by Stone Marshall | Nov 11, 2014 | parent-news |
MONITOR, TOWNSHIP, MI — Third-grader Madison Marsh sat in the hallway of Mackensen Elementary last week, reading to Andi, a spaniel mix. Andi poked her nose over the book — “Julie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus” — to take a peek, and Madison couldn’t stop giggling.
“It was so cute,” she said. “I honestly love dogs, and I’ve never read to a dog before.”
Andi was at Mackensen for the new “Paws for a Book: Readers Rock” program that gives students in second and third grades a chance to read to therapy dogs, boosting their reading confidence and fluency in the process. Karrie Marciniak, a program organizer and an intervention teacher at Mackensen, explained that the program gives kids a chance to work on their reading without worrying about being perfect.
“The dogs don’t care if they make mistakes, and they’re not going to correct them,” Marciniak explained. She said that the reading on Friday, Oct. 24, was the second installment in a weekly program she hopes will last at least until January.
Handlers for the dogs are volunteers from Tail Waggin’ Tutors, part of Therapy Dogs International, and they brought a range of canines, from Andi — a lolling, foot-and-a-half-tall spaniel — to Tucker, a giant of a dog with a costume saddle and a stuffed cowboy on his back.
“I’ve had anywhere from kindergarten up to middle school kids,” said Teresa Gill, Tucker’s handler. “They love it. Half the time we won’t get halfway through the book. The dog will love on them, and the kids will love on them right back.”
Part of what the program helps with, Gill explained, is self-esteem. Kids can often feel nervous when they’re singled out to read in front of a class; reading to dogs can help them build the confidence they need while staying in a safe space.
Besides just reading, it’s a chance to hang out with dogs, too.
“He kept licking my ear,” said Colin Brady, a second-grader, smiling as he remembered his turn to read. “Dogs like to do that to me.”
The Paws for a Book Service Team, which has more than 20 students signed up, plans to meet once a week for an hour for the rest of the year. Another goal of the program is to give kids the chance to start coordinating service projects in the community, using the dogs to make a difference for local residents.
Kids on the service team compile literary care packages for children in the hospital, Marciniak said, and deliver them alongside the dogs. They also visit and read to residents of a local assisted living home with the canines and lead a drive for pet food and supplies.
“If we can start them young … when they’re young adults, they’re more likely to serve their community,” Marciniak said.
Marciniak explained that the program is funded by two grants totaling $6,000 — money that is used to help provide small thank-you items for dog handlers at the school and pay for items included in care packages through the service program. The money won’t last forever, though, Marciniak said, and she hopes the program can continue in years ahead.
Marciniak said anyone who would like to donate to the program can do so by writing a check out to “Mackensen Elementary School Paws Program” and mailing it to the school at 5535 Dennis Drive, Bay City, MI 48706. She added that residents can also drop off items for the literary care packages at Mackensen, including books, notebooks and markers.
Julie Robinson, principal at Mackensen, praised the service program.
“I think it’s great,” she said. “I think any time we can get kids reading in different contexts and different formats, it just gets them excited.”
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by Stone Marshall | Nov 11, 2014 | parent-news |
A literacy teacher, who has watched students read the first chapter of many books but never finish one, has written her own teen novel, hoping this will be the one the students finish.
“Once they have read one book, they’ll read another.”
June Laurie, literacy co-ordinator at Pascoe Vale Girls Secondary School, has taught at primary and secondary schools for more than 20 years and says about one third of students who arrive in year 7 are reading at grade 3 or 4 level.
And, according to Ms Laurie, there are many secondary school students who have never managed to finish a book. Not one.
“They read the first chapter of many books,” she says.
Now, she’s trying to change that one-chapter-many-times-over experience with a book she’s written aimed at both reluctant readers and students of low literacy.
The self-published book Blake Collider – Into Thin Air is the tale of a 16-year-old bored misfit who goes on an exchange program to Italy and gets caught up in romance and a physics experiment known as the Hadron Collider project.
It has particle physics “string theory” research at its heart and, despite being written by a non-scientist, has a focus on some quite sophisticated science.
Readings’ review describes it as “a page-turning romp through Italy, neo-Nazism and dimension travel. A love story with a twist of physics, ethics and Italian!”
The book has been bought by several schools across the state including Williamstown High School, Essendon Keilor College and her own school, Pascoe Vale Girls’. She says while the novel is also engaging and interesting for confident readers, Blake Collider is particularly aimed at those low-literacy or reluctant readers. Ms Laurie says the key to engaging these students is to “keep the plot structure simple but the action engaging.”
