You should read: The Book Whisperer

According to a recent poll by the Associated Press, the average adult read four books in a year. One quarter of those surveyed did not read a book at all. This is a concerning statistic to me. How can we promote literacy to our youth if we are not reading ourselves?

Why are adults not reading more?

Unfortunately, many of the causes may occur at a very early age. We set the stage for a lifelong reader as soon as they exit the womb. Reading to them as an infant through preschool is important to their literacy development. Children begin to develop early language and literacy skills long before they begin talking.

As children get older and enter our formalized school systems, how do we (educators, parents, and support staff) encourage or hinder the development of a lifelong reader? Donalyn Miller, a former classroom literacy teacher and author, recommends embracing reading as a lifelong pursuit and not just a collection of skills for school performance (2009). Take a minute and reflect on how often your child reads for enjoyment. Is their reading only associated with school tasks? This is something we as parents and educators need to reflect on. Reading shouldn’t only be something children do for school, a student’s motivation to read should go beyond school tasks.

We know that interest level is very important for all ages of readers. I think we have all picked up a book at some point in our life and struggled through it, or even quit reading it. Interest level is a touchy subject and challenging to implement. There are literary works that many educators would say are extremely important for all kids to read. The challenge is that not all kids are motivated to read the required text. If students are only reading the classics, then they may never have the opportunity to investigate their own reading interests, and therefore never develop into the reader they could have been.

“Reading has become schoolwork, not an activity in which students willingly engage outside of school” (Miller, 2009, p. 121). 

Miller (2009) recommends schools provide time for independent reading within the classroom and that we should allow students free choice over what they want to read. Whole-class novels take considerable instructional time and no one text can meet the needs of all readers. Fluent readers will speed through, while lower readers may struggle through the text. Each level of reader may end with different levels of comprehension based on their reading level. Some alternatives to whole-class novels are: reading the book aloud to students, or share-read, where students follow along and read silently with the teacher. Both of these methods allow the student to spend their mental effort on comprehending the text.

I think Miller has a valid argument and schools should consider a balance of time spent on reading associated with school tasks, and time spent on independent reading. At the end of the day, when their school experience has completed, we want students to develop into adult readers. Not an adult or child who only associates reading with tasks associated with school.

If you haven’t read The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller, I highly recommend it. There are many strategies embedded in the text that help teachers create a more literacy rich environment.

Parent Advisory Committee 2018

Parents,

I need your help!

Five years ago we started a Parent Advisory Committee (PAC). We have had several parents take part in these PAC meetings. We typically organize four meetings each school year and try to target dates that do not conflict with other activities. These meetings usually last around an hour.

These meetings have opened communication between our school district and parents.  The topics you can expect at these meetings are insight on current initiatives, feedback from you on our school programs, and a book discussion (you don’t have to read the book to participate).

Please go to the link below if you are interested in taking part in this opportunity.

Parent Advisory Membership Link: http://tinyurl.com/qhsf5vn

We are looking to schedule our first meeting date in November. If you are interested in taking part in a conversation to improve our schools please visit the link above by October 5, 2018.

Parents play a key role in their child’s success in school.  I am looking forward to hearing feedback from you and building better relationships within our school community.

Rugby Public School District to begin offering literacy programming to child care providers.

Literacy is “The quality or state of being literate, especially the ability to read and write.” (dictionary.com)

A synonym for literacy is learning.  Dr. Seuss said it so well, “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” 

Rugby Public Schools has received a Striving Readers’ Grant. By bringing together people from various entities within Pierce County, a review was conducted of literacy programming from birth to grade 12.  Although our current literacy programming is more than satisfactory, various inconsistencies were discovered throughout the entire program. 

The goal for this grant is to powerfully come together from various entities within our county and simply enhance the ability to read and write and learn for all children, intentionally.

Mrs. Gail Rham and Mrs. Karen Black will be teaming together for the next three years to help facilitate this promising powerful growth within our community in teaching literacy.  Mrs. Rham and Mrs. Black each have over 30 years of educational experience with a particular interest in laying the foundation for literacy growth.

Our focus this coming year will be in early literacy for those children from birth to age 5. We will meet with daycare providers, our public library, and social services and identify literacy needs, discuss how we will strive to provide those needs, and seek continuing education for all early childhood care givers and facilitators.  We will explore and research literacy curriculum for early childhood, create literacy lessons, model delivery of literacy lessons, assess and measure our outcomes, as well as provide daycare providers with research-based knowledge of literacy goals and milestones for children ages 0-5.

Thank you for your willingness to join us as we promote literacy growth in our community!

Mrs. Gail Rham and Mrs. Karen Black

Ely Elementary at Capacity

The Rugby Public School District is experiencing considerable growth at Ely Elementary School. This school year we are expecting 345 students to walk through the hallways at Ely Elementary.  This is very positive news for our school district. From 1990 to 2006, district enrollment had decreased dramatically. In 2006, Ely Elementary enrollment was at an all-time low of 234 students. We are now approaching enrollment numbers that date back to the early 1990s.

Increased enrollment presents challenges. Ely Elementary is at capacity with our current enrollment. We have now expanded three grade levels to three sections. This means we have added three additional teachers and classrooms over the past seven years. The latest section addition removed our computer lab and technology will now be pushed into classrooms. Currently, every nook and cranny is being used to deliver services to our students.

Every five years the school district completes an enrollment study through RSP and Associates.  RSP studies our community’s changing demographics and provides enrollment projections up to five years in the future. They have been very accurate in projecting our actual enrollment in the past. The current projection has Ely Elementary increasing to around 360 students by 2020-2021. This will force us to create at least two additional classrooms. At this point, we are out of classroom space for the projected enrollment increase. The school district will need to respond to meet the demands of increased enrollment.

You may have attended Ely Elementary in the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s and wondering why we are at capacity when classes were larger at that time. As mentioned previously, our enrollment numbers have spiked to numbers that we haven’t seen since the early 1990s. It is important to understand that education has changed drastically over the past 15-20 years. Prior to the 2008-2009 school year, kindergarten was an every other day program. During the 2008-2009 school year, kindergarten expanded to an everyday program. This increased the number of classrooms needed to support the new kindergarten population. Special education services have expanded to meet the varying needs of students. Specialized services for occupational, physical, speech and mental health therapies have expanded. Learning is becoming more personalized and more focused on the well-being of the whole child. In the past, it wasn’t unheard of to put 30 students in a classroom. Parents want smaller class sizes for their children. All these changes in education require a space that fits our student’s needs.

During the August 7th board meeting, the Rugby Public School Board voted to contact an architect to develop a concept and provide a cost that will address our needs at Ely Elementary. A stakeholder committee will be created to help develop a plan to address our space needs. Our enrollment growth shows that our community is healthy and vibrant. Stay tuned.