You can encourage your preschooler through third grader to succeed in language arts by …

• Practicing the sounds of language. Read books with rhymes. Teach your child rhymes, short poems and songs. Play simple word games: How many words can you make up that sound like the word “bat”?
• Reading alphabet books together. Prompt your child to say the letters when you point to them, or pausing before you give the next letter in the alphabet, giving him a chance to say it himself!
• Practicing the alphabet by pointing out letters wherever you see them. Check out the golden arches’ “M” and sound out “MMMmmmcDonalds!” Ask how many “Ts” your child can find in the Target sign!
• Listen to your child read books. Be patient and try to let your child sound out difficult words. Let your child know you are proud of his reading and that it’s ok not to know every word.
• Rereading familiar books. Children need practice in reading comfortably and with expression using books they know.
• Building reading comprehension. Talk with your child about what he is reading. Ask about new words and talk about what happened in a story. Ask about characters, places and events.
• Share conversations with your child! Children learn words more easily when they hear them spoken often. Introduce new and interesting words at every opportunity.
• Visit the library often. Making a monthly trip to the library builds family ties and encourages readers to try new things.

Tips provided by the National Institute for Literacy at www.nifl.gov and STAR Education’s Literacy Department. To obtain a full copy of Teaching Children to Read, the 2000 report of the National Reading Panel, which served as the basis for some information provided here, please visit www.nationalreadingpanel.org

How old do you have to be to write poetry? These students from Brentwood Science Magnet prove that first grade isn’t too young! 

World   by Jan Arielle and Beth (1^st)

When I see butterflies fly

It makes me cry

I look in a river

And  see someone shiver

I can fly so high

I can reach the sky

When I play with my friends

The fun never ends

When I am blue

I look for you

When I was a child

I always smiled

When I write with ink

I think of pink

When I go to school I don’t look like a fool.

By Shadi R.

One day, I will be undauntful,

My life will be meaningful,

I won’t be a kid anymore,

Instead I will take score

Of the things I do,

I will say no

to the things that are bad

But I won’t be sad

Because I know

It is not such a woe

to go through this

without a big miss

One day, you will too,

learn the real truth

of the meaning of life

By Anonymous

My brother and I are two best buds but we never try to play in the mud

we’re both dreamers and we’re two superstars

and my mother says we’ll go very far

and if we stay in school and don’t be a fool

and stay out of trouble or else it’ll be double

but I feel so bored all I see is black and white

I hope I get a Big Mac tonight.

Students at Brentwood Science Magnet School were challenged to act as visionaries for their own lives. Read these touching examples, written by 2nd-5th graders.

Visionary by Shadi K.
If I had to create a vision of the world…it would be something like this: Well, the world I’d like to have would have no homeless people on the streets because I would have taken care of that. The diseases would mostly have cures because of the advancements in medicine that I would help with. Every child would go to school. No animals would be left on the streets. The world will have stopped global warming and be mores conservative and plenty more would happen.
I would be a veterinarian, singer, president, doctor, and probably more. I know I can’t do all of that but I would like to because I want to help the world. I wouldn’t be that special of a person. That’s because all of those things that are great for the world would have also been helped on by other people. The world isn’t taken care of by one person, it is taken care of by the world.

By Belicia B.
My vision is working in a job. My job will be a teacher. Maybe something else. What I am thinking now is being a teacher. Maybe when I grow up I will change my vision from now. My vision 10 more years from now is to study. After that then I am going to find good work.
I also want to go to new places. I will love to go to New York. Also I will love to go to Hawaii. Other places, too, if I have time.

By Pauleen
When I grow up, I want two children. I want to have a job. A family to stay happy. I want a house. I want to be rich. I want pets. I would like to have my two children be very smart. I want a very big house that has three pools. I want a job that pays me a lot of money.

By Anonymous
I want to be a guitarist. I will make songs that will make huge money and maybe win a Grammy Award. I wish to play in the Disney Hall and get a Nobel Peace Prize, and even play in the Hollywood Bowl. When I do all of this, I want to be in great shape and have a lot of money. I wish to be in a rock band with awesome guitars. This is what I want in the future.

Visit the 6th Annual Feria Del Libro, a Literacy Fair for all families!

Saturday, June 7, 2008

10 A.M. to 5 P.M.
Los Angeles City Hall and Surrounding Streets

The STAR Literacy booth will be staffed by STAR Literacy teachers who will help you make your own original bookmark.

For More Information, Click On: http://www.familiesinschools.org:80/site/content/view/106/84/

The literacy department participated in STAR Education’s 11th Annual Earth Day Celebration on April 27, 2008! Visitors to the literacy booth decorated Ralphs grocery bags with messages and art about earth day and conservation. The newly decorated bags were then delivered back to Ralphs, where customers will read the messages on the bags holding their groceries!

Decorating was fun…

…but the highlight of the literacy booth was a special visit by Grand Master P, his son Romeo, and Gee Gee the Giraffe!

Romeo and Gee Gee performed their new song on the STAR main stage, and then read their book, Gee Gee Giraffe and Friends Earth Day , to a captive audience!

A few lucky fans even got to read along with Romeo!

For more information about Gee Gee the Magical Giraffe, please see www.geegeegiraffe.com

And if you missed it this time, look out for next year’s Earth Day celebration!

STAR IQ-GO! Literacy and IQ-GO! Math shared a table at STAR’s annual assembly showcase. Local parents, teachers and principals browsed displays and were treated to a wonderful showcase of STAR’s available assemblies.

