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Aug 10, 2015

Beaumont Youth Sharpen Reading Skills

 

Ten students who will begin first grade this fall attended a special reading camp sponsored by St. Stephen’s, Beaumont and Ubi Caritas Health Ministries along with the Southeast Texas Family Resource Center.

 

Inspired by a newly retired teacher, Kathy Tait, the students worked for a week on listening skills, phonics, comparisons and analogies. Tait, an expert in reading disabilities, offered her time, wanting to reach students whose parents could not afford a tutor, and wanted to give students the best possible start for their first grade year. She worked with St. Stephen’s Common Mission team to develop the collaborative camp and to identify the students.

 

Teaching techniques included writing sounds in shaving cream (a favorite exercise), learning about shapes, animals and numbers through games and demonstrations and a lot of story telling. St. Stephen’s provided healthy snacks and students went home each day with a new book or puzzle that represented a skill they had learned. On the final and fifth day, the students were awarded camp tee shirts, certificates of completion and bags full of books and other learning tools.

 

Clark Moore, Executive Director of Ubi Caritas, said that many other parents were asking how their children might get involved. St. Stephen’s looks forward to more collaborative ministries as they seek ways to serve children of their community.