Everyone at VU is hoping that our families, volunteers, and kids are safe and healthy. With school being closed for the year now, we are brainstorming ways to help our students have some books, work, and entertainment. The Herndon Neighborhood Resource Center is still open–thank you to all those men…
Thanks to our friends at the International Teaching Learning Cooperative Network (ITLC), VU readers each have a new buddy to listen to them read (along with a volunteer of course!) every day. Their generous donation has made reading more enjoyable for all!
We all have so much to be thankful for, so we asked the kids to write what they were thankful for in their journals. Then they made a poster so everyone could see. Guess what I am thankful for?
Can you believe it’s past Halloween and the end of the first grading period for students at VU? We treated our students on Halloween and soon they’ll treat us with their report cards! We’ve been working really hard to sharpen reading comprehension, strengthen math skills, and share our love of…
Warmer weather, sunny days, soccer practice, renewed energy–all signs of spring at VU. But homework, reading, and math skills practice continue despite the increased squirminess and impatience to get back outside (kids and volunteers)! Recently, we asked all our students what book they would like to own and tracked their…
We blinked and the 2018 semester at VU was ending! What a great time it was. Attendance was steady; we added some new students; and our experienced and new volunteers worked cheerfully to help with homework, build skills, and listen to young readers. We’ve maintained our commitment to more student writing and improving…
Look who’s experimenting! VU students love the high school volunteers who share their time with us, especially when one of them comes up with a cool extra. One of our long-time high school volunteers planned and executed a science experiment with help an assistant from the Children’s Science Center, located…
They came back! Some are taller; some have new braces; some have sun-streaked hair: all are ready to tackle a new year of learning and growing. And the volunteers-some returning and some brand new-are eager to help.
We’ve been having a great time this spring with an initiative to encourage the kids to write more. With daily prompts that ask such questions as What would be your superpower? or start with “When I woke up this morning and went outside, something fell on my head…” we have…
It’s winter. Sometimes getting out of the house or leaving work to get to VU at 4:15 p.m. means braving the wet and cold. A volunteer might be tempted to think “they won’t miss me this one time. There’s lots of help.” Oh so wrong! We depend on our volunteers…
