Turning the Page to Student Success!
Once again this year, Communities In Schools of Brunswick County was the fortunate recipient of a grant from the International Paper Foundation to purchase and provide independent reading books to students. This funding allows us to provide each student ,with whom our Success Coaches are working to build reading skills, to have books to take home and read during Winter, Spring, and Summer breaks. The goal is to prevent reading skill loss when school is not in session and to encourage reading as a leisure activity. Students receive books based on both their reading level and topics of personal interest to encourage them to read the books provided. Students are able to keep the books they receive to read and to share with family and friends if desired.
Communities In Schools’ Success Coaches work with students identified by their classroom teachers or school administrators as needing additional support in one or more critical areas of learning, so they can keep pace with their peers and thrive in their school communities. One way our Success Coaches do this is by providing one-on-one and small group Reading tutoring with identified students to build reading skills and comprehension, ensuring they have a firm foundation on which to build as they continue their educational journey. Success Coaches help them by reinforcing skills and content presented in the classroom, providing instruction at a pace that allows the individual student to best grasp and master the concepts presented. Once one skill is mastered, then the next skill is introduced to ensure we are not trying to build on an unstable foundation. Learning is incremental and at the pace at which each individual student best responds. Once students master essential reading skills, they gain confidence in their ability to learn and move on to the next level of learning. It can take a few months for a student who is lagging behind peers to catch up or, for some students, it can take a year or more but our Success Coaches meet them where they are and help them build skills and confidence to become proficient readers.
One element of this work is ensuring that students not only have the resources they need at school, but ensuring they have access to reading materials at home as well. Being able to provide students with new reading books that they can keep as their own is an important aspect of the reading intervention provided. Students are always excited to receive the books and some even share them among their peers to expose each of them to even more opportunities to enjoy reading outside of the classroom. Communities In Schools is extremely grateful to the International Paper Foundation for supporting students in Brunswick County in building reading skills, which are at the core of all other learning and are essential for continuing their education and securing future employment.
The International Paper Foundation focuses its global community engagement efforts on addressing four critical community needs. One of these areas is Education. International Paper Foundation believes the future of our communities depends on the children, and therefore, they support
strategic partners that focus on helping children succeed via a comprehensive approach to education. Literacy, particularly from birth through 3rd grade, is their primary focus because reading skills form the foundation for all childhood learning. Their mission strongly aligns with the mission of Communities In Schools and has helped build a strong partnership to the support literacy needs of students here in Brunswick County, North Carolina.
