Center Elementary celebrates 2nd Winter Writing Showcase

By Sara Wiercinski

On December 18, parents, district staff, former teachers and members of the community visited Center Elementary for the annual Winter Writing Showcase. Every student from Kindertargen through fifth grade prepared a piece of writing to share with visitors.

First graders answered the prompt, “If I were a snowman at night….” The writing was full of sledding stories, snowball fights and 6/7 jokes (a nonsensical internet meme).

Mary Morgan has taught at Center for a decade and said these stories were her first graders’ first major writing project.

“The purpose is to come in and listen to the children read,” said Morgan. “It really boosts their confidence, and is a way they can work on narrative writing and we can cover standards.”

Fourth graders prepared reports on a favorite animal and created and wore matching masks. Addalyne read aloud her koala report and shared a fun fact: baby koalas are born blind.  

Classmate Journey shared her report on Pomeranians. She selected the small dog breed “because they are so furry and cute,” and has one at home.

Fourth grade teacher Sara Jaramillo says her students “really feel seen” at the showcase. “They are proud of their work and want to show it off.” Each fourth grader started with a rough draft, worked through revisions and then wrote the final presentation.

Hallways, entrances, the gym, media center and cafeteria were decked out in winter decor including paper snowflakes, lights, balloons and streamers. Interim Superintendent of Schools Troy Hogg toured the showcase and heard students read their projects.

Kindergarteners showed off sensory writing, (hearing bells, seeing lights, smelling cookies) alongside illustrations. Second graders described their favorite time to drink hot cocoa, and third graders wrote directions for making hot cocoa.

Students in fifth grade each created three pieces of writing for the showcase: a short story,  autobiographical poem, and another poem describing a personal feature. The students also created author explanation videos, accessible by QR code. 

Eriah Runnels is in her first year teaching fifth grade at Center.

“I love this event,” she said. “My kids are somewhere between excited and nervous.”

Center Elementary hosted its first Winter Writing Showcase in December 2024. The school is located at 8401 Euclid.