By Jeanna B. White Carefully, they climbed from the van. Wide-eyed and wiggling with excitement, the twenty rising kindergarteners from Kountry Kids Learning Center & Preschool and Young Children’s Learning Center were ready for their tour of Mocksville Elementary School. Transitioning from preschool to elementary school can be a scary proposition for many students, particularly […]
By Jeanna Baxter White For children who don’t have an older sibling or have never been to an elementary school, words like principal, cafeteria, and media center are foreign concepts. Davie County Preschool is filling those gaps by providing rising kindergarteners with a book containing pictures of the elementary school that they will be attending […]
By Jeanna B. White Learning to read and write is an ongoing process from infancy. Contrary to popular belief, it does not suddenly begin in kindergarten or first grade. Children who fall behind in oral language and literacy development in the years before formal schooling are less likely to be successful beginning readers; and their […]
By Jeanna B. White The Mebane Foundation has awarded $50,000 to Triad Academy at Summit School to support Camp Pathfinder, a five-week summer literacy intervention for students and professional development camp for public school teachers in Winston-Salem/Forsyth County and the surrounding area. This unique camp was established to serve rising first through fifth-grade students with […]
By Jeanna B. White “Hello, how are you? May I PLEASE have a cat? — A tiger’s your reward for asking like THAT,” read Author, Kyle Webster, to the gasps and giggles of 90 delighted first graders at Moore Magnet Elementary School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Webster was reading his book, “Please Say Please!” to […]
By Jeanna B. White “What steps will you take forward to help ensure a growth mindset for your team?” asked DavieLEADS consultant, Barbie Brown, during a workshop for the leaders of Davie County Schools’ Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). Professional Learning Communities allow teachers to meet regularly, share expertise and work collaboratively to improve teaching skills […]
By Jeanna B. White “Everything is about what students need to know, understand, and be able to do,” said Amy Spade, literacy coach, while leading a professional development workshop for Teacher-Directed Reading (TDR). As Davie County’s elementary school students headed home to enjoy their early release day on February 14th, their teachers fanned out […]
By Jeanna B. White When Rachel Somerville found out she had been placed at Mocksville Elementary for her student teaching she was “over the moon excited.” That sentiment hasn’t changed as she has transitioned into a full-time first grade teacher at MES this semester. “The teachers at Mocksville have just been so supportive, so warm […]
By Jeanna B. White Thanks to a unique partnership between the Mebane Charitable Foundation, Unifi, and the Hill Center, students in Yadkin County Schools’ Exceptional Children’s program, are getting the extra reading help they need. The Mebane Charitable Foundation has approved a $70,000 grant and Unifi is contributing an additional $30,000 to Yadkin County Schools […]
“Really having the time to clarify standards with colleagues can become an ‘ah-ha experience’,” said Jennifer Lynde, director of curriculum and instruction for Davie County schools, referring to the Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings that have become a key component of DavieLEADS (Literacy Empowers All in Davie to Succeed).
“Not all kids go to sleep at night with a bedtime story,” says Ginger Young, the founder and executive director of Book Harvest in Durham, when Larry Colbourne of the Mebane Foundation and I visited her earlier this year. “And yet literacy begins with language.”
Young is imagining a new normal for newborns in Durham — and across our state and nation. It starts, she tells us, by unleashing parent leadership from birth.
By Jeanna B. White There were Kicking Kings and Quarrelsome Queens, Zig Zag Zebras and Red Robots when Pinebrook Elementary School’s kindergarteners dressed up as their favorite Letterland characters. The costumed cuties sang each letter character’s song and made its sound and hand motion, demonstrating their growing literacy development for the dozens of family members […]
By Jeanna White “Who would like to tell our visitors about your invention?” asked the teacher. Every student’s hand lept into the air. My machine is the “mime machine,” Taylor eagerly explained. “You go through the machine and then you can make your mime do the things you have to do so that you can […]
by Jeanna B. White Sixteen days can change a life and a future. Ask the 120 students who attended Davie County’s summer 2017 Read to Achieve Camp. Many who had been reluctant to attend were now sorry to see it end. Some, who had never experienced academic success, did so for the first time. All […]
by Jeanna B. White During Davie County’s intensive four-week Read to Achieve summer camp, each camper experiences 128 hours of instruction with over 28 hours spent in individualized learning sessions with only three to four students in the group. Tailored instruction through Hill Center HillRap reading sessions, as well as small group literacy circles and […]