Spark the Magic: Creating a Passion for Literacy
Hello, FCRA Friends!
What a crazy time this has been for all educators, students, and families of students! We hope that you are all staying healthy and that distance teaching/learning has been going smoothly.
We have been brainstorming about how we can complete our FCRA year under the current stay-at-home restrictions and give everyone a chance to earn a full reading credit for the year if they have attended every meeting prior to March.
Here is our plan for all current FCRA members to earn that additional .2 credit:
Step One: We previously sent out an email with a link to a post from our cancelled March speaker, Cindy Pabon. Here it is again: Why a Diverse Curriculum. Please read and reflect on Cindy's post and write down two "takeaways" you got from reading it and/or ways that it was helpful in thinking about how you can offer more diverse experiences in your instruction. Please send this to Sabrina Secrest at sabrinafsecrest@gmail.com no later than Thursday 4/30 at noon.
Step Two: We will host a Zoom meeting this Thursday, April 30 at 5:00 pm. Please come ready to share your responses to Cindy's post, any methods or resources that you are finding particularly useful during online learning, and suggestions of adult, children's. and/or professional learning books for fellow FCRA members' summer reading. You may join the Zoom using this link: April 30 FCRA Zoom Meeting
Note: This is only for current FCRA members, and you must do both things (email your 2 takeways to Sabrina by Thursday at noon and attend the 4/30 Zoom meeting) in order to get .2 reading credit added to the previous credit amount earned.
Door Prize: Our door prize will be a paid membership for FCRA next year! In order to have your name added to the hat for that prize, please complete our end-of-year survey no later than Thursday 4/30 at noon. All members who submit surveys by then will qualify for the drawing. Here is the link to the survey: FCRA End-of Year Survey
Speaking of next year, we have many needs and could use your help in meeting them! We all have a lot on our plates as volunteers in maintaining our chapter, so if we can spread out some of the leadership responsibilities, that will make everything easier for everyone.
Here are our needs for next year:
Vice-President--helps plan and set up for meetings, greet speakers and make sure they have all that they need. They may write project grants if needed and will take the place of the president if the president cannot preside at a meeting.
Treasurer--receives membership money and sends in NC Reading Association dues, reimburses board and other members for FCRA expenses, sends money for FCRA service projects, and reports FCRA balance to the chapter at meetings.
We need to have a Vice-President and a Treasurer in order for us to function as a chapter, so please step up for one of these positions. These don't take a huge amount of time and are great ways to demonstrate community educational leadership on your resume!
Other needed roles include:
Membership Coordinator--keeps track of FCRA members and submits this information regularly to NC Reading Association.
Young Authors Coordinator--keeps FCRA members aware of yearly theme, suggestions for student writing prompts, guidelines for submission, and deadlines. Helps judge FCRA chapter entries and prepares them to be submitted to NC Reading Association for state competition.
Refreshments Coordinator--provides paper products and bottled waters for meetings (will be reimbursed) and plans refreshments for meetings by bringing snacks, soliciting food donations from restaurants, and/or recruiting/reminding willing members to bring snacks for everyone.
Door Prize Coordinator--solicits local businesses for door prize donations and draws tickets for prizes at FCRA meetings.
Publicity Coordinator--figures out creative ways to advertise FCRA in local schools and in the community at large.
Refreshments Bringer--provide refreshments and paper products for a meeting.
Please indicate your willingness to learn more (not necessarily commit yourself!) about doing one of these roles in the FCRA survey (link above).
We look forward to getting your takeaways from Cindy's talk and your end-of-year survey and seeing you this Thursday at 5:00 pm via Zoom!
The FCRA Board
About Us:
The Forsyth County Reading Association (FCRA) is a professional organization of individuals who are genuinely concerned with the improvement and advancement of reading, writing, and language arts and their integration into all subjects. Membership in the council is open to all people, including teachers, administrators, parents, and full-time high school, college, or graduate students who are engaged in or interested in the teaching or supervision of reading at any level. Members can receive .2 teacher renewal credit for each meeting attended for a potential total of 1.2 reading credits for attending all six meetings. Certificates will be issued to show renewal credits earned.
Forsyth County Reading Association belongs to the North Carolina Reading Association, a group of more than twenty councils across our state who join together to promote literacy, sponsor the Young Authors Project, and host the North Carolina Reading Conference, which will be held in downtown Winston-Salem in the spring.
How to Join FCRA:
2019-2020 Dues:
Spring Special!!! Join us for just the February, March, and April meetings and pay only $20 to join FCRA. If you attend all 3 of these meetings, you can earn .6 reading credit!
Standard dues: $35
Student (full-time high school or college): $20
This year, FCRA is doing registration online through the North Carolina Reading Association. You will be able to pay online by credit card (with a small convenience fee) or bring your check with you to the first meeting you attend. We need everyone to enter their registration information online regardless of whether you pay online or at the meeting. This is a new process of gathering member information for NCRA.
Registration Options:
Click here to register for the 2019-2020 school year (Choose Forsyth County Reading Association as your local council): NCRA Membership Registration
or Scan the QR code below to register via your phone:
If you have difficulties registering online before our meeting, we will help you register when you come to the September or October meetings.
