MES Title I Sponsored Partners in Print
Families of students in grades K-2 at Manteo Elementary School were invited to an early evening "Partners in Print Family Night" on Tuesday, November 17. Four ten-minute mini-workshop sessions were designed to provide ideas of how parents can work with teachers to help their children become life-long readers.
The focus of this first "Partners" event was "drawing meaning from text." After being greeted by Principal Mary Anne Wetzel, parents listened as Title I teacher Rendy King described the flow of the evening and gave an overview of workshop goals:
Successful readers know how to put words together and make meaning from them;
Good readers use background knowledge and words in text to create meaning in a story;
There are easy techniques you can use to help children draw meaning from text; and
Once children have learned to draw meaning from text with help from a partner, they transfer that knowledge when reading alone.
Reading activities were modeled by teachers; in most sessions parents practiced the specific reading techniques with their families while in the brief sessions. As they left each classroom, parents were presented with a handout describing the strategy so they can recall how to duplicate once back home.
Parents were asked to fill out an evaluation at the conclusion of the workshops to drop off as they picked up a snack on the way out.
MES teachers and staff supporting the year's first Partners in Print included - Erin Porter, More At Four; Helen Corbett, third grade; Kim Braswell, fifth grade; Mindy Miller, kindergarten assistant; Esther Ballance, fourth grade; Sheryl Hancock and Bev Twyne, fifth grade teachers; Lydia Byrum and Cathy Hammill, kindergarten; Carol Dunn, fifth grade, Martha Cain, Exceptional Children (EC); Anne Creef, first grade; Priscilla Cahoon, media assistant; Lisa Colvin, Assistant Principal and Mary Anne Wetzel, Principal.
To make sure families whose native language is Spanish were included in the Manteo Elementary School November "Partners in Print" night, one session was guided by English Language Learner (ELL) teacher Rachael Isler. The purpose of the evening was to provide mini workshop sessions for parents of students in Pre-K (More At Four) through second grade to learn how to use some of the same techniques their children's teachers do to help them become successful readers. The event was sponsored by the MES Title I Program. The staff involved were thrilled at the enthusiastic response of their parent community.
Manteo Elementary School Title I sponsored this first Partners in Print, with MES Title I Lead teacher Pam Evans and District Lead Title I teacher Rendy King organizing and coordinating the activities.
For a slideshow of the MES "Drawing Meaning from Text" Partners in Print Workshop, click here.