Teach 36 children with limited English to read

The Literacy Master Map Program is in full swing. Since our last update we have been working diligently in developing literacy skills in our students. Every week, we are excited to greet the smiling faces of our students who have shown significant interest in our program. In the past several months we have been reading books that celebrate different holiday traditions around the world. Alex was very excited to learn about the Chinese New Year and even shown interest in continuing his study with the Chinese New Year by requesting a book about his year of the Dragon. During Hanukah we made Hanukah cards for our friends and families. Kristina has shown interest in writing and enjoyed making the cards as well as all of the writing that we do in class. Kiril and Ivan both have shown significant progress during the last few months. They are very eager to learn and ask many questions. Andrew and Milana are working hard in class as well and have shown significant interest in many of the subjects that we cover.

As we progress with the program, we have been developing important skills such as comparing and contrasting texts, building fluency, identifying the main idea, and leaning to listen for the theme. The students are exposed to read alouds (which all of the kids love), independent reading time, writing, and playing games that are developed for literacy development as well as motor development.

We would like to thank our sponsors for giving us the opportunity to host the Literacy Master Map Program. The beginning of the program was a huge success. Reading opens the door to many new opportunities that our kids could take advantage of. During this class we will be building students stamina while teaching them to handle longer texts. The course will also focus on the most important aspect of reading – comprehension. It is critical that when students are reading they are understanding what they are reading and are able to analyze the text. We will also be working on identifying themes, identifying key ideas in a text, and understanding the structure of a text. All these elements of reading are critical in developing student’s ability to handle texts independently. The class will  also focus on various skills connected to writing. Students will learn how to  structure their writing as well as have exposure to a variety of different types of writing.

I asked our students what type of books they like, and Alex told me he is interested in books that tell stories about pirates and treasure; Kristina prefers to read about princess. We will gage student interest to use this information to better build instruction to suit the needs of our students. This will ensure that our kids are life-long readers and more importantly, life-long learners.