Thursday, December 27, 2012

Perhaps you can imagine how excited we are!

Dear Reader to Reader,

I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for your response to our request for help in brightening our children’s holiday season. I was especially taken with how quickly you responded, even personally delivering your generous donation of 168 books for our preschool children!

The reading component of our curriculum is evidence of the importance we place on literacy in preparing our children for transition into kindergarten and life-long learning. We view literacy as one of the most important programs that our Center provides for our children so perhaps you can imagine how excited we are that our children will have a new book this holiday season.

Sincerely,

James C. Ward
Executive Director
Early Childhood Centers of Springfield
Springfield, MA

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Hopi Mission School Robbed of 10 Laptop Computers


















Reader to Reader Launches Fund Drive to Replace Stolen Computers

Thanksgiving Day was anything but a holiday for the Hopi Mission School in Kykotsmovi Village, Arizona, in the heart of the Hopi Nation. On that day someone broke in a door and stole the school’s ten laptop computers.

The school is a very small, without the necessary budget for everyday needs, let alone replacing ten computers.

Reader to Reader has launched a fund drive to replace the stolen laptops and also buy the school a locking laptop cart.

“We have already raised enough money to buy the first three laptops and we need everyone’s help to donate the rest,” David Mazor, executive director of Reader to Reader, said.

Online donations can be made at http://www.crowdrise.com/HopiMissionSchool/fundraiser/reader2reader

“It’s wonderful to have a partner like Reader to Reader to help our children,” principal Thane Epefanio said. “100% of our children live under the poverty line. You help our children get into the 21st century. They come to our school to get educated in the technology that the rest of us live with on a daily basis. A third of our students don’t have water or power in their homes. A lot of people don’t realize that two hours from a major city there’s a third world country in America.”

Please help us replace Hopi Mission School's technology. No one deserves to lose learning opportunities and resources because of someone else's hurtful actions. Join our team, share with friends, and support the children of Hopi Mission School today.

Thank you!

Monday, December 17, 2012

Big Brothers/Bigs Sisters Pays a Visit

It was a fun day for kids from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Hampshire County as they came to Reader to Reader to pick out books.

We always love having kids visit us and get to choose the books they want to read.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

DiscoverBooks integrates English language learning with family literacy














Reader to Reader's DiscoverBooks program is off to a great start in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

At Kelly and EN White Schools the program has a dual purpose: teaching English to Spanish-speaking parents, as well as family literacy with a special focus on parent involvement in the schools. This model has proved very beneficial!

The key to successful language learning is putting the new language skills to use in a real-life context, and this is exactly what the schools provide. Meanwhile parents learn and practice English through family literacy materials, as well as activities that promote positive parent involvement in the child's education and school.

In November the program sessions centered around preparing for parent teacher conferences. Parents learned English that they could use to role play parent-teacher dialogues. They reported that this practice helped boost their confidence in their ability to communicate with the teacher during the conferences!

Jessica Reyes, mother of four children at EN White, reports that "I like going to English class [at EN White] because I am learning how to relate to the teachers and how to understand my children's homework."

The program has also been innovative in putting in place parent classroom observations in the schools. This event was particularly powerful because most of the parents hadn't met their children's teachers before. The time spent in the classroom environment of the children was very beneficial for the parents.

Iris Toro, mother of a first grader at Kelly, said "I felt very comfortable seeing how my children were given the attention they need. It helped me understand my children and their teachers better."

Wanda Delgado, mother of seventh grade twins at Kelly, says "I felt comfortable, because I didn't know the teacher before and I saw my sons were relaxed. The experience was very positive for me personally."

Each school has a group of about 10 committed parents who come to the school twice a week for the class. The class now represents a community of parents that are engaged with each other and with the school-from taking the initiative to create a class snack rotation, to being more comfortable with the school space and staff, to volunteering at the school. Both schools have embraced the program.

Kelly School principal Jacqueline Glasheen says, "This program has really brought the parents into the fold of the school community. The visits to classrooms, preparation for conferences, as well as learning in the same building as their children has made a positive impact on the parents. It has been beneficial to the school and the families!"

We are proud and grateful for this strong start and look forward to continuing the program in the New Year.

DiscoverBooks is made possible by funding from the AEC Trust, the Irene E. & George A Davis Foundation, the United Way, Target, and the Holyoke Food and Fitness Policy Council.

Friday, December 7, 2012

Another Computer Lab Unveiled in Ghana

With the help of Reader to Reader’s Computer Donation Program, a new computer lab has opened at the middle school in Saviefe-Deme, Ghana, as a part of Reader to Reader’s ongoing Ghana Project.

Residents of Saviefe-Deme were invited to tour the lab and on the day these photos were taken the whole town was going through it.



Reader to Reader’s Computer Donation program is run in partnership with Amherst College and provides refurbished Dell Optiplex computers and iMacs to schools and libraries across the United States and across the globe.

Monday, December 3, 2012

The quality of the books is stunning!

Dear Reader to Reader Team,

The students here could hardly walk by the books you sent without asking for one, two, or more. How could it be other-wise, as the selections you sent are so engaging! As our literacy scores are not tops, it is truly exciting to see. I think your mission's intentions hit the mark here at Pinehill, NM.

The quality of the books is stunning. I know many of my art books are difficult acquisitions, as they are so valuable and expensive.

The classics and many of the high caliber books will find a home in our library, along side the many hard-covered books you sent. Our librarian is ecstatic! As it is, she grabbed the Native American titles and immediately put them out in celebration of our Native American Heritage month.

The paperback selections are golden and will be used as rewards for good academic progress. I had to defend them from many of our teachers. THEY wanted copies! Personally, it was hard to pass by some of the science fiction titles.

Thank you for all the work you are doing for the world's marginalized students. I know you are making a huge different in the quality of life and futures of many. You deal in pleasure and potential in the best of bases; warm, concerned, and beautiful human intention.

Thank you so very much! So very, very much!

Deer Maitre
Visual Arts, K-12
Pine Hill Schools
Pine Hill, New Mexico