Entries by Jeanna Baxter White

Book Harvest’s Book Babies: Unleashing parent leadership at birth could lead to a lifetime of benefits

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“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.

Comprehensive, Effective, Kid-Friendly Phonics? Letterland Becoming Key Component of DavieLEADS

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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 […]

HillRap and A+ Training Strengthen Individualized Reading Instruction at Read to Achieve Summer Camp

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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 […]

Drama at Reader’s Theater Builds Literacy Skills at Read to Achieve Summer Camp

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by Jeanna White “Tell me, and I’ll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I’ll understand” This old Native American proverb expresses the impact that active play can have on a child’s ability to learn and exemplifies why Davie County’s arts-based Read to Achieve Camp has been so successful. Enhancing reading […]

Using Creativity and Movement to Build Literacy Skills at Read to Achieve Summer Camp

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by Jeanna White Ribbons streaming, the first-graders glide across the stage. Although moving in unison, students perform their own dance. Each student created their dance based on things they like to do, such as swinging a bat or swimming, and then taught it to a partner who acted as a shadow. This exercise teaches tracking, […]

Music Helps Build Literary Skills during Davie County Schools Read to Achieve Camp

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by Jeanna White Using wooden blocks, metal triangles, and drums, Erin Penley’s students tap out the words of the poem printed on the smartboard. “There is a large body of research that shows a direct correlation between building oral fluency and performing rhythm exercises through musical performance,” said Penley, who is teaching music during Davie […]

Building Literary Skills through the Visual Arts at Davie County Schools Read to Achieve Summer Camp

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by Jeanna White Armed with paint brushes, some students add personal touches to pictures that will be joined together to create a totem pole for the end-of-camp celebration. Others are applying the final layer of glaze to ceramic tiles bearing their personal symbols. Containers of hand-made clay beads and medallions cover the tables and floor. […]

Moving the Needle in Early Childhood Literacy – Introducing “DavieLEADS” – Literacy Empowers Everyone in Davie to Succeed!

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by Jeanna White The desks have been emptied, books packed up, and goodbyes said; but Davie County’s pre-K and elementary school teachers are already looking ahead to an inspiring new literacy program beginning next year, thanks to the Mebane Foundation. The Mebane Charitable Foundation announced in April a grant of almost $2.5 million to Davie […]

Mebane Foundation Measuring Progress to Ensure Results: Performance Metrics Will Help Drive Success of Early Childhood Literacy Initiatives

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by Jeanna White Since its beginning in 1998, the Mebane Charitable Foundation has focused on a complex, deeply-rooted problem: literacy. The Foundation resolved to do everything in its power to ensure that all children, regardless of their background, will be reading at or above grade level by the end of the third grade. Research consistently […]