This week India Allen, the program coordinator for the HOPE 21st Century Community Learning Centers at C.J. Donald and Robinson Elementary schools, shares information about a recent opportunity experienced by our HOPE Center students. Enrichment programs, like this one, serve to boost student self-confidence and expose children to experiences they would not have without Better [...]
Building student self confidence is a big part of each of the Better Basics programs. When students believe they can achieve, it becomes easier for them to reach their goals. Our Reading Intervention teachers do a wonderful job of becoming a booster for our students. In addition to providing the children with research-based intervention methods [...]
Each year, the Better Basics staff looks forward to the annual Better Basics Awards Luncheon. It takes three straight days of luncheons to celebrate with all of the top-achieving students in our programs. Students who read the most books in the MORE program, wrote the winning essay for their school, made the most improvement in [...]
This week, we invited three of our volunteers to share their thoughts with you. The UAB students were asked to write about how they see lives changing through our programs and their work with children. We thought they would tell us about our students and their educational gains. Instead we discovered that their lives are [...]
When I was eight years old, my idea of playing outside was reading the latest “Babysitter’s Club” under my favorite tree. I could always be found with a book in hand, engrossed in the latest adventures of Nancy Drew or dreaming of becoming a writer like Jo March in “Little Women.” Books were my gateway [...]
The Birmingham Reads Book Drive Challenge kicked off this week, and the event has proved to be a true win-win for our community. Eleven schools from the Homewood, Hoover, Mountain Brook, Trussville, and Vestavia school systems, as well as one private school, are competing to bring in the most books. Last year, the first year [...]
The Birmingham Reads project is always a little challenging to describe. It is a joint project of Better Basics and the Junior League of Birmingham comprised of three separate components: Birmingham Reads Day, The Birmingham Reads Book Drive Challenge, and the Birmingham Reads and Brookwood Celebrates event. We are fortunate to have multiple title sponsors [...]
As we prepare for the 2012-13 Better Basics Awards Luncheons, the staff at Better Basics has delighted in reading the winning selections from our annual MORE Essay contest. This week, we want to share with you the thoughts of some of our students. Martez Deon Davis Jr. from Lewis Elementary wrote, “The reason I like [...]
Research from two large-scale studies revealed that effective reading teachers of elementary-age students shared several common characteristics, including the incorporation of varied reading-related activities into lessons, and the teacher’s ability to personally relate to students. It is great to know that the bonds our students create each year with their Reading Intervention teacher will actually [...]
Spring is here, and over the next two weeks, the schools in our community will take a break. Better Basics’ employees share their favorite book selections for reading to your children or grandchildren over the holiday. Karen Kapp, Better Basics’ Executive Director says “My favorite book is The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf. It [...]