Website Information:

-Quotes on left bar are good to stay throughout, with one additional:
There is no such thing as a child who hates to read; there are only children who have not found
the right book." - Frank Serafini
-Image on left bar good to connect to Reading Corps splash page (see below)
-contain navigation to pages and sub-pages on the left-hand bar
-Right hand bar is good to stay throughout, except change the last bullet item to Beginning each
semester, youll be assigned to your site and be ready to READ!
Pages:
Reading Corps
About
Partners and Additional Information
Dates and Times
Parents
Volunteers
Pre-K Resources
K-2 Resources
Sponsoring Organizations

Splash page like the Arlington Reads one with 4 boxes beneath:

Reading Corps
Coming together to instill a love of reading in the next generation
>image<
About

Parents

Volunteers

Site Sponsors

(About)
What is Reading Corps?
Reading Corps is a program designed for children ages 4 years old through second grade. Volunteer
reading buddies work one on one with kids to help build literacy skills and foster a love of reading and
learning. Activities include reading together, writing, and playing skill-building educational games.
Students and volunteers meet for one hour twice a week for three months. Reading Corps takes place at
various sites throughout the community including library branches, elementary schools, and child care
locations.
Reading Corps Vision
All children in Arlington will read on grade level by the end of 2nd grade.
Reading Corps Mission
To impart a lifelong love of reading to Arlington students in grades Pre-K through 2nd while building
superior reading and writing skills

(About -> Partners and Additional Information)

Reading Corps is facilitated by AmeriCorps VISTAs
(http://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps/americorps-vista) whose goal is to create a
program in which community partners work with the library to coordinate and/or host Reading Corps
sites. The program is inspired by the Campaign for Grade Level Reading, (http://gradelevelreading.net/)
and seeks to ensure that all students read on grade level by the end of second grade. According to the
Campaigns website, reading proficiency by the third grade is the most important predictor of high
school graduation and career success. Three major challenges stand in the way of this goal:
<Three challenges infographic>
Reading Corps seeks to address these challenges head on. By working one on one with children in need,
volunteer reading buddies can significantly decrease the Readiness Gap. The Reading Corps summer
session, in tandem with the librarys Summer Reading Club, helps children retain the information they
learned from one school year to the next, helping combat the Summer Slide. Finally, by building a young
readers confidence, they can become more motivated and less likely to want to miss school.

(About -> Dates and Times)

The Reading Corps Fall 2014 session has ended. Thank you to all of the volunteers and students who
participated. We hope you have a happy and safe holiday season.
Spring times and locations have not yet been determined.

(Parents)
To sign your child up for Reading Corps, please call the Literacy House at (817) 460-2727. Ask to speak
with a Reading Corps coordinator.
Once you have signed up, you will be asked to complete a short permission form on the first day of
Reading Corps. If you will not make it to a Reading Corps session during the program, please let your site
coordinator know or call the Literacy House at (817) 460-2727.
FAQs for Parents
Is Reading Corps a tutoring program?
No, Reading Corps is not a tutoring program in the traditional sense. It does not offer homework help
and it does not cover specific subjects like math. Reading Corps does help your child build literacy skills
by engaging them in one on one reading, writing, and educational play with a volunteer reading buddy.
What kind of activities do students do to help my child have fun building reading skills?
Students will read to their Reading Buddy, or if they cannot read yet, their Reading Buddy will read to
them. They will also practice writing and drawing in a journal to support literacy development. They
will play educational games that help build skills and make reading fun. We give three short
assessments during the course of the program to track what skills each student may need extra help
with.
Does Reading Corps cost anything?
No. Reading Corps is a free program offered by the library. All supplies needed are provided by the
library. We highly recommend that you have a library card for your child so that he or she may check out
favorite books to bring home.

