Volunteers needed in May!   Click here to sign up.
 Site Areas: 
  HOME  
  ABOUT US  
  FRIENDS & SUPPORTERS  
  HOW TO HELP  
  NEWS  
  READING CLUBS  
Go to Reading to Kids Home Page
Reading to Kids News
June 9, 2022
 

Dear Friends of Reading to Kids,

As the fifth graders at our partner schools graduate this week, our June reading clubs are this Saturday, and we may have an open volunteer spot for you!

College Mural at Magnolia Elementary
College Mural at Magnolia Elementary
(click above image to see full size)

If you have ever read with us at any of our prior reading clubs (face-to-face or virtual), please check our homepage at www.readingtokids.org to see if we have any new open spots for our "Friendship & Fun" virtual reading clubs this Saturday!

(If you are signed up but can't attend after all, please click here to cancel ASAP or before 3:00 p.m. tomorrow so someone else can take your place!)

We must continue to limit 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 below for how virtual clubs work.


If you check our website and find all reader spots are full today or tomorrow, please keep checking back so we'll have enough volunteers in case someone had to cancel.


STAND-BY READERS WANTED!

If all spots are full then please let us know at info@readingtokids.org if you are willing to be a "stand-by" reader for this Saturday. A "stand-by" reader is someone willing to fill in for any grade at any school if we have any last-second reader cancellations.

Stand-by readers must be available this Saturday morning from 8am to around 11am and willing to read via Zoom to any grade at any school. It's a valuable role!

OPERATIONS VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

Volunteers checking in with their Site Coordinators on Zoom
Volunteers checking in for our Zoom reading clubs

For our virtual reading clubs we need experienced volunteers to 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!

_______________________________________________

HOW VIRTUAL READING CLUBS WORK

Zoom reading clubs

Because LAUSD has not yet determined when volunteer organizations can return to on-campus events, we continue to 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!

Kindergarten crafts at LA Elementary
_______________________________________________

HELP US FIND GRANTS!

Jessica Brown-Clark with Target grant check

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 $83,000 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 at info@readingtokids.org! You may help us buy thousands of books for kids!

_______________________________________________

Thanks, and we hope you can submit your RSVP for our June 11th reading clubs today or tomorrow before 3pm if we get to open more volunteer spots!

Sincerely,

Charlie Orchard & Talethe Collins
Reading to Kids
1600 Sawtelle Blvd, Suite 210
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 479-7455
(310) 479-7435 (FAX)
info@readingtokids.org
www.readingtokids.org
www.facebook.com/readingtokids
www.twitter.com/readingtokids
www.readingtokids.blogspot.com

Make a donation:
www.readingtokids.org/HowToHelp/HelpDonate.php

JUNE 2022
Reading Club RSVPs
School RSVPs Capacity
Alta Loma 6 6
Esperanza 6 6
Gratts 7 7
Los Angeles 5 5
MacArthur Park 6 6
Magnolia 11 11
Politi 5 5
White 8 8
TOTAL 54 54
JUNE Books. . .
Kindergarten book
Kindergarten
First Grade book
First Grade
Second Grade book
Second Grade
Third Grade book
Third Grade
Fourth Grade book
Fourth Grade
Fifth Grade book
Fifth Grade

Reading to Kids is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Visit www.readingtokids.org for more information.

To unsubscribe from the Reading to Kids update e-mails, please click on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.