Our reading program reward for January will be in conjunction with the Read to Succeed program from Six Flags® and Discovery Education. Every student who completes six hours of recreational reading during the month of January is eligible for a free admission ticket valid at participating Six Flags theme parks.

·         Each child must complete six hours, or 360 minutes, of recreational reading in the month of January.

·         Minutes must be logged in at www.maywattsreads.com by January 31^st. (If you don’t know your child’s password, contact his or her teacher.)

·         Kindergarten and 1^st grade students have the option of using a paper calendar that must be signed by a parent and returned by Feb. 3rd

·         Your child can read books, magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Kids can read silently, aloud, or with an adult—you can read to your child, or your child can read to you.

·         In May, you will receive one voucher for a child’s ticket to Great America along with a discount opportunity for the rest of the family.

Very Important! No late entries will be accepted. Great America is very specific about their requirements.

Young Authors Program - 2012

May Watts Elementary School

December 19, 2011

Dear Students and Parents,

May Watts will once again be participating in the YOUNG AUTHORS PROGRAM co-sponsored by the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Language and Literacy Council. It was designed as a celebration to honor exceptional writing by Illinois students in kindergarten through eighth grade. All children are encouraged to participate in the program by submitting an original story, essay or a collection of poems.

1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd Place will be awarded at each grade level.  The overall school winner will be eligible to attend the Young Authors Conference at Illinois State University. The student will have the opportunity to work in small groups, sharing ideas with other young authors, educators, and noted children’s authors.  All District #204 Young Authors will receive participation ribbons to recognize their efforts. We will celebrate all of our Young Author participants at May Watts with a breakfast reception.

Dec. 19th             Information letters sent out, and posted on the May Watts’ website

Fri., Jan. 20th       Letter of intent to participate returned to LMC

Thurs. March 1^st      Final manuscripts must be submitted to the LMC

Fri., Mar. 17th       May Watts’ Young Author Conference participant is announced

April (date TBD)      In-school May Watts’ Young Author’s Celebration

Sat., May 19^th        The school winner attends the Illinois Young Author Conference at Illinois State University, Bloomington, IL

To be eligible for judging the entry must include:

§  A substantial cover with pages securely attached and a title page.

§  A rough draft

§  A detachable title page including the child's name, grade, and title of the book.  (This page will be removed for anonymous judging.)

Please follow these guidelines:

§  The final manuscript should reflect the student’s writing ability and developmental stage. (For example, an excellent kindergarten submission may use very basic language and may have grammatical errors.)

§  Dictated books may be typed or handwritten by an adult, but the language and voice should be the child’s own.

§  Illustrations are optional.

§  Only one entry per student will be accepted.

§  Two students may collaborate on a piece.

If your child plans to participate, please return the permission slip on page 3 to the LMC by Friday, January 20th.  Keep this page and the attached evaluation rubric for reference. If you have any questions, please email or phone me.

Sincerely,

Laurie May

May Watts LMC Director

laurie_may@ipsd.org

630-428-6707