The names of those kids that completed the Summer Reading Program in Fargo were published in today's newspaper. Only 6 kids from Kennedy completed! It is very disappointing to see that so few completed the summer reading program. I hope this is not indicative of the amount of reading done by everyone.
I went through the list of names and found which school each participant is from. I found that Bennett and Longfellow had the most participants with 16 and 10 respectively. Horace Mann and Madison had zero participants. What is the difference in these schools? Bennett and Longfellow are the richest schools with the most educated parents. Horace Mann and Madison are among the poorest schools in the district.
The 3 schools that go to the new Davies High School had more students complete the program (26) than the 7 schools (23) that go to North High! The South High schools had 22 complete the program.
Although, none of the schools had tremendously high participation, those kids in the poorer schools had extremely dismal participation.
The public librarians did an awesome job of publicizing the reading program and they had some very interesting activities all summer. The school librarians also publicized the program. I talked about the program with every class in grades kindergarten through 4th grade!
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Not a good day for libraries or schools
As I sit in the library, a bunch of 4th grade students have a book in front of them and are pretending to read when I'm watching. When I'm not watching, they return their conversations.
I posted 2 articles on Facebook this morning that show the decline of public education. First, a group of people calling themselves part of the "tea-part" have declared war on public education from kindergarten through universities.
Second, the federal government has decided that school libraries are not important and have completely removed funding set aside for school libraries in the "Improving Literacy through School Libraries" "grant".
Maybe we need to go back to the idea of "optional" education. Kids who want an education attend school and those that don't can stay home and work with their parents. One problem with this idea is that parents don't work either and this idea would create chaos and crime; even more than has already occurred.
I posted 2 articles on Facebook this morning that show the decline of public education. First, a group of people calling themselves part of the "tea-part" have declared war on public education from kindergarten through universities.
Second, the federal government has decided that school libraries are not important and have completely removed funding set aside for school libraries in the "Improving Literacy through School Libraries" "grant".
Maybe we need to go back to the idea of "optional" education. Kids who want an education attend school and those that don't can stay home and work with their parents. One problem with this idea is that parents don't work either and this idea would create chaos and crime; even more than has already occurred.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Tired of the Jones'
Why am I looked down upon because we don't own a Wii or don't wear the most fashionable clothes or don't sign our daughters up for all of the traveling sports teams?
I do not let my daughters watch an abundance of TV. I insist that they play outside when possible. I prefer neighborhood games to organized sports. My values are obviously not the same as 99% of the population of this town. I believe in the simple things in life: good friends, food to eat, and energy to do what needs to be done.
I'm tired of seeing all of our daughters' friends keeping of with Jones' and looking down on us because we don't.
I want our daughters to succeed in academics first and sports second. Too bad the majority of their friends have the opposite goal.
I don't have any real friends in this town. This is due to the fact that I'm about 10 years older than all other parents of the 3rd grade and kindergarten students. I grew up in a different era than all other parents. Thus, my values are from the 70's and 80's. I grew up having to work for everything I earned. I grew up having to work in the garden and can the veggies and fruits that were grown.
Would I have been a happier person had I lived in the early 1900's? My daughter's teachers would be!
I do not let my daughters watch an abundance of TV. I insist that they play outside when possible. I prefer neighborhood games to organized sports. My values are obviously not the same as 99% of the population of this town. I believe in the simple things in life: good friends, food to eat, and energy to do what needs to be done.
I'm tired of seeing all of our daughters' friends keeping of with Jones' and looking down on us because we don't.
I want our daughters to succeed in academics first and sports second. Too bad the majority of their friends have the opposite goal.
I don't have any real friends in this town. This is due to the fact that I'm about 10 years older than all other parents of the 3rd grade and kindergarten students. I grew up in a different era than all other parents. Thus, my values are from the 70's and 80's. I grew up having to work for everything I earned. I grew up having to work in the garden and can the veggies and fruits that were grown.
Would I have been a happier person had I lived in the early 1900's? My daughter's teachers would be!
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
This has been an incredibly frustrating morning! First grade students that have been coming to the library since August still have no concept of finding a just right book. Plus, they have no desire to find a just right book because they have no intention of reading any book they choose from the library. I would guess that 3/4 of the books checked out to the 1st grade students sit in backpacks, in cars, in lockers and on home book shelves week after week after week.
The classroom teachers say they stress finding just right books, but when it comes right down to it THEY DON'T CARE WHAT IS CHECKED OUT FOR THEIR FUN READING!
Could it be that since Title I students are taken for their reading instruction during library time that the remainder of the students don't see the importance of reading for fun?
The one bright spot was a boy that has been turned on to reading after I introduced the author, Cynthia Rylant. He said that his dog likes listening to these adventures of a boy and his dog.!
The classroom teachers say they stress finding just right books, but when it comes right down to it THEY DON'T CARE WHAT IS CHECKED OUT FOR THEIR FUN READING!
Could it be that since Title I students are taken for their reading instruction during library time that the remainder of the students don't see the importance of reading for fun?
