As Murray County Central continues to provide quality education opportunities for our students, we also want to provide quality professional learning opportunities for our teachers.
For that reason, at the beginning of September, all educators in PreK-6 have been participating in a professional learning program called LETRS® (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling). Our teachers have been completing this training during our TNT time, scheduled early out inservice days, and during their personal time. This will continue throughout the rest of this school year and next year.
LETRS will provide our teachers with the knowledge and skills they need to master the fundamentals of reading instruction based in the Science of Reading and Structured Literacy practices.
Students will learn and grow in the following foundational literacy skills:
● phonological awareness
● phonics
● fluency
● vocabulary
● comprehension
● writing
● language
LETRS professional learning strengthens teachers’ knowledge of language structure, including
phonology, syllable types, morphology, spelling generalizations, semantics and syntax, and
shows how each of these helps with the development of the reading brain to produce skilled,
proficient readers.
Through explicit and systemic teacher-led instruction of the skills listed above, our students will learn and apply foundational reading skills that will not only be critical for them when learning to read, but also will continue to support them as they use reading as a way to learn.
We are excited about this professional learning opportunity for our staff and the impact it will
have on all of our students. Our goal is to ensure that each student has the opportunity to
become a strong and effective reader—so they can become the best versions of themselves in
whatever path they take in school and beyond. Your support of this opportunity will help ensure
its success.
Each quarter, we will provide more parent information and resources that we hope will be helpful as we learn and grow together. Our next scheduled in-service date is Wednesday, December 13th. Students will be in school for a half day with early dismissal as staff members will complete LETRS training in the afternoon.
Patrick Freeman
Elementary Principal