Quarterly Newsletter End of Winter Update First, a big thank you to all our volunteer tutors who are now in full swing at Fair Oaks Elementary, McKinley Middle School and Kennedy Middle School. Since the Fall, we've grown from 12 to 18 volunteers and also started tutoring at Kennedy Middle School. We welcome and extend our thanks to the following new volunteers: Amy Shimer (McKinley), Susan McLaughlin (Kennedy), Heidi Richards (Kennedy), Kim Zamboldi (Kennedy), Yvonne Molina (Kennedy), and Namita Paul (Kennedy). At Kennedy, most of our volunteers work in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade, Long Term English Learners literacy classes where we are already having an impact. According to Kennedy's principal, Sabrina Adler..... "The volunteers in here have been making a tremendous difference and I am actually seeing the kids smile more. They are excited to read with the adults one-on-one." Help Los Ayudantes Help More Kids! We'll be looking for new volunteers to expand to even more classes at McKinley and Kennedy for the 2018-19 school year, and we've found that a personal connection is one of the best ways to expand our volunteer base. If you would like to help, you could email the following invitation to any friends or family you think may be interested in joining Los Ayudantes! I thought you might be interested to know I've been volunteering with Los Ayudantes - a non-profit dedicated to helping Redwood City English learners improve literacy and critical thinking skills necessary to succeed in high school and beyond. Los Ayudantes works with 6th, 7th, and 8th graders at Kennedy Middle and McKinley middle schools and 4th and 5th graders at Fair Oaks Elementary. Volunteers help in the same classroom usually about one hour a week and work one-on-one or in small groups helping students as they read out loud: decoding, explaining vocabulary and delving deeper into reading subject matter. No special training or language skills are needed to be a volunteer. Maybe you'd like to volunteer too? I really enjoy.... [personal note explaining why you like to volunteer]. If you're interested, you can find out more at, http://www.losayudantes.org " Amazon Smile Donations Though we keep them low as possible, we still do have some expenses such as background check reimbursements, books at Fair Oaks, and salary for our part-time Program Director. So are always looking for donations. One easy way to donate to Los Ayudantes is to use the Amazon Smile link every time you shop. The AmazonSmile Foundation will donate 0.5% of the purchase price from your eligible AmazonSmile purchases. Just bookmark this link and use it every time you shop. Thank you! Must-Read Literacy Articles Here are a couple of great articles to read about reading! The first one, "How to Get Your Mind to Read" was forwarded to us by one of our volunteers who came across it in the NY Times. We highly recommend it, as it challenges some norms in the literacy world. We plan to have a regular section here in our newsletter of literacy articles. If you find an article or other item of interest to share, please email them to our Program Director, Jenni Farrell, at
[email protected] . How to Get Your Mind to Read https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/25/opinion/sunday/how-to-get-your-mind-to-read.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share Reading Out Loud Improves Literacy https://edsource.org/2015/study-says-reading-aloud-to-children-more-than-talking-builds-literacy/82045 Volunteer Today
