Fall Newsletter

Hello teachers! We hope you all had a relaxing summer and are coping with the current state of things here at the beginning of the year. It has certainly been a challenging start for all. Remember, no matter how you are teaching this year (virtually or in-person), our board is here to support you in all areas of literacy. We can help you with finding resources and links to great websites if needed. Our website includes lots of options, so be sure to drop by and check there too. Just click the resource links tabs for websites and our Pinterest boards. Our website got a resent overhaul with new branding, so be sure to check it out and jot down our new URL, vslapiedmont.com and email, leadership@vslapiedmont.com.

Highlights from the Spring

Even though we did not get to celebrate literacy together throughout this past year, we did celebrate our Young Authors in May. The students were recognized with a video production hosted on Youtube and on Facebook. In fact, it's still available HERE if you'd like to see it. Ariel Krage, daughter of our treasurer, Angie, did a phenomenal job pulling all of our clips into an amazing production.

Upcoming Year's Plans

The board is very excited to share our plans for this upcoming year. Our first event will be a virtual fall conference called Celebrate Literacy. The conference will be hosted on a password protected page of our website. Attendees will be given the password and will download handouts and access the video presentations right from the webpage between October 2nd and October 15th at a time that works for them. The conference includes a keynote address and five breakout session options. Additionally, we will be hosting a live round table discussion via Zoom on October 9, 2021. The time and link will be shared with attendees. We look forward to discussing with our conference presenters.

How to Register for the Conference and Membership

The conference is FREE to all VSLA members and $15 for nonmembers. You can access all of the conference information HERE, and the sign up form is HERE. At this time, membership is just $30 for the year, but that cost will change to $40 beginning October 1st! So, be sure to sign-up to be a member of VSLA and designate Piedmont as your local chapter. Not only will you get this conference for free with your membership, but you will get a discounted rate for the VSLA conference, access to all chapter events offered around the state many of which will be free for members, the opportunity to apply for VSLA grants, and lots of networking opportunities. For those who join before 9/30, we will be raffling off FIVE $10 AMAZON GIFT CARDS.

Other Events for the Year

• November Members Meeting-We will meet with our members either in person or virtually on Tuesday, November 9th. If we are in person, we will include dinner and discuss what's working well, give you a chance to meet the board and see how to access content on our website, share ideas with you and more.
• Our Winter Conference will be held on February 5, 2022. This event will include a Panel Discussion as well sessions on Building Readers from Early Literacy to Comprehension. If you have any ideas you would like to bring to the table, don’t hesitate to reach out. We will send more info on this conference closer to that date.
• VSLA Conference is being held March 17-19, 2022. All the details on this conference can be found HERE.
• We will celebrate our Young Authors on April 20, 2022. It is tentatively planned to be held at Randolph College. We will begin judging around the end of February/beginning of March. We look forward to seeing the amazing things our students have to share through their stories.
• Finally, we will host a May Members Meeting to plan for 22-23. The date is TBD, but we hope to have you all join us.

Meet Your Board

We are happy to introduce our 2021-2022 PAC board. We are thrilled to double our board's size with the addition of much-needed leaders and co-chairs for all the major events.

Co-Presidents - Meg Racanelli & Courtney Bennett, Lynchburg City Schools
Co-Vice Presidents - Ashley Hutchinson & Ruth Matheny, both from Amherst County Schools
Secretary - Caitlin Pugh, Lynchburg City Schools
Treasurer-Angie Kraje, Bedford County Schools
Membership Chairman and Webmaster - Carla Fedeler, Comprehension Connection
Social Media - Corrie Kelly, University of Lynchburg
Young Writers Contest Chairman - Kim Stark
Building Readers Conference Chair- TBD

If you are interested in helping us grow and expand PAC's impact in our region, think about joining the board in the future. We are still in need for someone to chair our winter conference. Now, what do you say? Are you ready to accept this challenge and take on a leadership role? As a PAC leader, you will have the opportunity to present professional development sessions with our events and throughout the state if desired, meet other literacy leaders with the VSLA, and most importantly, help PAC support area teachers, parents, and children with literacy learning and teaching. If you are interested, please simply reply to this email and let us know you'd like to help out. We will find a job for you.

Other Opportunities

We are also looking for District Liaisons. What does that mean? We would like to have a district representative to help coordinate with your district representative for Young Writers, disburse information to all staff about PAC events, encourage membership, and promote VSLA Scholarships and grants opportunities. If you’d like to become your District Liaison, please reach out to the board. You can either reply to this email or contact us at leadership@vslapiedmont.com

Sincerely,
The PAC Board