(Volunteers)
Reading Corps is entirely volunteer-driven. We rely on awesome individuals like you to provide the much
needed mentoring for the kids who sign up. Our student signups are limited by the number of
volunteers who we have for any given site. We thank all of our volunteers for continuing to make a huge
difference in the lives of the students we serve.
Are you interested in becoming a Reading Corps volunteer? Sign up here
(http://www.arlingtonlibrary.org/volunteer)
Volunteer Resources:
Working with children can be challenging and rewarding. We provide you with the basic training you
need after you are approved, but sometimes you may want to know more. For this reason, current
volunteers are encouraged to utilize the resources we have compiled to help you feel confident in your
impact while volunteering.
Pre-K Students (link to pre-k resource page)

K-2 Students (link to k-2 resource page)

(Volunteers -> Pre-K Resources)

The Teaching Channel (https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2013/11/13/video-playlist-earlyeducation/) blog contains a video playlist put together to talk about topics in helping early learners lay a
good literacy foundation. It also contains a link to sixteen additional early learning resources.
Resources for Early Childhood (http://rec.ohiorc.org/ResearchReference/Briefs.aspx) provide a healthy
list of short PDFs covering topic such as readers theater, phonemes, and social problem solving.
Get Ready to Read (http://www.getreadytoread.org/early-learning-childhood-basics/early-literacy)
contains a list of resources such as articles and videos covering early learning for pre-k students.
If you have any specific questions while youre volunteering, please let your site coordinator know so
that we can help you find the information you need to feel confident in your impact.

(Volunteers -> K-2 Resources)

The Scholastic Teachers (http://teacher.scholastic.com/reading/) site has a collection of videos, articles,
and PDFs covering Best Practices for reading and teaching reading skills.
Reading.org (http://www.reading.org/Resources/ResourcesByTopic/BeginningReaders/Overview.aspx)
contains more information about beginning readers, including webinars and podcasts.
Reading is Fundamental (http://www.rif.org/us/literacy-resources.htm) provides another set of
resources, including activities, short tip brochures, multicultural resources, and a booklist for those who
would like to read even more in depth information.
If you have any specific questions while youre volunteering, please let your site coordinator know so
that we can help you find the information you need to feel confident in your impact.

(Sponsoring Organizations)
Reading Corps is designed to be sustainable by having sites adopted by a dedicated group of volunteers
who will be responsible for running the program at that location with the support and training of the
library. We are currently looking for more community partners to adopt a Reading Corps site. If you
belong to a group or organization that could be interested in adopting a Reading Corps location, please
contact us at the Literacy House.
Phone: (817) 460-2727
Sponsor FAQs
How many volunteers would we need to adopt a site?
As few or as many as you would like. The more volunteers your organization can provide, the more
children you will be able to serve. We have current sites with as few as four total volunteers.
What kind of support do we receive from the library when we choose to adopt a site?
The library will be responsible for providing the site coordinator with a Reading Corps handbook. If
preferred, we can provide a site coordinator until one of your own volunteers is comfortable becoming
the coordinator. We will also provide all of the training that each volunteer will need. You will have
access to library books through a special corporate library card for you to use during Reading Corps as
well. The Reading Corps program also has a collection of educational games and tools that you will have
access to for Reading Corps. We will work with you to determine which location and schedule best fits
the needs of your group and the needs of the community.
Are there any other supplies which we are expected to contribute?
We encourage sponsoring organizations to purchase basic materials for Reading Corps sites, but the
library can cover these costs through grants if this is not possible. The material costs for the sites are
low, and usually consist of student journals, student folders, crayons, and pencils.
How long is the commitment?
We would ask that an organization sponsor a site for a minimum of one semester, which lasts twelve
weeks, though we encourage you to make Reading Corps a long term project for your organization. Each
Reading Corps site currently meets for one hour twice a week during the twelve week period, bringing
the total volunteer hours per person up to 24 hours over three months.
What volunteer opportunities are there for each site?
Each site would need multiple reading buddies and one site coordinator. The site coordinator would be
responsible for coordinating with the sites volunteers and the library and will have a slightly larger time
commitment than a reading buddy. Responsibilities that the coordinator has include recording and
submitting assessment and attendance data, ensuring that the site has a balanced number of students

and volunteers, and being responsible for any Reading Corps materials used at the site, such as games
and library books. We also welcome individual volunteers for all sites, especially those without a
sponsoring organization.