Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Cascade View fifth-graders report for school paper
March 3, 2010
By Laura Geggel
Cascade View Elementary School teacher Heather Anderson answers questions from students Kallin Spiller and Scout Turner in an interview for The Cub Chronicle. (Photo by Laura Geggel)
NEW — 1:00 p.m. March 3, 2010
What’s black and white and read all over Cascade View Elementary School?
The Cub Chronicle, of course.
This is the third consecutive year that teachers Seth Deniston and Dyame Lemming have advised students at the student-powered paper.
Cascade View is not the only school in the district to have a student-run newspaper, but it is the youngest age group to have one. Twin Falls Middle School students write the Twin Falls Times while the Mount Si High School wildcats have Cat Tales.
They may be young, but Cascade View’s fifth-graders take their newspaper seriously. This year, 14 fifth-graders meet on a weekly basis to think of story ideas, do research and interviews, take photos and write articles for The Chronicle.
Katia Lucas said she had looked forward to applying for almost a year.
“I saw it in earlier times and I thought it would be cool, because I like writing and I like sound bites,” she said.
Like a competitive sports team, only about half of the students who applied for the club made the cut. The advisors realized they would be better able to teach a smaller group of students, so they evaluated students based on a personal essay and an article.
“The kids just have a great time,” parent Jim McCall said. “It’s really been a cool experience for them.”
The students have so much fun, and they do almost everything on their own, Lemming said. Plus, the students know what their audience wants — all they have to do is think of what they and their classmates would like to see in the paper.
At a Cub Chronicle meeting Feb. 23, fifth-graders Graysen Kaess and Sarah Bosworth found inspirational poems and quotes and prepared to write an article about Kaess’ 6-year-old brother, who recently placed seventh in state for wrestling in his weight division.
“We’re going to interview him and possibly his coach,” Kaess said.
Michael McCall worked on the game page, while Kelly Keene and Lucas wrote book reviews.
Keene’s favorite part is “getting my name in the newspaper and having people read it,” she said.
Fifth-graders Kallin Spiller and Scout Turner interviewed teacher Heather Anderson for a spotlight article they were writing about her first-grade class.
Turner deftly took notes on a yellow Post-It note, writing down Anderson’s words verbatim. Anderson said her children would be beside themselves with excitement once they saw themselves in The Chronicle. She reads aloud to her class every day, and once per month she reads The Cub Chronicle.
“They get really excited and say, ‘Oh, that’s my brother’ or ‘I know that girl,’” Anderson said. “It makes the community seem a little smaller.”
The Cub Chronicle received $500 from the Snoqualmie Valley Schools Foundation in 2007-08 to help it get started, giving students money to buy a camera and notepads. Revolution Marketing in Seattle provides free printing.
Revolution Marketing President Jim McCall said he enjoyed helping his children’s elementary school publish a newspaper.
“What’s really cool about it for me is it’s something that’s nonsports for them to do after school,” he said. “All of my kids play sports, but we rely too much on sports for keeping our kids busy and teaching them more about the world.”
Both of The Cub Chronicle advisers said they had high hopes for the future of the paper. This year, they taught students the main elements of writing an article — the who, what, where, when, why and how — before students published their first paper in February.
“That got them looking at an article from a writer’s perspective,” Lemming said. “They do a really good job for 10 and 11 year olds.”
Laura Geggel: 392-6434, ext. 221, or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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my name is jasper i also work for the cub chronicle and in the article it said “michael macall runs the game page.But he is actually my wing man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I run the game page! ):