasse

Stacey’s Broadcast Journalism team wants to see how good of a writer you are. Starting Wednesday, January 31, enter Journalism’s writing contest for a chance to get published in the Cougar Chronicle and get an award on stage at one of our Cougar Pride assemblies. Stacey’s Broadcast Journalism team will be picking a winner from each grade.

What will we be writing about?

Well, the journalism crew voted, and the genre of the stories will be action and adventure. Create your own characters, character struggles, and plots. The journalism students want to be able to read a fun and creative story made by some of the best writers at Stacey.

Here are the criteria for your story:

• Heading must have your full name (Last, First) and grade level
• Must be written by only one person
• Must have a genre of action and adventure
• Minimum of 500 words and maximum of 1000 words
• Must be turned in to B-3 by February 14th

Remember to be creative.

StudySync Helps Many With Online Education

Gavin Mercado

Chromebooks are used for education purposes, right? Usually for math quizzes, AR, or even reading logs. There has never really been any major sites for language arts. Well, the Westminster Scool District has introduced a new Language Arts program called StudySync.

Ms. Walters states, “StudySync is our new curriculum for Language Arts and will often be used.”

When you first log into StudySync, there will be four dots. You must click them to get into your assignments and activities for that day. Many assignments include audio books, online worksheets, and perhaps even a Blast!

The Story Behind The Story

Kelsey Bisetti

The Outsiders— It’s been deemed the first true young adult novel, it’s the first book to lead to the bestowing of a School Library Journal Author Achievement Award (My goodness, that’s a long title!), and it was actually written based on the upbringing of famed author S.E. Hinton.

Since it recently celebrated its 50th anniversary, let’s get to know a bit more about its background.

Hinton grew up in a small Oklahoman town as someone her book describes as a “greaser.” In fact, the opening scene in which she describes a young boy getting jumped and threatened by Socs was inspired by a similar event taking place at her high school. She says she still feel uncomfortable in many social situations because her hometown was so divided.

8th Grade Honors Next Year

Mika Mendoza

Will you be joining Mrs. Ortega in 8th-grade honors?

Mrs.Ortega who is happy to be running 8th-grade honors will only have ONE class of honors next year. The class requirements will be more difficult, as many students are in 7th-grade honors.

The first requirement is student must exceed normal reading standards for 8th grade and be reading at a 10th-grade level.

The second stipulation is the student must show initiative and participate regularly in class.

The third condition is that the applicant must be able to think outside the box, be creative.

“Students must be able to take risks when it comes to assigned tasks.” Mrs. Ortega would also like it if the students had a teacher recommendation.

Study Sync Takes the Cake

Delaney Powell

Like most of you know, in December the Westminster School District chose StudySync as the new English Language Arts curriculum. After Ms.Sale, Ms.Walters, Mrs. Arith and, Mrs. Ortega all piloted two programs, StudySync and Amplify only Ms. Sale voted for StudySync of those teachers who represented our school. Lucky for Ms. Sale, most of the other teachers at Johnson, Schroeder, and Eastwood agreed with her. Mrs.Ortega is still standing by Amplify, and her students agree.

Which do You Choose? Amplify or StudySync?

Evelyn Huynh

Language Arts is getting a makeover. Next year students at Stacey will have new Language Arts curriculum. This year some Stacey teachers piloted two new programs to help the district decide which of the California approved publishers to choose.  

From the beginning of the year to October 19th, Language Arts teachers piloted StudySync by McGraw-Hill. Afterward, the teachers piloted Amplify until December 14th.

Book Fair

Justin Pham

It’s that time of year again! Stacey Middle School is hosting another book fair! The book fair is a great opportunity for students to go purchase new books that have just been released and to see what books are hot and which are not. Take advantage of this book fair to get newly released books, and the money that is used to buy the books will go to the school’s book credit.

Slaying Dragons

  

Mika Mendoza & Kelsey Bisetti

Literature can take us to magical places, places where legendary creatures roam the forests and good has the power to beat evil. Every. Single. Time.

The power of a good book is truly undeniable. To experience that power, students need to learn from the best that is available.

Several teachers Miss Walters, Mrs. Airth, Mrs. Ortega, and Miss Sale are piloting two different programs in an attempt to find the best way to teach reading and language arts in the Westminster School District. The two programs being piloted are StudySync and Amplify.