T.C. Williams Teacher "For the Love of Reading" Fund Needs Your Help

We are trying to get books in students' hands before an author visit in March. 

***For the next 3 days if donor's use the code SPARK their donation will be matched***

Thank you for your support!

For The Love Of Reading

My students need the book All American Boys so they can read about characters, places, and themes that reflect their lives.

My Students

For students who have yet to have books change their lives, they often don’t believe me when I say it has happened to me. 

While all the students in our school have access to the library, and plenty of them take advantage of the resources we have, some of them go home to book deserts.

This project aims to give them a book(All American Boys) that can be the beginning of their own library--something they can keep, write in, own. 

My Project

We are very excited to be able to participate in the NOVA Teen Book Festival and while we would love for all of our students to participate in the day’s activities, our targeted students would have no way of getting to and from the events of the festival. This project allows us to bring the festival to our students by bringing two young adult authors to speak at our school. We really want students to fall in love with Jason Reynold’s compelling stories, and we also want them to catch his vision--to believe their words can change people’s lives.

Bringing Jason Reynold’s to our school, and giving our students a chance to own one of his books and come to the author’s visit ready to really talk about it, could be the catalyst for getting some of our students to see themselves as writers.

And giving our students a chance to talk to him about his writing process could help them start to consider themselves as potential writers.

Here's the link: goo.gl/HvYaX5 

Children's Book Drive

Alexandria Bookshelf (ABS) needs your gently used books!Every holiday season, Alexandria Bookshelf, one of the many community outreach projects of the DreamDog Foundation, gives out thousands of books to children in Alexandria. You may have seen these books in your own homes – they have a sticker on them advertising our program. Now in our 3rd year, ABS has more than 200,000 books out in Alexandria on more 35 bookshelves around the community, in schools, recreation centers and in the city’s housing authorities.
This holiday season, we’re asking for your help in filling Alexandria homes with fantastic children’s books, often for kids who don’t own books of their own. ABS is getting books in the "Hands, Homes and Hearts of ALL Children! Thank you for helping make that possible!
Please clean out your children’s bookshelves and donate gently used books at one of the following locations:
Hooray for Books at 1555 King Street in Old Town.Mt. Vernon Rec Center in Del Ray at 2701 Commonwealth Ave.UpCycle at in Del Ray at 1712 Mt. Vernon Avenue (2nd floor)CrossFit by the water in Old Town at 805 North Royal Street.31 E. Masonic View Ave.Or 23 W. Myrtle St.
This is a win-win – you get to make space in your homes just in time for the holidays. And our city’s kids get to experience the joy that comes with a really good read.Questions? Want to volunteer this holiday season? Email jesswehrman@yahoo.com

Alexandria Tutoring Consortium Seeks Volunteers

The Alexandria Tutoring Consortium (ATC) is seeking volunteers to help kindergarten and first grade students in ACPS acquire literacy skills. The ATC is a nonprofit with a mission to have all students reading at or above grade level by the end of third grade. If you have a love of children, a love of reading and are dependable, we invite you to tutor with ATC.

Volunteers receive training and an orientation to the school before before they begin tutoring. For tutors of first graders in Book Buddies, lesson plans and materials targeted at your child's reading needs are provided by ATC coordinators. For tutors of kindergartners in Reading Readiness, goals and materials to use to reach those goals are provided by ATC coordinators.

For more information, contact Gwen Mullen at 703-549-6670 ext. (119) or visit the ATC's website at: http://alexandriatutors.org

To register, visit: http://alexandriatutors.org/TutorRegister.php

Literacy Tutors - Volunteers Needed

Volunteer Alexandria is teaming up with the Alexandria Tutoring Consortium to recruit enough tutors this school year for 125 ACPS students. 
We need YOU to help us meet this challenge 
by signing up to tutor today! 

Students need a one-on-one volunteer tutor to help them reach and exceed their reading goals for the year. These students are at risk of falling below their grade level and will not be able to read to learn in third grade and 
beyond if they do not have a tutor to help them learn to read now. These students need YOU to step up and help them reach their goals this year! 

