Austin Elementary fifth graders learn paraphrasing by turning into reporters

“We essentially turned into a class of reporters,” Rose said. “The students read nonfiction texts and paraphrased them into mini ‘news stories.”

Students also focused on using their own words to describe the topics, while still maintaining logical order and meaning.

“They all worked so hard and did an amazing job,” Rose added. “We definitely have some future journalists at our school.”

Some excellent paraphrasing examples by Austin Elementary fifth graders (a.k.a. reporters) are listed below:

“Waterfalls Freeze: At a temperature of -30 degrees Fahrenheit, even large bodies of water (including waterfalls) start to freeze. In February, the cold and wind froze Niagara Falls, which is in New York and Ontario, Canada. The once free-flowing water froze so solidly that it turned the famous waterfall into large lumps of ice. This is due to the temperature reaching such extreme lows.”

- Anthony G., Alex M., Chance H., Bryson C., & Talmage M.

“Niagara’s Freezing Falls: Even for waterfalls, it can get very cold. In the month of February, temperatures of -30 degrees Fahrenheit caused some BIG changes to the flowing waterfalls. The famous landmark turned into ice lumps, and parts of it were frozen solid. Niagara Falls is in New York and Ontario.”

- Riley C., Hannah R., & Doug C.

“Camaro Winner from Project Graduation: A Camaro raffle held by Weatherford High School’s seniors raised almost $40,000 with ticket sales. The winner is Lisa Ferguson, who has a daughter that attends the high school. Ferguson won a 2015 Camaro LS. About 1,900 tickets were sold to raise money. The seniors still need about $2,500 for their goal.”

- Maliyah M. & Jaret O.

“Project Graduation Winner: Seniors in the Weatherford High School are working hard to have a fun and safe graduation night. They sold raffle tickets for a brand new Camaro LS, and raised about $40,000. Lisa Ferguson, a Weatherford resident, won the brand new sports car in a once in a lifetime winning raffle. The Project Graduation was a big success again this year, thank you!”

- Harris K. & Cameron S.

“Lisa Ferguson Wins a Camaro: The Weatherford High School sold ticket to raffle off a grand prize of a 2015 Camaro LS. Lisa Ferguson lives in Weatherford and won the raffle for the Camaro. The money from the raffle tickets sold will go to help pay for WHS’s Project Graduation, which has been going on every year for over two decades. This is a place for seniors to go and have fun safely, and will include bowling, karaoke, laser tag, and other exciting activities. The seniors still need about $2,500 dollars, but are very thankful for all the support so far.”

- Katelyn K. & R.

“Cancer Test: At 13 years of age, Jack Andarka created a cancer detecting test which will be very helpful to the world. “The test will cost $0.03 and gives results in five minutes.” (Says Andarka in a Time For Kids interview). After it has been fully tested and researched, the test will be ready for usage. This young scientist, who is now 18, became interested and did much of his research online, using Google. The cancer test is still currently being worked on, but will be ready in about 10 years after much testing. If this works, Jack will be a real hero to everybody.”

- Ben T. & Eric H.

“Changing Our Candy: Nestle, the maker of the candy bar Butterfinger is now looking into their candy and how they make it. The company will be taking out some non-natural ingredients that have to do with the color and flavors of their candy. Nestle will be looking at over 250 types of their products before next year. This will change the color of Butterfinger’s yellow-orange center. They will be using natural ingredients and colors instead, which they will get from plants. A Nestle employee says the plan is “an important milestone” (Time For Kids magazine, 2015).

- Corbyn W.

“Digital Learning in Africa: In Suleja, Nigeria, children are using a computer to learn all sorts of topics. These include vocabulary, math, science, and art. About 32 million students do not get to go to school all over the world, and many live in poor or rural communities where schools are hard to get to. But technology is helping get learning to those areas, including Nigeria. A group is raising money to build mini classrooms in communities for those who don’t have access to books or teachers. One 12 year old Nigerian boy says, “It has changed my life!”

- Jacy P.

“Space Man: Scott Kelly is going into space later this month, and explained what the training was like. He described it as intense and interesting, and said that he has been training and getting ready for this for a very long time. Kelly said it was difficult to go into space for a yearlong mission and be away from Earth for all that time.”

- Rachel M. & J.

“Do You Trust Technology? Technology makes it easy to store student data, but some wonder if it is safe. Meghan F. (10 yrs. old) says yes. “Technology companies can help us manage our lives.” However, Wilson R. (12 yrs. old) disagrees and says, “Some companies may not have systems to securely store information.” Both sides bring up great points. Talk with your teacher or principal about questions you could have.”

- Decklan M.

“Technology in Schools: Technology is making life easier in classrooms by allowing schools to collect data about student progress and behavior. This data is stored by the technology companies, and some parents want to make sure their child’s information is safe and secure.”

