Robeson County Reading Council

NCRA has adopted the topic "From the Mountains to the Sea: Exploring North Carolina's Literary Treasures" for the 2011-2012 year.  Of course we have many authors from this state, or who at least have connections to us, but there are many other "treasures" such as people, places, and things.  We would love for you to share what you think are "treasures" in North Carolina here in our blog.

We had another terrific meeting, with lots of members attending. It was also good to see a lot of people either renewing their membership or obtaining a new membership. There were lots of interesting things that happened:

• Shane started with a welcome to all our members and visitors.
• Our first book talk was Samurai Shortstop by Alan Gratz given by Tony Spallino
• Tonnye Fletcher discussed the Young Author's project and some of the new rules that are in place. She also asked for building reps from other schools, especially high schools to help handle the contest entries.
• Wanda Webb from Scholastic will be here on 1/19 to discuss Boys and Books.
• We then had a presentation from Ellen Gould representing the NC Farm Bureau to discuss using Agriculture in the Classroom
• There was a read aloud from Gregory the Terrible Eater
• Discussion followed over the benefits of read aloud and reading level increases
• Ellen discussed the many lesson plans on the Farm Bureau web site
• She demonstrated the Nutrition & Fitness kit that's available. Discussed was the new food guide pyramid, some shared lessons that are available in the kit, members read "Pigs will be Pigs" and used it for a math lesson.
• Intermission with snacks followed.
• We finished with a video on sweet potatoes that was composed by NC students. This was concluded with an activity using coffee filters and facts from the video.

Another very informative meeting!! We're looking forward to next week's meeting!!

I just wanted to summarize what happened at our first meeting. Overall, it was a terrific meeting with lots of people there and quite a few new people. Let's continue to spread the word about the Reading Council. We are going to do so much this year, it'll be great to have lots of us to get it all accomplished!

We opened with some information wrapped up from last year and to introduce this year. Discussed were the service project with the hospital as well as introducing new technology that will help members keep informed of what's happening with RCRC. We'll also be adding a monthly book talk. In February, our members will get a chance to show their ideas and skills as we have Member Presentation Night.

We then had a presentation by Wanda Broome from Scholastic Books. She presented a terrific presentation about reading levels. Discussed were topics such as:

• a terrific group activity with shapes vs. personalities
• some sobering statistics about socio-economic status vs. reading ability
• a web site that shows High School dropout statistics
• discussion about reasons students will drop out
• the relationship between reading achievement and vocabulary
• discussion of the impact technology has on reading
• lexiles and how they are used in reading
• discuss levels of various reading materials
• finished with an activity where members evaluated several books for reading level

As you can see, we had a busy meeting with lots of information given. Our next meeting is October 20, 6:30 pm at the Public Library Annex. We hope to see you there!

Here we are on the eve of our new year and there's a rush of excitement as we ponder the possibilities.  Will we succeed in our mission of improving reading and writing in Robeson County?  Does anybody care?  Will we have new members?  Will folks return from previous years?   These are questions we may share, but I hope that we can look positively at this new beginning as a door of opportunity.  

Look within yourself at what talents and ideas you bring to this group and search out ways to use those.  You will feel a sense of accomplishment and pride as you reach out to serve with that purpose undergirding your efforts.  Thank you for being here tonight, and et's walk through that door of opportunity  together and hand-in-hand work to fulfill our purpose.