Valid Reading Program

There was cake, there were presents, there was happiness and pride.

A celebration of the achievements of those taking part in the Valid Reading After School Program was held on April 25 at the District Education Support Centre (DESC) with students, parents, teachers, volunteers and program sponsors in attendance!

Valid Manufacturing partnered with School District No. 83 (North Okanagan-Shuswap) and the Literacy Alliance of the Shuswap Society (LASS) to offer an after-school literacy program for students who need extra support.

This program, for students in grades three to five who struggle with reading, ran from November 2018 to April 2019. There were 12 students in each program at Hillcrest, Bastion, Salmon Arm West and South Broadview elementary schools. Students attended the after school program twice a week for 16 weeks.

The program was supported by three teachers, four CEAs, eight volunteers, and of course Valid Manufacturing, whose donation to helping kids made the program possible.

Darcy Calkins, the Literacy Outreach Co-ordinator for LASS, comments the Valid Reading program is an great example of how LASS does its best work.  “It is all about partnerships.  A community literacy need was identified, money was found and through our great relationships we were able to support children in our community in a very positive way. The School District is always great at helping LASS help children, where they are – in schools.”

“Valid Manufacturing was amazing to work with and their desire to have a positive impact the lives of children was appreciated by everyone involved in this program,” she commented.

SD83 Literacy Helping Teacher Jennifer Kelly comments she was impressed with how the students seem so much more confident in their reading ability!

“The programs in each school developed their own unique community of readers where students were encouraged, supported, and acknowledged for their continual commitment to increasing their literacy abilities.”

The goals of the program are to:

• To provide students who are struggling with reading intensive support in foundational skills

• To create a learning environment that fosters and supports strong literacy skills

• To identify students’ ability using assessment and personalizing instruction to meet their learning needs

• To help learners experience the love of reading!