Save the Date for Fall 2014!

Williamsburg Area Reading Council's Reading Teacher of the Year!

    On February 27th, The Williamsburg Area Reading Council held a reception to recognize the WARC Reading Teacher of the Year nominees, as well as hand out the award to this year's winner. There was a fantastic turnout to help honor these wonderful educators! All of the nominees were given the opportunity to select a picture book which was donated to their school library with a name plate in honor of their nominations. This year's WARC Reading Teacher of the Year was Mrs. Leslie Goldhardt, a first grade teacher at J.B. Blayton Elementary in the WJCC Public School Division. Mrs. Goldhardt also represented WARC at the state level Teacher of the Year Competition with the Virginia State Reading Association. 

(From left to right) Sarah Litchel, WARC Treasurer, presented this year's Reading Teacher of the Year, Leslie Goldhardt, with a check for $250. Dr. Denise Johnson is holding the presentation platter which was also awarded to Mrs. Goldhardt.

(From left to right) The nominees for the 2013-14 WARC Reading Teacher of the Year honor: Sue Scherling (recently retired Reading Recovery teacher/Matthew Whaley), Susan Alis (second grade teacher/Matthew Whaley), Leslie Goldhardt (first grade teacher/J.B. Blayton), and Kelly Parsons (second grade teacher/Norge).

     Please consider honoring one of your colleagues with a nomination next fall for the 2014-15 WARC Teacher of the Year Award. Be sure to follow WARC on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WARCouncil and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WARCReading for the most current updates and exciting news in the world of reading!

Second Annual Book Talk Event: A Recap

    The Williamsburg Area Reading Council hosted the second annual book talk event called, "You've Got to Read This!" There was a wonderful turnout for the event at the Bruton Parish Center on December 2nd. The crowd enjoyed book talks from:
 

• Sandy Towers - Media Specialist at Norge Elementary School, WJCC Public Schools
• Kathie Eichfeld, Youth Services Librarian for the Williamsburg Regional Library
• Sharon Carter, Media Specialist at Warhill High School, WJCC Public Schools 

  
 Here are the books that the speakers shared during their engaging book talks.  
 

Featured Elementary Titles

Sandy Towers, Media Specialist—Norge Elementary School

• Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo 
• Journey by Aaron Becker
• Building Our House by Jonathan Bean
• Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown 
• Mr. Wuffles by David Weisner

• Balloons Over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy's Parade by Melissa Sweet
• Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bicycle by Chris Raschka
• Wonder by R. L. Palacio

• Barnum's Bones: How Barnum Brown Discovered the Most Famous Dinosaur in the World by Tracey Fern
• The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt
• Frog Song by Brenda Z. Guiberson
• The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes
• A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin By Jennifer Bryant

• The Matchbox Diary by Paul Fleischman

• Dusk by Uri Shulivitz
• Little Santa by Jon Agee
• Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great by Bob Shea 

Featured Middle School Titles

Kathie Eichfeld, Youth Services Librarian—Williamsburg Regional Library

•  I'd Tell You that I Love You, But Then I’d Have to Kill You by Ally Carter

• Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour by Michael Beil

• Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life by James Patterson

• The Whizz Pop Chocolate Shop by Kate Saunders

• Squish: Super Amoeba by Jennifer and Michael Holm

Featured High School Titles

Sharon Carter, Media Specialist—Warhill High School:

• The Divergent Trilogy (Divergent, Insurgent, Allegiant) by Veronica Roth

• The Fault in our Stars by John Green

• The Moon and More by Sarah Dessen

• The Eye of the Minds by James Dashner

• Just One Year by Gayle Forman

• Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

• Winger by Andrew Smith

Call for First Annual WARC Reading Teacher of the Year Nominations

     Hello friends of WARC! There is an exciting new component to the Williamsburg Area Reading Council. This school year marks the first year for the Williamsburg Area Reading Council's Reading Teacher of the Year! In order to be nominated, the nominee must be a current member of WARC for the 2013-14 school year. (If someone is nominated but is not yet a member, the nominee would need to become a member of WARC in order to be eligible.) The fabulous teacher who is recognized as the honoree for WARC's Reading Teacher of the Year will go on to represent WARC at the state level. The Virginia State Reading Association would select the 2013-14 Virginia State Reading Association Teacher of the Year from the groups of nominees from the VSRA chapters across the state. In addition to this, the WARC Reading Teacher of the Year would win a $250 Professional Development Award!

