Robinwood Lane 4th-graders practice with letters to editor

The Boardman pupils wrote about their concerns about today’s world.

BOARDMAN — Preparing for the Ohio Achievement Tests beginning this week takes on different forms as teachers help their charges get ready to do the best they can.

Ohio children in third through the eighth grade will be taking the assessment tests over the next couple of weeks.

Depending on their grade level, they might be tested in reading, math, writing, science and social studies.

Jan Zorman and Janet Tamulonis, language arts teachers at Robinwood Lane Elementary School, came up with a different way to help their fourth-graders hone their writing skills.

They had them discuss what they are concerned about in their community and then write letters to the editor of The Vindicator in their own words.

Writing is a key focus of education at Robinwood, Zorman said.

“We write constantly. We write for a meaning,” she said, noting that the children write to pen pals, the principal, Hospice House and elsewhere. They learn that what they write is going someplace and will likely get a response, she said.

Some excerpts from the fourth-graders’ letters to The Vindicator (with no grammatical or spelling corrections):

“Dear Editor, I’m writing a complaint to you about gas prices! Who ever is in charge of it, well everyone wants to give him or her a peice of our mind! What happened to 97 cents when my parents where younger? ... Do you know that when I was at Get Go gas station I saw people bringing gas containers, and filled their car and that container up with gas. Now that means gas must be high priced.”

Arrion Hudson

“Dear Editor, I have a suggestion to make that we should do on a special day. That day is Earth Day, April 22. I think everyone should plant a tree or bush on that day. Here are some reasons why we should do this. One reason is people keep cutting down our nature to build buildings and stores. In our town we build too many NEW buildings, when there are OLD buildings for RENT that could have been used. The NEW buildings destroy our existing trees. This causes animals to move. Or they will die.”

Emily Bluedorn

“Dear Editor, ... The huge gas companies do not need to BILLIONS of Dollars in profits, while the rest of America has to try and apply for gas cards, like they are doing in Columbiana County now. I think the gas companies should lower the price of gas at least a dollar per gallon. If the did that at least for a while it will be great for us.”

Brianna Hafner