RAVP Newsletter Winter 2010
In spite of our nation’s financial upsets, turmoil, and bailouts, you’ve enabled RAVP to have a fairly stable year. Thank you all for continuing to see value in its simple, direct structure. Thanks to our readers for their sometimes magical abilities to connect to children’s curiosity and wonder and help spark more of those feelings. Volunteers spend dedicated time guiding young students towards self-empowerment, opening their minds to a larger world view, and nurturing their self-confidence. Post-holiday sessions are often the debut of the skills we’ve hoped to unveil: First words read independently; more interaction with book and reader; improved fluency or understanding; _ and most miraculous _ sometimes first words spoken to the volunteer!
I’m very proud of our history and am hopeful that RAVP will remain a viable, appreciated part of schools in our district for some time to come. I’ll be part of that future as a volunteer reader, but am not continuing as the Director. Retirement has been in my plans for several years, and I’m looking forward to travel, gardening, taking classes, and filling my days with new activities. The Board and staff have been focusing on this change, and we’ll have a further announcement this Spring.
For the past 11 years I’ve been very fortunate to work with a supportive Board of Directors; incredible school administrators, staff, and teachers; and dedicated volunteers. You are all dear to me, and it has been an honor to work with such wonderful colleagues. This is a gem of a program _ may it “live long and prosper!”
With Great Affection,
Judy Sam
Program Director
KINDERGARTEN BOOK GIVEAWAY
IT'S ALL ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS
A "HELLO" . . . One of the wonderful benefits of Read-Aloud is the creation of a bond between a caring adult and a student. With that in mind, Dover Coordinator Candace Brochard shares with us the story of one such bond, between reader Florence Brown and a second grader we”ll call “Oscar”:
Florence is 87 and a great grandmother. She stays all day at Dover and reads to four children. Last year her last student of the day was Oscar, a second grade boy. He adored Florence and was always engaged and responsive. Like most boys he wanted books on dinosaurs and sharks, and Florence was most happy to oblige (though, as she will tell you, her passion is the Middle Ages knights and castles and their ladies.) One day last spring Oscar brought me a note from his teacher. She wanted confirmation in writing from me that Oscar was behaving in Read-Aloud. Florence and I were astounded. Our Oscar? How could it be? I spoke with his teacher, who informed me that Oscar had difficulty focusing and behaving in class. He was not a good student. She was worried that he might be a problem for us. I assured her that his behavior was great in Read-Aloud. At the end of the program, Oscar threw his arms around Florence and told her he would miss her.
Nine months later, in the new school year (eons in the life of an 8-year old) Oscar was in the playground and saw Florence through the open library door. He ran into the library and threw his arms around her again and told her how he had saved all his Read-Aloud books under his bed, safe from his little sister, and that Florence read him the best books. He said that when he saw her he just had to come in and say “hello.”
GIFT BOOK DAY
The following story was submitted by Elly Schowalter, who reads at Chavez. For the sake of the story, she calls the student “Kaiya”
“Today’s a gift book day.”
Kaiya, a perky 5-year old girl with a few blank spaces in her wide, shy smile, looked up.
“You get to choose one of these books to take home and keep for your very own,” I explained, spreading out six brand new, pre-selected paperback books on the table we shared in the school library.
At the end of our half hour together, I reminded Kaiya that she could choose a book to take home. With a big smile, and a happy wiggling body, she chose the one book that had been her favorite. When I asked her to write her name, a series of squiggles decorated the Read-Aloud sticker that I stuck on the inside of the cover page. I carefully wrote K-A-I-Y-A on the sticker, saying each letter out loud, before she skipped down the hall back to her classroom, grinning from ear to ear,
A couple of weeks later, it was gift book day again. “I don’t want no book,” she said emphatically, shaking her head back and forth to emphasize the words, and setting her lips into a frown. “I don’t want no book to take home.”
“How about taking this book that was your favorite,?” I suggested, putting a Read-Aloud sticker in the front and carefully writing her name. Reluctantly, Kaiya took the book and I walked her back to her classroom.
The next week I talked with Kaiya’s teacher about Kaiya’s not wanting to take a book home. She told me there were several different people caring for Kaiya, and that she herself was having a difficult time engaging the family in Kaiya’s education. I asked if it would be possible for Kaiya to keep her Read-Aloud gift books in the classroom.
“Sure. I can find some place for them,” the teacher responded.
At the next gift book day, Kaiya again stated ”I don’t want no book to take home.”
“I talked with your teacher last week,” I said. “I asked her if it would be OK for you to keep your books in the classroom, and she said it was OK.”
Before I could even ask which book she wanted to take, Kaiya was shuffling through the five books spread out on the table. Without saying a word, she picked out a book and hugged it to her chest. “I can write my name,” she said, taking a Read-Aloud sticker from my hand and forming a perfect letter “K.”
“Shall I fill in the rest of the letters?” I asked.
“Yes,” she answered, watching carefully as I wrote and said each letter.
Nearly running back to her classroom, Kaiya hugged the book so tightly that the smallest ant wouldn’t have been able to get in. As promised, her teacher met us at the door and showed a bubbling Kaiya to her own personal, budding library.
In Memoriam
We lost our dear friend and supporter Kay Davis in June, 2009. When Read-Aloud founder Marilyn Nye conceived of the program in 1996, Kay and her husband Frank helped make it become a reality by providing a sizable amount of money to seed the program and allow it to grow. Kay and Frank have continued to fund the program every year since. After Marilyn’s death in 1999, Kay provided a lot of support to Judy Sam, who took over the program. Kay also supported many other causes she cared deeply about, and was active with the Turnabout Thrift Shop in El Cerrito. Many of her friends donated to Read-Aloud in her name, enabling us to purchase books in her memory for each school. She was our angel, and her presence will be missed.
Sheryl Barksdale
Read-Aloud and the Dover School community mourn the loss of Sheryl Barksdale, Dover’s School Secretary extraordinaire. According to the Contra Costa Times obituary, “Sheryl was a very special person, beloved by everyone who met her, her optimistic disposition and trademark smile brought joy and smiles to everyone around her.” That certainly was our experience. She was always helpful and supportive to our staff and readers. RAVP has donated 6 books to the Dover Library in Sheryl’s name.
THANK YOU TO ALL OUR DONORS
Since publication of our last newsletter, RAVP also received grants from the following corporations, charitable foundations, and professional associations:
Chevron’s Richmond Refinery and their Humankind Program
Coronado Elementary School
Frank and Kay Davis Fund (East Bay Community Foundation)
The Nye Family
Raymond Family Foundation
Red Oak Opportunity Foundation (R.O.O.F)
Richmond Rotary
Stege Elementary School
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Tosa Foundation
Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley
Bernard E. and Alba Witkin Foundation
Thank you all for keeping the program running and for helping to provide so many wonderful books for the children.