News & Press

“Read to a Child” program a boost for kids

By: Jim Ash
Posted November 28, 2014

Shown in picture, first grader Beyonce Ayala is all smiles during her first session with mentor, Deb Hollett.

A national reading outreach program, “Read to a Child,” was introduced locally at Richer School earlier this year with hopes of boosting student performance by matching children with volunteer mentors/readers. Specifically, the mission of Read to a Child is to increase children’s success in reading and in life by inspiring adults to read to them regularly. At the same time, the program offers willing volunteers with a proven, “turnkey” opportunity to have a positive impact on kids.

The program is currently being offered to first graders at Richer. However, as more volunteers become available, the goal is for the program to expand to other grades. Linda Winin, Read to a Child’s Program Coordinator for this area, is currently seeking willing local companies to promote the idea as a meaningful way for their employees to serve the community.

The initial launch of the program at Richer School began with recommendations made by first grade teachers who were asked to identify children in their classrooms who meet one or more of three key criteria – they are behind their age group in reading proficiency; they would benefit from the attention of a caring adult; and/or they are not read to at home.

Each of Richer’s six, first grade teachers were asked to identify four students who met the criteria, resulting in a list of twenty-four children awaiting mentor/readers. As volunteers become available, parents are informed of the opportunity and asked to sign off on the program. Once approval is granted and a match is made, the volunteers visit the school once a week to read with their partner child during lunchtime.

Currently, ten matches have been made, so there remains a significant need for more volunteers to step forward. Each of the corporate partners has made a donation to the program and promoted the opportunity to their employees. As the program becomes more widely known in Marlborough, Winin is hopeful that more companies will sign on so that matches can be found for everyone on Richer’s list of twenty-four first graders.

According to Winin, research indicates that the simple act of regularly reading aloud to a child significantly impacts his or her literacy skills and, thus, his or her likelihood for success. Read to a Child’s 2012-2013 annual report, indicates that 88% of first-year students improved in one or more of the following areas – vocabulary, listening comprehension, ability to articulate thoughts, self-confidence, enthusiasm for books and reading, and overall reading ability.

Reading mentor, Deb Hollett, is now in her fourth year serving as a mentor/reader. She began in 2011 after being matched with a second grade girl in Framingham. “I did not know the need was there,” she said. The pair hit it off right away and Hollett said it was a positive experience from the start.

Hollett continued to meet regularly with the same student all the way through fourth grade. “It was nice to see how excited she would be to get together,” Hollett said. When her job moved to Marlborough, it became a natural fit for Hollett to help get Richer’s program off the ground.

Courtney Treadwell also began as a mentor/reader in Framingham and switched to Richer School this year. As a longtime volunteer in the schools, Treadwell said she was well aware of the importance of reading. She mentored the same boy for two years during his time in grades two and three.

Treadwell found it initially difficult to connect with her student who was not that interested at first and was hesitant to open up. Nevertheless, she persevered, and slowly over time she began to see positive progress. “It was much easier the second year,” she said.

Mary Garner serves as the school coordinator for the Read to a Child program at Richer. As a regular volunteer at the school and current co-president of the PTO, the coordinator position is a natural extension of work she had been doing. She is very positive about what she has seen so far and hopeful the program will grow. “The kids are really excited about it and looking forward to when their readers come in,” she said.

Given the circumstances faced by the children who are selected for the program, some will require more time than others to fully embrace the experience. Training is provided to all volunteers to help with the process. “We aim to make sure that a partnership with Read to a Child allows for employees to have an exceptionally enjoyable and convenient volunteer opportunity,” said Winin.

In 2012-2013, approximately 1,400 reading mentors engaged in 35,000 hours of individualized reading sessions in the Boston, Detroit, Hartford, Los Angeles, and Miami regions. With the program now available in Marlborough, Winin will be working to recruit companies not only to match mentors to the remaining first graders on the list, but also to expand to other grades and provide coverage for next year’s collection of new first graders.

For more information about the program, visit www.readtoachild.org. To inquire about participating, contact Winin by phone at 617-670-0881 or send her an email to linda.winin@readtoachild.org.

