Sharpsville Area SD - Lindamood-Bell Literacy Partnership

Program Overview

The Sharpsville Area SD has established a full partnership with Lindamood-Bell to engage in the training of district staff to address this problem head-on. Professional Development for staff includes training and coaching through Lindamood-Bell staff in two critical programs: Seeing Stars and Visualizing and Verbalizing.

Read to Them (k-5)
Program Description
Read to Them® is a 501 C (3) non-profit organization promoting family literacy with the mission to create a culture of literacy in every home.

They do this by helping schools implement our One School, One Book® and One District, One Book® programs. Their programs encourage and enable reading together at home by providing every school with tools, resources, guidance, and support.
Read to Them educates families and schools on the benefits and importance of reading aloud at home. A growing body of research describes the complex and permanent effects of reading aloud. Children who are read to learn to read more easily and become better readers. Literacy skills provide the basis for a lifetime of learning and productivity.

One-Book-One-Read (7-8)

Program Description

Sharpsville Middle School conducts an annual schoolwide reading project that culminates in an author visit. This event takes place in the spring, when every student and teacher in the school receives a copy of the selected book. Teachers lead students in discussions and connect the book to our Pillars of Character, encouraging students to display an attitude of trustworthiness respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. Many cross-curricular projects are completed and displayed around the school.

Students then expound upon these experiences by participating in contests correlated to the reading, including categories for art, writing, and poetry. Winning entries entitle the young writer or artist to enjoy lunch with the author when he/she visits.

On the day of the author visit, the students enjoy a whole-school assembly, book signings, and small group writing workshops taught by the author.

This activity has powerful outcomes. It builds a sense of community, generates enthusiasm for literacy, and allows students the unique and memorable opportunity to engage with a wonderful book and meet an award-winning author.

Summer Reading Program
Program Description
At Sharpsville Area School District, our summer reading program is for grades K-5 and is held in the summer months to offer various benefits to our students. The camp is two weeks in length. The students come to the elementary school building where teachers from the district have planned engaging, learning centers and field trips to promote lifelong learning. The children attend from 8:00AM to 12:00PM. They are served one snack during the camp, along with a free lunch through a program at our school district.

The children are immersed in an environment full of hands on learning and are sent home each day with an activity and/or book. During the camp, the students are taken on one to two educational field trips that are based on the theme of the camp. The theme of the camp changes each year to encourage students to attend year after year. The camp is based around reading skills, but we also incorporate science, math, and social studies with cross curricular activities and topics.