“Wi-Fi Sheep: No one can escape technology, not even animals! In the United Kingdom, researchers are putting sensors on sheep. Their goal is to gather information about sheep and how they work. The sensors will send data to other sensors close by, and send data to researchers when they are near wireless internet. The information that is collected can help with knowing about natural disasters like flooding, which will help farmers.”

- Dylan R. & Brooke P.

“Lady Roos vs. North Crowley: Lady Roos softball played against North Crowley Lady Panthers on March 17, 2015 at the Roos softball field. Lady Roos won the game with a 15-0 score. The pitcher for the Roos, Kelsey O’Brien, pitched without anyone hitting it back on North Crowley. The Roos go on Friday to play in Arlington at Workman Field.”

- Grace S.

“Lady Roos Win Over Crowley: The Weatherford Lady Roo Varsity softball team completely conquered North Crowley on their Tuesday night game (March 17th). The Roos had a win with a final score of 15 to 0. They play in Arlington Sam Houston on Friday, March 20th and will face off at 8:00 p.m. at Workman Field.”

- Meadow G.

“Beating Weather AND the Opponent: With a 4 home run streak, the Lady Roos won their most recent game 15-0. Althjought the time of the game was adjusted due to the bad weather, the changed worked for the Lady Roos. The WHS softball team closed out the game with 8 runs in the fourth frame, and Shelby Kennedy added base hits to help out the team, and players Erb and O’Brien were important to the team’s win as well. The Lady Roos will go to their district slate on Friday and will take on Arlington Sam Houston at the Workman Field.”

- Ethan R.

“Marlins vs Astros- Weatherford Little League: The Weatherford Little League teams Marlins played against the Astros on Tuesday, March 17th. The Marlins’ pitch threw a shut-out in only two innings. Both teams worked very hard at trying for hits and strikes, but the final score was Marlins-5 to Astros-2. The game ended early because of the rain in Weatherford on Tuesday night.”

- Trace H.

“Trooper Reynolds is honored by NCAA: Trooper Reynolds is a baseball player who graduated from Weatherford High School. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) gave Reynolds the honor of being named one of their players of the week. He stood out to them for many reasons; one of them was having nine RBIs during just one game. Reynolds went to Weatherford College after high school and played third base. He now plays baseball at Dallas Baptist University.”

- Carter H.

“Yu Darvish’s Surgery: The 28 year old pitcher Yu Darvish ended his season with elbow surgery. He tore a ligament in his right arm, but the surgeon Dr. James Andrews replaced it with a tendon from his upper right arm. Dr. Andrews said everything went as he expected it to be. Darvish had the surgery in Gulf Breeze, Florida. He is expected to join the Rangers again in Arizona. Yu will be out for a little while until the beginning of 2016. His arm is going to be in a sling for a little over a week. After that he will then wear an elbow brace.”

- Emily B.

“Elbow Surgery for Darvish: The Texas Rangers’ best pitcher, Yu Darvish, had surgery Tuesday morning (March 17th). A guy named Dr. James Andrews was not shocked that Darvish had to have surgery, and he said there were no surprises while he performed the surgery on Darvish’s elbow in Gulf Breeze, Florida. Darvish will likely return to the Rangers in Arizona in a couple of days. Darvish got on Twitter and said his surgery went well (he tweeted this in Japanese). In the 3 years of his MLB career, Darvish has made the All Star team every year.”

- Zack V. & Jake W.

“A Texas Rangers baseball player, Yu Darvish, tore a ligament in his right arm and ended his season recently. Darvish’s doctor, Dr. James Andrews, substituted his torn ligament with one from his forearm. Darvish saw 3 doctors before having the surgery; their names are Dr. David Altchek, Dr. Keith Meister, and Dr. James Andrews.

Yu Darvish is expected to have a sling for about ten days, and will also be expected to be able to play again in the beginning of 2016.”

- Peyton R., Ryan D., & Joshua G.

“2014 Top Prospect: Beau Burrows (6’2” and 195 lbs.) is a right handed pitcher for the WHS Kangaroos. He is an athletically strong person that throws a 96 mph fastball. Beau’s fastball has a lot of potential for his rising career. He has 3 different pitches: fastball, curveball, and change-up. He is an elite pitcher and plans to go to college at Texas A&M. He has shown people his potential by getting selected to an All American Classic team. If he keeps it up, he has a bright future ahead of him.”

- Hagen M. & Jake W.

“WC Softball Against MCC: The Weatherford College softball team is a great team, and have had a winning streak lately. They recently had a double header and didn’t allow any runs on hits while striking several out in just a few innings. In the second game, the teams were going back and forth. In the sixth inning, Bailee Pharis helped push WC ahead with an RBI, and Bethany Allen added 4 hits and 2 RBI’s.”

- Skyler S. & Katie K.