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Isle-READ

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The IsleREAD Community Engagement Initiative is a program designed to prepare and provide vetted, trained volunteers to our local schools for the purpose of augmenting the current school reading programs and helping to enhance students in need skill level

11/30/2023

Smithfield Kiwanis Club, with support from our community partners, Luter Family YMCA, Smithfield Library, Christian Outreach Program, Isle of Wight County Schools and Smithfield Woman's Club, began the IsleREAD Initiative. IsleREAD’s mission is to work with our schools to augment their efforts to bring at risk students up to reading standards with their peers. Since our initial start last year, we now have 30 vetted volunteers to work one-on-one with kindergarten students on a weekly basis. Presently, we are working with Hardy Elementary School, but as the program grows, we hope to expand our reach as well. Our pool of volunteers consists of many community professionals including a local minister, a veterinarian, a professor, a librarian, and many more.

Pictured is the IsleREAD Leadership Team and Community Partners. From left to right, Alicia Reeves, Hardy Elementary Reading Coach, Haley Cooprider, Instructional Literacy Coordinator for Pre K-5 Isle of Wight County Schools, Beth Butner, Christian Outreach Food for Thought Program, Mary Cox, Luter YMCA Director, Shante Denson, Hardy Elementary Principal, Linda Lytton, Kiwanis / IsleREAD Program Lead, Barbara Arrington, Smithfield Woman’s Club, Terry Andrews, Smithfield Library Branch Manager, and Bonnie Franklin, IsleREAD Facilitator.

07/28/2023

Some of the IsleREAD program team came together recently to start planning for our 2nd year at Hardy Elementary!!!

We are so excited to be carrying the program forward and thankful for all the wonderful volunteers coming to help out. The IsleREAD program is a vetted volunteer program designed to augment the efforts of the teachers in helping students raise their reading literacy. Terry and Rose have prepared a great flyer with all the details for program participation, which is available at the Smithfield library.

Pictures below: Haley Cooprider, IOW Schools Reading Specialist, Janet Moore-program volunteer, Rosemarie Packard-Program Volunteer Coordinator, Terry Andrews-Smithfield Blackwater Regional Library Branch Manager, and Bonnie Franklin-program Sign-Up Genius Coordinator. Photograph courtesy of Tea Frantz

02/20/2023

This particular event may be over, but all Isle of Wight children up to the age of five are eligible for registration in this ongoing program. Each registered child will receive an age-appropriate book each month by mail.

To register, visit [https://imaginationlibrary.com/](https://imaginationlibrary.com/), click on CHECK AVAILABILITY, and enter the child’s home zip code.

Please join with us in continuing to inform and encourage all parents of eligible children to register for this wonderful opportunity for literacy empowerment which benefits ALL residents.

The single most significant factor influencing a child’s early educational success is an introduction to books and being read to at home prior to beginning school. (National Commission of Reading)

11/19/2022

Our program has been active now for over a month and we are now ready to welcome more volunteers into the program. Are you interested in helping raise the level of our local youth reading comprehension? Contact us today to get started with our volunteer training, just message us here.

This community partnership of invested organizations currently includes Smithfield Kiwanis, Isle of Wight County Schools, The Smithfield Blackwater Library, The Luter YMCA, Christian Outreach Programs Food for Thought book program, and The Woman's Club of Smithfield Education CSP, with more organizations coming on board to increase volunteerism. Interested volunteers--both individuals and groups--may contact us at email: [email protected] for more information or to sign up for a training session.

10/19/2022

Thank you so much to Smithfield Times for writing about our program. It means so much to us. Message us here if you are ready to get involved and help the children raise their reading skills.

10/17/2022

A group of concerned citizens, sponsored by The Smithfield Kiwanis Club, started the IsleREAD reading engagement program in February 2022. The main goal of this program is to augment the schools’ efforts to close the reading gap. The program is working with Isle of Wight County Schools Elementary Literacy Coordinator, Haley Cooprider, and school staff to ensure we do this in an acceptable manner and with good guidelines.

The team’s initial meetings were focused on creating an avenue for community volunteers to be safely screened and trained through the program. This has been established as a training session to screen volunteers through Kiwanis Youth Protection Training and the YMCA background check process. It also includes an in-person tutor training session with Terry Andrews, librarian and branch manager of the Smithfield location in the Blackwater Regional Library system. Mrs. Andrews has extensive knowledge and years of experience in the area of reading engagement with children.

