BMS Reading Night
"Celebrating Literacy"
October 24, 2006
Reading Night was a wonderful opportunity for Brookhaven Middle School students, parents, and teachers to celebrate literacy. BMS business partner Wayne Farms provided refreshments for all to enjoy. Students were spooked as scary stories were read to them be Mrs. Martin and Mrs. Renick. Students also played interactifve reading board games which teach and reinforce reading strategies such as making inferences, drawing conclusions, making predictions, and vocabulary in context.
Contact:
Joy Martin
Reading Specialist
Brookhaven Middle School
(256) 552-3045 (phone)
(256) 552-3047 (fax)
Email: joy.martin@dcs.edu
This webpage created by Joy Martin.
Updated February 5, 2007
"How many a man has dated a new era in his life from the reading of a book. The book exists for us perchance which will explain our miracles and reveal new ones."
--HENRY DAVID THOREAU
Reading Websites for Students
Parents, check this out! This is an excellent site to give you resources and tools to help your child if he or she struggles with reading!!!
Reading is Fun! Kids can express themselves, play games, do an activity lab and a Book Zone! It's free and fun!
Log in here to write your own story, read stories by other kids, add a paragraph to a never-ending story and more!
Look here for resources that will help you work and practice at home! Over 100 sites to choose from.
Find great online stories, cool information, sites to publish your writing, games, and more.
About Mrs. Martin:
This is Joy Martin's third year at Brookhaven Middle School. Mrs. Martin graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and is currently working on her masters in elementary education. Mrs. Martin has served as a Reading Specialist for Brookhaven Middle School for two years, and she enjoys helping students develop of love of reading which will foster a passion for life-long learners.
Brookhaven Middle School has been an Alabama Reading Initiative (ARI) school since 1999.
Click here to learn about (ARI)
(from www.succeed to read.com/facts.html)
1. In 1998, the National Assessment of Educational Progress tested children nationwide for reading skills. The results for reading tests for 4th graders were:
Below the most basic level 38%
Proficient 31%
Advanced 7%
2. In 1998 there were ten million children between seven and eleven years of age who performed below the most basic level of reading achievement.
3. It is very important to note that a substantial number of children from highly literate households who have been read to by their parents since very early in life also have difficulties learning to read.
4. In 1998, students who reported watching three or fewer hours of television each day had higher average reading scores than students who reported watching more television.
5. Having kids real a lot is one of the crucial components of becoming a good reader. Young readers need to become practiced at recognizing letters and sounds. The only way to get good at it is to practice.
6. The average reader spent about 6 minutes per day reading connected text. Children with reading problems spent about one minute per day. The amount of time students spent on worksheets did not relate to gains in reading achievement. What appeared to be most relevant was time spent reading connected to print.
7. Children who struggle in vain with reading in the first grade soon decide that they neither like nor want to read.
Parents,
To help your child become an active reader to perform better in school, encourage your child to practice these reading strategies at home:
- Make Connections to What You Read
Text-to-text
Text-to-self
Text-to-world
- Ask Questions as You Read
"I wonder..."
"How come..."
"Why..."
"I'm confused..."
"I don't get it..."
- Visualize
Mark a sentence or two when you get
a clear mental image from what you
have read.
- Inferring
"I think"
"Maybe it means"
"I'm guessing that"
"I predict"
- Synthesizing
"I get it!"
"Aha!"
"Yes!"
