Archive for the ‘Featured’ Category

“As a former teacher, I think education is the key to success,” longtime NHR tutor, Alice told us

Twelve years ago, she was newly retired and found tutoring at NHR to be a concrete way to contribute to positive change by making a difference in someone’s life.

Alice tutors weekly at our Willow Street location, where she has helped countless students build critical reading skills. One of her favorite memories is working with a student who started the year not knowing the alphabet and ended the year reading simple books. For Alice, witnessing that incredible transformation is what volunteering is all about!

Alice values the relationships are what help to make tutoring at New Haven Reads so worthwhile. “I feel as though I am learning as much as they are,” she says. “The days when you can make them laugh or smile are precious.” Alice is not only a volunteer, she is also a donor. “My experience as a tutor has been so positive, that I am motivated to support the organization. I want to be sure that other students have the chance to benefit from NHR.”

Alice and all of our volunteers are an essential part of the NHR community, contributing to building student success.

Thank you!

We recently made a delivery of books to Helen Street School in Hamden. We delivered to two kindergarten classrooms where each student received 2-3 gently used books. The classroom teachers also received 2 brand new books for their classroom library. We are always excited to bring books directly to students in the Greater New Haven area!

One of the teachers from Helen Street School recently wrote to us:

“I am one of the K teachers at Helen Street, and we LOVE and look forward to these deliveries. The kids get SO excited to pick out their own books to add to or start their own libraries at home, and we appreciate the books donated to our classroom libraries. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!”

Our Book Bridge Program is currently full, but we will hopefully have a waitlist opportunity for the spring.

Any questions? Email: books@newhavenreads.org

Handwriting matters.

As you may have read in a previous edition of the Ed Corner or have heard at Tutor Training, there are 26 letters in the English alphabet. Not only do these symbols represent the 44 sounds of our language, but when used in written form as words in sentences, they allow us to communicate with others and express thoughts, ideas and even feelings.

Per Dr. Stephanie Stollar from the Reading Science Academy, “It turns out that learning handwriting may recruit the same brain network as letter recognition”. That being said, practicing handwriting during your NHR sessions would be a valuable use of time. Not only will that support your student’s growth both as a reader and as a writer, but it also helps to engage various other mental processes connected to learning including memory and the manipulation of letter sounds.

When might you practice handwriting at NHR? Certainly, students can and should work on their letter formation while working in their workbooks. (You likely have even heard your site staff or the Ed team encourage a slower pace during this portion of the hour; this is a way to do so.) Perhaps your student is not currently working on their Lexia program. This would be a great opportunity to maximize instructional time to dictate a poem or even song lyric to your student. What a great way to practice spelling new words and talk about new vocabulary while simultaneously practicing handwriting!

→ Interested in learning even more? Check out the Edutopia article, Why Writing by Hand Beats Typing (in 6 Charts).  As noted in the byline of the article, “Typing may be faster, but the research shows that handwriting engages our brains in richer, more meaningful ways.”

Name: Litzy Herrera Silva
Hometown: Wallingford, CT
School: Quinnipiac University, Class of 2030, Master of Occupational Therapy/MSOT
Tutoring Site: Bristol St
Club: Math Club 1 and Puzzles & Patience
Favorite childhood book: The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein

I have great admiration for New Haven Reads because I was once their student. Since elementary school, I would always come Thursday’s afterschool to improve my English. My first language is Spanish; I grew up with Spanish-speaking parents. So, I struggled speaking English, but thanks to New Haven Reads had a significant improvement. Working for NHR has been a great experience; I love seeing the behind-the-scenes of how NHR works.

One of my favorite highlights at NHR is my first club meeting of Math Club 1. I was nervous being the leader of this club, but I gained so much confidence. All the kids were really excited on the first day and very enthusiastic. They were all eager to play math games and have fun together! This first club meeting started on the right foot, leading to all the other club meetings being great!

Overall, I have had a great time with New Haven Reads; I love all the team members and the way everything works. Everyone here was very nice and fun to work with! My hope now is that I brought a positive impact to NHR just as NHR was a positive impact to me.

We are so excited to start our Field Trip program for the 2026-2027 school year. If you have any questions, please email books@newhavenreads.org. We look forward to another successful year of filling up home libraries and working with teachers and classrooms across the Greater New Haven area!

Read about New Haven Reads’ summer!

Over 225 students participated in our summer one-on-one tutoring. Summer tutoring is an important way to keep kids engaged and learning throughout the summer while positioning them for success the following school year. We are also so excited to share that we gave away over 106,000 free books back into the community this past year.

Read more about our summer here!

Literacy Tutors provide one-on-one reading instruction for students from 1st to 12th grade. You don’t need any prior experience teaching or working with children, just a love of reading and a desire to help a child succeed. We ask for a commitment of one hour per week, Monday-Friday 3-7pm or Saturday 10-2pm. Our tutors are trained in the New Haven Reads model which follows the science of reading. We provide a required one hour training session and a site orientation before your first session. You may also shadow a session, and we offer ongoing, in-depth training 3-4 times each year.

Name: Julia Lawrence-Riddell
Hometown: Hamden, CT
College and Major: Boston University, class of 2027, Painting and Psychology
Tutor Site: Bristol Street
Clubs: Arts & Crafts and Math II
Favorite Childhood Book: Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

I have always been aware of New Haven Reads, but I never knew the true impact of the programs that they offer. I originally heard about the NHR book bank and tutoring programs from my neighbor, Fiona Bradford, who is the development & communications director for NHR. Years later, I saw that NHR offers summer internships, and I immediately knew that I wanted to apply. I was drawn to the position because I love working with children and also feel strongly about being involved in the greater New Haven community.

Not only have I been involved in tutoring the students, but I am thrilled that this job has given me insight into the array of programs, interventions, and incredible care that takes place behind the scenes. The environment that I have experienced at the NHR Bristol Street location is so welcoming. I genuinely look forward to coming into work every single day. I think the reason NHR cultivates such a warm environment is because you can tell that every staff member and tutor truly cares about the work that they are doing.

In my past jobs I have always been drawn to working with early elementary age students. However, I am so thankful that, at this job, I have the opportunity to work with students ranging all the way through high school. A stand out memory from this summer comes from my time working with an older student. She is very shy, but we immediately bonded over our shared love for art! She opens up the most when we draw together during choice time at the end of our tutoring hour. Through this time, I found out that she is very interested in Harry Potter. I told my colleagues, and we found “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” in the book bank for her. Next session we started reading together, and I had never seen her so excited about reading!

I cannot explain enough how happy I have felt in my position as an NHR summer intern. I am looking forward to the rest of my time here this summer!

Catch up with New Haven Reads news!

We’re so proud of our students! New Haven Reads has been empowering students with literacy for 25 years, and the strength and impact of the program continues to speak for itself through the success of our students.

Learn more about our students success, 25 years of NHR and what we’ve been up to below.

Read more here.