READING
TO ROVER
Our literacy project, Reading to Rover, has been tremendously successful.
  Reading to Rover was designed for childen
who struggle with reading aloud in a group.
The dogs offer a calm,
accepting presence for the children
to practice their reading aloud skills. 

Reading To Rover has been a wonderful opportunity to share
the unconditional love of the dogs
with children who have reading problems
or who may not have a pet of their own.

It takes an especially calm and quiet pet to work with these children.


To arrange a
Reading To Rover
event at your facility,
email
Fay Schultz
at fibrofay@cox.net
Peanut with a young reader and handler Cindy Ruel
Current times and locations

On the East Bank
Held on the third Tuesday of each month at the East Bank Regional Library
Children's Department     4747 W. Napoleon in Metairie     6:30pm-7:30pm

2009 Dates
JANUARY 20 JULY 21
FEBRUARY 17                      AUGUST 18             
MARCH 17                             SEPTEMBER 15  
APRIL 21 OCTOBER 20
MAY 19                                   NOVEMBER 17 
JUNE 16                         DECEMBER 15
                                         
On the West Bank
Held on the second Sunday of each month at the Harvey Library
Children's Wing    2751 Manhattan Blvd., Harvey     2:00pm-3:00pm

2009 Dates
JANUARY 11 JULY 12
FEBRUARY 8                        AUGUST 9             
MARCH 8                               SEPTEMBER 13  
APRIL 19 OCTOBER 11
MAY 17                                   NOVEMBER 8 
JUNE 14                         DECEMBER 13
                     

The Visiting Pet Program has added an exciting new Reading to Rover event to our roster of visits. The STAIR program (Starting the Adventure in Reading) was founded in New Orleans in 1985 as a non-profit, volunteer based children's literacy program providing reading tutors to public school second grade students.

Each school year, second grade teachers identify students who may be at risk of academic failure. STAIR focuses on children who need assistance in reading and whose teachers believe their skills will blossom given one-on-one attention.

With the 2007-2008 school year, STAIR began relying on testing scores furnished by all of its participating schools who test the children using the Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS).

Both fall and spring DIBELS test scores for each STAIR child were obtained from the schools to determine the success of the STAIR program.  On average STAIR students' scores in Oral Reading Fluency increased more than 94%!

During the 2009-2010 school year STAIR will serve 250 children from over 30 schools at 29 sites in Orleans, Jefferson and Plaquemines Parishes.

As partners with the STAIR program, the Visiting Pet Program will offer Reading to Rover visits one Saturday of each month at 10:00 a.m. The location will rotate monthly between 3 STAIR sites.

If you are interested in participating in STAIR or any of the Reading to Rover events, please contact Fay Schultz, fibrofay@cox.net.

To learn more about STAIR visit their website at http://www.stairnola.org