While November has flown by, seven of our DHH students have been busy preparing for a Middle School reading competition called “Battle of the Books”. This is a national reading competition for students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing sponsored by Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. The competition has three different divisions (Buff, Blue, and Green), which allows students to participate at different reading levels. Venado has one team in the blue and green divisions. At the end of October, all participating students received three books. To prepare for the competition, students had one month to read, develop study materials, and participate in small group book discussions during lunch and Tutorial. There are three rounds of competition: Preliminary, Play-Off, and National. Our Preliminary matches were scheduled for Nov. 28 (Blue) and Nov. 29 (Green). Our teams competed against other DHH teams from all over Central and Pacific Time zones via videophone technology. If our teams advance to the National competition, they will receive an all-expenses paid trip to Washington D.C. to compete for their Division Title. We wish them the best of luck! Go VENADO KNIGHTS!
Deaf Culture Fun Fact: Not every deaf person communicates the same way. Some prefer sign language; while others may speak for themselves and lip read. When in doubt, it’s best to just ask.
Deaf Culture Fun Fact: All babies can begin using sign language to communicate their needs before they acquire verbal skills. Studies have shown that signing with your baby aids in cognitive development, and teaching sign language to non-deaf infants speeds up comprehension of spoken languages.
~ Janet Dicker, DHH Site Liaison/DHH Teacher