Greetings Oasis Volunteers! Welcome back to Mentor Monday.
I’ll begin by saying, “I Miss You!” I miss you – I miss your stories, I miss your smiles, and I know you miss your students.
I thank you for the kind words forwarded in emails, the cards sent, the long distance smiles, the virtual hugs, and the supportive phone calls.
We truly are a village and in this together (though we are apart).
I know we all have questions about how volunteering will look during the 2020/21 school year. I hope you will keep an open mind about staying on the team -even with a wait and see attitude. I think the first wave of sessions will be virtual volunteering to protect all parties and follow state guidelines. So the plan is to learn about our options for online mentoring and then to train as many volunteers as possible. The bottom line is that the students will still need our support and it is simply a matter of figuring out the logistics for moving forward.
Save the date: July 31st! We will have multiple zoom class meetings to share updates for this coming school year.
Class links will be forwarded on July 29th. Available class times: 9:15 am, 11:00 am and 1:30 pm. Join us for program updates, and a brief refresher.
Kid Tested Session Ideas
Do you have a session that worked well and your student was totally engaged?
You may have experienced that “Aha” moment of connection just because you selected the right book, listened to your student and had a good conversation, or provided an interesting idea to expand the lesson.
Our volunteer, Joan M, is collecting those stories for publication by briefly conducting phone interviews Share!
Library:
Thank you to everyone who has returned library books and puppets.
We are moving full speed ahead in updating our library and designing a database.
Our new system should be available by the end of August 2020 – no more sign-in/out sheets!
Fingerprint Clearance:
Yes, the APS school district will undoubtedly require a fingerprint clearance for volunteering.
The plan is to have further information on fingerprinting by July 31st.
Fingerprint clearances are valid for two years. We are already fingerprinting in Belen, Bernalillo and Rio Rancho.
For Laughs
For the Young at Heart
For Nature Lovers
To Soothe the Spirit
We want to hear from you!
We miss you, so make sure you leave us a message about how you’re doing, what your plans are or anything else you might have to say in the comment section below!
As always, thank you for volunteering!
Stay safe and be well,
Vicki DeVigne
Hi, Vicki, I have been silent but I do check your Monday Mentoring each month – can you believe it is already July?? Hope we can all get back in the groove, perhaps by Google Meet, which I have never used. I have trouble with Zooming as I’m told to use a different microphone from the one(s) built in to my laptop(s) but I don’t have another. Perhaps I’ll have to use my cell phone? We’ll work it out.
I should write a bit about my classes. I’ll think of that.
Meanwhile, Hello to Lisa, Kathleen and the others, stay well, stay safe all of you.
Blue Skies!
Barbara W
Kid Tested Session Ideas: Please contact me if you are interested in sharing some of your kid tested session plans. Joan M’s schedule is rapidly filling. I have already read one submission by Margaret W that was wonderful! I won’t read anymore and plan to be thrilled when Joan publishes all of the submissions. With 400 volunteers, she should easily hear from at least 50-75 incredible reading mentors with ideas that created that light bulb moment with a student. This is the time since we are not mentoring….