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Volunteer Experience

>>> Training Schedule <<<          >>> Schools Participating <<<

A Meaningful and Enjoyable Volunteer Opportunity

Each year hundreds of volunteers confirm that serving as a Strong Start® Volunteer Coach is a very rewarding experience. The following excerpt from a recent e-mail message is a typical reaction.

The Strong Start®: Letters, Sounds and Words program has been created to be used specifically by volunteers who do not need to have related experience. Even people who have never worked with young children before, discover they are very successful. The creators of Strong Start® believed that if a program could be structured to create a meaningful and enjoyable volunteer experience, people would demonstrate that they care about strengthening their community by ensuring that everyone learns to read. Many communities are proving that this is true.

Hundreds of people volunteer in the Strong Start® program. More are needed, however, since there are many locations trying to recruit volunteers and many do not have enough. Often schools have more children who could benefit from the program, but need more volunteers before all the children can be included.

We find that initially people decide to volunteer for many different reasons but, after they complete their initial 10-week commitment working with the program, they share the same conclusion. They see the growth in the child’s skills for themselves and know that they have made a positive difference in that child’s life directly through their efforts.

See reports from our Volunteer Coaches

courtesy Terry Scott White Photography

It’s Easy!

The Letters, Sounds and Words program uses games and activities to give the child lots of repetition in order to learn the names of letters, a sound for each one, how to learn words by sight and how to learn words using the sounds of its letters. The games and activities are easy to play and each Volunteer Coach is given a detailed instruction manual. Learning is fun!

There are games and activities such as:

• playing concentration
• matching a picture to a letter
• playing a board game
• putting three puzzle pieces together
• matching objects with the sound of a letter
• playing dominoes with words or sounds
• using a fishing rod to catch fish with words

The Volunteer Coach’s Commitment

The program is set-up to allow volunteers to choose the amount of time they wish to contribute.

The minimum time commitment for a Volunteer Coach is 30 minutes/week for 10 weeks, plus 4 hours of training the first time you volunteer. Most volunteers, however, choose to spend more time.

• Each new volunteer attends two training sessions (total of 4 hours) and is given a detailed manual. Training is needed only once. Volunteer Coaches who have worked in one 10-week session, do not need to attend training again when they return to work in another 10-week session.

The Letters, Sounds and Words program has four strands: “letters”, “sounds”, “words” and "building words". Children work in three strands at a time. The staff at the site select the three strands most needed by the child. Each strand has 10 sessions and all the strands operate at the same time. Each session is 30 minutes. The program is set up so that three different Volunteer Coaches can be working with the same child each week. Each Volunteer Coach would work with a different strand of the program. This means that the child actually has three sessions per week for 10 weeks.

A Volunteer Coach works with the same child(ren) for all 10 sessions.

Volunteer Coaches have the option of:

Working with one child on one strand for 10 weeks.

time commitment = 30 minutes per week for 10 weeks

 

Working with more than one child using the same strand. In this situation the volunteer works for an hour or more on a given day and works with a different child every half hour, using the same activities.

time commitment = one hour (or more) per week for 10 weeks

 

Working with the one child on two (e.g. Letters and Sounds) or three (e.g. Sounds, Words and Building Words) different strands of the program.

time commitment = two or three times a week for 30 minutes at a time

 

Working with more than one child on two or three different strands of the program. This option works for volunteers who wish to be very immersed in the program and help several children.

time commitment = one hour (or more) for two or three days per week.

Volunteer Coaches are delighted to realize how much they can help a child in a short period of time. Also, many Volunteer Coaches have found their time in this program is very useful to them in their career development and/or in helping their own children.

Time of Year

Since most organizations currently using the Strong Start® program are schools, the program tends to be operated twice in a school year. Each school decides the exact start dates. Most schools try to operate a fall and a spring program. The fall program can start as early as the last week of September or as late as mid-November, depending on the school. The spring session usually starts sometime in February or March depending on the school.

The Strong Start® organization provides the training. In order to support the various starting dates across all locations, a training schedule of at least about 21 sets of training workshop options is offered twice yearly. The fall training usually starts the third week of September and provides options through to mid-November. The spring training schedule usually starts the third week of January and provides options through to mid-March.

Ready to be a Strong Start® Volunteer?

Here’s what you do…

1. Offer your services by contacting a site (e.g. school) that is using the program. Each site is responsible for recruiting its own volunteers. You will need to ask:
   • for an explanation of its recruitment and screening process.
   • when the site is starting its next program.
2. Register for training through the Strong Start® Site Co-ordinator at the location where you will volunteer so that this person knows when you will have completed your training and can start to work with a child.
3. Explain the days and times you are available to volunteer. Give this information directly to the Site Co-ordinator at the location where you will volunteer. He/she will need this in order to create a volunteer schedule before starting the program.
4. Attend the two training sessions.
5. ENJOY working with the children as a Volunteer Coach!

Sites currently using the program > Web file or PDF file ( 48 kB, 3 pages)

Volunteer Information sheet ( 48 kB, 1 page)

Training Information

Leadership Opportunities

Many Volunteer Coaches who have experience working with a child in at least one 10-week session of our Letters, Sounds and Words program enhance their involvement by taking on additional responsibilities. Strong Start® and many of the sites that it serves are fortunate to have such dedicated people bring so many skills and strengths to our community project.

There are two main leadership roles. Volunteer Coaches with at least 10-weeks experience with the Letters, Sounds and Words program are eligible to serve in these roles.

1) Volunteer Site Co-ordinator

At many schools, a Volunteer Site Co-ordinator is recruited by the school to be responsible for organizing the program at that school. This person performs some or all of the duties of a Site Co-ordinator, with the support of the staff person of the school (who is the Staff Site Co-ordinator).

See Role of Site Co-ordinator > Web file or PDF file ( 104 kB, 2 pages)

2) Strong Start® Trainer

Several people who have been a Volunteer Coach in the program have joined our Train-the-Trainer program to learn to become a Strong Start® Trainer. They then lead workshops for new volunteers during our Training Schedule. Once certified, these Trainers receive an honorarium for their work.