What volunteers need to know: 
· Volunteers choose which Elementary School is convenient for them 
· Volunteers are asked to tutor twice a week for 30 minutes or find a partner to split the sessions with 
· Volunteers tutor October-May 
· ATC provides volunteers with individualized lesson plans and materials 


Sign up to become a tutor! Please click HERE http://handsonconnect.volunteeralexandria.org/HOC__Volunteer_Opportunity_Details_Page?id=a0CU000000ZaD6OMAV&wrs=HOC0105-002-4da8cef7-45bb-46ee-9e85-c742d3d9dd51or 
visit www.VolunteerAlexandria.org 


and enter ‘tutor’ in the search field 

Parent Literacy Workshop from the Alexandria Library 2/4/14

Parent Literacy Workshop at Burke Branch

How do parents and caregivers instill the love of reading for early learners? 
Kimberly Pearson Cooke of School Readiness Consulting will share ideas on how to foster literacy during a child's initial stages of development at the Burke Branch tomorrow,February 4, at 5 p.m. Join us as Cooke–a mother, former preschool and high school teacher–offers suggestions on how to cultivate positive attitudes towards learning. She will show guests how to encourage reading and writing using techniques that can be incorporated during a child's normal daily activities. 


This session is for adults only and will focus on literacy for ages 3 to 7. 

More About Early Literacy

More About Raising a Reader

Alexandria Tutoring Consortium In Search of Volunteers

Did you know that learning to read can make the difference between a child becoming a dropout or a graduate? 

The Alexandria Tutoring Consortium needs reliable volunteers to tutor kindergartners in literacy skills once or twice a week for two 20 minute back-to-back sessions, at the school during the school day.

Patrick Henry needs 4 tutors for 8 kindergartners twice a week; George Mason – 2 tutors for 4 kindergartners twice a week; 

NEW PROGRAM John Adams – needs 14 tutors for 28 kindergartners twice a week. Lesson plans, materials and training provided. 

Please help spread the word to friends and colleagues! 

For more information and to register, go to www.alexandriatutors.org . Contact 703-549-6670 ext. 119 or atc@opmh.org if you have questions.

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Favorite Christmas Reading

Our all time favorites are:

And a few of the others we like to read over and over:

Christmas Reading

from the archives:

I thought I’d share some of my family’s favorite Christmas books. 

(And these are in no particular order)

Happy Holidays

The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss

The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado

Alabaster’s Song by Max Lucado

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojceichowski

Merry Christmas Big Hungry Bear by Don & Audrey Wood

Santa’s Book of Names by David McPhail

Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree by Robert Barry

Snowmen at Night

and

Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner,

This is The Star by Joyce Dunbar

Santa Calls by Willam Joyce

Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck

Who’s That Knocking on Christmas Eve by Jan Brett

I’ve Seen Santa by David Bedford

The Wild Christmas Reindeer by Jan Brett

Santa Mouse & Santa Mouse Where Are You by Michael Brown

Bright Christmas, an Angel Remembers by Andrew Clements

Rocking Horse Christmas by Mary Pope Osborne

How Santa Got His Job by Stephen Krensky

The Alexandria Tutoring Consortium is seeking volunteers

The Alexandria Tutoring Consortium (ATC) needs volunteers to tutor 70 more children in Alexandria City Public Schools' kindergartens and first grades to develop literacy skills. Training, lesson plans, and guidance will be provided. Tutoring sessions are one-on-one for 30 minutes once or twice a week through May. 

Questions? Call: 703-549-6670 x119 or email: atc@opmh.org 

http://www.alexandriatutors.org

For more information: 

http://www.actionalexandria.org/action/help-alexandria-students-learn-read-volunteer-now-0

Here is the info from the Alexandria Tutoring Consortium Website: 

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Who We Are 
The Alexandria Tutoring Consortium (ATC) is a 501 ( c) (3) organization working in partnership with Alexandria's Faith Community, the City of Alexandria, the Community at Large and Alexandria's Public Elementary Schools to recruit, train and match volunteers from congregations, community groups, businesses,City employees and individuals who sign up to tutor kindergarteners and first graders in literacy skills. 
Vision
Every child in Alexandria can read and succeed! 

