United Way ReadingPals Program

Volunteer Handbook

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Table of Contents

Section 1: ReadingPals Overview

What is ReadingPals? 3

Volunteer position description & expectations 4

Volunteer overview 5

Frequently asked questions 6

Sign Up for Remind (text-message reminders) 7

Sample sign-in sheet 8-9

Reading Calendar 10-11

Miami-Dade County Calendar 12

Share your pictures with us 13

Thank you and contact information 14

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ReadingPals is an early childhood literacy initiative that brings 200 plus volunteers into 50 Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) classrooms in our community to read to a small group of children for 30 minutes per week. The program is funded by Carol and Barney Barnett, chair and co-chair of Publix Supermarket Charities, who generously contributed private funding to address kindergarten readiness in the state of Florida between 10 United Ways.

The goal of ReadingPals is to instill a love for reading at a young age by providing students with an opportunity to engage, discuss, explore and read with volunteers for one hour a week.

The ReadingPals program understands that in order to make a greater impact with our children, teachers and families need to be an integral part of the program. This is why ReadingPals provides teachers, volunteers and families with tools that will enable them to be advocates for early childhood education and learn how to support children’s emergent literacy skills. Each of the 200 children in our program receive a minimum of four take-home books throughout the year and a transition to kindergarten packet that includes books, activities and community resources that we hope will prevent summer loss.

What is ReadingPals?

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ReadingPals position description &

expectations

Job Title

ReadingPals volunteer

Summary of the position:

Serves as a reader to a small group of children that have been pre-selected by the

teacher to participate in 30 minutes of reading intervention per-week. Students’ are

selected and recommended to the program after reviewing VPK scores. Volunteers will

read for at least half an hour, at the same time each week; at one of the 20 plus

centers/schools participating in the ReadingPals Program.

Works With:

ReadingPals Coordinator, participating teachers and site leadership staff

Skills and Qualifications:

Complete training

Complete and pass Level 1 background check

Excitement, eagerness and desire to work with our wonderful students

Time commitment:

30 minutes of reading once a week

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Overview for ReadingPals volunteers

•The program will begin the week of September 15th and end the week of May 6th

•200 volunteers across the County are matched with small groups (2:1 ratio) of children to help build vocabulary and other literacy skills by reading high quality books and engaging them in interactive learning

Classroom Experience

Day 1 (i.e. Tuesday) Day 2 (i.e. Thursday)

Two volunteers will come on each reading day to read to two different students (represented in red and blue). Volunteers should read to the SAME two students each week for 30 minutes. Another volunteer willl read to your students on a different day of the week – giving each student 1 hour of intervention each week.

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Frequently asked questions

How were our reading days/times selected?

What happens if a student is absent?

Will the students receive books to take home?

Who should I contact if I have a question or concern?

The principal, assistant principal, curriculum specialist, and/or reading coach at your

school selected the reading days/times earlier this summer.

If one student is absent, the volunteer should work with the other assigned student.

If both students are absent, please coordinate with the teacher to conduct a whole-class

reading.

Each participating student will receive a minimum of 4 take-home books over the course of

the year.

Students will also receive materials and resources to support the transition to kindergarten

and encourage family literacy.

•For matters concerning the volunteer program or logistics, contact Luisa Cotto at

(305) 646-7118 or cottol@unitedwaymiami.org

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(347) 514-6626

@readingmia

Enter this number

Text this message

New message

To:

Message:

Recipients: readingmia@mail.remind.com

Subject: (You can leave the subject blank)

Sign up for ReadingPals

text messages alerts

To receive messages via text, text

@readingmia to (347) 514-6626

You can opt-out of messages at

anytime by replying ‘unsubscribe

@readingmia’.

Or to receive messages via email,

send an email to

readingmia@mail.remind.com to

unsubscribe, reply with ‘unsubscribe’

in the subject line

What is “remind” and why is it safe ?

Remind is a one-way text messaging system. With Remind, all personal information

remains completely confidential. Teachers will never see your phone number, nor will you

ever see theirs.

Visit: www.remind.com to learn more.

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Sample sign-in sheet

Mark with an “X” every time you read

to your assigned children. If one of

your assigned children is absent, leave

it blank or mark with a line “—”.

This will allow us to keep attendance of

the child.

If a child leaves the school and the teacher assigns

you another child, please make note of this within

this section. Please add the date the child changed.

YOUR NAME HERE CLASSROOM NAME OR NUMBER

TEACHER’S NAME HERE

CHILD’S NAME CHILD’S NAME

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Comments

Child 1: Child 2:

Use this page to leave

comments for yourself or your

reading buddy regarding your

students

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Reading Schedule 2016-2017

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Reading Schedule 2016-2017

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Share your pictures with us!

Every child in the ReadingPals program has a media release form. Take pictures with your children

and send them to us at readingpals@unitedwaymiami.org or by text at (754) 900-1073.

If you are using social media, use the hashtag #ReadingPalsMiami @unitedwaymiami.

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Thank You on behalf of the entire

ReadingPals staff!

Luisa Cotto Associate Director,Engagement & Communications External Affairs United Way of Miami-Dade 305.646.7118 Office cottol@unitedwaymiami.org

Helpful Links: http://www.unitedwaymiami.org/readingpals https://www.facebook.com/UnitedWayMiami https://twitter.com/unitedwaymiami http://tinyurl.com/readingpalscurriculum