September Spotlight

September Spotlight

 In an effort to highlight some of the many positive things occurring in Massac Unit 1 schools, we’ve started this monthly spotlight blog.  This blog will be used to spotlight specific strategies and improvements in our various schools.

From Left: Jennifer Larrison, Jane Sheehan, Jamie Schabbing, Ron Taylor, Nelda Smothers, Joyce Taylor.  Not pictured:  Marla Helton

  Our first spotlight topic is from Franklin Elementary School. 

At Franklin Elementary, a group of retired teachers, paraprofessionals, and board members have been volunteering to assist students with reading for more than ten years now.  The volunteer effort started when one teacher, Mrs. Sumner, asked mothers and grandmothers of her students to come in and help listen to students read aloud.  The group of volunteers grew from that point, and many of the volunteers return year after year even though their children or grandchildren have since moved on to junior high, high school, or beyond.  This volunteer reading team targets first and second grade students.  These students are divided up into tiers based on their current reading ability.  The volunteers work under the direction of the classroom teachers to improve different student tier groups’ reading fluency and comprehension.  They do this by listening to the students read aloud, asking comprehension questions, and practicing vocabulary as well as implementing many other reading strategies.  According to Mrs. Sumner, the volunteers always become excited when they see the vast improvements in the students that they work with, and this excitement is what brings them back year after year. 

Beginning this year, Mrs. Neely has expanded part of this reading strategy to include student volunteers from the sixth grade.  These student volunteers also work with student groups called “Buddy Groups.”  These sixth-grade students also practice many of the same reading techniques with the first and second grade students.  The classroom teachers are analyzing data from the district’s Aimsweb software to track student progress on reading fluency and the Star Reading software to track student progress in reading comprehension. 

Reading proficiency at the early grade levels is crucial to academic success.  Research even suggests that, “About 16 percent of children who are not reading proficiently by the end of third grade do not graduate from high school on time, a rate four times greater than that for proficient readers.”  Hernandez, Donald J. (2011, April). Double Jeopardy How Third-Grade Reading Skills and Poverty Influence High School Graduation. Retrieved from https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED518818. 

We are very thankful for all of our current volunteers.  We also hope to expand this program into our other elementary schools.  Anyone interested in making a difference for Massac students by volunteering in our schools should contact Lisa Monkman at the Unit Office (524-9376) ext. 101.