This story is taken from the Fall/Winter 2014 edition of “Panther Pride,” a publication of the Main Street Journal produced in partnership with Marlborough Public Schools. The print edition of Panther Pride is included as a second section with this week’s (November 29th) Main Street Journal.

By: Connie Ogle

Drinking wine, eating cheese, meeting local author Brad Meltzer — and helping kids learn to love books. What’s not to like about Read to a Child’s fund-raising event, from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Books & Books in Coral Gables?

The South Florida chapter of the national organization is hosting the networking event to raise funds for its program, in which professionals meet students at school and read to them during the kids’ lunch hour.

So far, Read to a Child: South Florida works with about 40 kids at two local schools, the Coral Way K-8 Center in Miami and Pine Lake Elementary School in South Miami-Dade, but regional board chair Jose Romero said he hopes the program can expand.

“We want to be more like Boston, where they have over 1,000 kids participating,” he said.

At the event, Meltzer, host of TV’s Decoded and author of a children’s book series that includes I Am Rosa Parks, I Am Amelia Earhart and I Am Abraham Lincoln, will talk about his work.

“The concept here is simple: Read to a child. Good things will happen,” said Meltzer via email. “How could I possibly not support that? Our goal is to get more volunteers and put more books in the hands of children.”

Tickets cost $50. To purchase or for information about donating or volunteering, visit www.readtoachild.org. Books & Books is at 265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables.

You can help share the cause by turning your social media pages ‘Give Me $5’ – simply change your profile photos and covers to our campaign banners!  Download banners here:

Click here for square banner size 250 x 250

Click here for horizontal banner size 728 x 90

Click here for Facebook cover size 851 x 315

Read to a Child is hosting its first digital fundraising campaign for Friends and Family called ‘Give Me $5’ and we invite you to join the cause!

The Give Me $5 campaign makes it easy for anyone to support the cause with our ‘Give Me $5’ ask – donations in increments of $5 making it most affordable to give and to fundraise.

When: The campaign will run from August 1 – 31, 2014.  

The ‘Give Me $5’ Goal:  $50,000 in one month!

It’s easy to join the campaign!

Sign up as a champion to fundraise a goal of $100 in one month online! That’s just 20 friends and family members donating $5 each to reach the goal! http://www.firstgiving.com/21980

Recruit your friends and family to join us in fundraising. We need all the champions we can find to help us hit our goal!

Go Live with Give me $5! You can help share the cause by turning your social media pages ‘Give Me $5’ – simply change your profile photos and covers to our campaign banners! Download banners here. https://readtoachild.org/go-live-with-give-me-5-banners/

Join the movement on social media: use our hashtag #readtoachildgiveme5, post, like, tweet – just share it forward!

Win prizes! 

Prizes will be awarded to the top 5 champion fundraisers and the top 3 champions who recruit the most volunteers to join the campaign! For updates on progress and who is in the lead for fundraising, visit our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/readtoachild.org

Top fundraisers will be announced on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014. *A minimum $100 fundraising goal must be met by your referred champion recruits by the end of the campaign for qualification. You can email the names of your recruits to Amelie Ansari at amelie.ansari@readtoachild.org

Donors win too! In appreciation of everyone that makes a donation through the First Giving fundraising site or at the Read to a Child website, will be automatically entered into our prize drawings for books and cool prizes as well!  Winners will be announced daily on our Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/readtoachild.org

For more information or questions on the Read to a Child Friends & Family ‘Give Me $5’ campaign, please contact:  Amelie Ansari at:  amelie.ansari@readtoachild.org

Don’t want to join the campaign but still want to make the difference in the life of a child?

By Angie Orenstein
Billerica@wickedlocal.com 
Posted Jun. 22, 2014 @ 2:00 pm 

From left, Annemarie Sullivan, Diana Rodriguez, and Paula Flannery. Sullivan and Flannery are mentors from EMD Millipore who read to Diana’s twin second graders at the Parker, Anthony and Thomas Rodriguez (pictured in front). WICKED LOCAL PHOTO/ANGIE ORENSTEIN

Several Parker Elementary School students received certificates for their participation in Read to a Child, a national non-profit organization that pairs employees from local companies with elementary school children who could benefit from some extra support in reading.

