St Simons Island 2021-22

Reading Rockets 2021: Reconnect, Rebuild, Revitalize, and Resume 

Since the pandemic continued to preclude reading in person to Pre-K and Kindergarten kids in their classrooms, we undertook two initiatives: Reading Rockets Videos and Zooming Reading Rockets.

Reading Rockets Videos. In collaboration with the Brunswick (GA) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, and with the invaluable assistance of professional film maker, Lance Lipman, we produced 37 videos now available in a showcase on YouTube for educational purposes, especially for the children of Glynn County and their teachers and parents. Each video features a member of The Links, an organization of African American professional and businesswomen, reading one of the 37 books for Pre-K and Kindergarten kids selected from the special collection of 160+ books that we donated to the Marshes of Glynn Library last year. These books reflect African American children and experiences and are written and illustrated primarily by African American authors and artists. The link to the Reading Rockets Videos is included in the Documents.

Zooming Reading Rockets. Over the course of 9 weeks (including a week off for Spring Break), starting on March 1st and ending on April 29th, over 20 volunteers (some from the remote locations of Atlanta, Shanghai, and Ecuador), participated in the Zooming Reading Rockets Pilot to see how it would work to read to Pre-K and Kindergarten kids over Zoom into their classrooms. (A few volunteers were able to read to the children in person.) We scanned the 16 books that were read during the time of the pilot and formatted them as PowerPoint presentations. Each week, the volunteers received by email the links to the books of the week and invited the teachers (some volunteers read to multiple classes at once) to participate in the Zooming Reading Rockets session at the same time each week. The Brunswick News publicized the pilot project, and many of the volunteers got involved in response to that article, which appears in the Documents. The spreadsheet listing the volunteers, teachers, dates, and selected books is set out in the Documents. The project leader coordinated with the Glynn County Schools Office of the Assistant Superintendent for K-5 and with the volunteers. To celebrate the end of the year, we sent each Pre-K student a copy of “The Pout Pout Fish,” and we sent each Kindergarten student a copy of “Pete the Cat and the Cool Caterpillar.”

Separate from Zooming Reading Rockets, we also supported Head Start, where we have read to Pre-K classes in the past, by working with the Marshes of Glynn Libraries to provide new books for the library soon to open at the new Head Start facility located in the Jackson Building at Rise Risley in Brunswick. These books will replace some of the books that we have provided in the past that are well used and in need of replacement.

On May 5th, SSI Rotary hosted the Reading Rockets Videos Premier & Celebration to launch the link to the videos, to recognize the successful Zooming Reading Rockets Pilot, and to celebrate our collaborations with The Brunswick (GA) Chapter of The Links, Incorporated, the Glynn County Schools, the Marshes of Glynn Libraries, and our many volunteers from both SSI Rotary and the community at large. The Opening Remarks, which provide an overview of our projects and the event, are included in Documents, as are photos of the event and the articles that appeared in The Brunswick News and The Spray. We awarded the first ever “Reading Rockets Above and Beyond Award” to Lance Lipman for his invaluable contribution of his time, treasure and talent to producing the videos. Photos of Lance and the Award are included in Documents.

Approximately 50 people attended the event, including the Mayor and City Manager of Brunswick, a member of the Glynn County Board of Education, the Assistant Superintendent ofr k-5 of the Glynn County Schools, and representatives of all of the collaborators. We were especially honored to have Dennis Marks, District 6920 Literacy Chair, and his wife, Patricia, to make the trip from Valdosta to attend the event.

Accomplishing the Reading Rockets Mission of supporting early childhood literacy and learning by reading to kids in Pre-K and Kindergarten was more important this year than ever. The pandemic stymied the progress of all students in their education, and young children might have suffered the largest setbacks. We are happy that we were able to find technological innovations such as video recordings and Zoom to circumvent some of the obstacles presented by the continuing pandemic. Beyond being able to read to the kids, we also built a broader sense of community with our collaborators as we worked on achieving our mutual goals together.

We believe that we reached the goals for this year’s District 6920 Local District Grant: to Reconnect, Rebuild, Revitalize and Resume the good works of Reading Rockets. We hope that the coming year will not present the challenges of the last two, but if it does, we know that we can turn to some good alternatives to reading in person if we must so we can continue reading to the kids and encouraging them to become good readers, too.

The beneficiaries were: the 800+ kids who received Zooming Reading Rockets in their classrooms and will receive a book to take home for the summer; the teachers and volunteers who participated in the Zooming Reading Rockets Pilot; the hundreds of kids and their teachers who will use the Head Start library; members of SSI Rotary and The Links who collaborated as the Reading Rockets Videos project team; untold numbers who will enjoy and benefit from seeing the 37 Reading Rockets Videos; all of the collaborators who attended the Reading Rockets Videos Premier & Collaboration.

The beneficiaries were impacted by either receiving or giving continuing support for early childhood literacy, a key skill for success in life and in school. The humanitarian need met for the children was the need to be supported by a community of caring adults in learning vital life skills. The humanitarian need met for the adults and organizations involved was the need to be a part of the community making a difference for others, especially for the children. Through these projects, members of diverse communities came together and developed bonds of friendship built on common purpose that bridge their differences. As a society, we have a humanitarian need to work together for the common good. We made progress in that direction.

Twelve SSI Rotary members led and coordinated the projects, hosted and attended the May 5th event, provided hospitality for the May 5th event, participated as volunteers in Zooming Reading Rockets both in person and on Zoom, and followed up with all collaborators at the end of the projects.