Posts Tagged ‘science park’

Kristy White started tutoring at the Science Park site in May of 2021. She is a high school girl’s tennis coach, and describes herself  as a huge health and wellness geek. She discovered New Haven Reads when a friend of hers – a NHR tutor – forwarded her an email about summer internships that she thought Kristy’s teenager would be interested in. As she did a bit more research into the organization, Kristy was inspired to explore new volunteer opportunities. When asked what keeps her coming back to NHR she responded with, “No question, the kids keep me coming back. And I might secretly enjoy reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books along with my students.” (Don’t we all!) Kristy also stated, “What I love most about volunteering at NHR, is the mentor-like relationship.  I am not their mom or teacher – just another trusted adult who shows up for them.”

Kristy’s favorite books as a child were all of the Beverly Cleary, Nancy Drew, and Little House on the Prairie books. One of her all time favorites is Little Women.

Kristy shared an honest experience she had with a high school student of hers. He was reading different history pieces each week and sometimes wouldn’t know what a word meant. Kristy was stumped with trying to define it, so she took to Google. She emphasized that she will never pretend to have all answers, and that she is always learning too.

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Volunteer Spotlight

The New Haven Reads Creative Writing Club has been busy! The students from all four sites, including Saturday at Bristol St., in grades 3 and up have put together an amazing newsletter. They worked for three sessions to create the “New Haven Reads Chronicle.” The talented writers included stories about current events, breaking news, and even super heroes!

Check out the full New Haven Chronicle here.

Tags:, , , , , , , ,
Posted in Blog, Home Page

Every year, New Haven Reads celebrates Black History Month at every tutoring site, with Site Directors and Assistant Site Directors deciding what the celebration at their location will entail. 

This year, Site Directors and Assistant Site Directors had to adjust to the virtual format, figuring out what could be done online to celebrate Black History Month.

Carol Sarmiento, the Site Director at Willow Street, explained her past efforts, saying, “In-person, we would put up posters of past and present influential Black Americans. The kids would always walk around and look at them. I also had these Black History comprehension cards, and we used to go around and ask the kids to pick a card, then we would read it to them. There were also lots of books on display for the kids to read, and they loved it.”

With the distance-learning model still in effect, Carol decided to use two digital platforms, Epic and ReadTheory, to assign books and articles relevant to Black History Month to all grade levels, so that tutors could read the stories with their students. Other sites took similar steps, including using worksheets with biographical information for the students to investigate and learn about Black History.

Audra Clark, the Science Park Site Director, created a slideshow presentation for the students. The first slide names the accomplishments of a certain Black American, and then asks, “Who Am I?” The students have a moment to posit a guess, then the answer is revealed on the next slide, along with further information with pictures and text. 

“The students seem to enjoy learning about the individuals from a first person perspective and it made it more of a riddle,” Audra explained.

We were thrilled that our Site Staff were still able to honor and celebrate Black History Month, despite the limitations of the virtual format. We look forward to being able to celebrate in-person with decorations at all of the sites next year!

Tags:, , , , ,
Posted in Blog, Home Page