Peggy Roach (Math Department Head) and Emily Haase (Literacy Department Co-Director)

The Wishful Frog by Vicky, Vivian and Justina

Once upon a time, there was a frog that could not jump. He got really really frustrated. The other frogs would laugh at him because he could not jump. It all started by an evil witch who cast a spell on the young frog. This caused him to run away from home. A fairy asked him if he would pick two wishes. He said, “I wish I had a lot of flies to eat and if a princess kisses me I will turn back.” Then the next dday he went to go look for a princess. He got kissed and lived happily ever after with the frog princess.

Pig Allergy

Once upon a time there was a pig who was allergic to mud. Then she went to the mud and forgot that she was allergic to it. She broke out in hives all over her body. Her parents made her stay in bed all day long because she was getting sick. While in bed, she reached a temperature of 105 degrees and was yellow in the face. So her parents put her in the shower and the water was very cold. The cold water made her more sick. But after a while, the shower made her feel better and she got her color back. She finally got to start playing outside again because she was feeling much better. Then she began to play with her mud bath. And she broke out all over again and had to do it all over again.

Little Pink Riding Hood by Abigail S.

Once upon a time there was a weird girl who always ate pink cupcakes. People always bothered her. Her mother was the opposite of her daughter. Her grandmother was young. One time she did something so bad she wasn’t allowed to eat. So the grandmother asked her Little Pinky to get her some food. Then she said, “Fine,” and went.

Well, after Pinky went, there was a big snake. She almost fainted. She tried to get the food but the snake got wrapped on her legs. Then she cut the snake in half with a stick and got her grandmother the food. She had got the snakes liver. The snake screamed.

When she came back her grandmother said she didn’t like it. Pinky said she wasn’t going to get more so the grandother had to eat it.

The end.

Little Red Riding Hood by Isaac B.

Little Red Riding Hood stood by the ocean blue. She went back to her house where her grandma was. She gave a box of nuggets to give to her mother. Little Red skipped all the way to her mother’s house when suddenly she skipped into the deep dark forest oh how scared she was. “Oh no, I seem to have lost my way.” Suddenly a brownish spider about the size of a house jumped out at her. “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” As she screamed “Stay back you giant spider!” She wacked it with her basket but the spider ran away only to eat her mother.

The End

Little Green Hood by Anon.

Once upon a time there was a little boy that always wore his green hood. THe little boy would wear the hood for a year if he could and he did. The boy was lucky. One day he forgot his hood and nothing happened. So he stopped wearing the hood.

A week later he went to the forest and saw a wolf following him so he ran home. The next day he went back to the forest and aw the same wolf but he kept walking. He didn’t get scared. The wolf got closer and closer to him but he still kept walking. And finally the wolf jumped up on him. He survived but lost a leg. When he got back he was the most popular student in the school.

The End

Reeeemix Lil Bam Bam Riding by Christopher T.

Cruisin down the street on the way I brought the goods to grandma’s house. When I walked in the door she started to say “Bam bam is comin through the door” and I said, “Yes grandma.” She wanted to know if I had the goods and I said yeah, grandma. She said, “Bam bam can you go to the store?” When I got to the store I got everything on the list. Then I came back…as soon as I left I went to the mall.

The end.

 Little Pink Briana From the Hood by Briana

Little Pink Briana from the hood went to go give her mother a bag of hot cheetos. The bus was broken so she had to walk all by herself. On her way she saw a dog. That dog looked nice and sweet. So when she went to pet it–it turned evil. So she called for help and a guy came and had a cat so he put the cat on the dog and the cat scratched the dog so the dog got mad and the dog was chasing the cat. The guy said, “Where are you going?”

She said, “I am going to give my mother a bag of hot cheetos.

He said, “Can I walk with you so no more dogs or other animals will get you?”

She said, “OK.” So they were walking.

When they got to the house he said, “OK, I have to tell you something. that dog that was barking at you was my dog and I am a bad guy…”

What in the world is a Split Infinitive? A split infinitive is the insertion of one or more words between “to” and a verb. For example: 

“Remember to never split an infinitive.”  Some say that the more correct version would be: “Remember never to split an infinitive.”

But…Guess What?

It is good to be aware that splitting an infinitive is not necessarily an error! In addition, it’s often more expressive and graceful than moving the intervening words elsewhere. For the hyper-critical, “to boldly go where no man has gone before” 

should be           “to go boldly. . . .” But…so many people are offended by split infinitives that it is better to avoid them except when the alternatives sound strained and awkward.

Once there was a humble blacksmith working in his shop when he heard fram a friend of a special tournament. “They call it the tournament of kings,” his friend said. The friend also told the blacksmith the treacherous challenges one had to face in the tournament and the prize…the throne. The king was growing old and weary. The king had no children which meant no heir to the throne.

The blacksmith agreed to the test and signed his name on the chart for the tournament. The blacksmith had only three weeks to prepare so he started to train right away. He melded the best swords in all of England and did vigorous workouts every day.

Three weeks later he entered the tournament  of kings. “Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the tournament of kinds,” the announcer shouted. “Now who wants to see the fight for the throne!” The crowd shouted. “Round one. The attendants first task will lie on the other side of this valley!” So the brave blacksmith climbed and climbed until he was on the other side of the valley. It was strange and dry like a desert on the other side. Suddenly he knew…he had heard many stories of the dragon and where it roams. This was the perfect place for one to live.

“Watch out!” someone shouted.

All of a sudden a flame passed right by the blacksmith, shattering part of the canyon wall. He jumped out of the dragon’s path and pulled out his sword. Several princesses at the time had already retreated at tthe sight of the beast, but not the blacksmith. He jumped from rock to rock and then onto the dragon’s neck…”Shiny!” a splintering noise sounded through the canyon, and the dragon had fallen to the ground.