Orleans-Niagara Teacher Center Holds Literacy Award Ceremony
Each year the Orleans-Niagara Teacher Center, a grant funded organization specializing in high quality teacher professional development, hosts a Literacy Contest for students in grades PreK-6. The contest provides teachers with a challenging and fun activity for students to demonstrate their learning of the Common Core ELA standards. Fifty-one students from Orleans and Niagara Counties participated in the event this year. They were recognized at an Award Ceremony at Lockport High School on May 11, where students, their families and teachers were invited to hear students read their entries, receive awards and enjoy some delicious treats prepared by the Orleans/Niagara BOCES Food Service students.
This year’s theme was Kindness Matters. The Teacher Center Policy Board believes this is an imperative topic for young children to understand and internalize. Using Kindness as the topic, students chose a text or texts that included acts of kindness and then wrote a narrative describing how the acts of kindness related to themselves, someone they know, or another character. Each grade level had different criteria based on rubrics developed by the Orleans-Niagara Teacher Center Policy Board.
Teacher Center Director Cheryl Herman had this to say about the contestants, “Every year we are truly amazed at the literary talent of these young children. Their entries are so creative and truly demonstrate their ability to read for comprehension and write with clarity. They are a testament of our region’s educational system and the rigorous learning that is taking place in our classrooms today. We greatly appreciate all the hard work that both our teachers and students perform on a daily basis to ensure that our children develop a real love for learning and are thoroughly prepared for college or careers. Thank you everyone.”
Pictured are (l to r) Harrison Roberts from Spruce, Meredith Roberts from Spruce and Alaina Roberts from Meadow.