Reading To Rover

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 6:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

2012 Dates
January 17th July 17th
February 14th August 21st
March 13th September 18th
April 11th October 16th
May 15th November 20th
June 19th December 18th

On the West Bank
Held on the second Sunday of each month at the Harvey Library
Children's Wing 2751 Manhattan Blvd., Harvey 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

2012 Dates
January 8th July 8th
February 12th August 12th
March 11th September 9th
April 15th October 14th
May 20th November 11th
June 10th December 9th

In Orleans Parish
Held on the second Thursday of each month at the Andrew H. Wilson Charter School
3617 General Pershing Street (enter on South Miro St.) Second Floor in New Orleans 6:00 p.m.

2012 Dates
January 12th July 12th
February 9th August 9th
March 8th September 13th
April 12th October 11th
May 10th November 8th
June 14th December 13th

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.

Parents, click here for more information on Reading to Rover.


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

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.