Thanks to our volunteer committees who started meeting months ago to plan and execute the biggest and best CBC – Calgary Reads sale yet.

Thanks to all the Calgary schools and businesses that collected gently-used books and donated them.

Thanks to students at Calgary high schools for donating your beautiful, book-inspired art for our silent auction.

Thanks CBC Calgary for talking about us and getting people excited. Thanks to Angela Knight and the Do-Crew for building some gorgeous Little Free Libraries for us.

Thanks SVP and KPMG for sponsoring the Storytelling Tent – those kids had a hoot!

Thanks Sodexo for sponsoring the Volunteer Room and helping all those hardworking volunteers get a much-deserved break.

Thanks WestJet for donating 2 tickets for our raffle – you made one lucky lady very happy.

Thanks to everyone who donated books and thanks Calgary Police Services and Calgary Food Bank for being such friendly and convenient book drop off locations this year. Thanks to the Calgary Police Services for also providing a friendly presence all weekend at the sale.

Thanks BFI and Victory Packaging for your donations-in-kind.

Thanks to all the teams that came down and volunteered together including Deloitte, Chevron Canada, Nexen, Enbridge, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Atco Power, CBC Calgary, Sir Winston Churchill High School, SAIT (Information Technology Students), the City of Calgary (Society of Professional Engineers), Beta Sigma Phi Chi (Master Chapter), Kiwanis Club and Robert McClure United Church.

Thanks to the musicians at the National Music Centre for providing such groovy tunes while people waited in line and shopped.

And last, but not least, thanks to all the dedicated volunteers that hauled boxes, sorted books, greeted book lovers, read stories, baked treats and helped customers find special treasures.

We can’t do what we do without you!

As a tutor, you know that some kids just won’t sit still and read. They bounce. They fidget. They doodle. If you are a teacher, a tutor or a parent, you know what a challenge it can be to focus a child that needs to move. These active learners can benefit from strategies that allow them to be active but focused. By using games, tools and adjusting to the needs of these wiggly ones, you can help them learn. Calgary Reads has developed a new video to help tutors help their young readers. We’ve also created a handy accompanying document that you can print off and take with you to your next tutoring session, or use to follow along with the video. To watch this new video and print off the document, click here or find it later by clicking on the Reading Tips tab on our homepage and then click on Strategies for Active Learners on the right side of your screen.

If you have completed 6 – 8 tutoring sessions, we would love to see you again for Level 2 Tutor Training. Level 2 Tutor Training is a great chance to refine your skills as a tutor, learn new activities and strategies and to connect with other tutors. We have just added some new April training dates on our website.

If you are a devoted tutor and you don’t have a Calgary Reads book bag, please drop into our Valley View School office and pick one up. We’d love to see you!

Did you know that you can also keep up with us online? You can ‘Like’ us on Facebook and ‘Follow’ us on Twitter to see what’s new, share and add to conversations, read inspiring quotes or have a giggle.

This year is a monumental one for Ramsay School.

 The southeast Calgary school, which serves the communities of Ramsay and Victoria Park, is celebrating its 100^th anniversary in 2012. Through those years, its teachers and staff have shown a commitment to growth and learning for their students.

 In particular, The Little School with the Big Heart has embraced Calgary Reads in a big way to help their students develop critical early literacy skills. The benefits of this have been amazing, said Stephanie Jones, a teacher and Calgary Reads School Co-ordinator at the school.

 “Students are not only developing reading skills but they are developing a love of reading from someone, their tutor, who clearly loves to read too,” she said. “I love knowing that when students leave the room, they are getting purposeful instruction that they can transfer to their independent reading. It also enhances classroom reading instruction.”

 Jones stressed that every child has the right to learn and experience the joy of reading.

 “It is our responsibility to teach the skills that each individual child needs in order to make them read,” she said. “Calgary Reads helps us to reach every child in the class and ensures everyone is getting the exact assistance they need.”

 Early literacy is important, Jones noted, because it lays the foundation for further learning; it’s extremely important that children don’t fall behind because it could create a learning roadblock.   

 “I think it is important to engage students early and have them enjoy the learning processes so that they want to learn more. Calgary Reads helps to ensure these things for everyone.”

 Jones has taught at Ramsay for four years following a year-long stint at Terrace Road School, where she first saw the benefits of Calgary Reads.

 “When I moved to Ramsay School, I contacted Calgary Reads and they made having the programs at our school easy to organize and it’s been building ever since,” she said.

 Students love seeing tutors arrive and are equally eager to share with Jones how their reading skills have improved as a result of the sessions. The school recently hosted a Family Literacy Night, created from resources in the Literacy-in-a-Box developed by Calgary Reads, which Jones said went very well.

 “We started with a potluck and allowed time for the parents to talk to each other and the teachers to meet new parents,” she said. “We then introduced a scavenger hunt through the school. Students from Kindergarten to Grade 6 toured their families around and demonstrated their knowledge.” 

 Parents then listened to a presentation and were able to ask questions about literacy at home, while the students read with the school’s principal.

 “The feedback from parents was great,” Jones said. “They talked about understanding the importance of literacy being more than just reading. It was a great time as a teacher to reflect on ways to communicate with parents and show them all of the many ways they can support their children. It was a fun and very informative night for everyone involved.”

 Ramsay is also part of Calgary Reads’ pilot program that has five University of Calgary students coming to the school to work with a young reader and coach an older child as well.

 “This is yet another amazing program,” Jones said.

 The U of C students complete reading tutoring sessions with children in Grades 1 and 2. They take along a Grade 5 reading buddy and spend time teaching him or her ways to support the Grade 1/2 reader. Later in the week, the Grade 5 students take the skills they have learned to the students in the younger grades.

