Published in the July 13-26, 2016 issue of Gilroy Life

By the Summer Achievement Program Class for the Mt. Madonna YMCA

Students and staff at the Mt. Madonna YMCA Summer Achievement Program in front of a mural at P.A. Walsh STEAM Academy. Photo by Marty Cheek

Students and staff at the Mt. Madonna YMCA Summer Achievement Program in front of a mural at P.A. Walsh STEAM Academy. Photo by Marty Cheek

Words are wonderful things that are really important and fun for us to learn.

If we didn’t have words, our world would be very different. It would be silent and we couldn’t communicate with each other.

Words are important for communication through newspapers and with media like radio, television, computers and tablets.

It’s important to learn to read because we can learn more about the news and learn about reading, plays, theater and events like at the library or schools.

You also learn about your city and its people through the words in the news. Besides newspapers, books and magazines also have many words in them.

We learn to read books in school so we can get smarter and set our imagination free through stories.

The words have different letters put in a certain order so that they come together to make a meaning or idea.
It’s good to read every day so that we can practice to read and become better readers.

Becoming a good reader is important because we can learn new words and expand our vocabulary.

Reading and writing words help us help others learn new information. And it helps us build our communications skills.

Words are alphabet letters that form sentences. We can use words to talk and write. We need to learn our ABC’s to use words. Words help you read and talk to each other and have better writing skills.

It’s important to go the library to study and to read and to do homework. Reading also helps you to go to college one day and get a better education.

The most important thing about words is that they are fun and they educate us.

Reading words opens the door to our future and gives us opportunities to be whatever we want to be.

After a Junior Journalism workshop with publisher Marty Cheek at P.A. Walsh STEAM Academy, first and second graders in the Summer Achievement Program Class for the Mt. Madonna YMCA wrote this column.

Marty Cheek