From Superintendent Andrew Melin, Ph.D. for the week of March 7, 2011:
Literacy is a key to the future academic and career success of VCS students
Reading to some of our elementary students last week reminded me of the importance reading plays in our lives. Reading not only helps us acquire knowledge, but it also can be fun. The ability to read and understand what is read is perhaps the most important skill for students to master in order for them to be successful during their K-12 career as well as in any post-secondary endeavors. Literacy, however, is more than just reading. Literacy also entails the ability to write, speak, and listen. As VCS continues to strive to take its students to higher levels of achievement, it is critical a K-12 system of literacy is in place to assure our students are reading, writing, speaking, and listening at high levels. A K-12 literacy advisory has been formed as part of our strategic plan. The advisory will be responsible to research best practices and make specific recommendations of programs and practices necessary to enhance the literacy skills of our students.
Obviously, teaching students to read is a major focus of elementary education, especially in the primary grades (K-2). However, as students advance through elementary and into secondary education, they transition from learning to read to reading to learn. As students transition from elementary to middle to high school, it is important for them to have strong reading comprehension skills. As they transition, writing becomes even more important because writing about what is read helps students better retain knowledge. Writing is an active skill that makes students more thoroughly process information learned and results in higher retention of that information.
The last phase of a strong K-12 literacy system is teaching students the value of speaking and listening through presentation skills. In today’s economy, having knowledge is important, but having the ability to share that knowledge with others is critical. As VCS strives to maximize the learning potential of each student, it is imperative students use reading as a means to gain knowledge, use writing to process knowledge, and use presentation skills to share that knowledge.
VCS News
This week is National School Breakfast Week. VCS appreciates the commitment of our food service department to providing nutritious breakfasts for our students.
VCS Standouts
I appreciated the efforts of our students, parents, and staff last week as we administered the ISTEP+ Applied Skills Test.
Congratulations to our VHS girls’ gymnastics program for winning its eighth consecutive IHSAA sectional championship Saturday.
What an incredible come-frombehind victory by our VHS boys’ basketball team Saturday in the IHSAA sectional championship game. It was a win for the ages!
I enjoyed reading to 1st grade students at Northview and 2nd grade students at Flint Lake last Tuesday as part of the Read Across America program honoring Dr. Suess. Our teachers are dedicated to students not only learning to read, but reading for enjoyment.
Important Dates:
- March 15 Board Meeting
- March 25 End of 3rd grading pd.
- March 28 Spring Break begins
- April 8 Grade Cards Distributed