December, 2010
Happy Holidays From
EKU Corps Members Connect Schools, Communities & local Volunteers
EKU
AmeriCorps
EKU Corps Members have served the communities of Southeast and Central Kentucky through school and community outreach. Members have taken steps to ensure a brighter future for students while engaging them in their communities, assist the schools and communities in disaster preparedness, and recruit volunteers to boost community involvement and productivity.
Mem Mboenrs of the th
EK S the E onya ParrkU Corps M e lemen tary Ser have sh mbers Kry ow sta chools in Roc n great lea l Gatliff a n r kcastl Sonya e Cou dership an d nty. d serv Eleme Parker, w ice at Casey County EKU Corps Memher st ntary in R ho is the E u o d K c k e U n c job. as ts and C ber Kayla Cooper is implementlettingtle County, orps memb er sa them ing a new strategy with her know id she enjo at Mt. Ve “I hop r t e h t a h t reading groups. a challe they ays bragging non Broad nges ot this will r e d o h g i f lear ng a on said o ead and R ning aive them t good n e o h “I’ve picked a few words that they n u e d hope self-co the ‘T of the g ndstone f u n o r El o Good lly on fi ea have problems with and I have life, t dence to fa For D test ways sementary E oo,” S r h “ K u D e g U s u i s ’ cour them write me a short story using onya sce the ri ses an able to re Corps Mem aid. stress ng each of ach ou d the ber K those words,” Kayla said. “They t learn is good de these activ r U y t N s o t I a s TE C write the story, draw pictures, lubs. tudents is l Gatliff sions good decisi cision mak ities one o throug then t f the ing,” on ma main hey w h king s Krysta and then read me that story.” t i l h l k l ensure ills and said. “I ings th Stude a n f t t t h e hemse o by pa s were e lves a w to makeel if studenI By writing and using the definits bright g The f rticipating ngaged in er fut ood decition of the word, Kayla said collect ood collecte in the Ma the commu u re.” k d dur ed it. ing th e A Differnities in w students have been able to h e e i n c drive c Stude benefi e Day Foo h they live recognize that word when d ted st the sc nts have a udent Drive. ls hool’s they see or hear it being s insid UNTI o learned t e the E Clu he im “Throu used. school b p s o . r t g a h n s that c o e drug u of livi abuse, r UNITE n g a c ” C o drug lub I ntest Krys Kayla allowed students to free li and a , collected ttal said. “Whave encou fe thr ttende connect with the comr oilet p ough e a g h e a d d the aper t ve part s t u den UNIT i munity during the Make E me hat was doncipated in ts to take moria a Difference Day Food l ballo ated to dr a district-wa stand ag a u on lau i nch.” g treatmen de poster inst Drive last month. t cent ers,
“The students donated food knowing that it would be given to families in Casey County,” she said.
Candice Porter, a second-year EKU Corps Member in Casey County, said one of the most important skills she can teach students at Jones Park Elementary, is confidence.
day of the program we had 15 students between the 1st and 5th grades participate,” Kimberly said. “The program has proved to be a great success because our numbers have now increased to 31 students and a waiting list.”
“Once a child discovers that they have the ability to do anything they want, there is not stopping them from achieving goals they have set for themselves,” Candice said. “I try to build confidence in every child I work with by setting small achievable goals. This approach sets up a recipe for success in life.”
Kimberly said the main goal of the program is to help students complete their homework and then work on any skills that their teacher has recommended.
Candice, along with the 6 Grade UNITE Club, have assisted in disaster preparedness within the community. The club has organized a food drive in which every classroom will participate and whose donations will go to the Casey County Food Bank. th
“In the recent past our community suffered a devastating tornado as well as a crippling flood that caused many people to lose their homes and businesses. The food drive will be a great way to help out the community!” Pulaski County Members Samantha Cummings and Kimberly Dalton started an after school tutoring program in order to ensure a brighter future for the students at Southern Elementary. “This has been a great way to focus on those students who need oneon-one help, that do not have the opportunity to receive this at any other time in the day,” Samantha said. “On the first
“It is a true honor to help those students,” she said. Samantha agreed, adding that being a daily part of the children’s lives and being able to encourage them in a positive way each day really helps them succeed. Southern Elementary also collected 3,700 cans of food in the school’s annual ‘Feud for Food’ Drive as part of the Make a Difference Day Food Drive. Samantha and Kimberly dedicated a different theme for each day of the week, including ‘Wear Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness’ Day. “The students really pitched in and had more of an understanding of how they were helping others who were less fortunate,” Samantha said. Andrea Drayer, the EKU Corps Member with EKU’s Natural Science Program, and Model Laboratory School, has identified students with reading difficulty using the Dibels Test. “I am now following up those tests with weekly reading passages to assess the progress of the students through the first 6 weeks after the initial test,” Andrea said. By testing the students, Andrea said she is ensuring that each student has the support and reading tools that
they need to perform at the reading level at which they should be. “I recently started the Earth Force program with the 7th and 8th grade students,” Andrea said. “In addition I participated in teaching environmental education to local elementary schools in North Laurel High School.” At Family Nature Day, which encourages the students and families of the communities to come together and explore nature, while learning about the environment around them, Andrea said she lead a nature trail and brought amphibians and reptiles for everyone to enjoy. Meganne Jones, the EKU Corps member at Mayfield Elementary in Madison County, said she thinks children can truly thrive from having a positive adult role model take interest in their lives, so the time she spends with the students is especially important to her. “Sometimes I work with a few students in a small group, where I can invest in them as individual group members with specific roles and responsibilities,” Meganne said. “Other times, I simply talk to the students one-on-one while helping them with their assignments and meeting their goals. Both settings provide optimal time to relate to the students and allow them a time to share their thoughts and feelings.” One specific example was when Meganne was able to talk with a student about her big move across the country. “She moved to Kentucky in a mobile home, traveling all the way from California,” Meganne said. The girl told Meganne about the trip and how there wasn’t enough room for her grandmother to come along and still be comfortable in the
