Book Week 2014
March 3, 2014
Book Week at Pinewood Elementary
The Very Hungry Book-Worm.
| Dear Parents, As part of the exciting events planned for Book Week this year, your child will be asked to ‘feed’ a very hungry book worm which will be on display around the walls of the Elementary Department! The time your child spends reading at home or at school during this week will be noted on a strip of colored paper corresponding to your child’s classroom grade. In this way, it will be clearly visible who is reading what. Simply fill in the form you will be given for your child in the same way as the example provided below and let your child enjoy the reading challenge! We hope that your child will continue to read long after Book Week! |
Marianne Dundon. Librarian.
Book Week for Middle School
As part of a celebration of books and reading during book week, students from the middle school and grade 9 were invited to a poetry seminar held by Sean Beckett and a number of his friends. Together they form a mission and service group that has been spending the last two weeks working here in Greece; however, on this occasion their poetry/spoken word expertise is what they brought to the school. Sean is a Yale graduate with an extensive background in poetry and spoken word.
The poetry team prepared workshops for two groups, one being for the Grade 9 English Class and the other presented to the middle school as a whole. The workshops included some personal examples, written by the presenters, examples from other professional spoken word artists, and opportunities for our students to produce some of their original works.
Promps like, ‘I come from . . .’, and, ‘write about your a family member,’ allowed the students to explore their own writing abilities as Sean and his team gave tips, pointers and tricks on how to develop ideas and write better. After some coaxing, both groups began to share their work, displaying wonderful levels of creativity and word use. A wonderful time was had by all, and the Pinewood community would like to thank Julie Soreil, Anders Thomsen, Daniel Jackson, Mckenzie Grayson and Sean Beckett for their time and insight.
Mr. Ian Harrignton
English Teacher
Book Week Seminar Activities
On February 26, 2014, during Book Week, Pinewood celebrated the artistry of literature in a Seminar which featured many student presentations. Mr. Terzidis opened the program with a talk on the science fiction novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke. Small groups of students, introduced by Paulina Vlachopoulou, then explained why we read. Grade 7 students Stefi Kainz, Tigran Shahzadeyan and Aleka Tchakar reported on early storytelling as a way to satisfy the human need to know, followed by Grade 8 students Kostas Chrysoulas, Era Mero and Carolina Psomiadou, who identified various universal themes of literature. Grade 10 students Kostas Kouzounis, Valentina Reyes and Juliet Rheault discussed the notion of empathy as it is conveyed through literature, followed by Grade 6 students Michael Paskalev, Andre Vidal, David Karchkhadze, Katerina Moser, Kassiani Mantziaris and Simona Xu, who presented original poetry. Next, Grade 9 students presented their original power point slides and literary analyses of the classic dystopic novel, Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury. First, Hannah Johnson and Alexandra Amvazas introduced the novel and the repressive society described in the book. Next, Eleni Omiridou and Jose Luis Neira analyzed the plot structure and identified the major phases of story development in the novel. They also explained how the main character, Guy Montag, was part of a “creative minority” that can change society for the better. Third, Niya Kafedzhiyska and Anna Gjoleka described the main story symbols and themes, and helped us understand, in their words, “the power of the creative human spirit to break through social repression.” Finally, Stavroula Platanos and Inna Gjoleka presented their vibrant poster art to illustrate metaphors and images in the novel. In sum, Pinewood students showed us, in the words of Alexandra Amvazas, that “reading books helps people keep their humanity.”
Dr. Manney, Secondary English Department