Two Rocky Point School District educators presented a workshop for the Long Island Language Arts Council annual conference on March 28 at the Melville Marriott.  
 
K-5 instructional coach Jennifer Meschi and ENL teacher Gabriella Serpico presented “Bringing the Science of Reading to Life: Phonics and Everyday Classroom Items in Small Group Instruction.” The talk shared how to integrate Science of Reading-based phonics strategies into both small and whole group instruction, of which Mrs. Meschi and Ms. Serpico shared 30 examples. The focus was on using everyday classroom items to reinforce phonemic awareness, decoding and fluency. Teachers were taught to gain practical approaches for incorporating these tools into their teaching to enhance student reading skills.  

Mrs. Meschi noted that they both loved presenting and meeting teachers from other districts to share ideas. Mrs. Meschi was also excited to meet keynote speaker Wiley Blevins. 
 
“His book, “A Fresh Look at Phonics” is what got me started on my journey of learning all about the Science of Reading over four years ago, Mrs. Meschi said.