A dozen IDEAS Academy writers attended the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater High School Creative Writing Festival November 20 to either share their writing or participate in workshops. One of them, Taylor Gebert, earned a third place award for her piece, “Untitled“, in the category of Fan Fiction/Sci-Fi/Fantasy.
Manuscripts were sent to UWW in mid-October. Professional writers read the works and provided written feedback. Then, at the Festival, the students read their work to small audiences and heard feedback from both peers and the professional writer who facilitated the discussion. Fifty-minute workshops occurred throughout the day with four or five student writers featured in each.
The favorite part of the Festival for Kelsey Fick was “Just listening to other people’s work and hearing what other people are writing about.”
Students also took part in an Open Mic in the afternoon, a casual chance to share songs, slam, stories, and poems to rounds of loud applause.
“The open mic was the best part,” Fick said.
Miranda Kelm entered her work in the poetry category.
“Being more confident in your writing and being more confident in general,” are a couple of the benefits of being part of the Festival,” Kelm said. “It’s your own thing. You created it!”
About 600 writers from Wisconsin and Illinois attended the Festival, which is in its 28th year. The next Festival will be held Wednesday, November 19, 2014.
Challenged with the task of creating a tool for new students and families to navigate the Pigeon River Elementary School campus, students in ESAA’s second and third grade classes engaged in an in-depth exploration of their physical learning spaces and an authentic, collaborative map design process.
Photos: The Red Cross projected that the IDEAS blood drive could provide 29 pints of blood, but we surpassed their goal with 33 pints!
IDEAS and Mosaic artists were featured alongside other literary professionals in a local 100 Thousand Poets for Change event at Mead Library on September 28.
We are excited to share that this past school year has been critical as we worked to prepare our students for a world that requires academic knowledge along with critical thinking skills, creative thinking skills, collaboration skills and communication skills. The development of a well-rounded curriculum requires a balance between learning and applying knowledge. We were able to take this step forward with our projects as a tool to have students synthesize the content they are learning.
Children learn in many different ways and every child learns through varied and multiple paths. ESAA engages children with innovative, team-based teaching and the seamless integration of the arts with academics. At ESAA, children learn to see the world in new ways, are encouraged to think deeply about it and wonder at its endeless possibilities.
Photos: IDEAS Academy held its Spring Exhibitions of Learning at the JMKAC on May 28 and 30.
Jacob was awarded the Kohler Foundation Scholarship at Exhibitions of Learning on Thursday, May 30.
In the days after spending a day at Higher Ground Farm, kindergarteners identified 12 things that were either problems during farm chores or chores that could be made easier/more efficient.
ESAA kindergarteners spent the morning at Henning’s Cheese Factory learning about how cheese is made and the variety of cheeses that are made while touring the...