Annaliese Eddington, 9th grade, took 2nd place and Olivia Christiansen, 8th grade, took 3rd in our district's annual poetry slam last night at Salem High School. The night's poems were divided into two categories: Original and Recetation. Annaliese and Olivia were in the Original category. Annaliese wrote and performed a poem called "Someday" and Olivia wrote and performed "My Journal."

Another student, Marian Smith recieved an honorable mention for her recitation of a poem called "Slow Dance" which she signed as she recited the poem.

We have officially announced the last group for our Students of the Month. Congratulate these students when you get the chance. They have been working hard and are staying strong until the end of the school year.

7th Grade: Alexandria Goodman and Kyle Campbell

8th Grade: Jaydee Jorgensen, Brayden Adamson

9th Grade: Jill Ashcraft, Xander Griggs

In English, we are currently talking about Shakespeare. There has recently been some debate about whether Shakespeare is still relevant, and I think that it is. This is an essay that I wrote explaining why I think Shakespeare is relevant today. Enjoy!

Today, 60 students met in front of their peers and parents to perform poems for our annual poetry slam. And they were great. Some poems were from famous poets and some were poems that the students themselves have written. This was a great year for the poetry slam and the contestants all did an amazing job, not only reciting a memorized poem, but performing it as well.

Our students have been learning the art of poetry and how to use and indentify figurative language. Probably the most difficult thing about poetry is the ability to express a lot of meaning in few words. One subgenre of poetry that our students have learned about this  year is Blackout Poetry.

There is a new 4H club happening here at SaJHS. The club will be playing board games every Friday after school, and since it won't be the full 10 weeks that a 4H club usually lasts, there is no fee to sign up. Inspired by the 4H club, Andrew Oblad decided to rank his top 10 all-time favorite board games and card games.

In celebration of the new 4-H board game club announced this week, I have decided to make a list of the 10 best board games. Card games are included. Enjoy!

Ms James's class had EMT's visit her class today. The students learned about choking and basic first aid. This is the beginning of a CPR certification course that Ms. James will be doing with her students. Ms. James always has great opportunities for her students to learn fun and interesting lessons that are very relevant to students' lives. 

Every year the faculty at Salem Junior High votes on who should be teacher of the year. This is an award that teachers give to one of their colleagues who represents everything that makes a teacher great. This year, Kristen Van De Graaff was chosen because she lives and breathes everything that makes a good teacher.

Mrs. Huhtala recieved the honor last week of being spotlighted on the KSL "Teacher Feature." This segment that is posted on the KSL website and announced over the radio each week. Mrs. Huhtala was nominated and chosen because of the love and attention that she gives to each of her students. Follow the link and read about Mrs. Huhtala on KSL's "Teacher Feature"