Programs at Linkhorne Middle, Perrymont Recognized in VSBA's Showcases for Success

Two Lynchburg City Schools are included among 62 school divisions across the Commonwealth that are featured in the VSBA’s 18th annual Showcases for Success Directory.

Linkhorne Middle School’s ambassador and bootcamp programs and Perrymont Elementary’s reading club are part of the VSBA’s directory that highlights successful K-12 programs across Virginia’s public schools.

• Linkhorne Middle School’s Jaguar Ambassadors program: Develops and implements a program at LMS with the focus to create a safer environment for the entire school community. Jaguar Ambassadors develop and put into place programs to address issues such as bullying, school safety, substance abuse, and tolerance. Student leaders from grades 7 and 8 meet once each week during 7th period to implement programs throughout the school year. Some of the school-wide programs during the 2013-14 school year have included Red Ribbon Week to educate students about the effects of smoking, drugs and alcohol, an Anti-Bullying campaign during the month of October when they wrote, produced and filmed an anti-bullying video for the student body (click here to view), and the “Wonder” initiative where the students read and discussed the book “Wonder” then adopted a struggling 6th grade reading class and met with them weekly to read together and discuss the book.
   
• Linkhorne Middle School’s Bootcamp program: Meaningful and appropriate homework increases achievement and helps develop good habits as well as self-discipline and responsibility. In order to reinforce the importance of homework completion, Bootcamp was created. Students who are missing homework assignments are assigned to Bootcamp. Teachers complete Bootcamp assignment forms and attach missing work. The Bootcamp instructor helps students complete work and then returns the work to the teacher. The implementation of Bootcamp has assisted in the reduction of students required to go to summer school by 40 percent. Another positive result reported by teachers is a decrease in the frequency of missing homework assignments since simply not to doing homework is no longer an option. In addition, many students who fail to complete homework due to a lack of help at home are now able to successfully complete homework with the help of an adult in a structured environment and without a grading penalty.
   
• Perrymont Elementary’s “Lunch Bunch Reading Club”: Provides additional support for selected students to encourage and motivate them to put forth their best effective effort in reading. These students are invited to participate in our book club during their lunch period three days per week. To motivate the students, books were purchased and downloaded on Kindles. Students read and discuss the e-books in a relaxed and stimulating environment under the supervision and direction of our reading specialists. With Kindles, students are no longer discouraged or self-conscious due to the appearance or level of the book, thereby motivating even reluctant and struggling readers. Kindles meet the individual needs of students through adjustable fonts, line spacing, text to speech, and built in references and a dictionary. Thirty-six students will participate in our book talks this year resulting in an increase in individual Accelerated Reader points and reading levels and fostering a love for reading.