By JOSELYN GONZALES
Student Reporter
Washington Elementary School in Alva is looking for people who are willing to mentor first graders.
The mentoring program involves community leaders, students, retirees or anyone else coming to Washington Elementary once a week to read with a child. The child can choose to read or the mentor can read; it’s up to the child. The purpose is to get children to read more than they normally would. It also encourages interaction with the community.
Washington has been doing this for several years and they always see a positive reaction from both the student and the mentor. Terri Parsons, who oversees this program, said, “The kids love it The kids love to come in and see that someone is willing to read with them.”
Parsons said, “The mentors enjoy getting to know the kids from the community.” Sometimes when the kids move to a next grade and move from Washington, the mentors go to their next school to be able to read with the same child. They have repeat mentors that come back every year.
Last year, 30 kids signed up for the program.
The program also has received positive feedback from parents. The parents like that their children get more reading in each week. When they read each week it builds their vocabulary and helps them communicate with people better and parents like that their children are able to do that.
Washington Elementary teachers hope the program encourages children to enjoy reading and not be shy or afraid of people. They would also like the community to come into the school and see what they are doing with the kids. The goals of this program are for students to become better readers and to learn responsibility, since the child will have to be at the school at a certain time every week.
So far, Washington Elementary has about 100 first graders and 46 have signed up for the program. Washington has 20 mentors signed up at the moment, including high school students, retirees, head of departments from Northwestern and a few Ranger students.
To become a mentor, pick a day out the week that works for you and go in; it’s only twenty minutes, from 8-8:20 a.m. For more information, contact Terry Parsons at 580-327-3518 or through email tdparsons@alvaschools.net for an application. You can also go directly to the school at 701 Barnes to fill out an application.