Mission 
To provide the foundation for future learning success by helping to ensure children in the Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) can read at or above grade level by the end of third grade. 
Values
How we do our work - as the Alexandria Tutoring Consortium (ATC), we commit to the following values:

RESPECT 

• Value each person's contributions, concerns, and time
• Trust others, and be worthy of trust
• Fulfill commitments

TEAMWORK

• Seek the input of all relevant parties
• Encourage others to use their strengths and talents
• Collaborate internally and externally in service of the children of Alexandria
• Attend to barriers that may impede inclusive participation

SERVICE

• Filter all decisions and actions through the lens of how they will benefit the children of Alexandria
• Celebrate our mission together

EXCELLENCE

• Regularly seek and respond to evaluation and feedback
• Regularly set goals, and evaluate progress
• Be open to change
• Strive for continual improvement
• Expect high-performance in all aspects of ATC work

History

In 1996, Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS) launched the Primary Initiative with the goal that all students in ACPS would be able to read and do math at grade level by the end of second grade. When the Rev. Gary Charles, then pastor of the Old Presbyterian Meeting House, heard about the Primary Initiative, he joined with Herbert Berg, then superintendent of ACPS, and Steve Rideout, then Chief Judge of the Alexandria Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court, to start a program that united local faith communities and elementary school principals, teachers, and reading specialists to provide reading tutors to first and second grade students in the public schools. They named the organization Alexandria Tutoring Consortium (ATC).

Today, in order to meet the need for volunteer tutors expressed by ACPS, we have expanded our recruiting base beyond our supportive member congregations to include any individual who wants to tutor, community groups and businesses, and, through Mayor Euille's Initiative, Alexandria City employees.

In 2006, ATC incorporated and received tax-exempt 501c3 status. As a result we are able to receive tax-deductible contributions from individuals, organizations, businesses, etc. to support our work.

The need for tutors is great. In spring 2012 and again in 2013, 24% of ACPS third graders did not reach reading proficiency on Virginia's spring PALS (Phonological Awareness and Literacy Screening) tests. According to the Casey Foundation Kids’Count report, those 250 plus children are now on the "dropout track" because they will not have the necessary skills to engage in language and higher learning activities in 4th grade and beyond. The National Research Council states that "academic success, as defined by high school graduation, can be predicted with reasonable accuracy by knowing someone's reading skill at the end of third grade."

An additional challenge for ACPS and ATC is that, for whatever reason – not having attended preschool, English is a second language, lack of books in the homes,  each year approximately 25% of Alexandria’s children enter kindergarten needing extra help bringing their literacy skills up to grade level. To increase the percentage of children reading at or above grade level by the end of third grade is the current mission of the Alexandria Tutoring Consortium. Please join us in fulfilling this mission. There is no greater gift to a child and to Alexandria's future than generations of children empowered with the ability to read.

 Board of Directors and Staff

Board members are responsible for the overall policy and direction of ATC, and delegate responsibility of day-to-day operations to the staff and committees. Board meetings are open to other interested parties. 

Halloween Reading

FROM THE ARCHIVES:

Some books for you and your child --

picture books

The Littlest Pumpkin

Wee Witches Halloween

Ten Timid Ghosts

Scary, Scary Halloween 

In the Haunted House

The 13 Nights of Halloween

BIG Pumpkin

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

Rattlebone Rock

The Halo-Weiner

On Halloween Night

The Perfectly Horrible Halloween

The Teeny Tiny Ghost

There was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat

I'm Not Afraid of This Haunted House

The Pumpkin Fair

Two Little Witches

Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet

One Witch

Miss Fiona's Stupendous Pumpkin Pie

for beginner or early readers --- 

The Ghoul Brothers

Ready Freddy

Horrible Harry

Nate The Great

The Best/Worst Halloween Ever

The Witch Who Was Afraid of Witches

Creepy Crawly Critters

Fluffy

Summer Reading

Thought I'd share some great reading that I enjoyed this summer.


These are the books I read on my iPad.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Last Friends by Jane Gardham
The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean
The Lola Quartet by Emily St. John Mandel

And these are the real, hold in your hand books, that I read.

 

 

Summer reading

Summer Reading: A compilation of area schools required summer reading lists.

6th and 7th Grade:

Ghosts I have Been by Richard Peck

Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Acorn People by Ron Jones

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick

The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford
Maniac Magee by Spinelli

 Invention of Hugo Cabret by Selznick

Maze of Bones: 39 Clues by Rick Riordan

Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Kinney

Watsons Go To Birmingham by Curtis

The Egypt Game by Snyder

Walk Two Moons by Creech

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

The Acorn People by Ron Jones

Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick
The Incredible Journey bySheila Burnford

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard

The Boy Who Dared by Susan Bartoletti

Seven Sons and Seven Daughters by Barbara Chen

The Iron Ring by Lloyd Alexander

Ordinary Magic by Malcolm Bosse

the Conch Bearer by Chitra Bannerjee Divakauruni

Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher

The Broken Tusk by Uma Krishnaswami

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye

Hoot by Carl Hiaasen

Blizzard by Jim Murphy 
The Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams

