10
La Grande Pride
March 2020 • www.lagrandesd.org
ACHIEVEMENTS IN LITERACY
Ongoing Literacy Alliance group projects
By Trish Yerges
Over the past year, the
La Grande Literacy Alli-
ance group has achieved
some exciting projects
that will help promote
literacy and bring books
into the homes of fami-
lies living throughout the
school district.
The Literacy Alliance
team, led by Dr. Carol
Lauritzen, was organized
about February 2018.
It’s mission statement
is: “La Grande Literacy
Alliance is committed to
developing a community
of readers in La Grande.”
The ‘Read Together La
Grande’ campaign, pro-
moting 20 minutes of
reading a day is one of
this group’s projects.
Member Susie Mayes,
Principal of Central El-
ementary School, joined
the team in October
2019, and she meets with
the team once a month
at Central. Together they
have set and achieved
some positive project
goals to promote literacy.
“The whole objective
is to get literacy into the
homes from an early age
so that when the chil-
dren come to school they
already have a founda-
tion of the importance of
reading and love of read-
ing,” she said.
“Reading is power
and fulfilling dreams. It
means reaching goals be-
cause you can’t get any-
where without learning
to read.”
The Literacy Alliance
team is always consid-
ering ways that they
can get reading into the
home and to all children.
The team organized a
Literacy in the Park
event that ended up
being held in the Wil-
low gym because of the
weather, but the atten-
dance included over 200
participants and children
of all ages.
“They sat on blankets
in family groups and
were given a book to read
to their children,” said
Mayes. “They rotated the
books around to others
in attendance and by the
end of the event, each
family group read four
books to their children.
They were allowed to
take a book home with
them.”
Another Literacy Alli-
ance project was called
“Little Libraries,” where
the team got together to
build small outdoor book-
cases. The project was
helped by with Edward
D. Jones, who helped
finance it, and several
contractors who donated
materials, their exper-
tise and plans. The FFA
members from local high
schools came together
and made the Little Li-
braries.
They were made and
placed at schools in Im-
bler and Union, as well
as at Pioneer Park, and
Island City Elementary
School.
“So we’re continuing
to make Little Librar-
ies to put around the
La Grande community,”
said Mayes. “We’ve had
overwhelmingly positive
contributions to it.”
The Literacy Alliance
team also has a project
they will start in April,
presenting books at the
prenatal parenting class-
es at Grande Ronde Hos-
pital. “They will make a
90-minute presentation
about reading and how to
instill the love of reading
into their children,” she
said.
These new parents
will learn where to get
resources and the im-
portance of teaching
their child the basics of
reading before they start
school at age five. Robert
Kleng, Director of East-
ern Oregon Head Start is
involved in this project.
The team has put
together little bags filled
with books for babies,
and they will be given
out to parents at these
classes. Dr. Carol Lau-
ritzen has been writing
grants to help fund books
for the Literacy in the
Park project and the
birthing bags.
In addition to her hard
efforts, there are many
others who support and
assist the Literacy Alli-
ance team and its proj-
ects.
Mayes is also respon-
sible for the district’s
Strategic Plan Goal
(1-D) which is “increase
pre-kindergarten learn-
ing experiences for all
students entering the
district,” so her team col-
laborates with the Liter-
acy Alliance team so they
can utilize their services
and support each other
in their events.
Mayes said their re-
cent efforts are making
connections with young
parents at these prenatal
parenting classes and
with daycare providers
and private preschools.
“We are ecstatic and
elated about how every-
thing has been moving
forward,” said Mayes.
UNIFORMS
continued from page 8
Thereafter, the uniforms were numbered so that each
student could quickly identify the uniform fitted for him
or her.
The LHS band unveiled their new uniforms at the
Soroptimist International June Breakfast on June 2,
2019, at 10:30 a.m. at the Riverside Park and Pavilion.
The band gave a performance and people got to see the
uniforms up close.
“I’m just blown away by the outpouring of support
from our community,” Leavitt said. “We have a phenom-
enal, supportive community here, and that’s not true
everywhere.”