Huber Heights City Schools and Community

Huber Heights City Schools
and our
Community:
“Reading & Growing Together”
Helping Our Children Become
Readers
Kathy Demers, Assistant Superintendent
Dorothy Johnson, Curriculum Supervisor
National Reading Recovery Conference
February 6, 2012
Huber Heights City Schools
Vision and Rationale
• Recognized the need to establish a
program to promote literacy skills and a
love of reading in the home
• Identified reading as the skill needed to
assure school success
• Endorsed an initiative useful to parents
to assist their children in becoming
proficient readers
• Presented strategies to increase
parental active participation in the
reading process
Huber Heights, Ohio
• Huber Heights started as a suburban
community north of Dayton in 1956, at
the crossroads of America: I-70 and I-75
• There are five elementaries, four of them
are Title I Schools, with a combined
enrollment of 3000 students: Pre-K – 5th
• There are two middle schools and one
high school with a combined
enrollment of 3,300 students: 6th – 12th
• 45% of our students qualify for ‘Free or
Reduced Lunch’
Huber Heights City Schools
Free/Reduced Lunch Percentages 2000-2011
% Free/Reduced Lunch
75%
70%
65%
60%
55%
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
School Year
2008
2009
2010
2011
Success in Life
Starts with Reading
When children become good
readers in the early grades, they
will become better learners.
• Learning to read takes practice,
more practice than children receive
during the school day. Parent and
community involvement is vital.
Literacy Initiative Goals
• Provide quality reading support
and resources for parents and
their students.
• Help parents acquire an
understanding of literacy and
how it develops.
• Encourage and increase
parental participation.
• Show support through
community-wide involvement.
Theme:
“Our Schools and Community:
Reading
and
Growing Together”
Our Partnership:
Teachers,
Parents,
Administrators
and
Community Members
The Partnership Will Promote:
•interest
•encouragement
•personnel
•volunteer service
•financial support…
to assure reading success for all
students which in turn will provide
our community with the citizens
and workforce required to make
Huber Heights a strong community.
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Community Literacy Partners
All American Hardware Store
Campfire USA
Hampton Inn, 5588 Merily Way Huber Heights, OH
Heights Café
Huber Heights Chamber of Commerce
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt School Publishers
Huber Heights Athletic Foundation
Huber Heights City Council
Huber Heights Library
Huber Heights Optimist
Huber Heights Police Department
Huber Heights Rotary
Huber Heights Sister Cities
Huber Heights YMCA
1331 Group LLC
Papa John’s Pizza
Sinclair’s Huber Heights Learning Center
Texas Road House Restaurant
Think Patented
Wayne Township-Huber Heights Historical Society
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Publicity
Dayton Daily News
Huber Heights Courier
WKEF-TV “Fox 22”
Community Access Channel 21 Video/Voice Over
Developed & Displayed Posters at local Businesses
“One Call Now”
Registration Forms
Curriculum Department Monthly Newsletter
Literacy Committee Representatives
Community Literacy Partners
Presentations at local community organizations:
Rotary,
Sister Cities,
Optimists,
Chamber of Commerce
Funding
• Letters to Community Organizations
and Businesses
• Donations: Gift Cards,
Food Coupons,
Books, and a…
Rocking Chair!
• Grants:
Wal*Mart & Target
PTO’s
Athletic Foundation
Friends of the Library
Sister Cities
Optimist & Rotary
Illustrators:
Jeanette & Christopher Canyon
Keynotes for the
Reading Initiative Kick-Off
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
at the
Athletic Foundation Center
5367 Fishburg Road
Huber Heights, Ohio 45424
Illustrators :
Jeanette & Christopher Canyon
Parent Meeting:
“How to Help Your Child
Become a Better Reader”
• Thursday, February 18, 2010
6:30 – 8:00 pm
Athletic Foundation Center
• Pre-K- 2 Presenter: Carol L. Mitchell
• 3-5 Presenter: Sherry Parsons
Second Parent Meeting:
“Helping Students Understand
What They Read”
•Tuesday, March 16, 2010
6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Athletic Foundation Center
• Presenter: Judy Brunner,
Renown Literacy Expert
A Reading Celebration
of Stakeholders
• Tuesday, May 11, 2010
6:30 – 8:00 pm
Athletic Foundation Center
• Activities Fair w/ Booths hosted
by HHCS Faculty Members:
• Early Childhood
• Gifted Services
• HHCS Technology Department
David Greenberg, Author
"It is my goal that when kids leave my
assemblies they say to themselves,
'I want to be a writer when I grow
up!’”
Family Evening Presentations
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Wayne High School Auditorium
Elementary School Assemblies
Dr. J. Richard Gentry, Author of:
Raising Confident Readers
J. Richard Gentry, Ph.D., a former
university professor & elementary school
teacher, author of:
Raising Confident Readers:
How to Teach Your Child to Read
and Write-From Baby to Age 7
February 8, 2011
6:30 – 8:00 pm
Athletic Foundation Center
The Events Included:
• Recognition and Rewards for
School Attendance
• Drawing for Prizes Provided by
the Partnership and Members
of our Business Community
• Totes for Parents with
Literacy Information
• Refreshments
Volunteers Encourage Literacy
During Summer Lunch Program
• Staff and Community Volunteers read
to students during lunch and
implemented literacy activities at sites
identified as economically
disadvantaged
• Children received developmentally
appropriate literature weekly
• Partners donated food coupons and
incentives provided as give-a-ways
Literacy Initiative Handouts
• “Reading and Growing Together”
Power Point
• Donation Letter Template
• Neighborhood Newspaper Article
(The Huber Heights Courier)
• Authors’ School & Community Itinerary
• Student Registration Form
• Reception Invitation
• Evening Program Sample
• List of Literacy Fair Participants
• Sample Acknowledgements