Grace participated in and benefited from the 2016 Get Ready for School program where she gained some of the fundamental skills she would need to be successful in school. This summer, we followed up with her mother Ashley Pederson to see how school is going for Grace so far.
As a top-quality builder, with properties in Brantford, Guelph, London and Waterloo Region, Sifton Properties invests where their staff and clients live, work and raise families. With a specific focus on education and helping the next generation prepare for a successful future, our Letters, Sounds and Words program was a perfect fit with their neighbourly philosophy. Honouring Brier Park Public School in Brantford, which serves their tenants in the Brier Park community, was a wonderful way to support their local residents.
Good corporate citizens, and environmental leaders, are great descriptors for Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada. With a Tim Horton’s onsite to serve employees, staff are encouraged to put the lids of their cups in a separate slot in the recycling container. In honour of their teams efforts to recycle, Toyota created the Lids4Kids program, where a donation is made to a children’s charity each quarter, in recognition of the lids collected.
Our Get Ready for School program helps children get comfortable in a learning environment. They practise routines. They make friends. They read stories. Randi St. Laurent shared her daughter’s experience in the program in this original testimonial. We followed up this summer to see how they are doing now.
Sean’s story was one of Strong Start’s first videos. He participated in our Letters, Sounds and Words program back in 2011. Over the 10-weeks, his skills, confidence and self-esteem grew. We followed up with his mother, Carolyn, recently who filled us in how school is going for Sean now. He stills dreams big and bright.
The Get Ready for School program was offered in 16 sites across Waterloo Region, and served a total of 318 children. A total of 90 children in the program did not speak English on a regular basis at home, with an additional children children who spoke English as well as a second language at home. The program was supported by 39 paid instructors, and 34 volunteers, who gave approximately 940 hours of volunteer time to the program.
Letters, Sounds and Words Program Summary Overall 94% of the children made considerable, excellent or outstanding gains. Enrollment 3,186 children were enrolled in the fall and spring rounds. The program is designed as a 10-week … Continued
Julia participated in the 2016 Get Ready for School program where she continued to fall in love with reading and learning. Today, Julia is doing great. She just finished reading 100 books over the summer. She was very excited to complete her 100 book challenge and can’t wait to show her teachers.
Oliver participated in our Letters, Sounds and Words program a few years back and had a wonderful experience. We followed up with his mother, Melanie Lee to see how Oliver is doing with his reading now and how school is going. Here is the continuation of Oliver’s story.
Susan Fitzgerald is the Site Co-ordinator of the Letters, Sounds and Words program at Sacred Heart C.E.S. In this video, she talks about how the program is simply helping children learn their letters, sounds and words in a fun and engaging way. “The children love to come. They love to work with their volunteers. They love the games. They leave the program feeling good about themselves and it is witnessed when I do the post-test.”
