Vine Hill Elementary Student Newspaper–STAR Testing and Science Camp

The students in Jane Hoffman’s class at Vine Hill Elementary School are getting a real-world lesson in journalism as they create their own newspaper for the student body.

The group of fifth-graders, who worked on the paper as an extra project during lunch and recess, discussed story ideas with each other and Hoffman to come up with things that would appeal to the entire student body and their parents. The students then paired up in teams of two and chose the stories they would write.

Over the last three or four weeks, the students have been busy interviewing people for their stories and writing away.

Scotts Valley Patch is happy to partner with Vine Hill Elementary and its students to showcase the culmination of all of their hard work. Starting Tuesday, Patch will publish two of the students’ stories a day through Thursday. So be sure to come back each day to read what has been going on at Vine Hill through the eyes of its student.

Is STAR Testing Getting to Kids?

By Taylor

I did some research on how four separate grades from Vine Hill Elementary reacted to STAR testing this year.

STAR testing stands for Standardized Testing and Reporting. The purpose of the test is to assess the students’ curriculum and check their learning level. From some kids’ perspective, STAR testing is scary and worrisome, while others think nothing of it and are confident.

I was curious to see what they thought, so I did a quick survey of four classes, each from a different grade. I interviewed a fifth-grade, fourth-grade, third-grade, and second-grade class to ensure varied results.

The survey is a single question: What do you think of STAR testing on a scale of one to ten? (One being terrified of failing and 10 being carefree.) On the back of the paper, they were to put their grade level and whether they were male or female.

The results surprised me! I thought that students would get more worried as the grade level got higher. For example, more pressure to do well is put on a student in fifth-grade than a second-grade student.

But more kids put a 10 as how they felt about the test in every grade. However, there were 16 students who put 10 in the second-grade category, 10 students put 10s in both the third- and fourth-grade categories, and only eight students put 10 in the fifth-grade category, so we can infer that students did feel a bit more pressure as they got older.

I’m glad I did this survey to see how kids feel about STAR testing.

(Take a look at a chart that maps all of the survey results by clicking on the pictures to the right.)

A Scientific Lifetime!

By Jessie and Nikki

Science camp is the experience of a lifetime for fifth-graders! When you’re there, you get to do so many cool things. First, you have an assembly and find out who your cabin leader and your cabin buddies are. Next, you go on a simple hike.

In hikes, you get to learn about fun places, get a chance to kiss a banana slug, and learn environmental tips. Also, at some point you get to go on a hike, but independently! You get to follow cards with weird directions such as, “Howl like a wolf,” or “Hug a tree.” Trust me, it’s cool!

At some point in science camp, you get to do a ropes course! You get attached to a really strong wire and go through a really tricky but epic course. You’re even allowed to jump off the rope course without falling! But sadly, you’re only allowed to do the rope course once.

The last day of science camp is the saddest day of your life, but it’s cool at the same time. They perform a ritual. We will keep that secret so that students coming into fifth grade will experience it for the first time. After the ritual, you ride on a bus back home watching everyone wave goodbye. Science camp is the best ever!

Susan’s View

By Kelly & Maddy

Fifth-graders Kelly and Maddy interviewed Susan Rothenberger, office clerk at the Vine Hill Elementary School front office. They asked the following questions.

Q: How do you feel about bullying?

A: Susan said she doesn’t tolerate bullying. She thinks that everyone should be treated the same … with kindness.

Q: What do you not like to see or hear?

A: Susan doesn’t like to hear cussing or see rude behavior such as bullying. If Susan sees it going on, she kindly asks them to be kind to each other.

Q: How do you feel about kindness tickets? (This is a program at Vine Hill where students get a ticket for a kind act. Each ticket represents a monetary amount. They are added up after a while, and the students can have money donated to a charity of their choice.)

A: She thinks kindness tickets are a wonderful idea, but she doesn’t want people to only show kindness for a reward. She thinks good behavior should happen all the time, and not just for something special.

Q: What do you mostly enjoy here at Vine Hill?

A: Susan does her job for the students because she enjoys helping them in the office. She came to Vine Hill to help the children.

Thank you, Susan, for everything you’ve done in the past years. WE LOVE YOU SUSAN!!!!

Vine Hill Library Saved

By Linnea & Hannah

You think of the library as a place where books are read to you and you fall in love with every book you read. But at Vine Hill it’s much more. It’s where you can search the tropics and you can ride a camel in the deathly, dry desert.

But this year, the library was close to a big disaster. The classes got bigger, so that changed the schedule. That made kindergartners, third-, fourth-, and fifth-graders come in every other week, and first- and second-graders come in every week, because the budget got short. We had an interview with Mrs. Buswell to hear her side of the story.

Q: How did the students help to save the library?

A: They came in with tooth fairy money and piggy bank money.

Q: How did the community help?

A: The PTA supported with book funding and other things like that.

Q: What was the solution?

A: They came up with fundraisers like the Mountain Charlie Challenge Ride and Music
in the Park.

Q: What did you learn from this?

A: Everyone learned how important the libraries are for students and other people.

A Talk With Mrs. Stewart

By Philip, Connor and Katrina

On May 13, we interviewed the principal of Vine Hill Elementary, Mrs. Michelle Stewart.

Q: What do you have to do to be a principal and manage the school? (Philip)

A: I went through seven years of college and three years of teaching a class, along with a lot of paperwork!

Q: What is different about being a teacher and being a principal? (Philip)

A: I feel that I don’t get enough time with kids, like in the classroom, but I do like interacting with all of the grade levels.

Q: What do you love the most about your job? (Katrina)                                           

A: I like meeting the parents and getting to know the students. I love making people happy.

Q: What do you like better, being a teacher or being a principal? (Katrina)             

A: I like both equally. I like being a teacher, but prefer being the principal. My job never gets boring, except that some school board meetings can be not so fun.

Q: What hard decisions have you had to make this year?  (Connor)                         

A: One of the hardest decisions was about class size. Class sizes were increased due to the budget. I really didn’t want to do it, but I had to. Also, when teachers change grade levels, it is hard for me to deal with.

Q: Do you ever feel overwhelmed, and what are the situations? (Connor)               

A: Sometimes I feel overwhelmed when there are too many deadlines. I also feel overwhelmed when there is too much to do at one time.