President’s Corner: Tommy the Storyteller
By Children Rising
February 2, 2017
On Tuesdays, I volunteer at the Excel Reading Clinic at Prescott Elementary. This year, one of the boys I tutor is Tommy, a third-grader. When Tommy walks into the room he flashes me a warm smile and then we do the secret handshake. After taking his seat beside me, we work on sight words then phonics, followed by reading non-fiction and fiction books, which he gets to choose.
During the course of the school year, I usually ask my student– Tommy in this case– to tell me a real or make-believe story, which I write down word for word. Without skipping a beat Tommy began telling me about his recent trip to Disneyland. When he was finished I read his story back to him. What Tommy didn’t know was that I would take my chicken scratch back to my office, transcribe it into a word document and ask Pearl Wang, our office administrator, to add appropriate graphics. Next comes the fun part: returning to school with the finished product. I brought several extra copies to be shared with the principal, his teacher and family members. Tommy was wide-eyed as he pored over his illustrated story in print. Behold the storyteller is now an author! Tommy proceeded to read his own creation articulately with expression. You go, Tommy!
For the children,
Randy Roth
ichard Soennichsen and Cynthia Naton are one of several couples that serve alongside us.
As we enter a tumultuous new year, shalom (a Hebrew word encompassing peace, prosperity, health, wholeness) is a renewed yearning of my hopes and prayers.
Near the end of 2016, students from La Escuelita Elementary experienced outdoor education at Mission Springs in the Santa Cruz Mountains. This was La Escuelita’s first time and how it came about was rather providential.
this was my first time away from the city. My favorite activity was night hike because we learned about nocturnal animals and played the bat game.
