March 18th - Our Next BCRC Meeting

Our next Beaufort County Reading Council meeting will be held at Robert Smalls Middle School on Thursday, March 18th at 4:15. We have many wonderful things planned for the evening.

We will begin with a celebration of students' writing. All school-level winners of the state superintendent's writing award have been invited to be honored with certificates.

Following those awards, we will have featured guests to include a local author and a local bookstore. Then, for our member's idea share "Hooking Kids on Books," effective book talks will be presented.

As always there will be fun, fellowship, door-prizes and refreshments. We hope to see you there!

Catching Up

Getting a first-ever conference up and running took a lot of work, energy and dedication. The board and I want to thank everyone who attended and all of the wonderful feedback we've received. With over 100 participants, it was a huge success. Thank you to USCB and Belinda Eggen, Dr. Truesdale, Kay Newsome, and everyone who worked so hard on this endeavor.

As you can imagine, we're all a little bit wiped out and will be refreshing our minds and souls with a little bit of R&R and a LOT of learning at the SCIRA conference this week. If you haven't already registered, consider attending. It is really a wonderful opportunity to learn and meet collegues with like interests. As always, thank you for your support or the Beaufort County Reading Council.

A Sign of Good Things to Come!

Well, folks...here it is. This is our new car magnet. We'll be giving these to each person registered to attend our Mini-Conference on Saturday, January 30th. We have some big names planned, such as Dr. Valerie Truesdale and Natalie Daise. If you'd like more information and a registration form, please send an email to
cynthia.laizer@beaufort.k12.sc.us or cynd1234@hotmail.com.

Gearing Up for a Miniconference!

Plans are well underway for our first ever BCRC Miniconference. We're still confirming our keynote speaker, but we have many confirmed session presenters that range from preschool through middle and high school areas. They include reading, writing, technology integration and so much more!

We still have a few open slots, so if you're thinking about presenting, we're extending the deadline until December 15th. Email for a form: cynthia.laizer@beaufort.k12.sc.us

Our First Meeting of the Year

Membership was the focus of our first meeting. In fact, if you haven't renewed your membership, please continue to support our organization. We need you.

For membership information, please email suelyn.brooks@beaufort.k12.sc.us

In addition to membership, we had a wonderful presentation by Robin Cox. Robin works with literacy coaches in Beaufort County. She spoke on the topic of assessment of writing. She asked, “How can we help our students become critical readers and writers?” Robin related how to use the state standards and support documents to inform instruction in writing. She showed a kindergarten teacher and her students conferencing about writing. Robin shared supportive handouts on the topic of writing assessment for grades k-5.

More than 50 were in attendance. Door prizes, refreshments, great information and lots of good conversation among colleagues was shared by all. We look forward to more great meetings, as well as community projects and one sure-to-be fantastic conference this year. We hope you'll jump in and "dig into literacy" with us.

Fall Meeting and Membership

Things are finalized...sorry it took so long!

Our first meeting of the year will be held at Robert Smalls Middle School at 4:15 on Thursday, October 8th. This will be an important meeting for the council and all of our members.

We'll have an excellent guest speaker, Robin Cox. She is a national presenter, Heinemann author and inspiring speaker.

Plans for the school year will be discussed. Now that we're established as a chartered council of the IRA, it's time to get involved in the community and make a difference in the literacy developement for some who need help.

We'll also be discussing our upcoming mini-conference to be held on January 30th at USCB South Campus. We'll talk about the upcoming deadline for proposals for presentations as well as a nice combo-deal for renewing your BCRC membership and paying your conference fee at the same time.

We hope you'll come, renew your membership and perhaps even get involved in some of our planned projects. See you there!

Happy New School Year!!

I hope everyone is enjoying the start to the new school year. The Beaufort County Reading Council will be in its first full year and we plan to pack it full of new opportunities for you. Soon to come will be information on our first meeting which will be a good time to come out and renew your membership, or sign up for a new one. You don't have to wait though. If you would like to renew sooner than that email our membership director at suelyn.brooks@beaufort.k12.sc.us. Our dues are just $10 and $5 for students.

Some of the many things we have in mind for this year include community service projects, community outreach, a newsletter and a mini-conference. In fact you can pre-register for the mini-conference when you renew your membership for a discount!! Ask Suelyn for more infomation.

Check back soon for more information on dates, times and locations. We'll be DIGGING INTO LITERACY soon!!