Project READ December Story Hours
Over 200 Project READ learners, tutors and families came together to celebrate this successful semester of tutoring, learning and community service at our two annual Gift-Making Workshops & Story Hour Celebrations, held at the downtown library and Fair Oaks School . Educational Musicians, Lori and RJ, of Cotton Candy Express kicked the evening off with a festive sign-along that got everyone in a celebratory mood.
As the crowd enjoyed the puppet show, staff secretly ferried moms, dads, aunties and uncles over to our Secret Shopping Room, where volunteers had displayed a beautiful arrangement of brand new books, games, and puzzles. These amazing donations ranged from infant board books, puzzles, art books and chapter books, truly ensuring that there be a meaningful and relevant gift for each individual. As the kids enjoyed the music, adults "shopped" for gifts for the whole family, thus ensuring that every Project READ family enjoy the gifts of reading and learning this holiday season! The parents were exuberant in their expressions of gratitude and we thank all who made this holiday brighter for these families! Meanwhile, the students caught the spirit of giving as they participated in five crafts specifically designed to be gifts and keepsakes.
Over twenty Junior League, community and Hands On Bay Area volunteers were on hand to help parents shop and students create their gifts for friends and family, helping to ensure a truly magical holiday season for our community.
Project READ 2014 Highlights:
FLIC 2014 Highlights:
Learner Hours:
Average Daily Attendance: 35 youth learners
Average Monthly Attendance: 90 youth learners
Tutor Statistics:
Active Teen/Preteen Tutors: 90
Total Tutoring Mentoring Hours (Teen/Preteen): 2,005 hrs
Active Community/Junior League FLIC Tutors (Adult): 40
Sequoia Awards: A scholarship program that recognizes local seniors for their contribution to their community through volunteerism.
Paul Chaves (FLIC Teen Tutor)
Lizette Cuevas (KIP Teen Tutor)
Chelsea Lollar (FLIC Teen Tutor & former Learner)
Audrey Poltrorak (FLIC Teen Tutor)
Kayte Toscano (FLIC Teen Tutor & former Learner)
Viridiana Caracheo (FLIC Teen Tutor & former Learner)
Summer FLIC
Close to 30 K-4th graders were paired with 30 Teen Tutors during our week-long summer program. The theme of the week this year was California, so students learned about history, facts and geography related to California.
Backpack Give Away: In August 245 students attended our two Back-to-School Story Hour events where we distributed over 200 backpacks filled with much-need school supplies.
Pilot Programs:
Family Literacy Instructional Center Summer Enrichment Days
This summer we launched Summer Enrichment Days, where the Junior League partner with us to offer 7 weeks of summer services to over 25 Prek through middle school students. Summer Enrichment Days consisted of Book Clubs, art, science and cooking projects all done in small groups alongside adult and teen tutors.
Game Night! This pilot program was created to help address expressive language issues we have been seeing more frequently in recent months. Students are teamed up in groups of 4-5 with an adult tutor as the facilitator, playing games based on age and ability level. Many of our games are focused on expressive and receptive language. This type of game play will help improve/foster fluency, articulation, speech, vocabulary development, auditory recall and synthesis, and community building.
Awards/Grants/Recognition:
Our three year-service grant with the Junior League of Palo Alto-Mid Peninsula was extended to a fourth year, an extraordinary honor due to a strong community partnership and commitment to Project READ’s mission of a literate community. Additionally, Project READ was granted $10,000 for continued and extended services within FLIC.
FIP 2014 Highlights:
• We had 29 new pairs start in the FIP program in 2014.
• Eight FIP pairs celebrated meeting 3+ years.
• The Sequoia SAFE/Project READ collaborative program started its second year and was awarded a $3,000 grant for the 2014-2015 school year.
• The Sequoia SAFE tutors calculated 146 hours of community service for the Fall semester.
KIP 2014 Highlights:
Over 30% of the KIP teen tutors were once KIP learners in the program.
Volunteer teen tutors completed over 1699 hours of community service tutoring in the KIP program.
Project READ teen tutors received college scholarships in recognition of their outstanding community service at the Sequoia Awards.
Celebrating the Gift of Time...
Project READ’s Kids In Partnership teen tutors completed over 500 hours of community service tutoring in the KIP program during the Fall 2014 semester! Their time has been well-spent tutoring the little elementary students.
Adult 2014 Highlights
Community Adult
· 300 served between one-on-one tutoring and Story Hours
Community FFL
· 100 served between one-on-one tutoring and Story Hours
Adult-Inmate (San Mateo County only)
· 423 prisoners served
o 151 inmates served in one-on-one, dual interventional tutoring
o 58 inmates served in Tutor Training
o 214 inmates served in small group instruction
· 100 books sent to children of inmate-participants in Fathers N’ Families and Mothers N’ Families program
Inmates received:
· 540 class sessions
· over 11,450 instructional hours
o 3,250 hours of one-on-one, dual-intervention tutoring
o 7,000 hours of small group instruction (Poetry, Fathers N’ Families, Mothers N’ Families, Creative Writing, Goal-Directed Workshops, Book Club)
o 1,200 hours of Tutor Training instruction
· Average Reading growth for participants of one-on-one tutoring: 3.5 levels in 6 months
· GED- waiting on results for Office of Ed on number of PR learners who earned GED
Adult-Inmate (w/ prison program included)
· 652 prisoners served
o above # + 196 from prison program
· over 13,140 instructional hours
o above # + 1,690 hours from prison program
· Average reading growth: 5.5 levels in 6 months (prison program)