Morden`s Young Authors Showcased

Family, friends, and students filled the Minnewasta School gym in Morden Monday for the school's annual young authors night.

"The Young Authors Night is a celebration of the students writing. The parents get to come in and listen to their young author read," said Western School Division's Kindergarten to Grade four Literacy Coach Darlene Keith. "The idea is that they listen to their child and then the child stays put, while the adult moves around to other students to hear them read. They get to hear different genres of writing that are done, and see all of the different methods of instruction that are used to get to the end result."

According to Keith most of the time the stories the children have written are their own ideas, adding sometimes the stories are based around research projects the students have completed.

Grade three student Evee Jackson, wrote the story called "The Cats That Ruled Boom Beach".

Meanwhile, another story that was told by Grade one student Olivia Wall was titled "Tinkerbell".

The main goal behind the evening is to teach the students the importance of reading and writing.

"For people to understand the importance of writing and how reading and writing is connected," said Keith. "That literacy is a life long skill and we continue to read. Writing is that message sending type of communication, where reading you're receiving the message. It's not just a school activity, but it's something we do every day as an adult or child."

As the students read their stories to their families, and to people they may not know helps with their confidence levels noted Keith. This event also required the students to read their stories multiple times, which in turn will help with the children's oral skills too.