Early Childhood Center, Carlinville — Children wore their pajamas and families read
stories together and ate cookies on their family blanket. Guest readers performed a pup-pet
show and read Thanksgiving stories. The children made a puppet craft and plastic
gold medals were given to all the children as they left to encourage them to “Go for the
Gold” in reading.
Farmington Area Public Library District — A theater group from Western Illinois
University in Macomb presented the play “Rumpelstiltskin.”
Fremont Public Library, Mundelein — A Family Reading Club ran November 1-20.
Families were invited to pick up a bag of five age-appropriate books, ranging from birth
through 6th grade, with themes such as mysteries, fantasy, dragons, cats, etc. Hot choco-late
mix and microwave popcorn also were included in the bags.
Iroquois West Elementary School, Gilman — The bingo-themed event provided chil-dren
bingo cards instructing them to complete three of the following activities: making a
bookmark, taking a reading test on the computer, listening to guest readers and having a
A mom and son enjoy a book at the Springfield Urban
League’s Family Reading Night event.
A mom and son explore a picture book at Township
School District 214 in Arlington Heights.
Family Reading Night 2009 will be held Thursday, November 19. The theme
is “Read Together, Grow Together.” Bookmarks and posters will be avail-able
this summer. If you did not complete an order form, you may request
materials by calling 217-785-6921.
Volunteer tutor spotlight
Carl Sandburg College Literacy Coalition, Galesburg
Cristina Campos — Cristina is a freshman student at Carl Sandburg College and has discovered through her vol-unteer
tutoring experience that she wants to become a bilingual teacher. Her first placement was with a small
group of beginning students in an English as a Second Language class. She volunteered to provide three hours of
small group computer instruction in addition to volunteering five hours a week in class. Cristina then added more
hours tutoring a one-on-one adult learner. In addition to her tutoring schedule, she maintains excellent grades as a
full-time student, works part time and started a bowling club. What an amazing volunteer!
Rena Reagor — Rena completed her tutor training in 1990 and has been a volunteer tutor ever since. Her motto is
“practice, practice, practice.” She can always be counted on to be an active participant at in-service training. Rena
and her current adult learners use a variety of materials and techniques, but the primary focus is the Bible. Rena
has high expectations for her students’ success. Her current student is sometimes absent from his adult education
class, but he never misses his Monday night tutoring session with Rena. Thanks Rena for all your hard work and
dedication through the years!
Adult literacy programs statewide need volunteer tutors. If you would like to volunteer as a tutor, please contact the Illinois Adult
Learning Hotline at 1-800-321-9511 or complete the registration form online at www.thecenterweb.org/alrc/hotline/index.html.
Literacy Resource Bins available on loan
More than 500 literacy resources are available through the Literacy
Office’s Adult and Family Literacy Resource Bins. Twenty-seven
resource bins have been developed on topics ranging from How to
Start an Adult Volunteer Literacy Program to Evidence-Based Reading
Research. The resource bins are available on loan free of charge.
To borrow a resource bin, please contact Jo Anne Hughes at 800-665-
5576, opt. #3, or jhughes@ilsos.net. Resource bins are delivered to
your local public library via the Illinois State Library’s Interlibrary
Delivery System. A complete list of resource bins is available
at literacy.kent.edu/illinois/litresource1.pdf.
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Rena Reagor
Cristina Campos
