Volunteer Corner

Ileene and Sandy Morris,
Open Charter Magnet School
7th year volunteers

We have both been volunteering at Open Charter Magnet as husband and wife for over five years, and every year we see progress in our students’ reading ability. We also see a raise in self-esteem and believe that is very important in encouraging our reading partners to love to read. Alongside this common ground, we have very different approaches in our sessions with our students.  Here are a couple of activities that we have found successful and fun.

LETS TAKE A TRIP
Ileene Morris

Daniel is a 4th grader who hasn't done much traveling but has shown a great deal of interest in places he's never been.  To add a little something to our regular reading sessions, he selects a location he would like to visit.  We find a book about that place which he reads, and if I have visited the locations he selects, I bring in pictures of my trip and he questions me about them.  Finally he writes a story relating to the location, which we mount on paper below the picture he picked.  Daniel is very proud to take it home and show his family.  His stories are entertaining and informative and he even wrote his story about Hawaii in the form of a letter home to his friend.  What an imagination!

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION
Sandy Morris

Liana, a 4th grader, is sometimes tired and less than enthusiastic about reading.  I discovered she was very dramatic, so to bring some excitement to our weekly reading sessions, we create an imaginary T.V. program where she reads to a vast, make believe audience that can hardly wait to hear her perform.  I give her a glowing introduction and Liana, in her most dramatic voice, reads from her selected book, trying her very best to read each word correctly.  Of course, when she is finished, she gets applause and praise. Liana seems to be very proud of herself and I really believe that her self-esteem goes up a couple of notches.