Forty-three students from Will C. Wood Middle School sailed as
the crew of the Hawaiian Chieftain – a two-mast tall ship that is
a replica of a 19th century trading vessel – on Monday, December
5, as the culmination of a reading project. The students are all
members of Will C. Wood’s Book Club, a new program designed to
get kids excited about literacy and meet the school’s challenge
of reading a million words a year. As a club, they read Avi’s
“The True Adventures of Charlotte Doyle,” a historical fiction
novel about a young girl’s adventures on the high-seas in 1821.
The Creative Writing Club at Health Professions High School is
designed to help students develop and hone literacy skills
through creative writing projects. The club focuses on providing
a safe writing environment in which students can explore the
themes of self-healing and the healing of others. For many years,
medical researchers and psychologists have studied the effects of
expressive writing on health. This year the writing club is also
affiliated with Sacramento’s new non-profit organization 916INK.
Students at Oak Ridge Elementary School celebrated literacy with
a Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) Day on November 10. The
children recently studied writing personal narratives, which they
shared with their cross-grade level reading buddies. All
students visited Principal Doug Huscher and Assistant Principal
Daniel Rolleri to hear them read their favorite picture books.
Abraham Lincoln Elementary School’s student-run book store is up
and running and has sold more than 200 books in the first three
weeks. Students are gaining real-world business skills with
the store, called Bookworm Book. To be eligible to work for the
enterprise, kids filled out applications, participated in an
interview process and gather letters of recommendation for their
teachers! Go Lincoln kids!
Phoebe Hearst Elementary School has joined with the River Cats on
an innovative reading incentive program. Home Run Reader is
designed to challenge and reward students for improving reading
skills with opportunities to win River Cats tickets and swag. The
program was enthusiastically kicked off on Thursday by Dinger and
Tony Asaro, director of community relations, who appeared at the
school to the delight of students and staff.
Aiming to boost reading and writing skills and develop a lifelong
love of reading in a school district where fewer than half of
students are proficient, Superintendent Jonathan P. Raymond
announces a major initiative—starting over the winter break—to
advance English Language Arts performance at 10:30 a.m. on
Thursday, Dec. 10 at H.W. Harkness Elementary School. Harkness is
located at 2147 54th Ave.
Joining in the announcement will be representatives from Target
stores and Scholastic book publishing who will present the
district with $139,400 in books. The books, to be delivered to
17,000 K-6 students at struggling schools, will be available to
take home on a regular basis. Target will present Raymond with an
oversized check at the event. Scholastic will supply samples of
the books schools receive and have its mascot, Clifford, the Big
Red Dog, present. Under the program, each school will get:
Two backpacks per classroom with grade appropriate
English materials (1,232 backpacks)
Two backpacks per grade level with grade appropriate Spanish
materials for classes with Spanish-speaking students (504
backpacks)
Two backpacks per grade level with grade appropriate English
Language Learner materials (504 backpacks)
Raymond is challenging students to begin immediately by reading a
book over the district’s winter break (Dec. 21 to Jan. 3) and
urging parents to help their children set aside time for reading
during the holidays. “We want students and community to get
started as soon as possible in making reading part of what we do
every day so students value and practice a habit
that will enrich their lives.” He is also calling on them to keep
records of their reading with prizes awarded to schools and
pupils completing the most books on a monthly basis through
May.
In addition, Raymond will challenge adults to read and post their
reading lists and comments on the school district web site.
“We’ve got to be readers all around, and model the behavior we
want to practice.
“Student success depends on the proficiency of their reading and
writing skills,” Raymond said. “Gains have been made over recent
years, but the progress is too slow. We’re failing major groups
of students.” He notes that while nearly 67 percent of white
students are proficient in English Language Arts, only 38 percent
of African Americans are considered proficient. For Latino
students, the rate is slightly better—almost 41 percent are
proficient. Only 36 percent of English Learners are proficient in
reading and writing.
“Today’s presentation by our generous partners, Target and
Scholastic, symbolize the community partnerships and engagement
we need to ensure every student can read and write, and develop a
lifelong love of reading and learning,” Raymond state.
He observes the district has formed an action group to begin
working with schools to incorporate literacy skills into all
subject areas and across all grades. “Reading and writing have to
be a part of every subject if we are to raise achievement,”
Raymond said. The superintendent said another key part of the
initiative will be aggressively recruiting volunteers to work
with
students as mentors and tutors.
