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Welcome | Ideas for Classrooms | Online Resources | Materials available from Racine Public Library

Dr. Richard Allington’s Presentations from February 16th, 2012

Educator Presentation: Poor Readers Need What Good Readers Need
PowerPoint Slides:  Poor Readers Need What Good Readers Need.pptx

 

Welcome!

Dear Elementary School Teachers,

We know that reading is the foundation for educational and lifelong success.  That’s why we are excited to partner with you on Racine Reads: Dream Big!, a major literacy initiative to encourage Racine area children to read 1,000,000 books by the end of the school year.

Our launch event at Party on the Pavement on Oct 1, received national attention.  Volunteers distributed more than 2,500 free books to students.  To further celebrate the gift of reading, we hosted the Max & Ruby bunny party and Charlotte’s Web performances for all K-5th graders during the first week of October.  Your students were given credit for the books read by Julia Burney-Witherspoon of the Cops ‘N Kids reading center, during these performances.

Now, we are officially rolling the program out to classrooms with this Teachers Kit, which contains all of the tools you will need to motivate your students to read, and track your classroom’s progress.  You will also find a $5.00 Subway Gift Card — a small token of our appreciation for all that you do to educate our children.

The Kit includes:

  • Classroom Registration and reporting instructions
  • Classroom Record
  • Incentive Program details
  • Racine Reads: Dream Big Q&A
  • Parent Letter
  • Student Records (35)
  • Racine Reads: Dream Big! Student Pencils (35)
  • Stickers
  • Ideas for Teachers/Principals to keep the program alive in the coming year

You can start by registering on the www.racinereads.org website.  Once you receive an email confirming your registration, you can start logging books.  Each time you log in, you will be able to see your classroom totals.  Although the official launch of the program was Oct 1, you can include the books your students have read since the start of the school year!

The Classroom Record can be used to document goals you set for your classroom and to update your progress along the way.  As we know, parent involvement is critical to the learning process so please use the Parent letter to communicate and solicit support for the program.   You should know that a current community-wide book count will always be available on our website.  Your principal will be able to share your school book totals.  Be sure to “like us” on Facebook and “follow us” on Twitter.

The opportunities that Racine Reads: Dream Big! can bring to our community are large – positive impacts on student literacy, strengthened partnership between our schools and the community, and national recognition as a community that works together to help children learn.  We hope you share in our excitement.  We know that this program can only succeed with your help and support.  Together we can make a real difference for our children and for our community.

Dream Big!!!!!

 

Ideas for Classrooms/Schools 2011-2012 School Year

    1. Set a goal for your classroom and track your classroom milestones on the Racine Reads Classroom Record. Display the Classroom Record so children can see their progress
    2. Send a letter (provided) home to parents to encourage them to read to their child
    3. Organize a school assembly to keep the momentum going or to celebrate milestones
    4. Talk about the incentives – everything from pizza parties to iPads
    5. Read to your class (each book you read can by multiplied by the number of students in your class e.g. one book read to 17 students counts as 17 books)
    6. Participate in community events – up to date information will be on the RacineReads website
    7. “Like us” on Facebook at www.facebook.com/racinereads; “Follow us” on Twitter at www.twitter.com/racinereads.
    8. Create a classroom book club
    9. Develop a reading list
    10. Host a book swap event
    11. Create a reading contract for students to sign
    12. Create a reading certificate to reward students
    13. Invite parents and grandparents to be guest readers
    14. Suggest that children read aloud to their parents, grandparents, siblings, pets
    15. Develop partner reading relationships with other classrooms
    16. Host a pajama party where pajamas and quiet reading are encouraged
    17. Ask your principal to read at lunch everyday
    18. Design and decorate a celebrity reading chair to be used by guest readers or by children in the classroom who can take turns being the celebrity reader for a day
    19. Highlight books for special days like Veterans Day on November 11, 2011 – read The Wall by Eve Bunting. Check with your reading coordinator or the Racine Public Library for more book ideas
    20. 20. Make a Book Wall where students can record books they have read and recommend books to their friends
    21. Highlight a new author each week, and have a collection of that author’s books available. See your school’s librarian for help with author collections
    22. Grades 4-5, get involved with Battle of the Books through the Racine Public Library
    23. Get involved in other reading programs offered through the Racine Public Library
    24. Develop a Super Hero Day! Each child shares a book in which the main character does something helpful for someone else
    25. Use Photo Booth and GarageBand as tools to encourage children to read

Online Resources

American Library Association List of Great Website for Kids
A listing of websites that are great for kids put together by Librarians.
http://www.ala.org/gwstemplate.cfm?section=greatwebsites&template=/cfapps/gws/default.cfm

The Best Ways to Teach Kids to Read from Oprah.com
http://www.oprah.com/oprahsbookclub/The-Best-Ways-to-Teach-Kids-to-Read

Book lists put together by Racine Public Library Youth Services  Librarians
http://www.racinelibrary.info/YSDbooklists.htm

How to Encourage Reading in Little Ones   - The first step in teaching children how to read is to encourage reading.
http://www.littleonesreadingresource.com/teaching-children-to-read.html

James Petterson’s ReaderKiddoRead.com – Dedicated to making kids readers for life)
http://www.readkiddoread.com/home

Novel List K-8 – helping kids locate age-appropriate books in the library.
Note: You may need to use your public library card to access this resource. If you don’t have one you may get a free card at the Racine Public Library.
http://www.wiscat.net/homepages/CustomerWide/ValidateGlobalIP.asp?cuid=stwi&lid=stwi&dataid=764&term=

100 Best Books for Children
http://www.teachersfirst.com/100books.cfm

101 Out-Of-This-World Books For Kids Ages 8-13

http://als.lib.wi.us/MRList.html

Read On Wisconsin!
http://readon.education.wisc.edu/index.php/book-selections-2

Reading Rockets – Teaching kids to ready and helping those who struggle.
http://www.readingrockets.org/audience/parents/

Wisconsin Public Library Consortium Digital Download Center – Download ebooks to listen to or read for free. All you need is your public library card. If you don’t have one you can get one for free at the Racine Public Library.
http://dbooks.wpl.info