Cody Rasmussen, a bright and affable 6th grader at Majestic Elementary, is excited about reading to his tutors each week as they come into the school. “I didn’t like reading at first, but then I started reading more interesting books and now I like it.” Cody is part of the Read, Graduate, and Succeed Program through AmeriCorps. He is also lucky enough to have one of his tutors be Mayor Bruce Richins from Harrisville.
Chelley Hogge oversees the Read, Graduate, Succeed Program at Majestic. “My job is to coordinate volunteers with students who need additional help and monitor them throughout the year. We have a reading specialist and two aides that work with kindergarten thru 3rd grade. There is nothing for the 4-6th graders, and that’s where AmeriCorps comes in. We have as many as 90 kids who are reading below benchmark, but we only have enough tutors for 64 children.”
There are plenty of volunteers needed here at Majestic Elementary. Those that have helped in the community have been from the United Way, police officers, members of the LDS Church and, last year, Mayor Taylor of North Ogden.
This year, Hogge sent an email to all three mayors of the surrounding cities in Harrisville, North Ogden and Pleasant View asking for help with volunteering in the AmeriCorps program. Mayor Richins decided it was something he wanted to do. “I heard about this through an email from Chelley and thought, I’m going to try it. It’s just during my lunch time--kind of an extended lunch break. It’s good for me to be in the schools. I think it’s good to be able to serve.”
Cody smiled and said, “It’s nice to have somebody like the Mayor or police officers come because they have done so well in school and it’s nice to have someone to look up to.”
Ms. Hogge tells us that, “My whole idea was to prove that if somebody with the Mayor’s schedule can squeeze in a half hour every other week—then anybody can!”
Here at Majestic, there is a Dibbles Test performed at the beginning of the school year, which lets Hogge and the teachers know what fluency level a student may be reading from. Hogge says that, “We learn in a Green zone that kids are at grade level, yellow zone are extra help and red zone is intensive. I take the red and yellow zone kids. Once we determine the need, we try to match the children up with a tutor.”
In coordination with the tutors, Hogge helps increase the student’s fluency and comprehension so that by the end of the year they are either up with their peers or ahead of the game.
Cody tells us what his job is while being tutored, “After I read in my book for 15 minutes I tell about things I like that I just read. I usually do really well because I have a really good memory.”
Afterward, he reads a fluency paper as fast as he can and those numbers are recorded in a folder just for him. Hogge says, “Our goal is to get Cody up to mid or end of year 6th grade level. We generally have tutors come in and they read with a student twice a week for a half hour each time. The student is getting an hour worth of reading time over and above what they have in the classroom.”
There is state and National funding that contributes to AmeriCorps. Hogge enthusiastically says, “Cody has come a long way just after a couple years of tutoring and mentoring.”
According to Hogge, “Tender mercies occur between the tutor and student. They develop this advocate that they can talk to. Many of the tutors become good friends.”
To sign up to volunteer at Majestic Elementary call 801-452-4260.
