Pine Cobble students honored for writing

WILLIAMSTOWN – Three Pine Cobble fifth graders have been recognized for their writing through the 2013 Massachusetts Letters About Literature competition.

Merrie Benjamin received an honors designation, ranking her within the top one percent of the participants, while classmates Darlie Kerns and Gable Hartman received honorable mentions, ranking them in the top five percent. For this year’s competition, 3,400 letters were submitted from across the state.

“I’m thrilled for these students,” said Pine Cobble Head of School Susannah “Sue” Wells. “Writing well requires taking risks. It demands a thoughtful creative process and extensive editing. It also demands a great deal of time, support and sweat.”

Letters About Literature is a national reading and writing program, sponsored by the Library of Congress and Target stores, where students in grades 4-12 write letters to authors whose work has made a significant difference in their lives.

Merrie’s letter was written to Newbury Medal-winning author Beverly Cleary about beloved character Ramona Quimby. The fifth grader, who was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), identified strongly with the character.

“Ramona and I both felt out of place and each had our own clear mind that nobody else understood,” she wrote. “Not everyone knew the difference between a kid who was being punished for being bad and me, who just didn’t know when to stop.”

Merrie will be honored during a ceremony at the State House in Boston on Tuesday (May 14).

Darlie wrote to R.J. Palacio about Wonder, a novel about a child with facial deformities, while Gable wrote about his favorite book, The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.

In the last five years, a total of 10 Pine Cobble fifth graders have been recognized by this competition.

“That so many Pine Cobble students have been recognized for their writing is a powerful testament to the intensive and personalized education that Pine Cobble students receive,” Ms. Wells said.

Linda Bernard, Pine Cobble’s writing coach, was also honored last year by the commonwealth for excellence in teaching writing.

“Our faculty, too, have worked extremely hard instilling outstanding writing skills,” Ms. Wells said.

According to the head of school, students of all ages are exposed to a broad range of literature and are expected to develop skills writing many different styles, including fiction, non-fiction, prose, poetry, plays, letters, reports and persuasive essays.

Posted by Catherine M. Krummey on May 9, 2013. Filed under Education News,News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry