The Newsletter of Project
L.O.V.E. Fall 1999 P.O. Box 2000 Charlottetown PE C1A 7N8 What is this thing called L.O.V.E.? Project L.O.V.E. stands for Let Older Volunteers Educate. More than 200 very committed (mainly retired) older volunteers help students in Prince Edward Island schools with their school work, usually in that most important area, reading. Volunteers go to their school once a week, spending between an hour and a whole morning or afternoon in the school. They usually help one student at a time, listening and coaching them with words, reading aloud to model good pronunciation and expression for them, helping with classroom projects or to get caught up on missed assignments. Teachers whose students work with the Project L.O.V.E. volunteers all agree: Their students benefit greatly from this help, gaining self-confidence through the interest shown in them by the volunteers. Project L.O.V.E. Big Winner! On International Literacy Day, September 8, 1999, Project L.O.V.E. received a Literacy Leaders Award from Canada Post Corporation. According to the nominations brochure, “These awards honour one organization in each province and territory in Canada where long-term achievement, innovation, leadership and organizational excellence were exhibited.” Project L.O.V.E is very proud of being named the winner of this award, and we thank you, our volunteers, for your hard work on behalf of Island students. It is because of you that we are winning this award, and we honour you! Education Minister Speaks to L.O.V.E. Volunteers PEI Education Minister Hon. Chester Gillan was guest speaker at the annual L.O.V.E. Luncheon in June at the Carrefour Cafeteria. Minister Gillan began by telling volunteers how pleased he was to see so many at the luncheon on a lovely June Saturday. He talked about how proud of Project L.O.V.E. he is, and how he has been telling other Education Ministers about us - at an International meeting in Japan! He talked about the new educational focus on lifelong learning, teaching children how to learn, and said that Project L.O.V.E. is a great illustration of this. He then announced that, in consultation with the National Literacy Secretariat, his department had decided to support Project L.O.V.E. financially! The Department of Education, through its Corporate Projects Division, will provide Project L.O.V.E. with an annual grant beginning in April, 2000. Project L.O.V.E. would like to thank the Minister and his department for this support, which will mean that we will have the security of knowing that Project L.O.V.E. will continue from year to year. Now, we can concentrate on making the project better and better! Luncheon '99: Stories to Share! The Luncheon in June was our best-attended one yet, and we were all very pleased to see so many of our new and old friends. We hope that every one of you will be able to come along to next year’s luncheon! As usual, we called for stories, and some of you had some great ones. Here are some of them. A volunteer from Georgetown Elementary recounted how she had exchanged days with another volunteer. When her first “client” arrived, he looked at her and said: “I don’t feel like reading today. And where’s my regular L.O.V.E. teacher?” When she came in for her next regular day, one of her students asked: “You weren’t here last time. Where were you?” A volunteer from St. Jean school noted that one little Grade One boy will only read for “The Girls”- ie., the L.O.V.E. volunteers! Mary Doyle, from Vernon River Consolidated, reports the following: I was working with a little Grade 3 girl who was having a lot of difficulty with the Grade 3 math. On this particular day she had a page of subtraction with borrowing (she said her teacher called it trading). After working with her for a while, she finally mastered the concept. We did a few more problems with trading. Finally she spoke up and said: “I can do these all by myself - you just sit back and relax!” Reading Recovery and other programs - where does L.O.V.E. fit in? L.O.V.E. Volunteers sometimes wonder just where they fit in the range of things which are being done to help children who are having difficulty with schoolwork. Reading Recovery was begun at several schools last year. A specially trained teacher works with very young children intensely for an hour a day for several months. P.A.T. Spell Read is another program. It is available outside the school, and it helps children and adults. It concentrates on phonological and auditory processing deficits to help students become better readers. Of course, many students in school are getting special help with the Resource Teacher, who works with the classroom teacher to develop students’ skills in areas where they are behind their peers. Where do L.O.V.E. volunteers fit in this picture? Well, teachers have told us that, as each child is an individual, there are unique solutions to their own unique problems. You may be sure that s a student who is having difficulty reading is being helped in a variety of ways. Teachers want to their students to have help in as many forms as they can. Often that special relationship which forms between the L.O.V.E. volunteer and the student can be the means by which he or she will be motivated to work and achieve success. Be assured, you have a place in the school, no matter how many “new-fangled” programs come along. There’s no substitute for good, old-fashioned LOVE! Letter Mates Project: Phase II Plans for school year 1999-2000 include expanding Letter Mates. We are looking for older persons who may not be able to get out to a school every week to take part in Project L.O.V.E., but who have a bit of time to write to an upper elementary school student. At our June Luncheon, Spring Park principal Judy Hughes told us about the letters exchanged between seniors and members of her class, and what a learning experience it was for the students. She said that the simple mention of a sport one volunteer letter-writer had enjoyed was a catalyst for learning: the students were amazed that there was curling “so long ago”, and this led to research and an understanding of the history of curling by the whole class. In another letter, the volunteer mentioned that his uncle had been involved in building the railway on PEI. For children who have never seen a train or ever train tracks in PEI, this provided another opportunity for learning about their province’s history. If you, or someone you know, would like to be involved in providing the younger generation with opportunities for learning, please get in touch with the coordinator at the number on the masthead. We’ll find you a Letter Mate - right away! |