1. “RIDING THE WAVE OF LITERACY: A COLLABORATIVE NURSERY RHYME PROJECT”
Sarah Shay & Allison Knappenberger
Surry County Public Schools
Surry Elementary

2. Allison Knappenberger
INTRODUCTIONS
Sarah Shay
Allison Knappenberger
Currently a second grade teacher. I have taught for five years. I hold a Masters in Education and a BIS in Elementary Education.
Currently a reading specialist. I have taught for nine years. I hold a B.S.Ed English and a Masters of Education (Reading Specialist).

3. OBJECTIVES
Describe the need for nursery rhymes in early literacy readers
How to plan a collaborative project
How to organize the project- Getting everyone involved
How to make it affordable
Discuss the outcomes
Troubleshooting

4. WHY NURSERY RHYMES? Ease of use Increases attention span
Assist with
Rhythm
Rhyme
Participation/confidence
Vocabulary
Memory skills
Content skills
Value:
Ease of use
Increases attention span
Useful in preschool & primary grades
Develops language skills, story sequence & structure, and concept of word
Encourages children to read
Social interaction

5. COPYRIGHT
Mother Goose rhymes are old enough to be considered public domain (US works before 1923 are in the public domain.)
are protected 95 years from date of publication.
If the work was created before 1978, the copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years
Public domain- state of belonging or being available to the public as a whole Check first that no newer nursery rhymes are still under copyright

6. Why Our School?- Demographics
Grades Pre-K to 4 (334 students )
Title 1 targeted school
Fully accredited
Reading SOL- 77
Math SOL- 85
History SOL- 84
F/R Lunch 64.56% ( )
Location
Based on these demographics, you can see that students perform better in math and history than reading. The free and reduced lunch indicates the socio-economic status of our school. Surry is located 40 minutes- 1hour from major cities such as Newport News and Richmond. It is a largely rural area with farming as a main source of income for the county. Many parents travel at least an 1 hour to work each day.

7. PALS and ToPA Data
Showed weaknesses in rhyme awareness and concept of word in Kindergarten and first grade
Showed weaknesses in rhyme creation and word families in first and second grade.
Based on the district wide screenings, we saw a gap in the student’s reading achievement. We believe this is largely attributed to the low SES and lack of reading materials along with a lack of time dedicated to reading. Because of this, we decided that it would be beneficial to investigate simple options for all parents to implement at home regardless of SES, reading ability and time.

8. PRELIMINARY PLANNING Looked at student need in lower grades
Discussed ways to involve parents
Reached out to essential personnel
Discussed rhyme options for the book (public domain)
Discussed lessening the burden on teachers

9. ORGANIZING Meet with administration to discuss options
Assign roles to resource teachers
Provide SOL strands
Created timeline
Rolled out to pre-k through
2nd grade in assembly (Audio)
-coloring book to save $
-Done before end of year, CDs and books created during summer, handed out at open house--four weeks turn around time(student involvement)
-played you tube videos, showed illustrations, built excitement, played examples of struggling reader and fluent reader

10. Music Class Collaboration with Mr. Cook

11. *All students in pictures and video had parental permission to be filmed and photographed.

12. Art Class Collaboration with Mrs. Lewis

13. black and white coloring book
The art teacher used tracing paper to bring together multiple drawings into one

14. Library Collaboration with Mrs. Weisser

15. Used nursery rhyme books to look at illustrations
Taught vocabulary in context of the nursery rhyme
Taught historical context of the nursery rhyme
Reviewed fluent reading of the class rhyme especially with Pre-K and K who needed repeated exposure.

16. AFFORDABILITY & FUNDRAISING
Coloring book option (no need to print in color)
Candy grams for SOL encouragement
Snack Friday
Christmas present ordering
You keep “raisin” the bar!
You are such a “smartie”!

17. Candy gram order form
*Kept track on excel
Random purchases were given to those who did not get any based on excel spreadsheet

18. OUTCOMES Nursery Rhyme Project Survey Pre-K Averages
Read the book: Once a week
Listen to cd: Once a week
Where do you listen to the cd?: In the house
Learned rhymes: Learned a few
Points to words: Does not point to words

20. TROUBLESHOOTING
Scheduling
Drawings
New Students
PTC

21. Contact Us Allison Knappenberger
Sarah Shay