Thank you to Duval County Public Schools for again partnering with READ USA!

This November, READ USA’s Literacy Tutoring program will be in 12 DCPS elementary schools as part of our new tutoring contract with the district. More than 750 eligible 4^th-graders will benefit from daily, intensive one-on-one tutoring from local teens to help them achieve significant reading gains before the end of the school year.

We are honored and thrilled to continue this essential work of achieving grade-level reading proficiency in our local children! (You can also read about the impressive results from our Spring 2022 Literacy Tutoring session here.)

We are also grateful for our partnership with Kids Hope Alliance, who has contributed funding to support the $15/hour living wage we pay our teen tutors for their tutoring services. Thank you, KHA, for supporting READ USA’s efforts to make literacy tutoring possible and helping our teen tutors learn valuable workforce development skills! Together, we are building brighter futures for our local kids, both younger and older!

The new Literacy Tutoring contract also introduces a few firsts for READ USA, including:

• Literacy Tutoring is now at the Beaches! This means that, in addition to introducing tutoring to a new school, we are now better positioned to recruit teen tutors from Fletcher High School.
• READ USA now has a stronger presence in ESOL (English to Speakers of Other Languages) schools. We have been at a couple before, but we can now broaden our ability to help students who are refining their English to read better in English, too!
• Literacy Tutoring will be introduced in four new elementary schools: Englewood, Hogan Spring-Glen, Mayport, and Woodland Acres. We can’t wait to meet these new READ USA students!

The other eight elementary schools, where READ USA’s Literacy Tutoring has already had a strong presence, include: Crown Point, Enterprise Learning Academy, Fort Caroline, North Shore, Parkwood Heights, Sadie T. Tillis, San Jose, and Twin Lakes.

Please join us in expressing our immense gratitude to DCPS for again entrusting READ USA with this incredibly important work!

READ USA Staff Picks: Favorite Halloween Stories!

Did someone say books and candy?!

The READ USA team is getting excited for Halloween! To celebrate, we gathered a few staff favorites to share:

Pete the Cat: Trick or Pete by Kimberly and James Dean From: Rob Kelly, READ USA CEO “I have always loved the Pete the Cat series, so I was so excited when they released a Halloween edition! I read these books with my nieces and nephew, who love going with Pete on his adventures!”
Room on the Broom by Sally Hawkins From: Tabetha Cox, READ USA Tutoring Program Director “I love this story because it is full of rhythmic, lyrical humor! This is a great story for little ones to learn patterned reading and the pictures do not disappoint! This fun read also shows how problems can be solved when you have sweet friends along for the ride.”
Little Blue Truck’s Halloween by Alice Schertle From: Virginia Berg, READ USA Development Director “Our family enjoys the Little Blue Truck book series. With a one-year-old boy who loves anything with wheels and animal noises, we enjoy bringing the book to life!”

Illustrated by Nicola Slater

Little squirrel loves life and thinks his habitat is the best! One morning he wakes to find that some of the leaves on his tree are missing. Squirrel goes on a journey to find the leaf thief and restore his tree to its original beauty. On his journey, we meet animals and connect to squirrel’s changing emotions. A great companion for educational units on the changing of seasons, The Leaf Thief is both endearing and informational. This book includes a section about the fall season and the changes it brings around the world. Squirrel will be sure to show changing colors and fun animals all while searching for the culprit of the pilfered leaves!

Submitted by Tabetha Cox, Tutoring Program Director

Education Corner - Love of Libraries...and Reading!

What do you love about libraries? There is so much to love about the library! Endless adventures, knowledge, how-to books, music, mystery, intrigue, empathy, fantasy, and not to mention space to relax, EBooks, DVDs, special events, and workshops. That wonderful aroma of books that have been held close to a heart while turning each tender page lingers in the air.

The routine of taking your reader to the library encourages the love of reading while establishing fond memories. Your public library provides a schedule of events suited to various age groups. Our downtown library is a rich haven of literary experiences including a map room that is not to be missed! At holiday time, trees are decorated with themes that mesmerize and astound visitors. Just a few of the events that welcome young readers to the public library include Storytime, drop-in crafts, Play and Learn, Junior Readers groups, Junior scientist events, and some branches offer early school dismissal day events. Take advantage of this remarkable free service and begin building lasting memories with your family now!

Find a quiet place, share your favorite book together and take time to talk about those special moments in the rich literature adventures you discover. Duval County students can use their student ID numbers to check-out free books, too!