Family Literacy Academy Reads for the Record

Reading Connections'  Family Literacy Academy of Guilford County at Hunter Elementary had fun taking part in the Read for the Record Campaign on October 6.  More than 2 million voices called out that day for an end to America's early education achievement gap by reading Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney -- setting a world record in the process! After fun activities in the children's classes, parents were able to read the book online with their children. The Read for the Record Campaign is sponsored, in part, by the Pearson Foundation -- one of the great family literacy friends and supporters of one of our major family literacy funders, The Volunteer USA Foundation! See our Special Volunteer Opportunities below to find out how you can get involved in our Family Literacy programs!

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100 Tutors in 100 Days!

Our 100 Tutors in 100 Days campaign is succeeding beyond what we could have expected! We've already had more than 250 inquiries!!! 25 people completed training in September and 101 more are registered for trainings in October, November, and December! It looks like we will certainly meet our goal!

We always expect a little drop-off in the number of people who attend a training due to schedule conflicts, illnesses, and emergencies, so we still need more new tutors to sign up for training to be sure we hit our goal of 100 trained tutors by the end of our December training. Our October training sessions are full, but there is still room in our November and December sessions. (See the calendar on our website for dates and times.)

Help us reach our goal! Refer friends you think would be great tutors! All new tutors who complete training and any existing tutor who refers a friend will be entered to win a $100 gift card from The Fresh Market!

We'll keep you posted on our progress. Help us keep up the momentum and train 100 tutors in 100 days!

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Student of the Month: Mary Bruce

The High Point Office would like to recognize Mary Bruce as our Student of the Month. Mary is an incredibly dedicated student, never misses class, and is becoming an ambassador for Reading Connections as part of the Student Speakers Club we are starting. Mary is always eager to spread the word about Reading Connections and was even featured on News 14 Carolina a couple of  weeks ago to share her experiences in the program. Congratulations Mary for you dedication and hard work!

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Sphinx Virtuosi Concert

On Friday, October 7th a group of 11 Reading Connections students, family members and staff attended the Sphinx Virtuosi Concert featuring the Catalyst Quartet. The Sphinx Virtuosi  is an all black and Latino chamber orchestra based out of Detroit, MI. They're internationally renowned, and their mission is to increase the participation of black & Latino individuals in music schools, as professional musicians, and as classical music audiences; administer youth development initiatives in undeserved communities through music education; and promote the creation, performance, and preservation of works by black and Latino composers. The concert was incredible and students and staff had a wonderful time!

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Tutorfest

TutorFest, our Annual Tutor Conference is coming up soon!

This is a conference for all Reading Connections tutors to take your knowledge of adult literacy to the next level to help make a difference for your students!

TutorFest High Point will be held on October 22 from 12-4pm at the High Point Museum. TutorFest Greensboro will be held on November 5 from 8:30 am-12:30 pm at Greensboro College. Please look for your invitation and more details in your email!

You can register for TutorFest High Point by calling 884-7323 or by emailing Kyri Murdough at kmurdough@readingconnections. org . To register for TutorFest Greensboro please call 230-2223 or email Beth Larson ( blarson@readingonnections.org ).

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Special Volunteer Opportunities

Do you know sign language? Reading Connections has a new student who is deaf and needs a translator. Please contact Micah Guindon (mguindon@readingconnections.org) or call 230-2223 if you would like to be a volunteer ASL translator. This is a great opportunity to practice your ASL and to make a difference in a student's life!

We also need volunteers for our family literacy program! Last month we launched family literacy programs at Hunter Elementary in Greensboro and Oak Hill Elementary in High Point. We need volunteers at both sites to assist with fun activities in our child classrooms and to help with set-up and clean-up. Classes at Hunter Elementary meet Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:00-8:30 pm. Oak Hill Elementary classes meet on Monday nights from 5:30-8:30 pm. Please call Kim Taylor at 230-2223 or email ktaylor@readingconnections.org if you are interested in becoming part of this amazing program!

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Wish List: Thermometers

As part of our Health Literacy classes with teen and young mothers at the YWCA, we will be distributing copies of What to Do When Your Child Gets Sick and giving parents a basic first aid kit. We have most of the materials we need (band aids, gauze, etc.) but the most important thing is still missing: thermometers. Many parents with low health literacy are not sure how to tell if their child has a fever. At one What to Do When Your Child Gets Sick class, only 1 out of 60 parents attending had a thermometer in their home! We need about 50 thermometers to complete our kits. Please contact Micah Guindon at mguindon@readingconnections.org or 230-2223 if you can help us meet this need.

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Literacy for Employment: Online Resources

For most Reading Connections students, both ABE and ESOL, language and reading skills means more than passing a test or finishing a worksheet -- literacy is a necessity for improving quality of life.  Often a student's primary goal is to improve employment opportunities, but it can be difficult to integrate workplace skills into a lesson, let alone make the jump from a reading class to a new career.

What follows here is a list of free online resources that can help your student make the transition from the classroom to the workplace.  These are fully fleshed out curricula that tie employment skills to literacy: for instance, a lesson might be structured around GED level vocabulary and comprehension skills specifically related to a career in hospitality. This is a great opportunity for 1:1 tutors to pull in material relevant to a student's life goals, and class instructors may find these resources helpful if their students have common employment interests as well!

1.  Bridging the Employment Gap - Clerical
www.nald.ca/library/learning/ gap/clerical/pdf/clerical.pdf
Developed by Simcoe/Muskika Literacy Network

2.  Bridging the Employment Gap - Grounds Maintenance
www.nald.ca/library/learning/ gap/grounds/pdf/grounds.pdf
Developed by Simcoe/Muskika Literacy Network

3.  Bridging the Employment Gap - Janitorial
www.nald.ca/library/learning/ gap/janitorial/pdf/janitorial. pdf
Developed by Simcoe/Muskika Literacy Network

4.  Bridging the Employment Gap - Kitchen Help
www.nald.ca/library/learning/ gap/kitchen/pdf/kitchen.pdf Developed by Simcoe/Muskika Literacy Network

5.   GED Career Bridge to Hospitality
http://www.valrc.org/ publications/hospitality/ index.html
Developed by the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center

6.  An ESOL toolkit for general construction, landscaping, painting, and plumbing. http://www.valrc.org/ publications/buildingbasics/# top
Developed by the Virginia Adult Learning Resource Center

7.   English in the Work Place for School Custodians.
www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/ recordDetail?accno=ED320459
Developed by Fairfax County Public Schools Office of Adult and Community Education

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We are always interested in your feedback. Do you have questions or concerns? Please contact the office.

Sincerely,
Reading Connections Staff

Greensboro Office
122 N. Elm St., Ste. 520
Greensboro, NC 27401
info@readingconnections.org
Phone: (336)230-2223
Fax: (336) 230-2203

High Point Office
901 N. Main Street
High Point, NC 27262

P.O. Box 2530
High Point, NC 27261

info@readingconnections.org
Phone (336) 884-7323
Fax (336) 883-3636

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