Problem

During grades one to three children are learning to read; thereafter they are reading to learn. Children not reading by fourth grade will continue to fall behind. Teachers with responsibility for an entire classroom are not able to provide the individual attention these children need. Research suggests that a teacher spends about seven minutes per week in one-on-one interaction with each student. Today, thousands of K-4 children are not reading at grade level.

The Gift

The OASIS Intergenerational Tutoring Program promotes literacy by tapping a rich resource, older adults, to tutor children who are at risk in k-4 grades. This program utilizes an innovative approach designed to build children’s self-esteem and positive attitude toward learning while strengthening reading skills. Working with elementary schools, OASIS pairs older adults with young children with underdeveloped reading and language skills. The adults work one-on-one with the students each week as their tutors, mentors and friends. Your gift will equip an OASIS tutor with a specially designed literacy kit containing lesson plans and resources that the tutor will use with children every week throughout the entire school year.