Welcome to Strong Start!

 

The Letters, Sounds and Words program targets children in Senior Kindergarten, Grade One and Grade Two who need a literacy boost.

They are selected by their classroom teacher at the first sign of them lagging behind in their early literacy skills. These children are paired with trained community volunteers who come into the school to work one-on-one with them, playing carefully designed games and activities.

Each volunteer receives four hours of training prior to working with a child for the first time.

The games are organized in four strands: Letters, Sounds, Words and Building Words. The child will see 2-3 volunteers per week depending on the number of strands they are in, for a 10 week period. Each visit is 30 minutes long.

The children’s knowledge is tested before and after the program, documenting gains in their early literacy skills. An adaptation of this program has also been created for English Language Learners up to age 9.

For more information visit the Strong Start website at www.strongstart.ca