KIHEI - A pilot project to improve reading by 1st-graders at Kamalii Elementary School is seeking volunteer tutors.
Principal Mary Auvil said the program is a chance for the school to partner with the community in building better readers.
"We can't do it ourselves," Auvil said.
Volunteer Gail Mitchell agreed. "I think it's paramount that the community get involved," she said.
Mitchell, a retiree whose grandchildren live on the Mainland, has served as a reading volunteer for two years at Kamalii.
"This is a way of me giving my loving grandma feeling," she said.
The payoff for Mitchell is seeing students challenged by reading at the beginning of a school year turn into natural readers at its end.
"What we're trying to do is make them all good readers," Mitchell said. "If you can read, you have a lifetime of opportunities."
First-grade teacher Cheryl Yoshida said she's seen instances in which consistent one-on-one reading sessions have doubled students' measurable reading skills.
"It's priceless," she said.
A teacher with a classroom of about 20 students cannot provide one-on-one attention with every student, Yoshida said. But a student's reading abilities can strengthen or improve with the help of parental support at home and volunteer tutors at school, she said.
The Kamalii reading program will run from April 6 through June 8.
Volunteers are asked to provide one hour every week. They can select the time and day that best suits them. Substitute tutors also are being recruited to fill in when a regular volunteer cannot attend a one-on-one reading session.
Teachers will identify and then assign the same four to five students to each volunteer for about an hour. Books and training will be provided, and a sheet for keeping track of each student's growth will be maintained.
"We really want someone to just listen or read to the children," Yoshida said. "The more practice, the better."
Auvil said that while improving a child's reading skills is important, the pilot program also provides an opportunity to build a student's confidence and provide a community volunteer a chance to make a difference.
"I think it's a win-win situation," Auvil said.
Following the pilot program, Kamalii Elementary will be seeking volunteer tutors in other subjects and to help with other activities, including recess and lunch supervision and assisting teachers in the classroom.
For more information or to sign up as a reading volunteer, call Susan Erickson, Kamalii's Parent Community Networking Center facilitator at 875-6840, ext. 234.
* Claudine San Nicolas can be reached at claudine@mauinews.com.