“Not only do they get to become leaders through this program, the Grade 5s are also learning more reading strategies for themselves,” Jones said. “The Grade 1 and 2s then get to double their time with a reader. I feel as though this program is really utilizing all the strengths in the school.”

Ramsay School, along with Calgary Reads, will be hosting a Together Event to celebrate reading at their school on April 11th.

Together Event Jan 2012

For Family Literacy Day, a group of us from work volunteered to read to kids at Marlborough Elementary School during an event put on by Calgary Reads. Calgary Reads is a non-profit organization promoting literacy in Calgary and helping those kids who are struggling. They have 400 tutors working one-on-one with hundreds of kids, and several other programs for parents, children, and schools, with plenty of volunteer opportunities.

Each of us sat down with a cluster of Grade 1 or 2 kids and read books. The time flew by. We read for 20 minutes but some of us didn’t even finish one book—a tribute to the power of storytelling as kids asked questions, expressed their opinions, analyzed artwork.  The gym buzzed with the sound of 50 volunteers sharing the joy of reading with 80 children.

And when we were done our official duties, the storytelling continued. People told tales of reading to their own kids. Of their kids growing up. Of their childhood.  It continued as we told others about our experience that morning. It will keep on going. Storytelling has no end. You don’t have to write novels or recite The Cremation of Sam McGee from memory to be a storyteller. It is how we communicate every day. It is how we learned all that we did since evolution steered us onto this road, with stories winding through millennia, shifting forms.

Think how frustrating it would be to not be able to read the stories your peers are devouring. In Calgary, 1 in 4 children is behind in their literacy skills by grade 2 and may never catch up. Stories are an essential part of our lives. Yes we can tell them to each other vocally, or watch them on TV, or see them in theatres. But a huge number of stories are written. Not just books, but e-mails, letters, sticky-notes, road signs, text messages, blogs, social media. We are a very textual society. And inspiring a child to read by reading to them—or even so much as letting them see you reading—can make a huge difference down the road.

Celebrate literacy by writing down one of your own stories, or reading one to someone else.

Steacy Collyer, Calgary Reads’s Executive Director, has this advice for how to make Calgary – and the world – a better place:

1.       Read

2.       Read to someone else

3.       Read every day that you eat

I’m pretty sure we can all handle that. And if you have some spare time, volunteer to read with a struggling student for a little while each week. You’ll change their life.

- Written by Jenna, a Calgary Reads volunteer.

Read more by Jenna on her blog:

www.jennaspearing.tumblr.com/

Recently Mayor Nenshi’s Civic Engagement Committee launched a new initiative – 3 Things for Calgary – which asks us to imagine every Calgarian getting involved in three ways to make our city even better. It’s a simple concept:  think of three things you can do to make your community better, do them, and then tell three people about what you did.

If you are having trouble deciding upon your three things, here’s a suggestion for your first one.   Consider becoming a trained volunteer tutor with Calgary Reads. By spending two hours a week during the school day with a struggling reader in Grade 1 or 2, you will make a real difference in that child’s life. Because early literacy skills are fundamental building blocks to future success, it’s a difference that will last forever.

So join the growing team of Calgary Reads volunteers. You will make a difference in the life of a young reader and you will be off to a great start on accomplishing your 3 Things for Calgary!

Learn more about volunteering with Calgary Reads at www.calgaryreads.com or email Calgary Reads at info@calgaryreads.com.

“Now that I’m done reading the fairy series, I’m reading puppy books.”

Seven year old Victoria glows as she shares her newfound excitement for reading. She’s starting off Grade 3 as an enthusiastic reader, but when she was in Grade 2 she was identified as a struggling reader. She worked with her Calgary Reads tutor, Shauna, twice a week for sixteen weeks. Victoria looked forward to her one-on-one sessions with Shauna and still runs to greet her at the school. Her confidence grew and now she reads because she wants to, not because she has to. Victoria has big plans. She reads every day and hopes to someday start reading the Harry Potter series.

To share in the inspiration, read Richard Bird’s speaking notes here.

Richard Bird speaking notes, Calgary Reads Corporate Partnership Breakfast
September 8, 2011

Thank you Dave and thanks to everyone here this morning.

This is a great time of year for this event. Across Calgary nearly 150, 000 students are heading back to class, starting the year with high hopes and enthusiasm. Many of those students will race forward in their studies without more than the occasional and manageable difficulty or speed bump along the way. But some students will experience a more fundamental challenge, and that’s why we’re here today.
Literacy is one of the cornerstones of educational, career and life success. It’s easy to think of a childhood reading problem as affecting only student work in the language-based courses like English or Social Studies. But when you see a child who understands the math concepts, but can’t read the questions, or the one who loves science but can’t read the instructions for a lab experiment, you begin to appreciate just how important literacy is in every aspect of a child’s studies.

Early reading skills create a lifetime of opportunities and open doors that otherwise remain closed.

Which is why the impact that Calgary Reads has through its early literacy initiative is so important. The Society’s work is an investment in the potential and the long-term success of each child that it helps and in the community we share.

Thank you again, for joining us this morning, at the start of a new school year, to lend your support to Calgary Reads and the tremendous positive impact they are having on Calgary, one young reader at a time.

Here are the training session dates and locations for your calendar. We hope to see you soon!

School Coordinator Training

None at this time

Level 1 Training

Level 1 Training is now complete for the 2011-2012 school year. The fall tutor training schedule for 2012-2013 school year will be posted by August.

Level 2 Training – to be completed after tutoring 6-8 sessions

Saturday, May 26 from 10:00 – 1:00 at DeVry

ESL4ELL Training

None at this time