Crispin: Cross of Lead by Avi

Anna of Byzantium by Tracey Barrett

Year of Wonder: A Novel about the Plaque by Geraldine Brooks

Lady with an Alien by Michael Resnick 

Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopald

Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine
Wonder, R.J. Pallacio

 First Test, Pierce

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Rowling

Number the Stars, Lowry

Ella Enchanted, Levine

The Wednesday Wars, Schmidt

Artemis Fowl, Colfer

Liar and Spy, Stead

The One and Only Ivan, Applegate

Dead End in Norvelt, Gantos

Where the Red Fern Grows, Rawls

8th Grade 

Night by Elie Wiesel

The Outsiders by Susan Hinton

Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer

The Young Man and the Sea, Rodman Philbrick

Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Carl

The Cay by Theodore Taylor

The House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton

Haveli by Suzanne Fisher Staples

White Fang by Jack London
Taking Sides, by Soto
Call of the Wild by Jack London

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

Stargirl byJerry Spinelli

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
The Giver by Lois Lowery
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas 

9th  Grade

Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Richard Bach

The Pigman, Paul Zindel

A Day No Pigs Would Die, Newton Peck

The Hobbit by JR Tolkein

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Fahrenheit 451 by Bradbury

Into the Wild by Krakauer

The Hobbit by Tolkien

Rebecca by du Maurier
Matched by Condie
Bleachers by Grisham
Thirteen Reasons Why by Asher
The Fault in our Stars by Green
Bless Me Ultima by Anaya
Days of Grace by Ashe
Copper Sun by Draper
Divergent by Veronica Roth
Maus I by Spiegelman 

 10^th Grade:

Nickled and Dimed, Ehrenreich

Blessings, Anna Quindlen

The Bean Trees, Kingsolver

Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Betty Smith
Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Kesey

•    The Speed of Dark , Moon

•       “Death of a Salesman,” Miller

 How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent, Alvarez

•       Angela’s Ashes, McCourt

•       The Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck

•       The Joy Luck Club, Tan

•       The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, McCullers

•       The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Chbosky

•       Steve Jobs: The Man Who Thought Different, Blumenthal

•       Looking for Alaska, Green

•       Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck

American Born Chinese, Yang

 11^th Grade:

The Woman Who Owned the Shadows, Paula Gun Allen

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, Angelou

The Bluest Eye, Morrison

If I Die in the Combat Zone, O’Brien

The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway

The Awakening by Kate Chopin
The Picture of Dorian Gray byWilde
Invisible Man by Ellison
Catch-22 by Heller
The Curious Incident of the dog in the Night by Haddon
The Martian Chronicles by Bradbury
Daughter of Fortune by Allende
Candyfreak: a Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of Hemingway in America, by Almond
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bryson
The Color Purple by Walker
Fading Echoes: A True Story of Rivalry and Brotherhood from the Football Field to the Fields of Honor by Sielski
For Whom the Bell Tolls by Hemingway
A Confederacy of Dunces by Toole
A Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature by Haskell

• 
  

12^th Grade:

The Glass Castle, Walls

The Metamorphosis, Kafka 

Snow Falling on Cedars, Guterson

The Kitchen God’s Wife, Tan

Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Hardy

Catch-22, Heller

Anna Karenina, Tolstoy

Dracula, Stoker

The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood

Frankenstein, Shelley
Guns, Germs and Steel by Diamond 
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Pirsig
Oryx and Crake by Atwook
Utopia by Moore
The Road by McCarthy
Childhood's End by Clarke
Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Dick
World War Z by Brooks
Never Let Me Go by Ishiguro
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
Blindness by Saramago
On the Road by Kerouac
Siddhartha by Hesse
The Alchemist by Coehlo
Ready Player One by Cline




Anything by: 
Roald Dahl
Gary Paulson
Andrew Clements
Rick Riordan

Series: 
Peter and the Star Catchers
Narnia
Magik
100 Cupboards
The Book without Words

Classics/Award Winners: 
Of Mice and Men
Bud Not Buddy
The House on Mango Street
Out of the Dust
Roll Thunder, Hear My Cry
The Giver
Animal Farm
The Pigman
Things Fall Apart
To Kill A Mockingbird