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Your Monthly News & Recap for November 2017
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"What does it take to create literate, compassionate creative citizens who improve our world?"
- This is the framing question behind everything we do at The Learning Alliance! |
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Upcoming Events
December 25
th
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Merry Christmas!
January 4th
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Students Return from Winter Break
January 16th
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Volunteer Tutor Training 9am @ First Presbyterian
January 21st - 25th - Florida Children's Week
January 23rd - Moonshot Reading Rocket facilitates the "Voices: A Community Tapestry of Stories" during Children's Week in Tallahassee
January 24th - MCAN Meeting @ Indian River County School District Office
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The Learning Alliance Thanks Indian River County Children's Services Advisory Committee for $100,000 Grant to Provide Afterschool and Summer Programs
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Indian River County Children's Services Advisory Committee
awarded The Learning Alliance a $100,000 grant that will benefit struggling readers in the elementary schools within the School District of Indian River County.
Moonshot Academy (MSA) is a multi-faceted, Enriched Literacy afterschool and summer program that provides remediation and applied learning concepts for struggling students.
Students who attend MSA are identified by the iReady diagnostic as being in the lower 50th percentile.
The Moonshot Academy is in its fourth year of operation and serves K-3 students attending the following partner schools:
- Indian River Academy,
- Rosewood Magnet School,
- Vero Beach Elementary,
- Beachland Elementary,
- Citrus Elementary,
- Pelican Island Elementary, and
- Fellsmere Elementary School.
The purpose of the Moonshot Academy Afterschool and Summer Program is to improve the reading proficiency of our elementary students in grades K - 3. Currently, 47% of all students are not reading on grade level by the end of third grade. That means approximately 2,000 elementary students in Indian River County are reading below grade level.
Those struggling readers need more time to catch up to their peers, and they must have highly-skilled teachers who are able to reach them at their level to help them improve. The students served by Moonshot Academies immensely benefit from more one-on-one and small group attention. Moonshot Academy affords students both extended learning time, as well as highly engaging content delivered by knowledgeable professionals versed in standards based instruction.
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MSA students engage in an interactive
read aloud, create found poetry, and
act out their poems
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Students performing a recycling skit they
created about the importance of recycling
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MSA students creating stop motion videos to demonstrate their subject knowledge
M
oonshot Academy students demonstrate their learning over the past six weeks
to parents and families, at their "Informance"
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| Moonshot Literacy Resources |
The Learning Alliance's (TLA) is dedicated to providing high-quality resources to teachers and students as part of its dedication to the Moonshot Goal.
This fall six elementary schools (Beachland, Citrus, Glendale, Pelican Island, Rosewood, and Sebastian) requested that TLA supply Leveled Literacy programs that guide teachers in leading small group intervention lessons. These lessons are provided through the 3rd grade interventionist or in the Moonshot Academy afterschool program. Students who participate in Leveled Literacy lessons are afforded additional time for skill-deficit mastery and often make gains that exceed their peers who do not receive these services.
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3rd graders at Fellsmere Elementary practice the skills they learned while reading engaging text
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Interventionist Karen Whelan is happy to receive her kits at Pelican Island Elementary
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In addition to the six schools that requested resources, TLA was able to provide:
- Two additional partner schools, Indian River Academy and Fellsmere Elementary, with sets of books for classroom use; and
- New books for the Moonshot Bookmobile which provides free books to children in our low-income neighborhoods so that every child may have a home library
A young reader showcasing his book of choice
A student engaged in the joy of reading
Thank you to the John's Island Foundation who has made this all possible!
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2017 Annual Moonshot Moment Day of Service - November 9, 2017
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On November 9th, 2017, the annual Moonshot Moment Day of Service was held to celebrate the efforts of our Moonshot Community's goal of 90% literacy by 3rd grade!
In the morning, over 40 community members participated in school tours held at Indian River Academy and Glendale Elementary.
The principals of the schools discussed:
- Their school initiatives - i.e.
school
culture, in-school supports, and outreach efforts;
- Extended learning such as Moonshot Academy and summer programs to give students additional time to get "caught up" to improve their literacy skills;
- The progress and successes their schools have achieved toward improved academic outcomes
Community
members observe a classroom lesson at Indian River Academy
Students engaged in a computer-based literacy lesson at Indian River Academy
After the morning tours, The Learning Alliance hosted the annual "Moonshot Moment Day of Service Luncheon" to celebrate our Moonshot Community's successes, continued collaboration, and 2016 Pacesetter award from the Campaign for Grade Level Reading.
The luncheon included:
- Conversations about the progress toward the Moonshot 90% literacy goal;
- Honoring and celebrating our Moonshot Community partners;
- A poetry reading from George Ella Lyon, the 2015-2016 Kentucky poet laureate, who shared her poem, "Where I'm From" - the inspiration for the Moonshot Rocket's arts literacy "Voices: A Community Tapestry of Stories" project;
- The Learning Alliance's Bridget Lyons led the guests through a community connection experience to participate in the "Voices" tapestry project;
- National and local expert commentary on literacy initiatives, setting an aggressive goal, and the power of working together!
Dr. Mark Rendell and Ray Oglethorpe
discussing
the progress toward the Moonshot Goal
Over 100 community members, educators, and philanthropist attended the luncheon
George Ella Lyons, Kentucky's 2015-2016 poet laureate shares her inspiration and insights
on
her poem, Where I'm From
, which is the foundational poem for the Moonshot Rocket's
"Voices A Community Tapestry of Stories Project"
Jenn Farber and Ron Fairchild of the Florida and National Campaigns for Grade-Level Reading
presented
Indian River County with another Pacesetter Award for
excellence
in multi-agency, community-wide collaborative literacy-based initiatives
Fellsmere police chief, Keith Touchberry, closed out the luncheon with a discussion
on the power of connection
and
working together toward a common goal
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