Ma’kenzie Nichols was hardly tall enough to reach the top of desks, let alone shelves on the wall. But that didn’t stop the first-grader from searching high and low during a vocabulary scavenger hunt.
The 5-year-old zipped from room to room at Middlebury Academy, enjoying a variety of activities intended to spur a love of the written word. Nearby, stood her older sister Ma’Kayla, herself a recent graduate of the academy. She’s now a freshman at Archbishop Hoban High School.
Both of the students were under grandma Angienette Osborne’s watchful eye at Glow-In-The-Dark Literacy Night at the charter school which serves kindergarteners through eighth-graders.
“It’s giving the kids something different to do,” Osborne said. “Use their minds.”
One room featured older students reading books to younger pupils. In another, students and parents teamed up for a scavenger hunt. And in another, parents were challenged academically in an “Are you smarter than a 5th grader?” contest. In the basement, students competed in a relay race. The take-home prize? Books.
The evening also featured a Friendsgiving for parents, students and staff after the book prizes were handed out and the scavenger words discovered. Principal Dominique Pugh said events like these at Middlebury Academy aim to make the school feel more like a community hub.
Literacy night part of larger effort to inspire young learners
Across Akron and the State of Ohio, the effort to boost early literacy is ongoing. Gov. Mike DeWine recently mandated the Science of Reading curriculum, which is largely a return to phonics-based reading and writing instruction.
DeWine said it was a “moral imperative” for the state to adopt the curriculum, given that other teaching philosophies led to Ohio students lagging in literacy.
At Middlebury Academy, the school’s third-grade early literacy scores, at three stars, meet the state standard on the most recent Ohio School Report Cards.
“I’m hoping it inspired them to go home and read,” said Shavis Cain, the school’s academic coach, of the scores.
In a world of digital distractions, Cain said there’s nothing like the feel of a book in a young student’s hands. Instilling that love for the written word is at the core of the work she and others do at the school.
“Our main focus here is everything to do with literacy,” Cain added.
Educators also work to ensure parents understand the value of reading. That’s why they are invited to school events that carry less weight than parent-teacher conferences. If teachers and administrators like Cain can show parents and students that reading can be fun, the hope is that it becomes a lifelong practice.
Principal sets tone during first year at Middlebury Academy
Pugh was quick to remind students and their parents during the literacy night that her expectations for them don’t end with the final bell. Behind those stern reminders during the at-times raucous event was an abundance of care.
She has high expectations for her students, she said — she wants them to grow into their best selves. To accomplish this, she knows they need to perform academically.
“We noticed that [kindergarten] through [third grade], if they don’t have the capacity of their sight words, they are most likely going to struggle in junior high,” Pugh said. (Sight words are high-frequency words that students need to recognize instantly and know the meaning of in order to read proficiently.)
“And it’s been researched that [it’s] going to be a struggle for them to graduate. So we’re trying to change that.”