WELCOME TO "SUPPORTING OUR STUDENTS" PROGRAM
Thank you for your interest in our program! Learn more about our goals, vision and opportunities to make an impact on the lives of students.
Whether you are a community member interested in volunteering or a student looking for services we are here to help you take the next step!
Welcome! The mission of the program is to bring a much needed service to our community as a result of this new reality of virtual learning we are encountering. We want to provide a connection to one-on-one tech and tutoring services with the goal of serving any student in Sonoma Valley that needs additional support in school. By providing this service virtually, we hope to overcome obstacles that may include;
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transportation
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language
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time/availability
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need
Updates:
A New School Year, A Bigger Need:
As a result of being in a distance learning environment the return to school and the impact that it would have on the students would surely start showing in the classroom. Being back onsite and in a classroom highlighted not only the need for tutoring that there was prior to the beginning of the pandemic but also the struggles that the student were facing were more evident than ever. The program received many referrals from the school site coming from teachers and we had reached a point were there were no sufficient volunteer tutors to meet the need. We were able to serve students non the less but many students remained on the waitlist for the semester.
December 2021
Successful Fall 2020 Semester:
This past Fall 2020 semester for the program was great. We started with what we could consider our "first official semester of the virtual tutoring program". We were happy and motivated by the response that we received from the community. Not only are we lucky to have such dedicated and committed volunteers but our families and community parters were so willing and welcoming to the service. This past semester we were able to serve over 30 students from our local Sonoma Valley Unified School District Elementary School. These students were supported in different areas such as reading/comprehension and math. During this time of pandemic more than ever it is important that we are able to provide the support and resources to the students and the families. Our plan moving forward is to upgrade the website to incorporate more features and add a new team player into ensuring that we are providing the best possible service and measuring the progress of the students. Stay tuned for more updates.
December 23, 2020
Launching the Math Hotline: No longer active as of Fall 2021
Through the tutoring program we were able to connect with a volunteer that wanted to support students in a more open way. His expertise in math allowed for the program which is designed for elementary students to be able to serve more individuals. Through the math hotline we are able to serve any grade level from elementary to high school students with math support. The math hotline is open 24/7 through text message. If students want live help they can call 707-732-4292 Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:30pm to 5:30pm. Support for this hotline through this phone number is available in English only but if the students require assistance in Spanish we were able to obtain support from a neither community member willing to support with this subject.
September 16th, 2020
Launching the Summer Reading Program:
Realizing that on-going virtual support was needed but at the same time taking into consideration that students were on summer vacation we decided to launch the "Summer Reading Program." The goal is to be able to support students on a more short-term basis (for a month) with a focus on reading. Our current volunteers will be carefully matched, as they are in the regular program, to become reading buddies for the students. For this additional effort we began working more closely with the Sonoma County Library to help with the creation of online library cards and navigation of resources. We also partnered up with the Sonoma Valley Unified School District. The district will support with the referral of students as well as support in outreach of the program.
July 24th, 2020
Phase 2- Opening up the program:
After phase 1 of the pilot was complete, we slowly started taking on more students. These students were identified by partners as being high need students. The program is now open to any Elementary school in Sonoma Valley Unified School District. Being able to expand to the rest of the district allowed the program to support more students. Currently program is working with 9 students ranging from first to fifth grade.
July 10th, 2020
Phase 1-Pilot is Launched:
Our first pilot week started off with 5 volunteers and 5 pre-identified students. We encountered a couple of obstacles, including connection to parents and access to student email that we were able to overcome by developing procedures to address the barriers. After a span of two-weeks we were able to complete the period phase of the program.
June 1st, 2020
Call for Volunteers:
We send out the official call out for volunteers through personal contacts with different agencies and institutions as well as community members.
May 1st, 2020