PURPOSE:
To bring God’s love to the children of Salem Elementary School by sharing our own nurturing love with them, serving as adult role models/tutors who care about their success at school and the choices they will make as they experience life.
BACKGROUND:
Friends of Salem began about 10 years ago with a group of volunteers who went into the Salem classrooms and taught 10 minute lessons on character traits: respect, responsibility, honesty, and compassion. Then they stayed and helped the children with their school work. Our volunteers are still doing that and we have expanded to add volunteers who listen to children read. Learning to read is like a sport or an art: It takes practice. Having an adult to listen and help with reading is so important to young children, and that is what our volunteers provide. The reading program also provides books for the children to keep for their own. They earn their books by working to read them fluently and with comprehension. Recent research is showing a possible increase in reading success when children have their own books at home.
To summarize, our volunteers are working in three main ways:
1. Being role models/adult friends for the children and discussing ways that they can choose to behave throughout their lives.
2. Listening to children read and providing help with their reading.
3. Providing engaging books to give to the children once they have earned the book, in hopes that the children will read their books again and again at home.
Volunteers may wear casual clothes, even jeans. Most work alone but some work in pairs; it is up to the volunteers. No teaching skills are needed nor is it expected that volunteers bring any supplies or materials from home. You just have to want to work with children and help them grow and succeed in school.
**A simple background check is required of all volunteers. It does not require finger prints and it can be completed in just a few minutes online.
To bring God’s love to the children of Salem Elementary School by sharing our own nurturing love with them, serving as adult role models/tutors who care about their success at school and the choices they will make as they experience life.
BACKGROUND:
Friends of Salem began about 10 years ago with a group of volunteers who went into the Salem classrooms and taught 10 minute lessons on character traits: respect, responsibility, honesty, and compassion. Then they stayed and helped the children with their school work. Our volunteers are still doing that and we have expanded to add volunteers who listen to children read. Learning to read is like a sport or an art: It takes practice. Having an adult to listen and help with reading is so important to young children, and that is what our volunteers provide. The reading program also provides books for the children to keep for their own. They earn their books by working to read them fluently and with comprehension. Recent research is showing a possible increase in reading success when children have their own books at home.
To summarize, our volunteers are working in three main ways:
1. Being role models/adult friends for the children and discussing ways that they can choose to behave throughout their lives.
2. Listening to children read and providing help with their reading.
3. Providing engaging books to give to the children once they have earned the book, in hopes that the children will read their books again and again at home.
Volunteers may wear casual clothes, even jeans. Most work alone but some work in pairs; it is up to the volunteers. No teaching skills are needed nor is it expected that volunteers bring any supplies or materials from home. You just have to want to work with children and help them grow and succeed in school.
**A simple background check is required of all volunteers. It does not require finger prints and it can be completed in just a few minutes online.
