Literacy Coalition awards

grants to local teachers

By BILL RICHMOND

City editor

The Randolph County Literacy Coalition Wednesday evening presented a total of $1,500 in grants to seven local teachers for classroom projects that promote reading skills.

Literacy Coalition President Larry Hall said this is the second year the agency has provided grants for classroom teachers in all county school corporations.

"We have a little bit of money and we decided that instead of keeping it in the bank, to put it out there and let the kids get some use out of it," Hall said.

Grant recipients include:

€ Briana Graham of North Side Elementary to purchase a CD/tape player and CDs with multiple copies of books for kindergarten literacy centers;

€ Ann Wisener of Union Elementary to promote literacy groups for students in kindergarten through sixth grade. The money would be used to purchase sets of books to build the school's literacy library.

€ Dalice Myers of Randolph Southern to add to the high school library biography collection. "I want to purchase biographies of contemporary individuals in whom our students may be interested," Myers said. "Students will use these books as part of their biographical research project for eighth-grade English.

€ Tara Whiteley of Driver Middle School to purchase new novels that have been approved for eighth grade grade classroom use. "The novels will be used in the classroom to emphasize reading comprehension skills and teach elements of literary analysis," Whiteley said. "By using a more contemporary novel, I hope to increase students' interest level."

€ Susan Symons of Deerfield Elementary will use the money to implement a new writing program for fifth grade students. "With this grant money, I would like to purchase a selection of children's read-aloud books to use as examples of well-written literature," Symons said. "I believe that being able to communicate thoughts, ideas, feelings and emotions through the written word is a skill that will last a lifetime for my students."

€ Tami Tillman for a Union City Community High School program to purchase the novel "The Power of One" for 20 students. It is hoped this inspirational story will become a cherished favorite of freshmen students who will read this book under a teacher's supervision; and

€ Donna Webster to purchase fiction and non-fiction books of various reading levels for North Side Elementary students.

Other community programs funded by the Literacy Coalition include the donation each year of copies of the Guiness Book of Records for all county fourth grade students and a thesaurus for every county sixth grader. The coalition also provides money for GED testing to people who can't afford the fee.