The Rotary Club of
St Thomas
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29Apr2020 Christine Giese Strong Start literacy Program
Christine Giese spoke to us about Strong Start, an early literacy program. Christine taught for 27 years in the K2 to grade eight classes. She is now retired but does teacher training at Brock University. She is the coordinator for Elgin, Middlesex, and Oxford counties. This meeting is her second Zoom meeting with a Rotary Club, but the program is not active in schools because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
 
The program started in Waterloo in 2001. Lyle S Hallman (1922-2003) supported education, children’s initiatives, and health in that community. He started a non-profit foundation. Nine school boards, 300 schools and 44 thousand children are involved in the program. Locally the program began in London, ON, in 2018.
 
Imagine what the brain of a newborn is like as they make 6 million new connections in their brain every second. Their vocabulary at age five can predict how well they thrive at age 17. One of four children get behind in grade one and never get ahead. Well developed child literacy is a strong predictor for better health and income in a child’s future. Offenders are less literate. Christine referred to the Heekman Curve that shows what ages get the best "Return of Investment in Human Capital." Please see the link: https://heckmanequation.org/resource/the-heckman-curve/.
 
Three programs of Strong Start are as follows:
Letters, Sounds and Words ™
Get Ready for School™
Baby Connections®
Christine focused on the Letters, Sounds, and Words Program. Volunteers start with 4 hours of training and commit to 10 weeks of 1 hour per week with a student. Children get a great benefit from one on one interaction with someone who cares about their education. There are 3000 volunteers, 300 schools involved. Schools get a bin full of books, games, and activities. The Letters, Sounds, and Words Program is careful to monitor its success. At the beginning and end of each 10-week program, children answer questions about their literacy skills.  Each school gets a report about progress and improvements. Newcomers to Canada and First Nations children benefit.
 
Questions and answers:
Which schools are involved in Elgin? Lockes, Straffordville, June Rose Callwood, Forest Park, Annandale, and Kettle Creek. Christine hopes that our club members volunteer. Staff at each school coordinate with a volunteer during regular school hours. Fifteen students are part of each ten-week program. The site coordinator ensures the visibility of the volunteer and student interactions; each volunteer must provide a vulnerable sector police screening report.
 
Can a family member be a volunteer for a student? Yes.
 
Does the volunteer interact with a parent? No, that is up to the teacher.
 
What are the costs of materials? $100 / child / program.
 
Please visit http://strongstart.ca/. The email address for Christine is cgiese@strongstart.ca.
The following is a link to supporters: http://strongstart.ca/about/thank-you/. The government of Canada does not support Strong Start.
Please see their video at https://youtu.be/9NTN4dzZwhQ
Gerry and Barbara thanked Christine for her informative talk.
 
Please see the following announcements:
Story by the Global Polio Eradication Initiative https://www.endpolio.org/polio-eradication-staff-support-covid-19-response. For instance, in Pakistan, within three weeks, the polio team trained 280 surveillance officers in COVID-19 surveillance.   
 
Stay-at-home gala May 2, 2020, sponsored by the Grand Bend Community Foundation and the Rotary Club of Grand Bend: https://trellis.org/stay-at-home-gala-grand-bend   $25 per household
 
Trish gave an update on Ed and Kathy Willson.
 
Mary lost a brother to COVID; there was no gathering except family.
 
Bob Warnoch made PPE masks with Aylmer Glass and Mirror that went to Police. He took orders for 85 to go to Chartwell, 60 to Terrace Lodge, a hairdresser, and 25 to Elmdale Family Health team. Barbara is requesting $150 from the club to cover the cost of 3 sheets of Lexan.
 
The next Club Board meeting is Friday, 1May20, virtually at 10 AM.
 
The virtual East Coast Kitchen Party in your Own Kitchen is 31May20. Our club will get $25 per household.
 
The Scholarship Committee of the Music Festival mailed the scholarships this week.
 
Web site of the Rotary Club of St Thomas  http://rotarystthomas.org
Upcoming Events
Strong Start
Apr 29, 2020
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
 
Classification by Catharine Janssen
Jun 03, 2020
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
 
Board Meeting
Jun 03, 2020
1:15 PM – 2:15 PM
 
WeedMD Presentation
Jun 10, 2020
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
 
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