The Quill
Serving
Gloucester,
June 2008
President’s Message
Dear Colleagues,
This
school year has simply flown
by. We have had two successful conferences and a wonderful banquet. Partnering with the Hampton Reading Council
for the Fall Conference has become an annual event that we continue to
enjoy.
We have already begun to brainstorm possibilities for the upcoming fall. Neither of the workshops would have been
possible without the hard work of Board and Committee members,
presenters,
participants, and Cheryl Parr, principal of
The NNRC Board appreciates all of the support given to us this past year. We have scheduled a planning meeting this month to decide future conferences and workshops. Please email any ideas or suggestions to me at cturner@ycsd.york.va.us. I look forward to working with you all next school year.
Chynita L. Turner
NNRC President
2008-2009 NNRC Board
Chynita Turner – President
Sherry Edbauer-Vice President
Kelly Cartwright – Corresponding Secretary
Verdis Knight – Recording Secretary
Ken Schmidt – Treasurer, Membership Chair
Beth Guthrie – Historian
Newport News
Annual
Banquet
and Awards Reception
“Tools for
Growing Readers”
May 20, 2008
Newport
News
Membership Awards
The following schools were given awards at the banquet on May 20, 2008:
Largest number of members – Carver Elementary, NNPS
Largest increase in membership – three way tie between the following:
Jenkins Elementary, NNPS
Nelson Elementary, NNPS
Waller Mill Elementary, YCSD
Reading Teacher of the Year
Marilyn
Schempf was named the
2008-2009 NNRC
Administrator of the Year
Barbara
Jenkins (center) was named the 2008-2009 NNRC
Administrator of the Year. She is the
principal at
Paraprofessional of the Year
Marcia
Binns was named the 2008
NNRC Paraprofessional of the Year. She has served as PALS assistant at
Volunteers of the Year
Jerry
and Martha Dodson have been
volunteering at South Morrison Elementary in
The Dodson’s were not able to attend, so nominator, Katey O’Brien, accepted their award.
Teachers as Readers Groups
Hilton
Elementary School
Submitted by Hilton Elementary Teachers
Focusing
on Domain 4,
Professional and Leadership Responsibilities, part of the Teacher
Performance
Assessment in
Jenkins Elementary School
Submitted by Cathy Huemer
At Jenkins, Readers’ Theater is just one of the many ways we encourage fluent reading. Thanks to funds from NNRC Teachers as Readers grant, we were able to provide teachers with content-based scripts. The teachers and the children found that Readers’ Theater was engaging and motivating to reluctant readers. Both reading and history came alive for our students as they practiced and performed the scripts. Readers’ Theater promotes teamwork while developing confident readers. Our teachers learned more about integrating Readers’ Theater into content area instruction and are excited to look for more scripts. In the future, we hope to showcase student performance of Readers’ Theater throughout the building.
Submitted by Karen Lucas
At Waller Mill Elementary seven teachers and a para educator worked together to complete a Greg Tang author study. The teachers at our school are focusing on math and were excited to integrate math into the reading program. The books we read and discussed included Math Fables, The Best of Times, Math Potatoes, The Grapes of Math, Math for all Seasons, Math Appeal, Math Fables Too, and Mathterpieces. These books provide an innovative approach to math through art, fables, riddles and more. Each page is fun and interactive and does more than just teach math skills. The books inspire students to learn and have confidence in their own thinking. The participants in our TAR group took one book to read and use in their classroom each week and then wrote up a paragraph describing how the book could be incorporated at their grade level. At the end of the book study our group shared our ideas with the whole staff and placed the books in the professional library for all to use.
Nelson Elementary
School
Submitted by Jennifer Clemons and
Karen Raines
At
R.O. Nelson Elementary, a
group of K-2nd grade teachers formed a Teachers as Readers group to be
included
as part of our formative group. The book selection was Literacy
Work Stations: Making Centers Work by author Debbie
Diller. Our goal was to increase our knowledge of Literacy Stations
during
Reading Block so we could engage our students in more meaningful
instruction.
Each meeting we discussed a chapter and made connections to our own
classrooms.
In Chapter 1, we discussed the definition of what our Literacy Work
Stations
should look like at Nelson. In Chapter 2, mini lessons were explored to
help
with the 21 day plan. Also, the discussion of management boards to
decrease the
level of misbehavior. In Chapter 3, a great idea for the classroom
library was
an author study. Suggestions were made to use soft music, which many
teachers
already use. Teachers found Chapter 4 very informative. A good
discussion was
held on various pointers that can be used with big books, but several
teachers
noted a safety issue involving some pointers. We had several teachers
share
patterns for pointers. The appendix also had good task cards that could
be used
in centers. In Chapter 5, informative discussions were held about the
Writing
Work Station. We had a vertical discussion about using dictionaries
from K-2.
Also, teachers shared where their
Mount Vernon Elementary
School
Submitted by Ann Campas
Our Teachers as Readers chose the book, Mosaic of Thought – The Power of Comprehension Strategy (2nd Edition) by Ellin Oliver Keene and Susan Zimmermann. Teachers agreed with the authors that proficient readers use more than one comprehension strategy at a time, but many lively discussions took place over how to teach these strategies – whether to take each strategy and teach that one over a period of time or to teach them all as they are needed. We were able to agree that good readers read more, therefore it is important to make time in our day for Read Alouds and silent reading in a literature-rich classroom. We also agreed with the authors on the importance of conferring with each student to determine their understanding of the comprehension skill taught and to determine if the student should be part of a small invitational group of students who need extra help with a comprehension strategy.
Summer Reading
Looking for some great books to read this summer? Check out these web sites that feature summer reading lists for teachers.
VSRA
Reading Links:
(Includes links to Dr. Joan Kindig’s Best Bets for 2007)
Innovative
Teacher
Newsletter:
http://surfaquarium.com/newsletter/summer_reading_2007.htm
http://surfaquarium.com/newsletter/student_reading_2007.htm
http://surfaquarium.com/newsletter/summer_reading2003.htm
Debbie
Diller and
Associates Educational Consultants:
