Dear SSRA member,
Your board met this past Saturday, and I have plenty of information to pass along to you in this e-newsletter.
URGENT! Deadline Wednesday!
The Nevada Reading Week Conference will be held in Reno THIS WEEKEND – January 28th and 29th. Keynote speaker is Dr. Jack Pikulski. Authors Mary Casanova, Susan Fletcher, and Ann Dixon will be there along with illustrator Amy Meissner. You can receive state in-service credit for attending. For more information, contact Ellen Fockler at efockler@washoe.k12.nv.us.
Our website address has changed. It is now nevadastatereading.org. The board voted to keep this as our web address for the next five years, so save it to your favorites list. On the website you can find links to Nevada Reading Week information – author pages, activities, history, etc. Soon you will be able to access information about the fall conference as well.
Apparently there were difficulties with getting the Fall edition of the Quicksilver out to you, so those articles are included at the end of this e-newsletter. We apologize for any inconvenience. We hope to have the bugs worked out before the Spring edition!
Local councils need to participate in an international project to be eligible for Honor Council. The SSRA board decided to participate in tsunami relief efforts through IRA to meet this requirement. Check with your local council leaders to see how you can contribute to this worthy cause. The state association will make a donation as well. For more information see http://blog.reading.org/ .
Do you know someone considering a second career in education? Pass along an application for the Second Chance Scholarship. Anyone who has been out of high school at least three years and is beginning study to become a teacher is eligible. See the application at the end of this e-newsletter.
Fall Conference – Save the Dates!
The conference committee is hard at work planning a fabulous fall event. Mark your calendars for September 30-October 1, 2005. “Literacy – Live from Las Vegas in 2005” will be held at UNLV. IRA President and world-renowned literacy specialist Richard Allington will be speaking both Friday and Saturday, speaking on ELL and on teaching literacy with effective strategies. This year’s conference will include poster sessions, a focus on technology, programs created by teachers, and much, MUCH more! You won’t want to miss it.
Journey to South Africa
This message comes from the Colorado Council:
Please join the International Reading Association and the Colorado Council of IRA (CCIRA)
on a unique professional development journey to South Africa! We will be visiting this
fascinating – and fast-changing – country during the period August 13-22, 2005. These
dates have been set to coincide with the 4th Pan-African Reading Conference, which will be
held in neighboring Swaziland during the last week of August.
Our trip features a solid focus on professional development. We will visit primary &
secondary schools, libraries, and universities – and we’ll enjoy seminars, receptions, and
structured dialogues with literacy educators, librarians, and senior professionals from related
fields. Our meetings and site visits will take place in all three major urban areas – Cape
Town, Johannesburg, and Pretoria.
Judith Casey, CCIRA President, and Stevi Quate, CCIRA President-Elect, will serve as co-directors of this trip, which is being planned cooperatively with the International Reading
Association. This will be our second such experience in South Africa – an experience which
also offers plenty of sightseeing and R&R. We will even take two nights on safari at Kruger
National Park!
We have posted a comprehensive package of information about this trip to the CCIRA
website (www.ccira.org <http://www.ccira.org/> ). Of course, this includes instructions on
how to sign up. Please also feel free to contact Judith Casey at jdcasey1@mindspring.com if
you have questions about the trip or wish to express your interest in joining us!
As always, if you have received this e-newsletter in error or no longer wish to receive it, please inform your local council membership chairperson, who is the one who forwarded it to you.
Sincerely,
Sarah McFadden Fornara
SSRA corresponding secretary
Quicksilver Articles
President’s Message
Silver State Reading Association would like to thank all of it's members who attended IRA in Reno this year. The success of the IRA conference allowed us to give money to each local council. We hope this will spearhead some of your literacy projects for this coming year. Because IRA was in Reno this May, we will not hold a state conference until the fall of 2005 at UNLV, in Las Vegas.
If you attend a great literacy conference and would like to share that information with the SSRA members, please feel free to mail it to Sarah Fornara at mecbhc@citlink.net.
Help your council “Go For the Gold!”— see related article for more info.
The SSRA would like to help those who are trying to attain Honor Council, by giving
them monetary awards for trying to do so. Your local council can attain monetary
awards throughout the year for working towards Honor Council.
Bronze- $50 Must submit by October 10, 2004
Silver- $100 Must submit paperwork by March 1, 2004
Gold - $150 Will be given to the local council once awarded Honor Council by IRA.
Heidi Tokerud, SSRA President 2004-2005
Silver State Reading
Association Conference
September 30-October 1, 2005
Put this date on your calendar NOW! Our conference coordinator, Diane Carpenter,
has procured Richard Allington for the Sept.30/Oct.1, 2005
conference at UNLV in Vegas! IRA president-electDick Allington is one of the loudest
voices for literacy in the country. You have likely heard of or read his books Big Brother
and the National Reading Curriculum, What Really Matters for Struggling Readers,
Reading to Learn, Classrooms That Work, and No Quick Fix.
STATE COORDINATOR’S COLUMN
Association members can make a difference in the lives of learners in Nevada. I invite your
participation in programs of advocacy and outreach by investigating policies and programs that
your particular district promotes. With that in mind, as advocates, some of us in Clark County
School District are investigating scripted, phonics-heavy programs such as Voyager Literacy
Learning System and others that have been mandated by district administrators. If you have
knowledge of scripted programs such as Voyager or would like to give feedback to this
investigation, please respond to Sue Hendricks at hendris1@unlv.nevada.edu. Silver State
Reading Association in collaboration with the International Reading Association has the position
that advocacy is extremely important in our world of education today. Particularly, of great
interest in today's world of NCLB are the following two stances taken by the IRA: 1)
advocating for and supporting the training and professional development of teachers and 2)
influencing and responding to U.S. public policy. At www.reading.org you can download
positions and policies as they relate to these areas and to current pressing issues in literacy
teaching and learning that have been outlined in a comprehensive series of position statements.
Sue Hendricks
TIMELINE 2004-2005
2004
December 15 ~ Membership report due to Sue Gabosch
State dues and members due to Marie Werner
2005
Jan. 22 ~Teleconference/State Board Meeting
Feb. 1 ~Newsletter articles due to Sarah Fornara
Feb. 1-2 ~African American Read-in-chain
Feb. 15 ~State nominating committee (Linda Kraft) sends ballot and brief biographies to Sarah Fornara
Feb. 28~ African American Read-In Chain report due to IRA
Feb. 28-March 4 ~Nevada Reading Week Reading is the Key
March 1 ~Newsletter mailed
~Honor Council requirements due to IRA
April 15 ~Lillian Panchhi Mini-scholarship applications due to Linda Kraft
April 23~ Teleconference/State Board Meeting
May 1-5 ~National IRA
Convention in
San Antonio, Texas
May ~Installation of local council officers
May 1~ 2004 Mini-Grant recipient summary and financial report due to Sue Hendricks
May 15 ~Jean Serum Mini-Grant applications due to Linda Bailey
June 1 ~Council in Action summaries due to Sue Hendricks
Action Award applications due to Sue Hendricks
Aug. 5 ~Leadership/Executive Board Meeting
Aug. 6 ~Leadership Workshop and State Board Meeting ~Newsletter articles due
READING COUNCIL
We participated in Nevada Reading Week. Some activities include: Muffins for Mom and Donuts for Dad, visiting parent readers, community readers, a read-in, book drive, Readers’ Theater performance, book parade, and continual story. We had a Story Land Night. Centers were set up where children could got to listen to a story, act the story out, or participate in an activity from the story. The game musical chairs was played, and children won a book, donated by the book drive. Individuals were invited to dress up as their favorite storybook character. In May, students who met their Reading Goals for nine months received medal from the council.
ELKO READING COUNCIL
Read to Your Baby:
We ordered 500 books of Read to Your Bunny, in both English and Spanish. The books were put in a plastic baggie with a bookmark and flyer that talked about how to read to your baby and the importance of this process and were taken to OB/GYN’s in the community and passed out to mother and baby at the post-natal checkup. We have currently delivered 350 books and plan to deliver the rest as needed.
Family Literacy: May 25, 2004
The ECRC-sponsored Family Reading Nights were conducted in five schools during 2004: Owyhee, Northside, Grammar #2, West Wendover and Southside. Plans for an Elko Jr. High Book Club were investigated, but not implemented due to lack of time.
Approximately 294 people attended these presentations (total for all 5 schools). All families received 2 free books to take home. Parents were presented with tips on reading to their children at home.
As a way to jump start the concept of a book exchange, students were invited to bring a book from home and exchange it with a book that someone else had brought from home. Many families participated and were able to take one or more exchanged books home in addition to the free books.
Trade-n-Share:
In an attempt to allow teachers the opportunity to share the many resources they have accumulated over the years we sponsored a Trade-n-Share day twice through the year. Teachers brought materials they were no longer using, displayed them and had an opportunity to take other resources home.
Young Authors:
Annually The Elko County Reading Council holds the Elko County Young Authors Conference. This year 143 students and their parents participated in the event.
Visiting Author:
As a kick off to the young author’s conference, we hosted author and storyteller Kendall Haven in December.
Christmas Book Tree:
As a continued project we were able to gather and deliver around 150 books to children in need.
GOLD RIVER READING COUNCIL
In the spring, we had a presentation on Brain Gym. Members were actively involved with Brain Gym exercises and were provided with information on the benefits of Brain Gym. We had our Fifth Annual Family Literacy Fair with storyteller Indiana Bones. Over 100 children and their families were served by the event.
We held our annual Literacy Celebration to review and reflect on the year, learn about the summer book club, recognize the board members, and give awards to members.
We continue our Shower Your Baby with Books program at the local hospital.
ROADRUNNER READING COUNCIL
We had an exciting year, that began by putting on the State Conference in Mesquite. We are from Pahrump, but chose that location due to the hope of spending some time in the pools/spa. We hope that those who attended were able to take that time to relax, because we were too busy.
We had some good professional development put on my our members throughout the year. Our local members are active at their sites assisting
with Family Literacy. As a council we are trying to help facilitate Family Literacy. One idea that we stole from a Las Vegas school that helped our turnout was to use advertise our event on address labels. At the end of the day, before the event we put an address label on each student with the basic information.
This year our local council received a Jean Serum Grant, and we are going to use this money to do our project, Books for Shots. We will provide books to be given to children when they go in to get their shots at 1 year of age. We will also provide a handout for the parents on the importance of reading with your children.
We are looking forward to an exciting year, and hope to do our best in our positions at our school sites.
What are they doing?
Our policies and procedures state that we should make our members aware of the state offices and their job descriptions. They are listed below for your information.
Council Officers:
President - responsible for running the council in keeping with the goals and objectives of IRA.
President-elect - responsible for providing continuity to established programs and projects and formulating future programs and projects.
Vice-president - responsible for monitoring the progress of committees.
Recording secretary - responsible for maintenance of an accurate, written, account of actions taken at official meetings of the council.
Corresponding secretary - responsible for keeping council members informed about the business of the council.
Treasurer - responsible for supervising and maintaining the financial affairs of the council.
Go For the Gold! Can Your Council Become an Honor Council?
Believe it or not, your council probably already does enough to become an Honor Council. The SSRA would like for you to be recognized for all of your work. As your council participates, your council will receive recognition and money. To get the silver, you must first complete the steps for bronze. To earn the gold, you must have completed everything for both the bronze and silver. Help your council “Go for the Gold!” by volunteering for these projects:
write a newsletter
make an image brochure or video
provide a professional growth activity for future educators
provide a professional growth activity for council members
plan a community program
participate in Newspapers in Education
provide advocacy in the area of literacy issues
and much more! Ask your council president.
Most importantly — become a member of IRA at www.reading.org!
Free Book Drawing
Two professional books are being given away. To enter the drawing, send the title of the book you would like, your name, address, and local council name to Sue Hendricks, hendris1@unlv.nevada.edu.
The books are:
Cirque Du Freak (Allies of the Night) a novel for teen readers by Darren
Shan. This is the 8th book in the Cirque Du Freak series. Vampire Prince
faces his worst nightmare yet - school!
New Baby Train by Woody Guthrie. A wonderful picture book about how
brand new babies get into a house—why, on the new baby train, of course.
Silver State Reading Association Second Chance Scholarship
$500 twice a year
Application due dates:
February 15, 2005 or
August 15, 2005
Guidelines:
1. Applicant must be at least three years out of high school.
2. Applicant must have been in the work force either full time or part-time, stayed at home with children and/or for other reasons, or is retired from the work force prior to entering education courses.
3. Applicant must show proof of admission to an education program at a Nevada institute of higher learning (to include any university, community college, trade school or technology school in Nevada) or to include applicants living in Bullhead City or Laughlin who attend either a Nevada or Arizona college or institute of higher learning
4. Applicant must submit this application and proof of admission or registration to institute of higher learning to the Silver State Reading Association state coordinator by due dates.
5. Upon scholarship acceptance, a check will be paid directly to the recipient to be used for tuition or other college expenses.
6. Applicant will submit a letter to the Silver State Reading Association during the semester after the due date explaining what the scholarship money was used for.
Application for:
Name__________________________________________
Street address____________________________________
City, State, Zip___________________________________
Phone with area code______________________________
Email__________________________________________
College/institution attending_________________________
Semester attending_________________________________
Major____________________________________________
Are you receiving any other funding or scholarships?______
If yes, please provide information about the funding/scholarships:
__________________________________________________
__________________________________________________
Name of SSRA member who recommended you for the scholarship:
___________________________________________________
Attach a one-page explanation of your need for this scholarship money.
Signature__________________________________________
Submit all information to: Sue Hendricks, 4506 Palm Grove Drive, Las Vegas NV 89120
or by email to Sue Hendricks at: hendris1@unlv.nevada.edu