January and February have been exciting months for Children’s Literacy in the North Okanagan-Shuswap! The One to One reading program has been exploring new ways to support children’s reading over the past two years, as it has been challenging for our tutors to go into schools to read in-person with students. 2020 saw the start of our virtual One to One reading program, and that format has been able to continue on into this year as well, with lots of positive feedback from tutors and families.
This January, we launched a new branch of the One to One program in an after-school format. Shuswap Kids Club is hosting a pilot program with 4 full-time volunteers, 2 substitute volunteers, and 8 children. The program is running 2 days per week, and the Kids Club staff have been excellent hosts to our tutors! Our goal for the 2022/23 school year is to expand the after-school program to other centres, train some more tutors for the virtual program, and of course, resume in-person tutoring in schools. It is exciting to see the One to One program expanding in our area, and we are so grateful for our incredible volunteers who make it all possible!