The 5 Pillars of Literacy—Phonics, Fluency, Phonemic Awareness, Vocabulary, and Comprehension—serve as fundamental components that enable children to acquire strong reading and language skills for continuous learning throughout life.
🔊🧠 Pillar #3: Phonemic Awareness - Recognizing and manipulating sounds in spoken words.
Literacy Night Activity: Join in on the fun with a Phonemic Awareness Activity for all ages. Choose between I spy sound/syllable game, Elkonin boxes, or word ladders.
Phonics, Fluency, Phonemic Awareness, Vocabulary, and Comprehension make up the 5 Pillars of Literacy, which are vital for helping children develop robust reading and language skills essential for lifelong learning.
🗣️ Pillar #2: Fluency
Reading with speed, accuracy, and proper expression.
Literacy Night Activity: Engage in fluency boards and a voice reading activity where you will get to change your voice to match characters.
The 5 Pillars of Literacy—Phonics, Fluency, Phonemic Awareness, Vocabulary, and Comprehension—are essential building blocks that help children develop strong reading and language skills for lifelong learning. Each Pillar will be represented at LCSD's Literacy Night on Thursday, November 21 at 6 p.m. at LHS Door 3.
📚Pillar #1: Phonics
Understanding letter-sound relationships to read and spell words.
Literacy Night Activity: Join in on the fun with phonics star game and syllable cards to learn more about phonics.
🇺🇸✨ Honoring Our Heroes! ✨🇺🇸
A big shout-out to our student Tanner and his dad, TSgt. P, an Air Force MEPS Liaison at the Niagara Falls Reserve Station. TSgt. P proudly displayed the signs made by the George Southard Kindness Club, showing gratitude to veterans.
Students created signs for each military branch and personalized ones for family members who serve. It’s a heartfelt thank-you to those who keep our nation safe and free. We appreciate you! 🙌💙 #LionsStrong
🌟🇺🇸 A special shoutout to Mrs. Martin's class at Charles Upson, where students learned about the importance of Veteran's Day! LCSD wishes all veterans a heartfelt Happy Veteran's Day! 🙏✨ We’re especially proud to recognize teachers like Mrs. Martin, who served in the United States Air Force. Thank you for your service and for inspiring our students! #VeteransDay #LionProud
Third grade artists are at George Southard are learning about Vincent VanGogh and his painting, the Starry Starry Night. Faith was excited to wear this shirt to art class, making a connection between the artist, significance, and popularity of this painting in the world!
Fourth graders at George Southard put their STEM skills to work by tackling real school challenges! 🛠️ Three students in Mrs. Cain's class redesigned the lunch tray to keep food separated and make cleanup easier, showing off their creativity and teamwork. Problem-solving in action! 🌟
Our incredible third-grade teachers are diving into Unit 2 of our new reading program, Benchmark, getting ready for their eager learners! With careful planning, they’re creating engaging lessons that will make this unit both exciting and impactful. We can’t wait to see our students shine! #LockportLovesLiteracy #WeAllBelong
K-6 Instructional coaches handed out pamphlets of information about our new ELA program K-6 Benchmark Advance to provide parents information on the new reading and writing program students will be using in ELA classes this year. Here is the link, if you didn't get one at Open House. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BIGLi0MUTHKupXkOP5eMwPf2vvaxfxSD/view
#LockportLovesLiteracy
Problem-solving is so important in STEM. Students worked with partners to figure out ways to solve cup challenges. They learned that brainstorming different ways to solve a problem is an important step. As a group students tried several solutions and sure everyone participated!
The George Southard community partnered with the Lockport Police Department and raised over 1,164 food items to donate to Feedmore of WNY. It was a fierce competition between Ms. Kane and Ms. May's class, but Ms. Kane's class came out on top with 162 items donated. What a fun way to give back to the community.
Professional learning is always happening in the Lockport City School District! Instructional Coach, Lisa Stastyshyn, is empowering 3rd-grade teacher Shannon Volland with ViewBoard training to maximize tech and elevate student learning!
This is a reminder that there will be no school on Monday, October 14, 2024, in observance of Indigenous Peoples'/Columbus Day. Classes will resume on Tuesday, October 15, 2024.
Learning the rules of STEM class while working with others. Teamwork!!
S - tay in your area and on task
T - reat everyone and everything with respect
E - veryone participates
(everyone) M - akes mistakes and we learn from them
K-6 Students and Families: Save the Date for LCSD's Literacy Night on Thursday, November 21, 2024, from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. More information to follow!
Family Empowerment Center:
Essential Strategies for Supporting Struggling Readers
by WNY Dyslexia Specialists
Thursday, October 10, 6:00-7:00 p.m.
Workshop for parents, caregivers, and LCSD staff concerned that child is not reading at grade level. You will learn warning signs of dyslexia, and how to identify potential signs even before formal reading begins. Gain knowledge and confidence to understand reading challenges and how to work with educators to support your child. Check out the flyer here.
Registration: https://forms.gle/m8pm5KA4vZRLfRGC7
NAMI - National Alliance on Mental Illness Family Support Group.
Date: The 3rd Thursday of each month
Time: 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Location: Family Empowerment Center, 1st floor of the Cornerstone Ice Arena
Facilitated, confidential support for family members and caregivers concerned about and/or caring for a person with mental illness. Check out the flyer here.
Drop in, no registration is necessary. Find out more about the Family Empowerment Center here: https://www.lockportschools.org/o/lcsd/page/family-resources
Family Empowerment Center:
NARCAN Training by Save the Michaels of the World
Wednesday, September 11, 5:00-6:00 p.m.
This workshop provides harm reduction strategies and the use of NARCAN. Anyone comfortable providing harmless medication is welcome to attend. Check out the flyer here.
Registration: https://forms.gle/J98z6xxgsJjRrUpCA
This week, we welcomed an amazing group of 35 new educators into the LCSD family!
🌟 Their staff orientation included an exciting tour of all our schools, giving our new teachers a taste of the vibrant and welcoming community we have here in Lockport.
🌍 Fun Fact: This talented group hails from Lockport and as far as Florida, bringing a wealth of diverse experiences. Whether they’ve traveled across state lines or grew up right around the corner, they’re all here to make a positive impact on our students’ lives.
Photographed are each of the new hires with their building principals. Stay tuned as we get to know them better—there’s so much to look forward to this school year! 🦁💙 #WeAllBelong
Graeme (5th grader at Emmet Bellnap) and Rowan (3rd grader at George Southward) Garcia recently visited NYC and went to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, to the top of Freedom Tower (tallest building in the Western Hemisphere), and took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty. #summeroflions