“Most of the books promoted for teenagers, such as The Hunger Games, are too complex in their plots,” she says. And when those complex plots cause reluctant or struggling readers to stumble and stall, they just give up – often at the end of the first chapter.
Ms Laurie says the best way to improve student literacy levels is to get children reading, and backwards-and-forwards plots don’t help that. “We learn to read by reading.” And once children have learned to read, students need to keep reading. “Research tells us that if students stop reading, they actually lose skills they might have acquired. Years 7 and 8, then, are crucial years to keep students reading.”
But where does it all go so wrong in the first place? Much of the focus on literacy is on difficulties children with dyslexia have but Ms Laurie says her experience teaching lower primary grades reveals a more complex mix.
She says around grade 1 and 2, when students are starting to become literate, many start borrowing books and developing the “reading resilience” that is crucial to becoming a strong reader. These young readers start persisting with difficult words and finishing books; they are on their way.
By contrast, also around this time, it also becomes clear that in any classroom some students have a “major learning difficulty” and some will have “missed a lot of schooling at a crucial stage”. Ms Laurie says it becomes evident in early secondary school, if not before, that some students’ reading is hampered because they have missed some crucial learning such as blends, “igh” and “ough” which make fluent reading harder.
It is these students who can reach years 7 and 8 never having finished a novel but with secondary schooling ahead of them, the reading and finishing of books only becomes more important.
Ms Laurie says there is no magic to helping students read but making books interesting and engaging is a start. And the goal is always the same: “to finish a book”.
Blake Collider is stocked at Melbourne Museum, Readings Carlton and from the author blakecollider@yahoo.com
by Stone Marshall | Nov 10, 2014 | parent-news |
If you ask teachers around the world why they use Minecraft, they might come up with a wide array of answers. Colin Gallagher lists his reasons in this chapter from
Minecraft in the Classroom: Ideas, inspiration, and student projects for teachers.
You may have had to answer some questions from school administrators, parents, and other teachers as to why Minecraft is so important to implement in your school. Normally, just looking at teachers’ work online (especially in my Minechat series!) is enough to prove the benefits, but sometimes a clear set of reasons comforts people more.
If you ask teachers around the world why they use Minecraft, they might come up with a wide array of answers. I’ve listed my reasons in this chapter, but I’m sure I’ll add to the list as teachers find more incredible ways to use Minecraft in their teaching.
Collaboration
Working with other people is probably the most challenging aspect of school (and life). Teamwork activities happen regularly during the year in my school, and they involve students trying to learn a lot of very tough collaborative skills, such as negotiating, listening, following directions, and accepting criticism. I think that we, as adults, also struggle with these things at times.
In Minecraft, there is huge potential for developing these collaborative skills. I’ve talked with dozens of teachers about their Minecraft projects, and they explained that usually students work together to complete tasks. If they are not working together, they are usually in the same world trying to ignore distractions and avoid conflicts. Minecraft is, in essence, a social game. It begs to be played with other players. In an educational setting, students can work on collaborative skills in Minecraft when planning, building, and presenting a project as a group.
When students work as a group in Minecraft, it is vital that they work effectively. There’s something interesting about Minecraft: Often, at least initally, working together effectively does not happen. I think the freedom is too much for some students, or they have not adjusted to using Minecraft in an educational setting. Conversations, guidance, and advice between group members and between groups and teachers can help develop the collaborative skills needed for effective group work.
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by Stone Marshall | Nov 10, 2014 | parent-news |
Pine Bluffs Elementary school was one of many schools to host the Scholastic Book Fair Event. To bring more awareness to the community, the school had a Community Event on Thursday, Oct. 30.
After walking over a man-made moat, the library opened up into a castle-themed book store including snacks, posters, pens, pencils and, of course, lots and lots of books.
Pine Bluffs Elementary School Librarian, Deb Leininger, said the proceeds of the Book Fair go towards the Reading Counts Program and Classroom Wish List Program. Scholastic will match 100 percent of the proceeds and provide books for Kids in Distressed Situations.
A giant stuffed dog was being raffled off to bring in more money. The winner of the dog was announced Tuesday, Nov. 4 during the elementary’s award assembly.
Leininger said she enjoys the Book Fair because of the decorations and also because it’s exciting for the kids. Leininger said the Book Fair helps put books in kids’ hands and encourages them to read more. She also said the new “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” by Jeff Kinney was available, which kids were very excited about.