2019-2020 Meeting Schedule:
Please check our Forsyth County Reading Association Facebook page regularly for the most up-to-date information about our meetings and other activities!
Fall Dates--Mark your calendars!
Thursday, September 19, 2019 - Young Author Project Theme and Writing Ideas
Sabrina Secrest will share about the upcoming NCRA reading conference and our Young Authors theme, "The Magical Power of Words".
Collaboration Time: We will have time to brainstorm about writing ideas for students to use in their Young Authors Projects.
Thursday, October 24, 2019 - Turbo Charging Vocabulary Instruction to Build Word Wealth
Dr. Lois Huffman will share about vocabulary instruction activities.
Collaboration Time: How do you help your students develop word wealth?
Thursday, November 21, 2019 - Developing Growth Mindset
Amy Lindsay and Becky Paynter will share about helping students develop a Growth Mindset--especially in reading skills.
Collaboration Time: How can you use Growth Mindset to facilitate reading progress in your students?
New! Winter/Spring Dates--Mark your calendars!
Tuesday, February 18, 2020 - Recognizing and Identifying Characteristics of Struggling Learners
Psychologist Dr. Bill Michielutte with share about ways to help our students with special learning needs.
Please note that this meeting will be on a Tuesday evening--not a Thursday!
This meeting is cancelled!!! Thursday, March 19, 2020 - Exploring Multicultural Books, Resources, and Activities
Cindy Pavon will help us discover ways to help our students learn about different cultures through reading and other activities.
Note: Although Cindy couldn't be with us to share her talk in person, she has given us a link to her blog to find out about some of the resources she would have shared in her talk. You can access that here: bklandblog.wordpress.com/2020/03/18/why-a-diverse-curriculum/
Sunday-Tuesday, March 22-24, 2020 - This conference has also been cancelled.
North Carolina Reading Association Conference at Benton Convention Center
Pre-registration is required, and all educators and those with a passion for helping students with reading are invited to attend.
For more information and/or to register, click here: www.ncreading.org/
Thursday, April 23, 2020 - Young Authors Celebration and Teacher Book Sharing Location TBD --This meeting cancelled.
See update at top of the page about our rescheduled April meeting via Zoom!
We will honor our local Young Authors and will have a special end of the year time together. Details and location TBD
Be sure to check our Facebook page regularly for meeting information updates!
Unless otherwise stated, we will meet from 5:00-7:00 pm at the Redeemer School Cafeteria, which can be best accessed by parking at 1013 Melrose Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27103. Returning members should note that this is a different parking area and location at Redeemer School than last year.
What a crazy time this has been for all educators, students, and families of students! We hope that you are all staying healthy and that distance teaching/learning has been going smoothly.
We have been brainstorming about how we can complete our FCRA year under the current stay-at-home restrictions and give everyone a chance to earn a full reading credit for the year if they have attended every meeting prior to March.
Here is our plan for all current FCRA members to earn that additional .2 credit:
Step One: We previously sent out an email with a link to a post from our cancelled March speaker, Cindy Pabon. Here it is again: Why a Diverse Curriculum. Please read and reflect on Cindy's post and write down two "takeaways" you got from reading it and/or ways that it was helpful in thinking about how you can offer more diverse experiences in your instruction. Please send this to Sabrina Secrest at sabrinafsecrest@gmail.com no later than Thursday 4/30 at noon.
Step Two: We will host a Zoom meeting this Thursday, April 30 at 5:00 pm. Please come ready to share your responses to Cindy's post, any methods or resources that you are finding particularly useful during online learning, and suggestions of adult, children's. and/or professional learning books for fellow FCRA members' summer reading. You may join the Zoom using this link: April 30 FCRA Zoom Meeting
Note: This is only for current FCRA members, and you must do both things (email your 2 takeways to Sabrina by Thursday at noon and attend the 4/30 Zoom meeting) in order to get .2 reading credit added to the previous credit amount earned.
Door Prize: Our door prize will be a paid membership for FCRA next year! In order to have your name added to the hat for that prize, please complete our end-of-year survey no later than Thursday 4/30 at noon. All members who submit surveys by then will qualify for the drawing. Here is the link to the survey: FCRA End-of Year Survey
Speaking of next year, we have many needs and could use your help in meeting them! We all have a lot on our plates as volunteers in maintaining our chapter, so if we can spread out some of the leadership responsibilities, that will make everything easier for everyone.
Here are our needs for next year:
Vice-President--helps plan and set up for meetings, greet speakers and make sure they have all that they need. They may write project grants if needed and will take the place of the president if the president cannot preside at a meeting.
Treasurer--receives membership money and sends in NC Reading Association dues, reimburses board and other members for FCRA expenses, sends money for FCRA service projects, and reports FCRA balance to the chapter at meetings.
We need to have a Vice-President and a Treasurer in order for us to function as a chapter, so please step up for one of these positions. These don't take a huge amount of time and are great ways to demonstrate community educational leadership on your resume!
Other needed roles include:
Membership Coordinator--keeps track of FCRA members and submits this information regularly to NC Reading Association.
