In the Fall of 2010, the directors agreed to provide funds to purchase non-fiction leveled books for guided reading groups in all grades.

The focus of these reading groups will be to increase reading vocabulary, increase oral vocabulary, and improve comprehension as measured by written responses (brief constructed responses, or BCRs). These new materials will give teachers and paraeducators working with reading groups a larger collection from which to offer students guided texts.

Research  shows that reading non-fiction text increases students vocabulary which then increases comprehension. Teachers and paraeducators will use these materials to reinforce comprehension through the use of text features. Students will practice constructing brief responses after reading these texts, as a way to both improve and measure comprehension.

Sandra Kalavritinos, Reading Specialist and Test Coordinator, submitted this proposal.  She will coordinate the selection and distribution of the new books that will be housed in the Primary Bookroom on the first floor.

The Foundation has developed a special relationship with New Hampshire Estates Elementary School in Silver Spring. This school is Pre-K through 2nd Grade, and includes a Head Start program.  The majority of the students speak a language other than English at home, and the school strives to involve the whole family in each student’s education. Every year the Board pledges $1000 to help fund their Family Learning Nights, in which the school staff prepares separate lessons for parents and students — to help parents help their children at home. At the end of each session, the children receive a book to bring home.

In the fall of 2008, the Foundation voted to donate additional money toward New Hampshire Estate’s Building Understanding on Saturdays (BUS) program. This program was originally developed using extended-day funds from Title I, funds which are no longer available. The program takes the parent and a student to local sites to explore and discuss curricula topics. The sites are selected to help students develop background knowledge of upcoming topics of study. During the trip, parents are given materials to work with their child that ask students questions, and have them fill out charts and questionnaires. Each trip ends with a free book on the topic for each child to take home.  This program costs approximately $1,750 for each trip; the school plans three to four trips per year.

The Foundation continues to support both remarkable, valuable programs.

Click here for a note from the Principal of New Hampshire Estates E.S.

Echoes of Nature, an educational organization, brought a “field trip” to three grades (second, third, and fourth) in the spring of 2010.  Ms. Krueger, one of the fourth grade teachers, learned about this program and collaborated with a Somerset parent to request a grant from the Foundation to bring this extraordinary educational experience to Somerset.  One of the Foundation’s goals is to promote academic excellence, and this program clearly supported that goal.

Ms. Kreuger and her colleagues in the other grades chose workshops that would enrich the science curriculum already in place at Somerset.  Echoes of Nature provided students with hands-on learning experiences in their classrooms through the use of live animals (very small, and in some cases microscopic), fascinating demonstrations, and facts about the environment and animal life. The second grade studied insects and arachnids. The third grade studied food webs and photosynthesis. The fourth grade studied animal and plant life found in the Chesapeake Bay area. All workshops also encouraged an appreciation for the natural world around us, in all forms.