This year, the second year the program has been in place at the Parker, there were 33 employees and 27 children taking part. Acting as mentors, the employees volunteer their time to come in once a week on a Thursday or Friday from October to June to read books to the children during their lunch period. The goal is to get the child to improve their reading skills, increase their vocabulary, and have someone to talk to and share ideas with one on one. They strive to keep the same mentor with the same child for the years they are with the program in order to encourage a close bond from which a love of reading can blossom.

“I think it’s awesome,” said Melissa Webber whose daughter, Kayleigh Malatesta, 7, is in the second grade at the Parker and has participated in the program for the two years. “Her reading has definitely improved. She loves it. It’s nice for her and the people who do it.”

The program, which is for students in grades 1 through 4, has been in place at the Vining Elementary School for 10 years and when the Parker opened their brand new building two years ago, principal Russell Marino decided to incorporate it there, too. About 50 Vining students were redistricted to the Parker, 10 of who were participating in the reading program. Marino said there are 456 students at the Parker, 320 of which are in grades 1 through 4 and he said he hopes the program will expand in years to come, but they need more mentors to volunteer.

“This really is such an important program. I wish every school could have it because every child, from those who struggle to those who excel, could use another grown up in their life,” said Marino.

At and end-of-the-year ceremony held at the Parker on June 12, Linda Winin, program manager, Kaela Vronsky, vice-president of programs, and Phil Harrell, national board member from Read to a Child joined Marino and Read to a Child’s School Coordinator Judy Tolan, in presenting students with certificates and thanking the teachers, parents, and the mentors, who come from Mitre, RSA, EMD Millipore, EMD Serono, Cabot Corporation, and Kofax.

“Thank you for sharing your passion for reading and thank you for making a difference,” said Tolan, who pairs students with mentors, helps select reading material, and oversees the program at the Parker.

Tolan said they have both male and female mentors and they range from those fresh out of college looking to do some community service work to older people whose children have grown up and moved out of the house. She meets with each mentor and each student who has been recommended by a teacher to take part in the program and tries to match up personality types.

Tolan said she had asked the kids how they feel about Read to a Child and many said, “Happy,” “excited,” “thrilled,” and “proud.” She said it’s so fun to listen to the conversations between students and mentors and she gets a kick out of hearing some of the mentors change their voices when they’re reading in order to sound more like the character.

“They make the books come alive for the students and I hear the mentors laugh as much as the kids,” she said.

The boys and girls had a chance to tell the audience some of their favorite books and these included: “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” “Magic Tree House,” “Dork Diaries,” and “Mr. Popper’s Penguins.” The books can be short books or chapter books that they continue reading together week after week and they can be brought in by the student or the mentor, or chosen from a book cart with up to date children’s literature provided by Read to a Child.

“This is the highlight of my week. I love to see the smiles on their faces,” said Paula Flannery, a mentor from EMD Millipore who reads to second grader Thomas Rodriguez.

Anna Chang, a mentor from RSA smiled at her student, first grader Isaiah Florival, who hid shyly behind a “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” book. “I love kids. I thought it would be a good opportunity,” she said about the program.

As program manager, Winin approaches local businesses and asks them if they would be interested in having their employees take part in the program. In the meantime, teachers are always on the lookout for students who may have some difficulties with reading, English is their second language, or they lack resources or people at home who have time to read to them. These children are priorities for taking part in the program.

Read to a Child’s program in greater Boston has been in place for 11 years. In the 2013/14 school year, it served more than 700 children in 16 schools in Massachusetts, including the Parker, where Winin said they have been warmly welcomed and very successful. She talked about the importance of longevity when it comes to the mentors and named three people in the room who have been volunteering with the Boston program for four, eight, and 11 years. She reminded the children to visit their local library and keep reading over the summer.

Go to www.readtoachild.org for more information or to learn how you can help.

