Message from Jenessa and Monique

As the end of the school year quickly approaches it is without a doubt you, our, literacy mentors, ROCK … and for so many reasons! Mostly because you’ve given a little more love and hope into the lives of our next generation of leaders and world changers. So for all those times they may not have had focused attention on learning sight words, your presence, commitment and joy still made all the difference. Fun seemed to be the buzzword at our recent Literacy Mentor Workshop at New Covenant Church. About 40 literacy mentors gathered together to discuss and dialogue how to help students progress through their sight word lists. Thank you to our panelists, Diane Falge, Ashley Henderson, and Shirley Holm for providing some great insight and ideas on how to support and incorporate our students’ perspective and keep the learning fun! We hope to see you again soon at one of our upcoming events- Literacy Kit Brainstorm Hour or ENP Volunteer Appreciation Dinner ! " And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony." Colossians 3:14

As of April 2019, we have...

Welcome to our three newest partnerships! Neighborhood Church at Jackson Elementary Parents/Neighborhood Team at Winchell Elementary Image Church at Columbia Elementary 

Upcoming Dates

Monday, April 15 - Monday, April 22: NO School (Spring Break) for ALL Monday, May 6 - Friday, May 10: Teacher Appreciation Week Thursday, May 16: Literacy Kit Brainstorm Hour Monday, May 27: Memorial Day - NO School for ALL Thursday, June 6: Fresno Unified last day of school* Friday, June 7: Clovis Unified and Orange Center Unified last day of school* Thursday, June 13: ENP End-of-School-Year Celebration! *Note: While there is no "official" last day of Literacy Mentoring, we will be collecting the kits the last week of school, so don't plan to use the kit then, but you can always help with class parties/clean up! Beyond that, check with your teacher and/or site lead to determine your last day.

Literacy Kit Brainstorm Hour

Many of the changes in the kit- including the sentences on the cards, 5 stars in the booklet, sensory bag, etc. came from a feedback session we held last Spring. We'd love your help again... All ideas and Literacy Mentors welcome!  Where : ENP Downtown Office 1719 L St Fresno, 93721 When : Thursday, May 16 from 10:30am-12:00noon RSVP yes : email or call Jenessa or Monique

ENP End-of-School-Year Celebration!

Where : Fresno Pacific University, Center of Campus (1717 S. Chestnut Ave) When : Thursday, June 13 from 5:30-8:30pm RSVP HERE Only "Yes" RSVPs needed

Summer Volunteer Opportunities

Fresno County Library is always looking for volunteers for their summer and year-around programs. If interested, please email Elizabeth, Volunteer Services Coordinator @ [email protected]

Heaton Elementary would love Literacy Mentors at their Summer School. Please email Jenessa or Monique if interested.

Literacy News & Resources

Parent Literacy Mentors We worked with the Neighborhood/Parent Team to host our first bilingual Literacy Mentor training at Winchell Elementary. All parents took home resources/ideas to work with their own kids and several signed up to be Literacy Mentors. If you are interested in hosting a parent training at your school, let us know!

Literacy Mentoring Tip

Celebrate students' hard work by putting a sticker on the page they are on! They don't have to pass a list for it to be a celebration. This is a fun way to encourage without passing students on too soon.

Bananagrams! LM Lynn at Powers-Ginsburg shared a fun idea she found online at "Teachers-Pay-Teachers." There are many free resources there- you just have to create an account to access. CLICK HERE to download Bananagrams! How Lynn used Bananagrams:  1. Determined no more than 3 words to work on with the child. 2. Child read each word and sentence on the regular sight word card. 3. Went back to the first card to see if they could remember. Then they wrote the word on the white board and read the sentence again. 4. Showed child the Bananagram card and had them choose the letters and put each tile on the correct box on the card. Before starting I quickly chose all the letters that were needed to complete the 3 words and then added 5-7 more letters in the mix and put them in a pile right above the banana card.  5. Once the letters were correctly placed, they read the word again. Then I had them cover up the word / tiles with one hand and see if they could write the word without looking. This was their idea and they seems to like it.  Tip: Before starting, separate the banana cards by level so that it is easy to pick them out of the stack. As the kids advance, there are tons of other ways the tiles cold be used.  Thanks Lynn! Please share any ideas you have on our facebook page or email us!

Ayer Bear Badges  Shirley Holm, site lead at Ayer, created these adorable badges students earn when they pass a list! What are some creative ways you can celebrate students' achievements? 

Literacy Mentor Spotlight

Leslie Isch Hamilton Elementary, Well Community Church Fig Campus Leslie is a huge part of the culture/community at Hamilton Elementary- she's a parent, leading member of the PTA, and a Literacy Mentor site lead- to name a few. She recently hosted an incredible reading night at Hamilton that we think deserves to be highlighted! Tell us about Reading Night... This was our first ever Reading Night at Hamilton and our theme was "Read Around the World." Our goal with Reading Night was to encourage and engage families to love reading. Books are fun for all ages and open so many doors with education. We want to build the culture at Hamilton that reading is fun and also that we are a community of families that support one another.   Reading night started in the cafeteria with a free spaghetti dinner for families. Kids were given a passport and then visited countries- classrooms, where a book was read and they did a simple activity. It was a fun evening of traveling around the school and learning about new people and places. What made you decide to become a literacy mentor? I want to be involved in my kids classrooms and this has been a way to support the teachers and the kids in the school.  What was your favorite book as a child? Favorite book was "A Wrinkle in Time" What is your hope for Hamilton kids? My hope is that kids love learning and feel like they can do what they dream of doing in life.   Who was an encouraging adult in your life? I had several mentors but one was Susan Maljian who lead bible studies for my friends and I.    Do you have a favorite Bible verse? Ephesians 2:8-10