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Volunteer Nation's Latest News

 

Stay in the know with your fellow volunteers and learn about current events happening in the Volunteer Nation

 

    

 

 

 

Volunteer Nation Blog

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Stay in the know with your fellow volunteers, read the latest volunteer spotlight, and learn about current events happening in the Volunteer Nation.


Great Reading Games 2019 Wrap-Up


Great Reading Games logo: Blue circle around a purple disc, with a traditional loving cup and laurels in its center.  A blue star is on the main body of the cup, and a crown hovers over it.



 

For the expanded report, click here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-GXMUanzp7IMVCHii1NF74zhv8NAPJx-/view?usp=sharing


 

Highlights:

  • We had a 31% increase in school participation over 2018

 

Excitement is in the air as crowds gather in a school gymnasium, waiting to watch the live-stream event with author Kwame Alexander



 

  • We had a 62% increase in participating students over 2018

 

Resource teacher's classroom door celebrating the GRG achievements of and encouraging students in various grades


 

  • Schools participating in the GRG saw a 27% increase in reading activity compared to only 19% in schools that did not participate

 

Glowing smile on the face of one little girl as she proudly shows off her tablet with the book she is reading loaded onto it.  A little stuffed animal in her arms is listening to the book with her.  Caption:  This little sweetie has been coming to read every morning since the Great Reading Games started!


 

  • Students read nearly TWELVE MILLION pages during GRG19

 

Eyes wide with excitement, a young girl shows off her very full LINK bookshelf.  Caption:  Look at all my books!

 

 

  • Educators are saying: “...this is the ONLY intervention that has made a significant difference to so many kids...These kids FEEL like readers now.”


 

Logo with an open book inside a glowing light bulb; text: Innovations in Reading Prize, National Book Foundation: Honorable Mention


Elementary Students Learn How to Make Audiobooks

Elementary Students Learn How to Make Audiobooks!

We recently had the pleasure of hosting students from two elementary schools in Austin, TX and Princeton, NJ. A great day was had by all.  The excitement was contagious as they entered the building.  You could see the wonder on their faces, as they are so familiar with Learning Ally and how much it impacts their day to day accomplishments at school. Without you volunteers, none of this would be possible!  Here’s a look into each school visit, and what the students were able to experience while they were here. 

Highland Park Elementary Students, Austin TX

On February 27th, 32 students and 6 teachers, parents and school administrators visited the Austin studio to learn about how our audio books get from volunteer’s voices/home studios into the app they use to listen to their books.  

The students listened to the history of Learning Ally, back to 1948 when we were called Recording for the Blind and recorded material onto flexible record albums.  They saw how we have kept up with technology over the years through reel-to-reel, cassettes and CD’s and now to the Learning Ally Link App.  They watched a video showing how our books are chopped and scanned to make the PDF and EasyBooks files our volunteers use to read.  They learned how volunteers can now work anywhere in the world to help record their books thanks to our virtual technology!

Highland Park students are experts at using the Link App, so they enthusiastically helped staff demonstrate how to search for and download books, find chapter headings, page numbers and change the speed of the audio and the color of the text on the screen.  

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/7ih1EQSGpePr_XnYs_V4dVLFHk8pjF0zhzbDGEidQsy8glfQOXH4djdQ0_bQqE3f56NOcrETW6yKmodaVqB1FoNVCOkSZS9wL9FCV2EXwPWjdhxNoluwXLQbgvHqk_RAU7uZkMiP

Students got to step into our old recording booths and make a recording on a Learning Ally Flash Drive to take home to their family.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/MubY8coDJ3e3zFv09_yNqpttWrGgqgw2q5bXjMAtBXaE4_fCE5Mzn9sempqfucp509aJ6h-1GbhtqYASvwssLV8PRsZUy3paMOwP1oD6oKxJvh1lB1m6jF-TgfSzKrf25RAU_UHx

Austin volunteers Kathi Jensen and Robert Miller helped staff members Cheri Nightingale and Gigi Franklin with the tour.  One little girl told us “This is the best field trip we have ever taken!”  Their two hours at the studio flew by, but their enthusiasm for reading will last a lifetime.  They all gathered in the studio conference room before getting back on the bus and yelled “THANK YOU!” to all the volunteers around the world who help brings books to life for them.  

Village Elementary School, Montgomery NJ

On January 24th, we had an amazing group of students from Village Elementary School, visit us and get to experience firsthand how an audio book is made from beginning to end!   They were able to experience LINK and be “testers” with some new advanced features coming up!

The students had an opportunity to meet learn about guide dogs, and how they are trained to lead the blind and visually impaired around obstacles.  Abigail Shaw, a Learning Ally staff member was gracious enough to bring her guide dog Kit, for the students to meet.  This was a huge hit with everyone, and it helped bring an understanding how important these companions are!

We had a great voice over session, where students recorded a clip of a short story of their choice and brought it home on a flash drive for their parents to listen to! They were so proud of themselves and loved hearing their voices on the recordings! 

It was a great day that couldn’t have been possible without the help of our wonderful staff and volunteers that joined us for this impactful event.  A special thank you to Maryfran Annese and Joe Clark for making a special trip to Princeton to join the fun!