Educator and author Jessica Lahey reads Shakespeare and Dickens aloud to her seventh- and eighth-graders, complete with all the voices. Her students love being read to, and sometimes get so carried away with the story, she allows them to lie on the floor and close their eyes just to listen and enjoy it. Lahey reads short stories aloud, too: “My favorite story to read out loud has to be Poe’s ‘Tell-tale Heart.’ I heighten the tension and get a little nuts-o as the narrator starts to really go off the rails. So much fun.”

While reading Dickens aloud helps students get used to his Victorian literary style, Lahey said that it’s also an opportunity for her to stop and explain rhetorical and literary devices they wouldn’t get on their own. And they read the Bard’s plays together, divvying up the parts, because “that’s how they are meant to be experienced.”

Reading aloud to older children — even up to age 14, who can comfortably read to themselves — has benefits both academic and emotional, says Jim Trelease, who could easily be called King of the Read-Aloud. Trelease, a Boston-based journalist, turned his passion for reading aloud to his children into The Read-Aloud Handbook in 1979; it has since been an unequivocal bestseller with sales in the mult-millions, and Trelease is releasing the seventh, and final, edition in June.

Obviously, Trelease firmly believes in the value of reading to kids of all ages.

“The first reason to read aloud to older kids is to consider the fact that a child’s reading level doesn’t catch up to his listening level until about the eighth grade,” said Trelease, referring to a 1984 study performed by Dr. Thomas G. Sticht showing that kids can understand books that aretoo hard to decode themselves if they are read aloud. “You have to hear it before you can speak it, and you have to speak it before you can read it. Reading at this level happens through the ear.”

Research collected on middle school read-alouds showed that 58 percent of teachers read aloud to their students – and nearly 100 percent of reading and special education teachers. And, while middle-school students reported liking read-alouds, little data has been collected on the “extent and nature” of reading aloud to twelve- to fourteen-year-olds.

“Research indicates that motivation, interest, and engagement are often enhanced when teachers read aloud to middle school students,” wrote research authors Lettie K. Albright and Mary Ariail. Teachers surveyed for the study cited modeling as their number-one reason for reading aloud.

Trelease acknowledged that modelling the pleasure of reading is important, but there are more reasons read-alouds work so well — like “broadening the menu.”

“Let’s take a nine-year-old who’s just finished two solid years of drill and skill, a lot of testing, a lot of work, and they’re competent, but they’re thinking in terms of reading as a sweat experience,” he said. When a teacher reads a good book above student reading level, he show students that the good stuff — the really great books — are coming down the road, if they stick with it.

“Broadening the menu” becomes even more important if a child has difficulties with reading. According to Wandering Eductators’ Dr. Jessica Voigts, who homeschools her daughter Lillie, reading aloud can make reading more pleasurable for someone with dyslexia. “Reading together – with her watching the words as I read, and then her reading to me – is a way to be together, to experience the world, to enjoy a common pleasure. I read to her, about two-thirds of the time, and then she takes over for one-third of the time. We pass the book back and forth, although we’re usually right next to each other,” she said.

And though her daughter struggles, Voigt admitted she reads to Lillie for more than just academic benefits. “This is a time — tweens, teens — when life is full of craziness. This is one way to have a place of rest, of being, something to count on each day. Shared words have power, an energy that you can’t get from TV, radio, or online,” she said.

For Trelease, the power of shared words is a big reason to keep on reading aloud after children are able to read for themselves. Students might interject questions, comfortably wading into complicated or difficult subjects because they are happening to the characters in the story, and not to themselves. “Why do you think so many children’s stories have orphans as characters? Because every child either worries or fantasizes about being orphaned.”

While Trelease maintained that read-alouds can happen through any device (“Look at all the truckers listening to books on CD,” he said), and Lahey reads from a physical paper book, dogeared and scrawled with all her notes in the margins, both emphasized how students recall read-alouds with fond memories. Trelease recently received a letter from a retired teacher who reconnected online with former students some 30 years later. She wanted to know the one thing her former students remembered about her class.

“Without fail, it was the books she read to them.”

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