The one bright spot was a boy that has been turned on to reading after I introduced the author, Cynthia Rylant. He said that his dog likes listening to these adventures of a boy and his dog.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
I'm not very happy with Katie's 3rd grade experience. Greg and I met with Mr. Bastian (principal), Mrs. Radloff (teacher) and Mrs. Wiestock (G/T teacher) at the beginning of the year. They tried to show that they had the data and information about Katie and knew how to move her forward in her learning.
Now, fast forward to the end of the school year. We attended the 2nd parent/teacher conference in March and were handed her NDSA scores (the state assessment she took in October). She scored a 100% in Math and missed 4 on the Reading test. In October, she knew all of the math concepts on the North Dakota State Assessment. She did not receive any math enrichment during the school year! In April, she takes the MAP standardized assessment on the computer and she showed no gain over her scores from 2nd grade. In 2nd grade she scored in the 98%tile. This year, she only scored in the 95%tile. She was not introduced to any math concepts above the regular 3rd grade math concepts.
On the Language Arts MAP, she scored 1 point higher than last year, which is virtually the same score. Again, she had no growth. Spelling is 1 concept found on the LA MAP. She has not missed 1 spelling word since 1st grade.
Katie did make a large gain in the Reading portion of the MAP. However, this reflects the reading that Katie does on her own. Nothing she does or doesn't do at school affect this score.
All I can do is wait until next year and hope 4th grade offers her more challenge and she shows growth in these critical areas.
Now, fast forward to the end of the school year. We attended the 2nd parent/teacher conference in March and were handed her NDSA scores (the state assessment she took in October). She scored a 100% in Math and missed 4 on the Reading test. In October, she knew all of the math concepts on the North Dakota State Assessment. She did not receive any math enrichment during the school year! In April, she takes the MAP standardized assessment on the computer and she showed no gain over her scores from 2nd grade. In 2nd grade she scored in the 98%tile. This year, she only scored in the 95%tile. She was not introduced to any math concepts above the regular 3rd grade math concepts.
On the Language Arts MAP, she scored 1 point higher than last year, which is virtually the same score. Again, she had no growth. Spelling is 1 concept found on the LA MAP. She has not missed 1 spelling word since 1st grade.
Katie did make a large gain in the Reading portion of the MAP. However, this reflects the reading that Katie does on her own. Nothing she does or doesn't do at school affect this score.
All I can do is wait until next year and hope 4th grade offers her more challenge and she shows growth in these critical areas.
Friday, October 8, 2010
No more minutes
We will not be counting minutes at my house any longer! Last night, I read Alfie Kohn's, "How to create nonreaders" and recognized some of these actions in my daughter's school. Then, before my daughter went to sleep last night, she asked, "can you wake me up 20 minutes early so I can read?" She didn't want to wake up early because she was in the middle of a good book and couldn't wait to see what happened. She wanted to wake up early to read because she didn't think she read enough minutes this week. She read about 175 minutes even though she attended a Girl Scout meeting, dance practice and church class. She doesn't pick up a book "just for fun" anymore (and it's only been 1 month of counting minutes). She picks up a book because she wants to read for more minutes than her classmates. You may believe that reading is reading and as long as she is reading she is improving her reading. This would be an incorrect assumption. Her reason for reading has changed. Reading has become a chore; a school assignment.
I have worked 8 years nurturing her love for reading. So, we are throwing away the minutes record and she will read when she wants to read when she wants to read. We will talk about what she's reading and she will tell me what she wants to read. She read nearly 50 books this past summer and enjoyed all of them. She had no reports, no recording of minutes and no competition. I enjoyed watching her open a book and get lost in the action.
I have worked 8 years nurturing her love for reading. So, we are throwing away the minutes record and she will read when she wants to read when she wants to read. We will talk about what she's reading and she will tell me what she wants to read. She read nearly 50 books this past summer and enjoyed all of them. She had no reports, no recording of minutes and no competition. I enjoyed watching her open a book and get lost in the action.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
What is the purpose of making kids write down how many minutes they read? Yes, I know. Many kids don't read and if they don't read they don't get better at reading. But, what about those kids that already like to read? We are forcing them to count minutes when all they want to do is read. We are forcing them into a competition of reading "the most minutes". What is more important -- reading for fun or reading for minutes?
Kids cannot be forced into doing something they don't want to do outside of school. Teachers can only control what happens in school. If students are not reading outside of school, teachers need to make sure they read in school.
Once again, the needs of the lowest students take precedence over the needs of the high achieving student. If our education system continues to ignore these high achieving students, they will quit being high achievers. If our country loses these high achievers, we will cease to be a world power.
Kids cannot be forced into doing something they don't want to do outside of school. Teachers can only control what happens in school. If students are not reading outside of school, teachers need to make sure they read in school.
Once again, the needs of the lowest students take precedence over the needs of the high achieving student. If our education system continues to ignore these high achieving students, they will quit being high achievers. If our country loses these high achievers, we will cease to be a world power.
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