Based on the current needs within our county schools, the program team determined that Hardy Elementary Kindergarten was the best place to start, with hopes that the program will grow in the future and expand to other schools in the county. A volunteer coordinator, Rose Packard, is in place to answer questions about how to become involved, and volunteers who have completed all training and background check requirements are already signing up to work with readers in the classroom. Currently, slots are available Monday – Friday from 10am – 11am, with four volunteer slots available each day (one in each classroom). That makes 20 slots available per week!

This community partnership of invested organizations currently includes Smithfield Kiwanis, Isle of Wight County Schools, The Smithfield Blackwater Library, The Luter YMCA, Christian Outreach Programs Food for Thought book program, and The Woman's Club of Smithfield Education CSP, with more organizations coming on board to increase volunteerism. Interested volunteers--both individuals and groups--may contact us at email: [email protected] for more information or to sign up for a training session.

08/15/2022

The IsleREAD reading engagement program is progressing along wonderfully. Pictured here is Terry Andrews of the Blackwater Regional library at Smithfield conducting our tutor training session of our first volunteer training program. We will have another training program scheduled soon for any new potential volunteers that want to be involved in the program. In order to keep a safe, well-managed program, we are doing our due diligence to have good training and preparation for all of our volunteers and that includes background checks.

Please message us here if you are interested in helping the children and our local community schools learn how to read better.

06/21/2022

Are you interested in volunteering in our local schools for reading engagement? Do you care about our local children's ability to read?

We are looking for volunteers for our new IsleREAD reading engagement program. Our volunteers will be given training by experienced reading professionals and will go through a background check prior to participation in the program. Volunteers will be able to pick from available spots at the school.

If you are interested in participating, please message us today! Our volunteer coordinator will get in touch with you to start the process. 😊

05/27/2022

We almost forgot to post this one, but here it is. So happy our Kiwanis led community initiative is growing legs and starting to walk. Here's the info that made the paper:
We are calling it IsleREAD!

There is a new reading and literacy program initiative getting started in town. Our local Smithfield Kiwanis Club has brought together a group of partnering agents to develop a new reading and literacy program focused on raising the literacy levels of our early education students through one-on-one engagement utilizing vetted volunteers from our community. Smithfield Kiwanis Club President Teresa Frantz and past and future Kiwanian Presidents; Steve Butkus and Wayne Willis met with partners from IOWCS Reading and Literacy Coordinator Haley Cooprider, Smithfield Blackwater Library Branch Manager Terry Andrews, Christian Outreach Book Program - Food for Thought Coordinator Beth Butner, and the Luter YMCA Director Mary Cox to launch this initiative. Kiwanis Division 13, Lt Gov Ken Surles-Law also participated to share his experience and expertise as he has helped launch similar programs like this one on the peninsula.
Initially, the program was expected to be a funding and supplies effort for school and childcare reading areas, but after the first round of discussions, it was identified that the real need lies in having the personnel to work with the children one-on-one, to give them the engagement time that is needed to really make a difference in their reading abilities. As the discussion progressed, the program developed into county-wide reading mentorship program with our initial focus area on Hardy Elementary School Kindergarten for next school year. It should also be noted that the partnership nature of this collaborative initiative has already led to benefits of the school children this year. As coordinator for the COP Food for Thought Book program Beth Butner saw the need in the schools for more books and collaborated with Haley Cooprider to make this happen. She has already started providing books for all the pre-K students throughout the county and will continue through the end of the school year with plans for more activity in the fall.
Since our first meetings, we have started to develop mentor training by Kiwanis and Library personal and we are looking into background checks through the YMCA for all program volunteers. Our next steps in preparing for a next school year kick-off are to look into mechanisms to use for recruiting, training, and organizing volunteers for participation in the program; such as Google Calendar, Sign-Up, etc.. The main idea is to have an established process for recruiting, training, and organizing community and civic group volunteers to have one-on-one engagement time with the identified students, at the schools.
This program is for our young children who are having a hard time meeting the reading standard in our schools. We have adopted the name 'IsleREAD', as that is one of Haley Cooprider favorite hashtags and it has a nice ring to it. Please contact Teresa Frantz at [email protected] if your civic organization wants to partner with us on this initiative.

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Smithfield, VA
23430

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