Violence Prevention
South Philadelphia

Super Pooper Scooper Project
Sharswood

Researching Abandoned Cars
Philadelphia

Transition to Middle School
Philadelphia

School Issues
Perry County

Community Improvement
Cumberland County

School Violence
Bala Cynwyd

Historical Markers, Gladwyne

Safety Problem, Pittsburgh

Community Literacy, Sharon City

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Community Literacy
Patricia Fisher's third grade class at West Hill Elementary in Sharon, PA

KAT Project on community literacy includes Mayor Price of Sharon City, PA

Patricia Fisher has been teaching for 31 years, and she tells us one reason she enjoys KAT is because "You don't get into ruts." Her third graders at West Hill Elementary in Sharon, PA selected the issue of community literacy as their KAT focus last year. Fisher reports that in the process, the students expanded their own language arts skills. They invited local officials (like Mayor Price, Councilwoman Chris Outrakis, Sharon's Police and Fire Chiefs) to come into their class, discuss their jobs, and read to them!

They wrote letters to all newborns and their families in Sharon, urging them to read the gift book enclosed and to become life-long readers. Along with this activity, students found themselves practicing their local map reading and geography lessons.

Students held a party for members of the community to promote literacy. They wrote letters to the editors of local papers and improved their oral presentation skills by developing public service advertisements for radio stations. In these ads, youngsters interviewed each other on the benefits and fun of reading.

The students also ran contests and campaigns in their school to encourage reading rather than TV-watching. They created testimonial forms to go home and return signed, and then tabulated and graphed participation. By the end of their multi-faceted literacy work, these students had also received and read a lot of thank-you notes from appreciative members of the Sharon community!

The 3rd graders hosted a "birthday party" for newborns to generate interest in community literacy.

 

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