Heather Becerra, of Pine Bluffs, said she’s a mother of a kindergartener and third-grader. She said she enjoys the Book Fair because reading is very important and she wants to do whatever she can to support the library. Her son, Tomas, a kindergardener, picked out two books including “Dolphin Tales 2.” He was able to get his books with a $10 certificate he won.
Becerra said Partners in Education donated $10 to the Book Fair for each student who was awarded Student of the Quarter. Tomas was one of those students.
Students who reached their reading goals were also awarded with a certificate from the Reading Counts Program.
The Book Fair offers specially priced books and educational products, including popular series, award-winning titles, new releases, adult bestsellers and other great books from more than 100 publishers.
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by Stone Marshall | Nov 9, 2014 | parent-news |
Monday night’s School Reform Commission meeting on strategy, policy, and priorities brought together teachers, partner organizations, and District officials working on a new citywide campaign. They were all looking for answers to the same question: How do we get kids to read?
The common answer that night: Parents need to be involved, preferably from their children’s early stages of development. Parents at the meeting, however, represented a small minority of attendees.
The campaign, called READ! by 4th, stands for Ready, Engaged, Able, and Determined, and aims for reading proficiency for all Philadelphia 4th graders by 2020. The program launched in August.
Superintendent William Hite talked at the meeting about the importance of early literacy in children for future success.
“One thing we know [is] that all of the factors around literacy point to the fact that if we can address early literacy by the time children are in 3rd or 4th grade, it’s a resolution to everything we will face later,” he said in his opening remarks.
Monday’s SRC meeting included panel presentations, table discussions with a moderator, and a summary of every table’s thoughts and ideas to the larger group. About 100 attendees discussed questions about early literacy and involvement from READ! by 4th partners on strategies and best ways to support families and children.
When roundtable discussions were shared with the group, the common theme expressed was that parent involvement in reading with their children at an early age is imperative. However, attendees agreed that bringing that information to parents directly, in their own community, needed to be the first step.
“We wanted to make sure that parents really have a true understanding of what’s at stake. That’s the real bottom line,” one table facilitator said to the room. “Do the parents really understand what the impact of READ! by 4th really is? And so we have to really figure out the most effective way to convey that to parents.”
One table called the alignment between parents and organizations “puzzle pieces,” questioning what needs to be done so they can fit together. Another called for stronger connections where organizations learn the needs of families, the District aids partner organizations with community updates and initiatives, and school principals and teachers work together to get what they need.
Amy Pace, a Temple University post-doctoral fellow, spoke about a study in which she placed large signs within the fruit and vegetable sections of grocery stores that encouraged parents to talk to their children and ask open-ended questions to facilitate a healthy conversation.
She explained that her other studies have found that good communication with parents and their children at an early age is a good predictor of the child’s language skills later in life. Over time, the quality of early interactions, like what the grocery stores signs are meant to encourage, were important for communication growth.
“If we can help parents engage in what we’re calling ‘conversational duets,’ we can improve language and literacy outcomes,” Pace said. “It does not matter what language they’re speaking or learning a language or two or more, it cannot be a solo performance. It has to go back and forth to continue the conversation.”
During the short Q&A section of the meeting, one woman asked Pace how much the materials for the supermarket campaign had cost. The reply: “About 60 bucks.” The audience laughed and nodded in approval. One person said, “We can do that.”
Conversations for the final roundtable discussions centered on strategies that could be used to improve literacy. Many tables responded positively to the idea of “going back to the basics” and trying to get messaging out to parents at home and in their communities.
“If children start behind, they are likely to stay behind,” said Diane Castelbuono, deputy chief of the District’s Office of Early Childhood Education. She also emphasized that teaching a child to read is a very individualized process and that teachers need to be given materials that are easy to use and reflect the child’s identity.
A core component to READ! by 4th includes increasing access to high-quality pre-K, and she said she expects access around the city to improve with the addition of over 200 seats by the end of the school year.
It was also announced at the meeting that the Free Library of Philadelphia was selected as the anchor organization for the READ! by 4th campaign.
“One thing that went unsaid tonight is the scale of the crisis that we’re confronting as a city and a country,” said Deputy Superintendent Paul Kihn in his closing remarks. “It will really take all of us working together in a coordinated and collected way … in order to make progress in this regard.”
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“It was so cute,” she said. “I honestly love dogs, and I’ve never read to a dog before.”
