Bobcat Prowler

Did you know that our brains aren’t naturally wired to read? In fact, our brains are only naturally wired to speak. This means that learning to read isn’t something that happens on its own. It requires time, practice, and developing certain parts of our brains to build connections to other brain areas not connected naturally before. The scientifically-based body of research behind this is called the Science of Reading.

Did you know that we must teach our brains to decode in order to become good readers? In order to make these brain connections and build decoding skills, approximately 40% of the kindergarten grade literacy blocks should focus on decoding. This includes phonemic and phonological awareness, or knowing syllables and phonemes and blending them to make words; decoding, or letter - sound correspondence; and word recognition (used to be known as sight words).

The science of reading is why all Davidson County teachers went through two years of training called LETRS and all new teachers are also receiving training. We know that the K-2 years of developing decoding, phonics, and fluency build the foundation for our 3rd-5th grade students reading comprehension. It’s also why our reading interventionist focuses her interventions on K-2. For an infographic on How Our Brains Learn to Read - use this link - https://bit.ly/40myhiY.

Thank you for a great first quarter. Grades are in and report cards will come home soon on November 7th. Next week, on Tuesday, November 5th, Election Day, there is no school for students.