YES Reading Expands and Changes Its Name

As many of you have heard, YES Reading is expanding.  The program has been so successful that we plan to bring YES Reading to more children, in more cities both within the Bay Area and nationally.  As one of our board members said recently as he described the future for YES Reading, “One day, all children.”

This fall we will open our first sites outside the Bay Area in Los Angeles, along with one new center in South San Jose, and a third center in Oakland. As part of our expansion, we are also changing our name.  YES Reading cannot be trademarked, and trademark is important for protection as we grow.  Some of us are sad to hear this news.  We have grown attached to the name and are disappointed to see it go. 

We hope our new name will embody the magic of the work you do with your student and become a name we all come to love.  By late July, we will publicly launch our new name.  In the meantime, we will keep you posted on our progress.

Student Spotlight

Isa - East Palo Alto Charter School

Isa is a first grader at East Palo Alto Charter School and joined YES Reading in February 2008. She just finished her first year in YES Reading as a Beginning Reader, working on both short and long vowel sounds as well as reading for understanding. Her teacher, Ms. Carlos, has noticed Isa’s improvement in her fluency as well as her confidence and enjoyment in reading since she first joined YES Reading. She herself recognizes that YES Reading has helped her become a better reader because she can now be found reading by herself at school and home everyday.
She has a contagious enthusiasm for learning and finds books exciting; she likes to learn from books. Isa loves fairy tales, especially Hansel and Gretel and The Three Little Pigs, and will quickly make connections to what she’s already learning about people and homes. She enjoys school and her time at YES Reading with her tutor, Charlotte, who has taught her some nifty tricks to help her remember the distinctions between the long and short vowel sounds.
Outside of school, Isa enjoys playing with her friends on the swings and chasing each other in the game of tag. She also likes to play nurse and hopes to be one in the future. She is a little wary about second grade as she anticipates “harder homework and harder books.” But for now, her summer plans transcend the second-grade jitters; she will be visiting her grandparents in Mexico and continuing to read!

Volunteer Spotlight - Ana Lara

Ana Lara has been tutoring with YES Reading since January 2008 at East Palo Alto Charter School. She has been an integral part of the tutor team in East Palo Alto, tutoring a 3rd grade boy after school. She is a high school junior at Summit Prep High School in Redwood City and joined YES Reading first as an intern, helping out at the EPACS site with everything from photocopying and filing to substitute tutoring.

1. Why did you decide to volunteer with YES Reading? I was an intern first.  I liked the program and decided to become a tutor.

2. What do you enjoy most about your work with YES Reading & the students in the program? Working with the students, seeing the moment where they comprehend the text

Read more...

Because schedules change, minimum days happen, and special training opportunities occur, find out what is happening at your center.

Belle Haven

Berkley Maynard

Castro

College Park

East Palo Alto Charter School

Horace Mann

Montague

Sanchez

Selby Lane

Congrats to Our Newest Literacy Intervention Tutors

Children's literacy is a vast field, and there is always more to learn. We would like to acknowledge the dedication of our volunteer tutors who have pursued further knowledge in the field, and have attended at least 3 extra Tutor Trainings this year. Our newest "Literacy Intervention Tutors" are:

Chuck Nelson
Linda Nguyen
Karen Ransom
Laura Smith