Literacy Center Visits Saint Matthew School
Posted on Saturday, April 20, 2024
The Aquinas College School of Education Literacy Center recently participated in literacy events at Saint Matthew School on April 19th. There were about Pre-K and Kindergarten students who attended, along with their 7th grade prayer buddies, and they enjoyed rotating through a variety of stations with a fairy tale theme. Aquinas students led stations on The Ugly Duckling, The Quiltmaker’s Gift, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Saint Matthew students took home a bag with a variety of literacy activities they would have an opportunity to complete at home with their families.
The Aquinas College School of Education Literacy Center was first established in 2020 with the mission to engage teacher candidates in literacy instruction best practices. The objectives of the Literacy Center include:
- To improve the involvement of students’ families in their child’s literacy development by providing reading resources for families and hosting family literacy nights
- To enhance elementary students’ literacy development through individual tutoring, leading to improvements on reading assessments and increased motivation to read
The Literacy Center offers programs for K-5 students, their parents, and the broader community. The programs include:
- Family Literacy Night – This is hosted in the Fall at Aquinas College in which K-5 students and their parents are invited to come learn about literacy resources and tips for engaging students in reading at home and school.
- Literacy Tutoring and Assessment – In connection with the course EDU 418/518 Reading Assessment and Remediation, teacher candidates work individually each week during the spring semester with 1st and 2nd grade students with the goal of identifying students’ strengths and needs and differentiating instruction to meet those needs.
- Literacy Events at Local Schools – The Literacy Center partners with local schools to offer literacy events for students to dive deeper into reading and reading activities through a variety of literacy stations. We participated in a literacy morning at Saint Ann in spring 2022, Saint. Henry in spring 2023 and Saint Matthew in Spring of 2023 and 2024.
