Carol Young

We gathered on Saturday, January 6th to celebrate our Literacy Mentors and kick off the new semester.

The morning had several goals:

• To celebrate and thank the wonderful people who are serving on our school campuses! They give of their heart and time to make an impact in literacy and in the lives of children who are the future of our city!
• We also wanted to give these volunteers an opportunity to meet each other and spend some time together. It was great to see them share stories, network, laugh and get to know some of the people on their much bigger team.

It was a bit disheartening to see a recent article in the Fresno Bee sharing the Nation’s Report card putting Fresno Unified “near rock bottom”. We can talk for days about the problems, the issues, the reasons, and it’s easy to point fingers and cast blame.  But you know what they say: “When you point a finger at others, four fingers are pointing back at you.” Actually, I believe they are pointing back at ALL of us, because we all have the opportunity to be part of the solution. So let’s talk about what you can do to help increase literacy, and the fulfillment that can be found in helping a child learn to read.

As the school year is coming to an end and summer quickly approaching, we know that means a lot of free time for kids. Here is one fact you need to learn and three ways you can keep children learning and growing over the summer months!

Several weeks ago, I walked into a first-grade classroom, excited about getting to know 26 enthusiastic kids and anxious to help them with reading. It didn’t take long for me to be reminded why volunteering with beginning readers is so rewarding.

On my first day in a classroom this year, I began working with students to see how many sight words they knew. A few of the kids did pretty well, and I could tell they had someone at home who had been working with them. There was a confidence and pride in their accomplishments. But it became clear after just an hour in the classroom that many of them needed some extra help and encouragement.

For the past 5 years, these ladies have been working with 1st & 2nd grade children at Addams Elementary with children who are struggling with letter sounds or just need a little extra help getting caught up with the rest of their class. They are making an impact in the lives of these kids!  Most (not all) are retired teachers who are doing what their “teacher hearts” love to do . . . help kids learn!