Young Authors Coordinator--keeps FCRA members aware of yearly theme, suggestions for student writing prompts, guidelines for submission, and deadlines. Helps judge FCRA chapter entries and prepares them to be submitted to NC Reading Association for state competition.
Refreshments Coordinator--provides paper products and bottled waters for meetings (will be reimbursed) and plans refreshments for meetings by bringing snacks, soliciting food donations from restaurants, and/or recruiting/reminding willing members to bring snacks for everyone.
Door Prize Coordinator--solicits local businesses for door prize donations and draws tickets for prizes at FCRA meetings.
Publicity Coordinator--figures out creative ways to advertise FCRA in local schools and in the community at large.
Refreshments Bringer--provide refreshments and paper products for a meeting.
Please indicate your willingness to learn more (not necessarily commit yourself!) about doing one of these roles in the FCRA survey (link above).
We look forward to getting your takeaways from Cindy's talk and your end-of-year survey and seeing you this Thursday at 5:00 pm via Zoom!
The FCRA Board
About Us:
The Forsyth County Reading Association (FCRA) is a professional organization of individuals who are genuinely concerned with the improvement and advancement of reading, writing, and language arts and their integration into all subjects. Membership in the council is open to all people, including teachers, administrators, parents, and full-time high school, college, or graduate students who are engaged in or interested in the teaching or supervision of reading at any level. Members can receive .2 teacher renewal credit for each meeting attended for a potential total of 1.2 reading credits for attending all six meetings. Certificates will be issued to show renewal credits earned.
Forsyth County Reading Association belongs to the North Carolina Reading Association, a group of more than twenty councils across our state who join together to promote literacy, sponsor the Young Authors Project, and host the North Carolina Reading Conference, which will be held in downtown Winston-Salem in the spring.
How to Join FCRA:
2019-2020 Dues:
Spring Special!!! Join us for just the February, March, and April meetings and pay only $20 to join FCRA. If you attend all 3 of these meetings, you can earn .6 reading credit!
Standard dues: $35
Student (full-time high school or college): $20
This year, FCRA is doing registration online through the North Carolina Reading Association. You will be able to pay online by credit card (with a small convenience fee) or bring your check with you to the first meeting you attend. We need everyone to enter their registration information online regardless of whether you pay online or at the meeting. This is a new process of gathering member information for NCRA.
Registration Options:
Click here to register for the 2019-2020 school year (Choose Forsyth County Reading Association as your local council): NCRA Membership Registration
or Scan the QR code below to register via your phone:
If you have difficulties registering online before our meeting, we will help you register when you come to the September or October meetings.
2019-2020 Meeting Schedule:
Please check our Forsyth County Reading Association Facebook page regularly for the most up-to-date information about our meetings and other activities!
Fall Dates--Mark your calendars!
Thursday, September 19, 2019 - Young Author Project Theme and Writing Ideas
Sabrina Secrest will share about the upcoming NCRA reading conference and our Young Authors theme, "The Magical Power of Words".
Collaboration Time: We will have time to brainstorm about writing ideas for students to use in their Young Authors Projects.
Thursday, October 24, 2019 - Turbo Charging Vocabulary Instruction to Build Word Wealth
Dr. Lois Huffman will share about vocabulary instruction activities.
Collaboration Time: How do you help your students develop word wealth?
Thursday, November 21, 2019 - Developing Growth Mindset
Amy Lindsay and Becky Paynter will share about helping students develop a Growth Mindset--especially in reading skills.
Collaboration Time: How can you use Growth Mindset to facilitate reading progress in your students?
New! Winter/Spring Dates--Mark your calendars!
Tuesday, February 18, 2020 - Recognizing and Identifying Characteristics of Struggling Learners
Psychologist Dr. Bill Michielutte with share about ways to help our students with special learning needs.
Please note that this meeting will be on a Tuesday evening--not a Thursday!
This meeting is cancelled!!! Thursday, March 19, 2020 - Exploring Multicultural Books, Resources, and Activities
Cindy Pavon will help us discover ways to help our students learn about different cultures through reading and other activities.
Note: Although Cindy couldn't be with us to share her talk in person, she has given us a link to her blog to find out about some of the resources she would have shared in her talk. You can access that here: bklandblog.wordpress.com/2020/03/18/why-a-diverse-curriculum/
Sunday-Tuesday, March 22-24, 2020 - This conference has also been cancelled.
North Carolina Reading Association Conference at Benton Convention Center
Pre-registration is required, and all educators and those with a passion for helping students with reading are invited to attend.
For more information and/or to register, click here: www.ncreading.org/
Thursday, April 23, 2020 - Young Authors Celebration and Teacher Book Sharing Location TBD --This meeting cancelled.
See update at top of the page about our rescheduled April meeting via Zoom!
We will honor our local Young Authors and will have a special end of the year time together. Details and location TBD
Be sure to check our Facebook page regularly for meeting information updates!
Unless otherwise stated, we will meet from 5:00-7:00 pm at the Redeemer School Cafeteria, which can be best accessed by parking at 1013 Melrose Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27103. Returning members should note that this is a different parking area and location at Redeemer School than last year.
