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Literacy Assessments
At the end of each term we had literacy assesments and our teachers would test us for different things that had to do with reading and writing. You would get an "X" if you passed that section and an "N" if you need improvement and i always needed improvement in comprehending text every year i got an "N" in that box. -
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1st Grade reading Assignments
In first grade a teacher/reading coach would come around to all the different first grade classes and pull each kid one at a time into the hallway to evaluate our reading skills. She would had us a book and we would have to read the first few pages, she would then asses our comprehension skills and if we had any difficulty pronouncing words. -
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Junie B. Jones
All throughout elementary school I would swear by the Junie B. Jones series. I had every copy by Barbara Park and I still own most of them to this day. I remember in first grade on the last day of school gave us each a book that she signed and had a message for us on there and mine happened to be a Junie B. Jones book and it was like a super nice hard cover one. -
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Summer Reading
Every summer in elementary school there was a reading contest. You would have to log down how many hours of reading you did and each book you read. If you got a certain amount of hours by the end of the summer then you would get a free ticket to go to Six Flags. I got the ticket a few times, but never actually got to go. -
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Playing School
When I was younger my mom would bring home old worksheets she had from her classes and my siblings and I would play school. We used our porch and turned it into our own little school we had a bunch of old desks and lockers we got from the auction -
I wrote a book
In 4th grade everyone had to write a book. Mine was called "Dead Cellar' and it was a horror book about a girl named Heather who moved to a new house with her family and there was a mysterious cellar in the back which ended up having a serial killer living in there and the girl went down there and ended up dying and her parents moved away and a new family lived there and it all happened again. -
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Making Comics
In elementary school a couple friends and I would pass around a piece of paper and we would make up comics. Each of us would have a little piece we added each time then pass it to the next person and we would come up with some crazy stories and most of the characters were ice cream cones with faces and limbs. -
Speech Contest
In elementary school we would alternate every year on if we had a speech contest or a science fair for 4th and 5th grade students. When I was in 5th grade we had the speech contest and the requirements were to write a speech about any topic and present it in front of the class. You would get judged on speller, grammar, the subject of the speech, and how well would could present it to the class. -
Pen Pal
In 5th grade each student was required to have a pen pal from Premier Care, a nursing home. We would write letters back and forth and one day we got to go and visit them and gave them an interview. My pen pals name was Betty Bronson and she was 83 at the time. She told me about her schooling and growing up which was pretty interesting considering that it was so different from now. -
Spelling Bee
In middle school spelling bee happened when I was in 6th grade. First we would start off in each of our classes and the teacher would ask each of us to spell certain words from a list. If you finished first in your class then you would verse your entire class. I made it in the top 12 out of the whole school, there were 4 people from each grade, and then you would go to the district competition, but i never made it to the competition in time. -
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Passing Notes
In middle school a friend and I would get in trouble a lot for talking in all of our classes so we started to pass notes. It became an everyday thing and sometimes we would get caught and have them taken away from us so we came up with our own language or like a key for the alphabet so no one but us could understand what we were saying. -
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Writing Letters to Family
When my cousins moved away for their dads work it was hard to communicate with them since we were all kind of young we didn't have phones so we started writing letters to each other. We were all very close so we we would write so many letters saying what was going on and how we were doing lately. -
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Punished for Reading
My freshman year I started reading "The Perks of Being a Wallflower". I really wanted to watch the movie, but I wanted to read the book first (shocker). I loved the book so much (another shocker) that I couldn't put it down. Every time I had even a few minuets of free time I would pick it up and read as much as I could, even during school in class. One day I kept reading it while my English teacher was talking and he took it away from me and I didn't get it back for a while. -
Forced reading turned good
In 8th grade we had a whole unit based on the Holocaust. We were assigned a book to read about the event and my class got Night by Elie Wiesel. Although it was a very heartbreaking book I was so interested in it and I couldn't put it down. The book and the whole section really interested me so I took the Holocaust and Genocide class they offered at my school and there were some assigned readings in there as well. -
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Helping my Nephew with Reading
Ayden my nephew was going to be starting preschool soon and we all wanted him to be prepared so between his parents, aunts, and grandparents we all tried to help out with teaching him how to read and write so he could get a good head start in school. To this day we all take a part in his literature with reading him books and helping with his homework -
Reading the Bible
For my birthday a good friend of mine ,who happened to be very religious, gave me a bible that she color coated. For times I was feeling happy, sad, or just wanted something to read she highlighted it for me and gave me a key. She also added all of her favorite passages in there -
Spring Musical Senior year
My senior year of high school I decided that I wanted to be on stage instead of behind the scenes for the musical. (I was backstage doing hair and makeup) A good friend of mine was actually directing it because it was a student led production so she gave me a line in the play. I was so nervous I could barely remember it! I was also part of the ensemble so I had to memorize all of the songs. -
Reading Scripture
For my brothers wedding my cousin, my bothers sister from his dads side and I were all asked to be "wedding readers" We were each given a passage from the bible, some of my sister-in-laws favorites, and asked to read them aloud at the ceremony. I kept choking up, because I was trying to not cry because I was so happy. -
A New Book
My friend Serena brought me her book "13 Reasons Why" which is based off the new show that Netflix just put out. I finished the show first, but I also want to read the book, because it was such a great show I know the book will be just as good. So far I'm on chapter 3 and I try and read as much as I can. -
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Soloing for jazz
I had always been in the jazz band in high school, but I was always afraid to solo. I wasn't the best at soloing, but I am a very good player. I started taking jazz improvisation classes at the school and started writing my own solos. I then built up the confidence to play my own solo at every concert we had and before you knew it i was asking to solo on every song.
