Issue link: http://latinschool.uberflip.com/i/133180
¸ As Latin's youngest students refine the basic finemotor skills needed to form letters, they also are being introduced to the concepts that will allow them as upper school students to write sophisticated critical essays, successful college applications, or groundbreaking poetry and short stories. Latin writers of all ages learn about the importance of clarity, audience, creativity and self-expression. Through innovative programming at all levels, they are engaged in a process that inspires them – all while building a foundation of proper grammar, punctuation and sentence structure. By senior kindergarten children already are writing journals – sharing their thoughts and feelings with their teachers and receiving the invaluable feedback that is a hallmark of the Latin educational experience. This is the first year students participate in the Lower School Authors Day tradition, in which students write, edit, "publish" and share their own books. On the actual day, they spend time with published children's book authors, hearing their work and discussing writing. "It is the personal exchange between students and successful writers that is at the heart of Authors Day," explains lower school librarian Leslie Rumney, who started the event nearly two decades ago. "This inspires even very young children to write." Senior kindergarteners partner with third graders, first graders meet with their fifth grade buddies, and second graders ¸ "In the morning she would go to the Starbuck's on North and Wells for coffee, and on her way back to Alan's to get the boys, she would take the alleys and look for Sammy's backpack. She was certain she would not find the Gameboys. Or her glasses. She suspected such things were currency in the alleys. She would weep, or churn with anger, to find the other things – to see the boys' playing cards and boxer shorts, their pajamas and socks discovered to the world like family photos scattered in the alley. Piece by piece she would gather their things and put them into the shell of the backpack, crying and cursing at the capacity of man." excerpt from Billy Lombardo's book How to Hold a Woman. The first page of a book by a lower school author. 20 Latin Magazine