Valencia Park held a Phonics Game Night in December at which 50 parents and students spent the evening learning to play the Phonics Game. The goal of the evening was to show parents what the students are doing in their classes and to increase parent awareness of word attack strategies. The evening ended with a drawing for a free game. The school's first, second, and third grade classes all use the Phonics Game as a classroom activity. Maple teachers are making a concentrated effort to stress reading with their students.
Instructional assistants help by providing students with additional help on phonemic awareness.
Maple teachers also voluntarily tutor outside of the regular school day. The training was provided by mentor Renee Jeffrey. Marion Braddick is one of the presenters of this training. Pacific Drive students have utilized Electronic Bookshelf for several years, and will soon be able to participate in the Accelerated Reading Program, also a computerized book report system. Additionally, most primary teachers at Woodcrest have received training in Project Read, and two have been trained in Project Success.