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Dear Friends of Reading to Kids,
FEBRUARY 13TH READING CLUBS
RSVPS NOW OPEN!
Woo hoo, we have opened the
February 13th reading clubs RSVPs!
If you have ever read with us at any of our prior reading clubs (face-to-face or virtual), please RSVP now at our homepage at
www.readingtokids.org or keep checking back to submit your RSVP for our virtual reading clubs on Febuary 13th!
We are
again limiting RSVPs for these virtual reading clubs only to returning
volunteers - people who have volunteered with us at least once before
at any of our previous face-to-face or virtual reading clubs. See further below how virtual clubs work.
MORE SPOTS MIGHT OPEN OVER THE NEXT WEEK!
If you check the website and find it is full, please keep checking back throughout the next week - we may have additional teachers confirm as Zoom hosts, allowing us to open additional volunteer spots.
EXPERIENCED
SCHOOL AMBASSADORS WANTED
ON ZOOM NEXT WEEK
Help promote Reading to Kids at our partner schools' Zoom sessions
next week!
If you have participated in our virtual reading clubs before, then you are qualified to encourage the kids on Zoom next week.
It's a lot of fun and we'll supply the very brief talking points. You may not get to speak at all, and it's great if you can speak Spanish (even a little), though there's always someone from the school on a Zoom session who can translate for you.
If you can be a Zoom Ambassador next week, please reply email us at
info@readingtokids.org and we'll send you the Ambassador info!
OPERATIONS VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
For our virtual reading clubs we need experienced volunteers to
help train volunteers to use Zoom or be a second or third virtual Site Coordinator
in our Zoom reading clubs for any of our schools.
Being a Site Coordinator guarantees you a (non-reading) spot at our next reading clubs, so please e-mail us at
info@readingtokids.org if you can help us create wonderful reading clubs!
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HOW VIRTUAL READING CLUBS WORK
Because LAUSD teachers are
using Zoom to reach their students, we will use Zoom for these virtual reading
clubs. The reading clubs will be hosted by participating teachers at each school
using their school Zoom accounts, but you will need your own Zoom account to
join the reading club. If you don’t already have a Zoom account, you can sign up
for a free, Basic account here:
https://zoom.us/pricing
IMPORTANT:
You will need to use Zoom from a desktop or laptop computer. The phone and
tablet versions of Zoom do not have the necessary features for our virtual
reading clubs.
Ideally, anyone who
volunteers for these virtual reading clubs will be comfortable using
Zoom. If you wish to test out your Zoom connectivity prior to the
reading clubs, we encourage you to email us at
info@readingtokids.org so we may do a brief test run with you before the
virtual reading clubs.
The Friday before the
reading clubs you will receive a link for a Zoom "check-in" session with your
Site Coordinators that will begin promptly at 9:00 a.m. that Saturday.
Click here to review the schedule for these virtual reading clubs.
Once you and your fellow
volunteers are checked in, that same Zoom session will have a Zoom Volunteer
Orientation / Virtual Reading Club Training that will start promptly at 9:15
a.m.
At 9:30 a.m. you and your
volunteer partner will leave that Site Coordinator session and then join the
teacher's Zoom session. The teacher will host the Zoom call and make you
co-hosts. The first 30 minutes will be for troubleshooting and a prep session
for just you and your reading partner and the teacher.
The kids will join that
same reading club Zoom session at 10:00 a.m., and it will likely go until 10:30
or 11:00, at the teacher's discretion.
After the reading clubs
end you will then rejoin your Site Coordinator's Zoom call for a brief wrap-up.
To screen share the book
you will be reading with the children, you will need Adobe Acrobat or the free
Adobe Reader from
https://get.adobe.com/reader.
We will provide you a PDF
of the read-aloud book so you can prepare for the reading clubs. You can see the
read-aloud book titles for this month at
https://readingtokids.org/Books/BooksMonth.php.
We will provide at the
above link activities and simple craft ideas the kids can do at home. You would
prepare to lead the kids in an activity and craft, though you may not actually
do a craft, depending upon how the Zoom session goes. The kids may just want to
talk to new faces!
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HELP US FIND GRANTS!
Did you know Reading to Kids receives about
half of our funding from corporation and foundation
grants? For example, over the last five years alone
six of our volunteers helped us receive $140,000 in
grants from their employers!
Please check to see if your employer offers grants
that Reading to Kids can apply to and let us know!
You may help us buy thousands of books for kids!
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PLEASE HELP US FIND
BINGO PRIZE & AUCTION ITEMS
We're starting to plan our next
Virtual Legendary Bingo on Zoom fundraiser for
April or May, and we need your help gathering
prizes for the bingo winners!
To help you get started, here is
information about Reading to Kids to share with
potential donors, as well as a
donation form for them to complete.
We especially enjoy awarding gift certificates,
gift bags, and
autographed items! Anything unique
is great, too!
If you work at or have a connection with products or
services to offer, please help us by asking for a donation
to our events.
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