    
    Nominations for WARC Teacher of the Year are due to WARC by November 6th. Current WARC members received an email on Sunday, October 13th with specific application information which is required by the state. (Please be sure that any email filters do not block emails from vsrawilliamsburg@gmail.com.) The nominee needs to teach reading for at least a 1/3 of a school day in order to qualify. The WARC Reading Teacher of the Year nominee would need 2 letters of recommendation; one letter should be from the person who nominates the educator and the other one should be from a current administrator. A current resume, a typed reading philosophy statement, and a digital photo of the candidate would also be a requirement as part of the WARC nomination process. Please click here to see the specific guidelines and official application form via Google Docs. As noted in the application, any omitted item that is required for the application will unfortunately forfeit the application for eligibility. 

    The person who is recognized as the Williamsburg Area Reading Council of the Year Teacher of the Year would then need to be prepared to provide a bit more information in order to go on to the state level. The winner at the state level would win $500 to use towards materials or a project involving his or her own classroom! State nominees would need to prepare a statement explaining how they would creatively use the $500 in his or her classroom.
    
     The Williamsburg Area Reading Council will hold an award reception to honor the WARC Reading Teacher of the Year on February 27, 2014. In addition to honoring the winner, all nominees will be recognized at the reception. More details will be forthcoming in the near future. The new WARC officers will be installed at the February 27th gathering as well. Current members, please consider nominating a fantastic colleague who inspires you and others in the area of reading instruction!  
     

Save the Date for the Next WARC Event!

SAVE THE DATE!

     The next exciting Williamsburg Area Reading Council event will be the annual book talk "You've Got To Read This! Books for Kids, Books for Us!"  

    This year, we will once again have three speakers which will represent elementary, middle, and high school levels. Local experts on children and young adult literature will be speaking at Bruton Parish Center in Merchant's Square on December 2nd at 6:30 pm. The Bruton Parish Center is located next door to William and Mary's Bookstore. Parking is available behind the center and other nearby lots near Colonial Williamsburg. Light refreshments will be served. Barnes and Noble will also be on hand selling a selection of books that are a part of the book talks. 

    
    The event is free to current members of the Williamsburg Area Reading Council. For those who are not members of WARC, you may join for the school year for $30 at the door. Joining WARC also makes you a member of the Virginia State Reading Association. If you are not a current member of WARC and you would like to attend this event only, you will need to pay $5 at the door.  

    There is a great incentive for current members of WARC to get to the event early! The first 20 WARC members who come to the event will be given a $5 Barnes and Noble gift card! That would be great to apply to a Barnes and Noble purchase that evening. A representative from Barnes and Noble will be at the event selling a selection of some of the titles that will be shared by the speakers. A book list of all the books that the presenters will discuss will also be made available to attendees. 

    WARC service project this year involves accepting donations of new and gently used books which will be donated to local charities such as FISH and Avalon. If you would like to bring some books to donate, we would love to accept your donations on the evening of the presentation. If you have any questions about the service project or you would like to donate to the cause at a different time, please contact Mrs. Lisa Smith, reading specialist at Norge Elementary, at smithl@wjcc.k12.va.us. We thank-you for any contributions that you can make throughout the school year so we may support literacy in our community. 

     To find out more information about the book talk event, please contact WARC Board Member Sarah Lichtel at sarah18.lichtel@cox.net. We look forward to seeing everyone at this event!