mobile home. “That part of the story wasn’t easy for her to share,” Meganne said. “But she processed it with me.” She also talked about the trip being adventurous and how she loved sleeping on the top bunk and seeing all of the landmarks. I could tell she was glad to have someone simply listen to her story and how she felt about the experience.” Meganne said. Ronnie Jones, the EKU Corps member at Paces Creek Elementary in Clay County, said he has taken time to encourage students to take their reading home with them, and letting them read to a family member in order to get practice reading aloud. But Ronnie said the most important part of this encouragement is to show the students that reading can be fun. “I don’t want the students to look at reading as a chore and something boring that they don’t want to do, but rather something interesting,” Ronnie said. “I make sure to listen intently to them, to make sure they know that I do care what they think and I will gain their trust and they will in turn trust me.” Big Creek Elementary EKU Corps Member Cameron Lewis said his goal is to implement the importance of being drug free through the school’s UNITE Club. “We have recently begun a behavior plan where the students gain points based on good behavior,” Cameron said. “This helps by teaching the students that they need to have good behavior at home and at school.” Cameron has also implemented the
importance of recycling through the PRIDE Club. “We have been taking time to clean the playground and the school grounds to encourage student s to pay it forward,” he said. Dixie Lockard, the EKU Corps member at Stanton Elementary, has recruited volunteers to take part in community and school functions. Dixie, who is a second year EKU Corps member, said many of her volunteers have returned from last year, and most people are willing to help if they are simply asked. “So far this year volunteers have helped students read and take Accelerated Reading Tests, grade and run off papers, help with food drive activities, help with the Backpack Program, assist with field trips, and help with preparing activities for Red Ribbon Week,” Dixie said. Dixie is also working with the communities District Title 1 Resource Teacher to recruit volunteers for project C.A.R.E. (Community Awareness of Reading to Enlighten). “This program was implemented last year to promote and advance literacy,” Dixie said. “Community members come into classrooms and share a book. Many of these volunteers are Baby Boomers who have devoted time to volunteer in our school and community.” Monticello Independent Elementary School EKU Corps Member Cyndi Neal said she has been tutoring second graders to improve their reading ability.
“We work with small groups with their Decodable readers and we also work on fluency strategies,” Cyndi said. “I progress monitor them weekly, and they are tested on sight words.” Cyndi said she implemented the Great Leaps Intervention Program at the beginning of November with all second grade students. Outside of reading tutoring, Cyndi said she had 15 members join her UNITE Club. “They were all very excited and they had some wonderful ideas on upcoming events,” she said. Cyndi, along with the UNITE Club Sponsor from Wayne County Schools were featured on the local radio station in order to encourage the community to participate in ‘Pain the Town Red,” in which everyone would wear red in support of drug prevention. Diana Oliver, an EKU Corps Member in Garrard County, is currently serving at Camp Dick Robinson. Diana said she is lucky to have seven volun- teers who help weekly with school’s Backpack Program. “These volunteers help me run our program because they have much more experience coordination and running operations than me,” Diana said. “I value everything that they are teaching me. They are such a great asset to the program!” Garrard County EKU Corps Member at Paint Lick Elementary Carrie Tuttle said she has started a focus group called ‘Readers are Leaders.’ The group features
guest readers with different careers. “When the children get to meet a police officer, firefighter, or the director of the humane society and hear them read, they get excited about what is in their future and they see how important reading is no matter what you do for a living,” Carrie said. Because she is only able to be with each student a limited amount of time, Carrie said she has to make the most of it. “I have a variety of strategies I use to keep learning interesting for them,” she said. “I not only practice reading aloud, but I also use flash cards and games to help keep them on track with their sight words. This makes the work more fun and gives them different ways to succeed in reading.” Bluegrass Pride EKU Corps Member Blair Owens said caring about the environment is something that is important for everyone because it directly impacts everyone’s future. “By teaching environmental education to preschool through 12th grade, I am hoping to help these students understand that they are responsible for the future of our environment,” Blair said. Sometimes, Blair said the elementary students think they are too young to impact the environmental problems, she strongly disagrees. “It’s the exact opposite,” she said. “Teaching environmental education allows me to show these students that they play a very important role, no matter how old they are, in taking care of the environment. Through working with Bluegrass PRIDE I feel confident that the students I teach in Central Kentucky schools will be willing to help our earth and in turn to have brighter futures.”
Thursday, December 9 2010
EKU Corps Training at
Eastern Kentucky University Powell Building, Kennemer Room
9:00 a.m. ~ 3:00 p.m.
AmeriCorps
Swearing In Ceremony conducted by
EKU President
Doug Whitlock EKU Corps is sponsored by
the Kentucky Commission on
Community Volunteerism and Service and by the
Coorperation for National and Community Service EKU Corps Director
Nancy Thames
EKU Corps Administrative Assistant and Newsletter Editor
Jessica Spencer