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Check out this video of youth poets performing their poetry and raps at The Lab! It runs around 9 1/2 minutes.

This is a special SHOUT OUT to our friends at Jackson Elementary!

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Students shuffle into the Writer’s Lab and file into one of eight, cushioned, office chairs placed around a rectangular conference table. Some greet the co-facilitators in the room and enquire about the group’s activities for the day while others quietly slouch into chairs and wait for the group to begin. One student trickles in after all the rest, plops down in the last available seat and immediately puts his head down on the table.

The group begins.

“Everyone in the circle is equal… No one’s voice is more important than anyone else’s… Everyone in the circle is a teacher… Everyone in the circle is a student… Everyone has his or her turn to speak… When one is speaking, all others listen… The circle is sacred and special.”

Most of the students reference a brightly colored poster hanging in the Writer’s Lab to recite the creed, but some know it by heart.

The guidelines in the group are used to support and encourage students to establish social connections and build community. With these group norms, the Poetry Lab becomes a safe place for students to get over their fears about reading and writing and gain confidence in their literacy. Read more

Students and Lab staff took a field trip to the Como Conservatory in St. Paul to put their new photography techniques to use. Check out this gallery of photos from their tip:

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[View with PicLens]

We want to send a BIG Thank you & shout out to Ahnung, and to our wonderful volunteer, Marilou, for their fundraising efforts.  With their fun effort to get more Facebook Fans for Ahnung, they successfully raised $55.00 for The Lab’s spring poetry & art anthology.  Thanks, too, to all of you who became Ahnung’s Facebook Fan.  You made a difference!  The Lab’s spring poetry & art anthology is off to the printer and has been fully funded with your generosity!

Read more about their successful Facebook campaign here – 

http://ahnung-northstar.blogspot.com/2010/03/help-homeless-animals-and-at-risk-youth.html