Friday Check-In May 29, 2020

Welcome to Friday Check-In!

Literacy Lesson – Write Together

Writing with your student is one of the six components of the Oasis session plan supporting reading achievement.  As you write with your student you encourage the expression of ideas, promote organization of those ideas and develop language structure.  Each week as you work with your student, you have filled their journal with stories about the books you have read together and stories of their own creation.

Would your student like to read his/her stories on the web?

Summer Reading:  Biographies for Kids

Here are some wonderful stories about individuals who made significant differences in their lives and their impact on millions of others! These inspirational life stories help children understand how to overcome obstacles and follow their dreams for success. Please read these selections for your own pleasure and then share with your grandchildren and future students.

Summer Sensation

Enjoy the next couple of months of sunshine and warmer weather. As we search for new ways to stay safe, we can relax by walking, gardening, or reading. We can even stay social with other Oasis members by taking one of our Zoom classes. During this time period, we will wait to find out the guidelines and schedule for the 2020/2021 school year. As soon as we receive any information, Oasis and the district coordinators will share the plans. We will be pausing the Friday Check-ins during our summer respite, but we will keep you informed in our Indy Oasis e-blasts that are posted each weekend.

Please look for the globe and children reading graphic (as seen here) to keep you updated in the summer Oasis e-blast!

Tutors have a positive impact!

The stories received from school districts in the area are inspiring and demonstrate the positive impact tutors have on students.  Here are few comments received from administrators:

“Your tutors were extremely responsive to the needs of students. They were open to feedback from teachers about what areas the students were struggling with and how they could best assist them. “

“2nd-graders were able to develop confidence in reading aloud and enjoyed the relationship built with the Oasis tutor. “

“In every single interaction I saw between student and tutor, literacy was the main and central focus. Students were engaged in all parts of literacy and tutors encouraged and fostered that love for reading.”

“Our students just love working with their tutors!”

“Our tutors have provided individual students with purposeful strategies and resources that have helped them to become stronger readers. Along with the strategies, the tutors also shared a sense of hope and compassion for our students that has aided them to become more confident, not only in their reading ability, but also in the academic abilities.”

“A parent of a student that had an Oasis tutor last school year ran into the tutor while out shopping. The parent shared how beneficial the tutor was to her daughter last school year and how she would love for her to tutor her again. Although the tutor was already working with another student this school year, the tutor followed up with our district coordinator and me offering to support her former student in addition to her new student. This is a testament to the positive impact tutors make and to the dedication tutors give to students.

“An overall story is the joyful viewing of our Oasis tutors walking down the hall with our friends. As a teacher, we try to have natural conversations which include lessons, vocabulary, questions and so on. It is amazing to watch our tutors do the same as they are walking in the hall. They are all naturals!”

“What I love most about our tutors is how each of them has a different story for what made them want to become a tutor. For some they are retired teachers, others have worked with kids at other points in their lives, and some have never done anything like this before. No matter the way they get to our school each of them always shares with me how much they truly enjoy working with our students and how much they get out of the experience. I love that this program provides an opportunity for our students to benefit from 1:1 time and attention to work on skills and build a relationship with their tutor, but that is also allows our tutors to benefit from this weekly interaction.”

So, on behalf of Oasis Tutoring, I want to thank all my fabulous district coordinators and tutors who shine a bright light on the program and make such a significant difference in the lives of students. Have a marvelous summer!