A special reading teacher would be excellent for kids who have difficulties reading, or for good readers to improve more in their reading skills. That teacher could have special meetings with kids that need help, and every once in a while she/he could read the students a story.
Reading can be for informative, funny, make-believe or for fun. But, without reading this world can turn out to be a poor world unless we do something about it. Help people read for a better world, better lives and to be better people.
Andrew Kelly
Pleasant Valley, 5th Grade
Read on
To the editor:
Reading is a priority in Washington County because we as citizens of Washington County believe in the value of reading. This is why our schools really stress reading to students.
I read a 384-page book when I was in fourth grade. Now that I am a fifth grader, I am reading harder books than many of my relatives who are fifth grade in other schools in Virginia.
I think reading is important because it gives you information about other continents of the world. It is important to be able to read to learn about the world outside our community. New places are very exciting. Without reading, you could not learn about other cultures and countries.
One of the things I hope to do is to become a pilot. If I can't read, I will not be able to fly a plane. Without being able to read, you have a very limited number of paying jobs.
Washington County is making reading a priority. Statistics show that 17 percent of the adults in our county are not able to read. Washington County is trying to lower the number of adults that can not read and therefore has made reading a priority in Washington County schools.
Brandon Sloan
Pleasant Valley Elementary
Go west
To the editor:
I saw the story that appeared in the May 30 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle about Joseph Van Valen (14 years old) and his brother David (13 years old) of Martinsburg, W.Va.
It seems these two exceptional young men are qualified and desire to attend the University of California-Berkeley, a school renowned for its liberalism and progressive idealism. As a former West Virginian and the son and grandson of Klansmen, (who is now a very different person) let me say that these boys could not choose a better university to attend, nor a better locality to finish growing up in.
I have lived here, having moved from Idaho, for four years and I have never witnessed as much acceptance and diversity as I see in this area. Thank God!
The mother should come out here for a while and travel around the total community and she will see what I mean. Yes, we do have old-time Republican, bigoted diehards, but they, thank God, are a dying breed. Your sons will fit in better here than in West Virginia or on the East Coast, in my humble opinion. Please reconsider. Be blessed!
Reb Gershon Caudill
El Cerrito, Calif.
The extra mile
To the editor:
We didn't see your original article on stories of tragedy verses stories of good news, but I'm sending this note about an extraordinary second-grade teacher at Boonsboro Elementary who I feel is the type of heroine this country needs. I believe Mrs. Holtz could be classified as a heroine. Heroic effort? You be the judge.
The extra mile is traveled daily by Mrs. Holtz. After reading an article about a gentleman in Vermont who was illiterate, but at age 64 was learning to read, Mrs. Holtz wrote to suggest that her second graders correspond with him as a way to help her class learn reading's importance.
Through this extra effort one kindly farmer touched the hearts and lives of 25 children in Boonsboro, and they touched his.
The reading and writing came alive with the most basic of human needs, that of knowing that others care for us no matter who or where we are.
Chip and Beth Rockwell
Boonsboro
