Celebrate Literacy Fall Conference 2019

Your schools are bustling with activity, but before we get too far into the year, we wanted to share the details of this year's amazing conference. It's hard to believe that this is our fourth annual conference. If you haven't made it to the first three, we hope that you will not miss out this year. We will host it again at Central Virginia Community College in Merritt Hall, Lynchburg, Virginia. We'll begin with a light breakfast and networking time from 8:30-9:00 followed by our keynote address and two breakout sessions. Then, we'll come together for door prizes and the kick off of this year's Young Writers Contest.

We have kept the cost the same as last year with one BIG change. All attendees will join PARC ($30 cost) AND all who join PRIOR TO SEPTEMBER 1ST, get to come for FREE!!!! From September 1st until Conference day, the fee will be just an extra $15 ($45 total) By making all attendees members, all have the opportunity to apply for grants, attend free/discounted workshops, receive member mailers (with resources), receive discounted registration for the VSRA conference being held IN ROANOKE this year, and much much more.

Our Conference Line Up

Keynote Address:

From Learning to Read to Reading to Learn:
How to Help Students at All Grade Levels

Jill Gwaltney
Suffolk County Public Schools

Breakout Session #1:

Multisensory is Not a Buzzword:  

Andrea Crawford and Melissa Gaylor, Reading Specialists, Bedford County Schools

Creating Digital and PDF Resources for ELA:  

Allison Kappler (ITRT with Lynchburg City Schools) and Carla Fedeler (former literacy coach and author/curriculum designer with Comprehension Connection)

Using Pictures Books with Writer's Workshop:  

Dr. Mary Tackett and Dr. Dorothy Suskind (Professors, Longwood University)

Using Universal Design for Learning Frameworks to Differentiate Reading Instruction:  

Dr. Corrie Kelly (Professor, University of Lynchburg)

Understanding Phonemic and Phonological Awareness:

Dr. Staci Bose (Professor, Liberty University)

Small Group Strategy Instruction:

Michelle Gillikin (Curriculum Coordinator,  Chesterfield County Public Schools)

Breakout Session #2

Fun with Phonics:

Jill Gwaltney (Reading Specialist with Suffolk County Public Schools)

Using Mentor Texts with Emergent Writers:

Dr. Mary Tackett and Dr. Dorothy Suskind (Professors, Longwood University)

Pairing Comics, Graphic Novels, and Cartoons with Disciplinary Literacy: Enhancing Comprehension and Motivation in Content Area Classrooms:

Dr. Stefanie Copp and Dr. Autumn Dodge(Professors, University of Lynchburg)

Using Hyperdocs to Promote Creativity and Student Agency:

Michelle Gillikin (Curriculum Coordinator, Chesterfield County Public Schools)

Diversity in Literature-

Charles Richards (School Librarian, Roanoke City Public Schools)

Technology Enhanced Projects for Literacy

Allison Kappler (ITRT with Lynchburg City Schools) and Carla Fedeler (former literacy coach and author/curriculum designer with Comprehension Connection)

From 8:30-9:00, you'll have time to hear all about this year's Virginia Readers and discuss how you might use them in your classroom this year. We will be sharing a list of suggested activities and resources to go with each of the books to help you get started. After the last session, the books will still be on display if you need a little more time too. Then, last but not least, we'll share our great door prizes as we have each year. We'll have all kinds of wonderful goodies to share! As you can see, we'll have topics that appeal to ALL instructional levels and a great variety of topics. Plus, each attendee receives five recertification points for attending.

Register with THIS GOOGLE FORM

Door Prizes

Every year, we have GENEROUS donations from local businesses and literacy resource companies. In fact, many of the door prizes are valued OVER the cost of the conference fee. Check out the great door prizes below.

$25 Gift Certificate from A+ Images (tshirt choice)

Pampered Chef Product from Kimberly Burnette, consultant
$25 Gift Certificate from Andrea Crawford @ This Literacy Life
$25 Gift Certificate from Comprehension Connection
31 Tote Bag from Sarah Hankinson, Consultant
Handmade Earring Set
$25 Gift Certificate from Buzzing with Ms. B
$25 Gift Certificate from Emily Gibbons The Literacy Nest
$25 Gift Certificate from The Blue Brain Teacher
$25 Gift Certificate from Sweet Integrations
$25 Gift Certificate from Cathy Collier The WISE Owl
$25 Gift Certificate from Curious Firsties
$25 Gift Certificate from Taryn's Unique Learning
$25 Gift Certificate from Elementary at Heart
Free Haircut from Barbie Bowersox at Spa 4109
$25 Gift Certificate from Big Lick Restaurant
Clinique Bag with Products
Young Life Essential Oils from Meg Racanelli
Mary K Shower Gel and Lotions from Meg Racanelli
5 Tickets to Sea Quest
Classroom License from Reading A to Z
Free Blog Design from Blog Designs for You ($250 value)

What's on the Agenda for the Rest of the Year??

This year, our chapter will have many many opportunities for you and your staff. Membership costs just $30 per year (but is included with your conference fee if you attend), and for that membership, you get ALL of these benefits:

• Attendance at our Celebrate Literacy Conference
• Launching Writer's Workshop (Martinsville)
• Mailers with activities for Virginia Readers Choice Books and other literacy tips
• Support of our annual Young Writers Contest for students
• Our first annual Ready Readers conference for Pre-K/K teachers (February 22nd)
• Summer Teachers as Readers Book Club (grant funded)
• $25 discount on the VSRA Conference Fee
• Reading Teacher of the Year Program
• Literacy Grants (check out the LONG list on the VSRA site)
• International Projects Grants (we gave 2 awards this year-$200 each
• and more...

Join VSRA/PARC

Membership to VSRA/PARC opened August 1st, and we'd love to see you and your colleagues join our group whether you come to the conference or not. Our board would also love to welcome your involvement if you'd like to take on a more active role. Please email us to learn more at vsrapiedmont@gmail.com

This year, we'd also like to increase communications with all of our buildings. If you have a person who would be willing to disseminate information to your staff, please email us with the person's name, email information, name of your school, and your district (if you are a public school). We will add your person to our distribution list and send flyers for him/her to print and share with your team.

We look forward to seeing YOU at the conference. If you have questions, please use the CONTACT US form on the right hand side of our site or shoot us an email at leadership@readingintheparc.org

Sincerely,
Carla Fedeler
PARC Secretary