BOOKKEEPER NEEDED FOR VRP VRP needs a bookkeeper to support our organization and would greatly appreciate your help. If you or someone you know has experience in bookkeeping and could work for 40-50 hours a year as VRP’s Bookkeeper please contact Lenora (416 481 5369). Referrals are especially valuable so please feel free to share this opportunity with anyone you think might be a good fit. ​ Q&A VIDEO AVAILABLE Click the title above to watch at your leisure. Thank you to

VRPs 33rd SCHOOL! We are very happy to welcome Tam O’Shanter Jr. PS to VRP! Huge thanks to the school parents Swapna Tambe (who will be the School Coordinator), Premlata Surana and Sireesha Utukuri for making this possible. Together they have filled the openings on Mondays and Thursdays so each child in VRP will get two sessions per week from now until the first week of June. Looking ahead to the fall we hope to add a few more parents and community members so if you know a

Thank you for braving the snow this winter ~ even today! This spring term you'll see the struggling readers truly blossom. We appreciate your efforts in staying connected, sharing resources, and supporting one another. Your teamwork makes a real difference! Our School Coordinators did a great job organizing for the Spring Term and schedules are now posted on the website. Big thank you to so many of you for stepping in to cover absences! Looking ahead: Graduations will be bo

KEEPING LITTLE READERS ENGAGED With thanks to Krystyna Stoic (SC Malvern) and Angie Heydon (SC Yorkwoods) for sharing their “best practices” around keeping VRP sessions interesting and engaging: Some highlights from an email that Krystyna sent to Malvern volunteers who asked for some advice: If the readers scheduled at a certain time are being pulled from "free time" in class, jump to a different classroom instead. It's ok to shuffle the order of the kids being taken dependin

Over the years that I have been reading for VRP, February can be a time of reckoning for our little readers. Every year there are a few children who don’t seem to be making clear progress so please don’t feel discouraged. One area that seems to come up often is ‘sight words’ now more likely referred to as ‘heart words’. I have put together some suggestions to help those children who don’t seem to be picking up these words. ​ Heart Words: To review, heart words are high freq

FEEL THE LOVE Recently, a child in VRP told a volunteer that she was “the best reading teacher he had ever had!” That’s a wonderful thing to hear from a reluctant reader who is still working on their letter sounds. We hear about this kind of appreciation often. Schools will email to share how valued and impactful the volunteers are in their school. Here is a recent message that says it all: We appreciate and are grateful for the support of each and every one of the volunte

RECORD BOOKS: A SIMPLE TOOL THAT MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE VRP Record Books (also known as sticker books) are important to the children and your reading partners! These little books serve as a key communication tool, helping volunteers work as a team and keep our little readers on track week to week. By recording what happens in each session, volunteers can quickly see progress, note challenges and build on what the child worked on previously. Record Books belong to the childr

A SMALL BOOK, A BIG VICTORY Volunteer Novlette Fraser (SC, Crescent Town) shared this heartfelt message in an email and it highlights how small moments make volunteering so rewarding: “On a side note, one of the students read his first book “Mat” from the Bob series. It was hard for him and took a while but he didn’t give up and finished. I was so proud of him I wanted to cry.” ALL ARE WELCOME Lenora and Kristina really enjoyed seeing so many of you fully immersed in storybo

​ TEACHING HEART WORDS High Frequency word lists have been around since Dr. Edmund Fry invented them in the 1950s. Teachers have had lists to teach, grade by grade for many decades. ​ High Frequency words are defined as “the most common words in written English that help form the building blocks of literacy, helping readers build fluency by recognizing them instantly.” This recognition frees up mental energy for understanding and decoding more complex words and texts. ​ More

WELCOME DERRYDOWN We are delighted to share some wonderful news! Last spring Vice Principal Mihaela Avram at Derrydown PS reached out through our website. Since then she and her team have worked very hard promoting VRP to their school community. Thanks to their enthusiasm and hard work VRP is now officially launched at Derrydown (DD)! They kicked off this week with two days, will read next week and are gearing up for a full volunteer schedule in January. Incredibly this

Last week we received a really good question from an experienced volunteer who is finding that some of her little readers are having difficulty with letter recognition and retaining what she has taught them from week to week. She would like some tips on how to move these children forward. She has kept the sessions fun using all the tools available: magnetic letters, alphabet books and helping them practise writing the letters. In September, during the Returning Volunteers Wo

MUNSCH AND OTHER FAVOURITES Many of us have favourite storybooks that we never outgrow. Robert Munsch’s books are definitely on that list! While his books are often beyond the reading level of the children in VRP they are wonderful read-alouds. Their rhythm, humour and predictable repetition invite children to join in and help them gain reading confidence. Robert Munsch recently announced that he is donating his entire personal archive to the Guelph Public Library. He ha

WHAT IF THE CLASSROOM IS EMPTY? The schools run on a rotating-day schedule. Tuesday this week may be day 2 and the children are in the classroom but another week Tuesday is day 3 and they may be in the gym and not available for reading at that time. When this happens adjust the VRP schedule by going to get other children on our list and come back to the first group later or take the listed alternates. It’s important that we be flexible and let the teacher and the day’s sche

ON DYSLEXIA Dyslexia is estimated to afflict between 10 and 20 percent of the world's population. Chances are, you will see it sometime in your reading with VRP. I highly recommend this 35-minute audio chat (from the American Psychological Association) with up-to-date information from an expert in the field: https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology You will hear Dr. Tim Odegard discuss Dyslexia facts and common misunderstandings. He describes how reading di

Questions or Concerns at School? If you have a question for anything related to VRP — whether it is students, schedules, materials, or answering general questions about your reading sessions the first step is to reach out to your School Coordinator (SC) or Kristina. Please do not go to teachers as this can disrupt classroom routines. Your SC or Kristina have the full picture and can help handle things in a timely way. Remember your SC and Kristina are your VRP support team!

FALL TERM FAQs Q: What should I do if the child doesn’t know any letters? Start with playful, supportive activities! Try word games, focus on letter sounds, and consider using Bob Books. A simple game to try: Use magnetic letters or alphabet cards to spell out your name and the child’s name. Go through each letter’s name and sound. Pick one or two letters and ask the child to think of other words that start with the same sound. Write those words on the whiteboard or in their

HAPPY READERS ACROSS THE GTA Fifteen schools started their reading sessions this week, and most of our partner schools will be back to reading next week. By October 20th, VRP volunteers will be sharing stories and smiles with young readers in 31 locations! Thank you for your patience, your commitment to learning about VRP, and for spreading the word to your friends. Your referrals and support help us meet the growing number of requests from new schools. Together, we’re making

On September 29th six* outstanding volunteers were recognized for the many years of continuous service they have devoted to Volunteer Readers Programme. The ceremony at Toronto Reference Library was a heartfelt celebration of the unwavering commitment and generosity shown by long-serving individuals across the province. 15 Year Certificate Recipients: Marg Fisher (15 years), Andy Lipchak (14 years) 10 Year Certificate Recipients: Marjie Calla (13 years), Helen Foss (13 years

New Fall Term Schedules will be available on the website starting September 30th. VRP start dates vary from the first week of October to after Thanksgiving. Please check HERE for your list of super star School Coordinators. VRP would not succeed with the extra help and support of these amazing volunteers! (Learn more about becoming a volunteer SC .) ​ HUGE THANK YOU to Alison, Carolyn, Chris, Jenn, Judy A., Judy M. and Mary for delivering supplies to extra schools. Ho

ONLY 3 WEEKS LEFT! The official last day of reading for the 2024-25 School Year is Friday, May 16. That is 3 short weeks away! Kristina...