Celebrate Reading

For those of you that are not aware, next week is "National Library Week". Now I know that our library is referred to by many as the media center (because it is so much more than a library) but we are going to be celebrating next week as well, and with good reason. There is always so much going on in the media center and so many great events, that if you haven't stopped in lately, you are really missing something. Mrs. Knodel does such an awesome job keeping everything up to date and relevant. I hope each and everyone of you students appreciate it. We are very lucky to have such a stocked library with so many great books. I often stop in there just to glance at the latest selection of books and magazines. Our media center is such a professional and college type atmosphere that I am impressed whenever I enter. The staff and students are welcome in there anytime to sit in the comfortable chairs, read the daily newspapers, work on a jigsaw puzzle, play with some of the mind challenging games that are available or even get involved in a competitive chess or checkers match.

Throughout the year Mrs. Knodel has so many events going on for our students. Each nine weeks, there is a book club drawing where the students get one entry for every five books read. The winners then receive a book of their choice. In October she celebrates "Teen Read Week" with all kinds of promotions and activities. Just this past March, the media center celebrated "Read Across America" and former guidance supervisor Tom Mershman and myself were able to read a Dr. Suess book to our pre-schoolers, and we did it while wearing a Dr. Suess hat. I know that this upcoming week, anyone can stop in and check out a book or magazine and receive a sweet treat just for doing so. Not only is all this impressive, but Mrs. Knodel also puts out a "Media Center Update" every month that is first class. As the school counselor, I really appreciate this newsletter because she always has so many important links for our students. Some examples are www.pbslearningmedia.org which has thousands of digital resources where we can browse by grade level and subject area. There are videos, interactives and lesson plans that are aligned to the common core. ACT & SAT practice tests are always highlighted showing where you can access these through the "learning library". The newsletter shows events of interest that are going on around the Van Wert area or events happening in our own school. What a great job Pam and thanks so much.

Finally, and I believe the most important reason we have to celebrate "National Library Week" is because it has been a big factor in improving our students lexile scores. Yesterday in our staff meeting we received an update on how this years literacy challenge has been going. As you may know, Vantage set a couple of "Growth Targets" for our students at the beginning of this year. The first one was 60% of our Vantage students would be at or above proficient reading level based on the SRI (Scholastic Reading Inventory). With the latest results just in, I can proudly say we are at 64% and met the goal. The other "Growth Target" was that 50% of Vantage students would meet or exceed their expected growth target as set by SRI. The results for that goal show that 69% of our students met or exceeded their expected growth target. WOW!!! What an awesome job by the English department, media center and everyone who encouraged these students to read. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Now lets all celebrate next week by stopping in the media center and checking out a book or just browse around.