Stories
A selection of great stories of how the Letters, Sounds and Words Program and the Get Ready for School Program has done more for children than just help them learn the skills involved in either of these programs.
Stitching To Read – A Quilt For Literacy
Nancy Yule, a parent at Highland Public School in Cambridge, was grateful for the opportunity for her child to participate in the Strong Start® Project and wanted to show her appreciation for the program and the difference it made for her child. Working with the Principal and staff, Nancy used her skills as an award-winning [...]
“I Wanted To Be Involved”
Steven Talpai – Volunteer Coach School was always a panic situation for me when I was a child. Right from the start, I didn’t like Kindergarten. I never felt like I belonged. When I had trouble learning, my Dad would try to help me but he would get frustrated and angry. The result was I [...]
If You Volunteer, You’ll ‘Get It’
One of the key volunteers at the school, when telling her friends about her activities at the school, was asked, “Why would you do that for free when teachers are paid to do that sort of thing?” Her response was, “You just don’t get it. You just don’t get it! It’s what it does for [...]
Returning the Favour
Volunteer Coach Jen I recently became a Volunteer Coach because I experienced first hand as a parent what the program could do for a child and his family. When my son, Brad, first started to lag behind in learning early reading skills, I quickly started working with him at home with the guidance of his [...]
I’m Glad I Got off the Bus
Pearl is a grandparent, a former nurse, and a former supervisor of a group home for substance abusers. When her health became an issue, she had to retire and change her lifestyle. While receiving social assistance she acted on her strong sense of community by thinking about how she could continue to help others. She [...]
Volunteers Play an Important Role
Kate – A long-time volunteer in schools. Some kids don’t have the parental help for many different reasons. It might be a language barrier as a new Canadian. It might be that parents can’t, or won’t, because of parenting styles or mental health issues or whatever. I find that school — and this is a [...]
Strong Start May Change My Life
Story from a Volunteer Coach – Kitchener, Ontario School had never been my favourite place. By grade six I was being suspended often. I lasted only two days in grade seven before being suspended again and transferred to a special program at the High School. In grade ten I quit to have my baby. My [...]
Many Reasons to Volunteer
Volunteer Coach – Delphine “I started volunteering because my two boys are in school now and I’m trying to decide if I want to go back to work. I have a background that gives me a good base to become an E.A. I wanted to figure out how much time I could devote to work [...]
Learning a Second Language
From Volunteer Coaches, Delphine and Kate Nahlah was just learning to speak English as her second language and now in grade one she was expected to read it also. Volunteer Coach, Delphine, worked with her in the Sounds strand of the Strong Start®: Letters, Sounds and Words program. Other volunteers worked with Nahlah in the other [...]
Wouldn’t It Be Nice…
Educational Assistant and Strong Start® Co-ordinator, Janet McKenna, reports the general impression of the teaching staff is that Strong Start® takes the child from ‘struggle’ to ‘success’. Janet commented, “It’s a shame some children who could benefit from Strong Start® miss out due to the transience of today’s society. It would really help if Strong [...]