READ ALOUD BALDWIN
Read Aloud Baldwin is in its 6th year as an outreach mission of St. James. During the current school year our volunteers read to over 200 children enrolled in the Baldwin County Head Start Centers and AUC Child Care Center. We have a weekly schedule that has each volunteer reading one-on-one with 3 to 5 year olds on the same day and time each week. Volunteer readers will usually read 1 -2 books with each child they read with and during the hour will often read with 4-6 different children. Currently we have 26 weekly readers and 16 substitute readers.
We are proud that each volunteer is committed to the fact that reading aloud to young children is essential to developing a love of books and the desire to learn to read. Reading aloud to young children develops vocabulary, active listening, comprehension, and attention span—the building blocks of school success.
The contributions of our volunteer readers go a long way to help fulfill our mission of sharing the joy of reading with young children in Baldwin County Head Start Centers. We are helping these young children associate reading with pleasure.
Our St. James family provides wonderful support to the program. Each volunteer reader receives a Read Aloud Baldwin book bag and 5-6 books to use with the children. Our book collection is housed in the St. James library and readers are able to visit the library to swap out books anytime during the school year. These books have all been donated by members of St. James or purchased with money in the RAB outreach budget. The program also uses Green Hall for meetings, presentations, training and social gatherings. Twice a year we give every child a picture book—as a Christmas gift and at the end of the school year. This year we have 14 members of St. James serving as weekly readers or substitutes.
Feedback from teachers, care givers and parents has been positive and volunteers frequently remark on the cognitive growth they see in the children as the year progresses. Our greatest challenge continues to be finding volunteers who are able to commit to reading every week.
Respectfully submitted,
Randal Hopkins Wright
We are proud that each volunteer is committed to the fact that reading aloud to young children is essential to developing a love of books and the desire to learn to read. Reading aloud to young children develops vocabulary, active listening, comprehension, and attention span—the building blocks of school success.
The contributions of our volunteer readers go a long way to help fulfill our mission of sharing the joy of reading with young children in Baldwin County Head Start Centers. We are helping these young children associate reading with pleasure.
Our St. James family provides wonderful support to the program. Each volunteer reader receives a Read Aloud Baldwin book bag and 5-6 books to use with the children. Our book collection is housed in the St. James library and readers are able to visit the library to swap out books anytime during the school year. These books have all been donated by members of St. James or purchased with money in the RAB outreach budget. The program also uses Green Hall for meetings, presentations, training and social gatherings. Twice a year we give every child a picture book—as a Christmas gift and at the end of the school year. This year we have 14 members of St. James serving as weekly readers or substitutes.
Feedback from teachers, care givers and parents has been positive and volunteers frequently remark on the cognitive growth they see in the children as the year progresses. Our greatest challenge continues to be finding volunteers who are able to commit to reading every week.
Respectfully submitted,
Randal Hopkins Wright
