Students and parents gather for Riverside Author’s Tea

Fourth grade students at Riverside Elementary School filed into their writing lab eager to show off their hard work. For the school’s 10th and final installment of the Author’s Tea program on May 26, the children chatted away while their parents climbed into chairs much too small to seat most adults comfortably.

The parents had a chance to see their children’s lexicon grow in real time during the Author’s Tea, where kids were able to show their ability to think of vocabulary on the fly — when they were given words like mad or good they then came up with synonyms such as livid, irate, delightful and lovely.

After a short reading by teacher Anne DeFranza, the students were given their chance to show off their hard work with brief presentations. They chose an animal to research and put together presentations of several facts alongside jokes. The exercise was an opportunity to showcase several of the skills that the children were learning; by using both books and laptops, they got a chance to practice writing, researching, typing and basic computer skills.

The students took turns presenting their work to their friends and parents, and the Author’s Tea was then closed out with refreshments. With the school year coming to a end, the students and their parents had a chance to take a day to feast on cookies and iced tea while also savoring the taste of a job well done.