COVINGTON, Ga. - The Newton County School System is pleased to announce the winners of the 2018 District Literacy Days Recitation, Drama, Read Aloud and Ready Writing competitions.

NCSS Elementary and middle schools held poetry competitions at their school and sent their grade level winners to participate in the district’s recitation contest. Competitors were judged on a number of criteria in the poetry recitation contest, including stage presence, articulation, interpretation, memory and accuracy, and difficulty of the piece.

Recitation Winners

Kindergarten,  Landon Mendoza,  Heard-Mixon Elementary,  "Under the Bed" 

1st Grade,  Amiya Williams, Porterdale Elementary,  "No" 

2nd Grade,  Reese Arnold,  Rocky Plains Elementary,  "I Made a Noise This Morning" 

3rd Grade,  Will Franklin,  Newton County Theme School,   "Sick" 

4th Grade,  Anthony Miller,  Heard-Mixon Elementary,  "The Invitation" 

5th Grade,  Madeline Jones,  Mansfield Elementary,  "Television" 

6th Grade,  Emmanuele Gray,  Veterans Memorial Middle,  "A Pizza, a Party, and a Moonlight Ride" 

7th Grade,  Amaya Williams,  Newton County Theme,  "The Spider and the Fly: A Fable"

8th Grade,  Aurora Gray,  Veterans Memorial Middle,  "In Perfect Harmony" 

Ready Writing Competition Winners 

In the Ready Writing competition, school-level champions were given a writing prompt and one hour to complete their essays. Students are scored on a rubric of six traits: ideas and content; organization; voice; word choice; sentence fluency; and conventions. 

 3rd Grade, Tripp Swords,  Mansfield Elementary,  "Lou Gehrig" 

 4th Grade, Rhian Graves,  Newton County Theme School,  "If You Could Travel Anywhere, Where Would You Go and What Would You Do?" 

 5th Grade, Kaitlin Goodman,  Oak Hill Elementary,  "Snow Day, Fun Day!" 

 6th Grade, Annalie Parker,  Veterans Memorial Middle,  "Less Time in Front of the TV" 

 7th Grade, Lila Whitmire,  Indian Creek Middle,  "New Class"

 8th Grade, Austin Northcutt,  Cousins Middle,  "Space Exploration" 

Read Aloud Winners

Students in kindergarten through second grade participated in the Read Aloud of Best Piece Contest in which students, with the teacher’s assistance, choose a piece from the student’s collected writings to read aloud to the judges. They were scored on topic, words, order, sentences and articulation.

 Kindergarten, Katie Delphin,  Newton County Theme School,  "What I Want to Be When I Grow Up" 

 1st Grade, Karter Williams,  Oak Hill Elementary,  "Who is Your Hero and Why?"

 2nd Grade, Bryce Grant,  Porterdale Elementary,  "If I Could Change the World" 

Drama Team Winners

The Middle Ridge Elementary School drama team won first place in the K-2 drama competition with their performance of “Little Green Frog.” Team members included: Gabriel Day, Serenity Harris, Kathleen Martinez, Rome Matthews, Brae’lin Merril, Serenity Moore, Mariam Sidibe, and Michael Webster. 

Mansfield Elementary School’s drama team took first place in the grade 3-5 drama competition with their play, “Haste Makes Waste.” Team members included: Levi Adams, Aubrey Burton, Alex Johnson, Heidi Parish, Natalie Phillips, and Ean Pollard.”

At the Middle School level, Veterans Memorial Middle School earned the first place trophy for their presentation, “Because I’m A….” Team members included: Alasia Boggan, Jocelyn Kilgore, and Mackenzie Gayle-Redway.

Winners in all categories will now represent Newton County School System at the regional competition at Griffin RESA in February 2019. 

“The Literacy Days Competition provides students with the opportunity to perform and be recognized for their talents through the celebration of the arts,” NCSS Superintendent Samantha Fuhrey said. “I am proud of each and every one of our participants as it takes a tremendous amount of talent and commitment to participate in this type of competition. They represented their schools very well. 

"I was impressed by the performances I saw and I know the judges at the regional competition will be, too. In addition to our poetry recitation, read aloud, and drama team winners, our district ready writing winners are also very talented. I know Newton County School System will be well represented at the Griffin RESA Regional Literacy Days Festival.”