Author Justin Matott talks to Mitchell Stu­dents about the impor­tance of devel­op­ing pro­fi­cient writ­ing skills and dis­cusses the life of an author.

Jour­nal­ism stu­dents respond:

Author Inspires Young Writers

By T.J. A. and Addie M. 
On Decem­ber 15, 2011, author Justin Matott vis­ited Mitchell Ele­men­tary. The whole school joined him for a spe­cial assembly. He told us some great stories. We learned he has writ­ten at
least 12 books, that a good story can take six months to write, and you need to be cre­ative with your writing. He showed us how being funny attracts more peo­ple to your work. He also encour­aged 4th, 5th, and 6th graders to use our imag­i­na­tions dur­ing a writ­ing work­shop fol­low­ing the assembly.

Behind the Scenes of West­ward Whoa

By the Jour­nal­ism Club

Fourth, 5th and 6th grade Jour­nal­ism Club stu­dents sat down with Mr. Phillips to talk with him about what goes into plan­ning the 6th grade musi­cal and what Mitchell can expect for next year.

J-club: After the audi­tions, how do you decide who gets which part?
Mr. Phillips: By judges’ score and stu­dent preference.There are five cri­te­ria judges score. They are: pro­jec­tion, dic­tion, char­ac­ter, voice, and over­all assess­ment. Char­ac­ter is defined as the student’s abil­ity to stay in char­ac­ter, be the­atri­cal and main­tain an accent if needed. Voice qual­ity is judged by pitch-matching only. Con­tinue read­ing →

If you are reg­is­tered to par­tic­i­pate be sure to down­load your impor­tant final instructions.

What: Oral Inter­pre­ta­tion Fes­ti­val — stu­dents per­form poetry, prose, song lyrics or book excerpts.

Who: All Mitchell Ele­men­tary stu­dents (K-6) are invited to par­tic­i­pate.

When: Thurs­day March 1, 2012. Evening per­for­mances will be for fam­ily and friends in the gym. K-3 will per­form from 6–7 pm and grades 4–6 will per­form for 7:15 — 8:15 pm.  Dur­ing the day the per­for­mances will be for judges and class­mates dur­ing “spe­cials”.  4th grade 8:15 — 9:10 | 5th grade 9:10 — 9:55 | 6th grade 10:00 — 10:45 | 3rd grade 10:55 — 11:40 | 2nd grade 1:15 — 2:00 | 1st grade 2:05 — 2:50

Why: It is FUN! Stu­dents get to explore dif­fer­ent types of lit­er­a­ture and are taught good pub­lic speak­ing skills.
How:    REGISTER ONLINE!

On Decem­ber 7, we had Kath­leen Kee­lan speak about cyber­bul­ly­ing pre­ven­tion.  Kath­leen is a Licensed Pro­fes­sional Counselor, specializing in treat­ing stu­dents that are expe­ri­enc­ing bul­ly­ing in schools.  She also does school/parent work­shops on the pre­ven­tion of cyber­bul­ly­ing and tra­di­tional bul­ly­ing.  One of the dis­tinc­tions she made was between nor­mal con­flict and cyber-bullying.

Dear Mitchell Elementary,

Tell the Gov­er­nor: Don’t Appeal Lobato Decision!

On Decem­ber 9, Judge Sheila Rap­pa­port issued a deci­sion in the Lobato case con­firm­ing what par­ents and stu­dents have been say­ing for years: “[Colorado’s] pub­lic school finance sys­tem is irra­tional, arbi­trary, and severely underfunded.”

The Judge ordered the leg­is­la­ture to do its con­sti­tu­tional duty — Con­tinue read­ing →

“Beyond the Class­room” by Alex M, jour­nal­ism club