Literacy

Welcome to GAMS Literacy Informational Page

At Greencastle-Antrim School District Literacy is Everyone's Business - Literacy is for Life.

"Mission Possible - Bringing our Literacy 
Vision and Mission to Life"

The Greencastle-Antrim School District has accepted the mission! They are systematically working to change their literacy world. This work began with the completion of a detailed literacy needs assessment and the development of literacy vision and mission statements. Because of this development work the district is now able to truly live the dream of bringing the district's vision and mission to life and has made the Greencastle-Antrim a "Literacy First'' school district. They have put many new and needed initiatives in place across the district using Keystones to Opportunity funds, Title I funds and even district funds. Using these three funding sources this district has been able to provide excellent training, materials and equipment needed to prepare their teachers to offer literacy instruction that will develop the skills and appreciation of literacy needed to achieve students' personal and professional goals. In addition, the district's Literacy Task Force is spreading the literacy message beyond the schools and out into the community by involving parents, teachers, administrators, businesses, and civic organizations in this literacy effort. When the district shared their Local Comprehensive Literacy Plan with the community, they used the slogan "Literacy is Everyone's Business". They are now seeing the definition of "everyone" grow!

literacy

HOW TO MAKE YOUR HOME A READING ZONE

Making your home a reading zone (PDF Format).pdf

Making your home a reading zone (Text Accessible format).txt

HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED...

  1. How do I help my child choose a book that's interesting?

  2. How do I help my child choose a book that my child can read?

  3. How do I know what books are appropriate?

  4. What are some hot titles right now?

  5. How do I encourage my child to read more?


To answer these and other questions, here are a few websites you can visit:

GOODREADS www.goodreads.com

Deciding what your child should read next?

Goodreads will:

  • Take what your child had read in the past and will matches your child with some new and exciting books

  • Show you books your child's friends are reading

  • Track the books your child is currently reading, have read, and want to read

  • Check personalized book recommendations

  • Find out if a book is a good fit for your child from reviews

  • Find out more about Goodreads here

Genres of interest for your child:

AMAZON www.amazon.com 

Amazon is beyond a place to just purchase books for your child. 

  • You can find a book review

  • Get details about the level of the book

  • See parallel books of interest

READ WRITE THINK www.readwritethink.org

Looking for engaging ways to introduce your child to reading or to encourage your teen to write? 

Need some age appropriate book suggestions or rainy-day activities?

The materials here are your answer! All of them are created by experts to be fun, educational, and easy to use outside of school. They are great after school resources for parents.

Additional Parent Resources - also in Spanish

  • Motivating teen readers here

  • Helping a teen choose a book here

  • Being safe online here

  • Encouraging higher order thinking here

  • Modeling good reading habits with teens here

  • Parent & afterschool resources here 

  • Support literacy learning all year long here

GUYS READ www.guysread.com

Trying to motivate the boy in house to read?

This site provides a Guys Read Library, a list of great short story book collections on various topics that are more suited to the boys in your family. Don't worry girls, you can read them too!

SCHOLASTIC www.scholastic.com

Trying to find the right level of books for your child to read?

The Scholastic website is not just a place to go and order books, it also offers: 

  • School Book fair

  • Book Club

  • Parent resources: articles... 

  • Guides for understanding your child's reading level

  • Guidance for building a library of books that would be suited for your child

  • Recommendations on book series that helped kids become totally fluent readers

JIM TRELEASE www.trelease-on-reading.com

What are the best read alouds available for my child?

Jim Trelease's goal is to help children make books into friends, not enemies. Here is a list of some of the resources available:

  • Book lists: comics, picture books, short stories...

  • Censorship page index

  • Book reviews 

  • Free parent handout brochures about reading here 

  • Thirty do's to remember when reading aloud here

  • Message for dads: Dad--What's the score? The American Male Reading-Problem

  • Read-Aloud Handbook here and here

COMMON SENSE MEDIA www.commonsensemedia.org

What to know if the book is appropriate for your child's age?

On this site, you can search by book title and the book will be rated on various levels. It will also give you an overview of the book as well as the age appropriateness. 

  • Must read list with the best books for kids

  • Book review by parents and kids

  • Spanish resources available. Click on Latino

YOUNG ADULT LIBRARY SERVICES ASSOCIATION www.ala.org/yalsa

Is your teen looking for a new book?

This website is great to find out what is hot right now for teen reading. There are also ideas for the struggling teen reader.

 Working together to create lifelong readers.

Literacy is at the root of a person's ability to succeed and the family is at the heart. 
-Lind, 1999