Each week Edna volunteers in Ms. Galvan’s third grade class to help students, Rafael and Stephanie, build literacy skills. Edna can tell how much the students care about improving their reading. At the end of every session Rafael and Stephanie ask her “Did I do a good job?”

Edna is one of 80 United Way of Lake County Reading Success volunteer tutors. United Way of Lake County trains community volunteers to tutor Waukegan elementary students grades one through three who are unable to read at grade level.

Children are learning to read in early elementary years and, by fourth grade, they are reading to learn. Studies show that most students who are not proficient readers by fourth grade will continue to remain behind throughout their entire educational career.

“I TELL MY STUDENTS THAT READING IS THE BEST WAY TO LEARN MORE.” - MS. GALVAN

At the beginning of the school year, Stephanie did not comprehend what she read in a book. She struggled to read the words and was not able to answer questions about the story. Each week, Edna begins the tutoring session by asking Stephanie to predict what is going to happen in the story based on the title.  She asks Stephanie questions as she reads the book and, when finished, they have fun sharing their favorite parts of the story.

RAISES HER HAND TO READ IN CLASS

Stephanie’s teacher, Ms. Galvan, says she “was selected to participate in Reading Success because her reading abilities were very low. And now, Stephanie raises her hand to read aloud in class.”