POND ISLAND, Sint Maarten – September is literacy month and Division of Public Education (DPE) will be showcasing literacy within the various classes at the 7 public schools. The general objective is to ensure that students see the connection of literacy to their lives. All aspects of literacy (reading, writing, speaking and listening) are important and these skills are integrated into every subject area at school. The goal is to promote literacy through the love of reading within our schools, so that our students not only become better readers but also better writers, listeners and speakers. This will help our students to effectively communicate with others now, and later as adults.
The schools have planned literacy activities that focus on all areas of literacy not just reading and writing, but also listening and speaking as well. These activities include;
- The school day will begin with DEAR (Drop Everything and Read). This means everyone at the school including staff have to stop what they were busy with and read for at least 15 minutes every day.
- Persons within the community will be invited to come into the schools to read- aloud a story to the students.
- Parents are also invited to come into their child or children’s school to read as well.
- The older students will read to the younger students
- The staff including management will read to the students in their respective schools.
- Role-playing and oral story telling will be included to promote literacy. Persons within the community, or the students themselves will engage in this activity
- The students and teachers will be encouraged to share the pen and create stories, poems and chants. These too will be read to the class or to other classes within the schools.
These are just a few of the literacy activities that are planned for the month of September. There are other planned activities that schools will be executing during the other months of the school year.
