Volunteers, kids connect at Sarnia reading program

A program helping elementary schoolkids become stronger readers returns to Sarnia’s Central Baptist Church next month and its organizer says she hopes it will spread to other churches.

Kids’ Konnection began in March 2022 as a church outreach program to help city first- to sixth-graders make up reading skills lost due to pandemic disruptions.

It matches kids with adult mentors, to whom they read for 30 minutes a week during evening sessions at the London Road church.

“We now have two nights available, Tuesdays and Wednesdays,” said founder and co-ordinator Marg Johnson, a retired child and youth worker. “We’ve pretty much doubled what we’re able to handle.”

More than 32 spots are available for children in the upcoming session, said Cynthia Garland, who helps co-ordinate the program.

That’s possible because more adult mentors — grandparents and retired teachers among them — have volunteered to be matched with a youngster at the reading sessions.

Johnson said mentors have been attracted through word-of-mouth and the program’s three successful sessions.

“We also added a French component this year,” after requests from families of French immersion pupils, she said.

“We got a new pastor and she said, ‘Well, I can do the French’ ” sessions, Johnson said. Garland also is available to mentor kids who wish to read in English.

“We’re still seeing incredible improvement in the kids that have come here,” whose reading skills have advanced by at least one grade level since beginning the program, Johnson said.

“There’s a real need for it,” Garland said.

At a session-ending celebration, “one of the kids got up and spoke about what it was like not being as good of a reader as everybody else,” Johnson said. “Kids made fun of her.”

Garland said it was emotional hearing how much the program had helped.

Youngsters are encouraged to read aloud at home for at least 15 minutes, five days a week, to qualify for prizes at session’s end.

Johnson said her daughter, who is a teacher, came up with the fun suggestions for the at-home reading sessions listed on the back of the “reading tracker” sheets, such as reading under a chair, in an empty bathtub, with a bowl on their head, and others.

“It’s such a simple mandate,” Johnson said of what program mentors do during sessions at the church. “All they are supposed to do is sit and listen.”

“The connections are really there,” Johnson said. “I’ve had parents ask for specific mentors. It’s wonderful.”

Johnson has sent out material about the program to 25 churches around the region to encourage them to consider offering it.

She also spoke early this year at a Baptist assembly in Toronto where a video created about the program was also screened with the aim of encouraging other congregations to explore becoming involved in Kids Konnection programs in their communities.

“I’m really hopeful the other churches around here will pick it up,” Johnson said.

Sessions at Central Baptist begin Sept. 19 and 20, from 4 to 8 pm, with youngsters meeting their mentors at the church the week before, Johnson said.

“The kids will be able to see the mentors ahead of time, so that gets rid of that anxiety,” she said.

They also each get a book bag.

“We’ve got a whole pile of new books that people have donated,” Johnson said.

The books are already stacked in baskets by grade reading level and ready for this fall’s 12-week session.

“Every time we do this, we tend to streamline it,” Johnson said. That includes moving to online registration to cut down on paperwork.

“It’s crazy easy for them to register,” she said.

For registration information, email Johnson at [email protected]. Families pay a small fee.

[email protected]