September is all about kicking start our youth programs in the new school year.
Fremont Rotary Literacy Program committee did a presentation about Rotarians reading books at the Fremont City Schools. This will be the Fifth year for a literacy project sponsored by the Rotary Club of Fremont, done in partnership with Fremont City Schools (FCS) and the Gannett Foundation.
This project was started in 2013 with the support of a Gannett grant and was initiated as a result of a community need. The FCS district has a diverse population with a significant portion of their students living in poverty. Over 20% of incoming kindergarten students are identified as needing intense intervention in basic literacy skills. The project goals are to foster an appreciation of literature, to increase reading comprehension, and to help elementary students meet state reading requirements.
Mrs. Denise Hirt, Director of Curriculum, Assessment & Staff Development talked about the Rotary/FCS literacy partnership and how having Rotarians read to the classes has been beneficial.
Classrooms for the 2017-18 school year include:
(1) Atkinson – 2 Kindergarten / 3 First Grade / 2 Second Grade = total 7.
(2) Stamm – 3 Kindergarten / 3 First Grade / 3 Second Grade = total 9.
(3) Washington – 1 Kindergarten / 1 First Grade / 1 Second Grade = total 3.
In short, the program will be covering 19 classrooms every month from October 2017 to next May 2018. We have 152 reading slots for this school year.
Rotarians and Friends of Rotary are encouraged to sign up as Rotary Readers.
