When Saturday mornings roll around, cries of pure excitement fill up the First Presbyterian Church, located on Symphony Circle in Buffalo. Groups of rambunctious youngsters head to their seats in anticipation for the adventure of the day.
The children ranging from kindergarten to 12th grade spend time reading a story related to the topic of the day and complete a craft. The free program provides students with confidence in a positive learning environment.
Simply Excellent Students is a non-profit program that provides educational assistance to children in kindergarten through 12th grade. Simply Excellent Students is linked with Literacy Volunteers of Buffalo and Erie County. New York State certified teachers give one-on-one tutoring and create lessons for the children in both math and reading.
The program runs from September to June.
In order for a child to be eligible for the program, they must attend one of the many Buffalo Public Schools and receive free or reduced lunch services. A listing of all the schools that are accepted by Simply Excellent Student can be found on the Buffalo Urban League’s Web site at http://www.buffalourbanleague.org/SES.html.
The Simply Excellent Student team of experienced teachers aims to improve the children’s English skills by putting a heavy emphasis on reading. Instructor Jennifer Janca explained the importance of books in the program.
“With every lesson, the instructor reads a book related to the topic of the day and after they are done with the book the children complete an activity or craft related to the story,” said Janca. “When I did a lesson on winter, I read a book about snowmen and the children had to construct a snowman made out of graham crackers and marshmallows.”
But reading is not the only skill worked on. Rhyming, phonics, sequencing, behavior, manners, numbers, and learning to tell time are among the subjects taught to the younger children in the program.
For the middle and high school crowd, lessons are much different.
“They create collages, read the newspaper for current events and do things that apply more to their age,” Janca said. “One of their projects required them to look at advertisements and pick out persuasive language and then they had to make an ad on their own.”
In a pursuit to make it fun for the students, Coordinator Brittany Kucala organizes events for the children to participate in. One event centered on volunteering and giving the Buffalo community a special gift. The entire group and other community members planted flower gardens at the Mariner Towers, located across from LaSalle Park on the Buffalo waterfront. They also learned about the significance of protecting the environment.
Simply Excellent Students works closely with Buffalo educators in an effort to maximize learning. The teachers of the various schools participating with the program send out packets containing their class reading assignments so the Simply Excellent Students instructors can practice with the students. Instructors strive to keep communication open with the school board as well.
“We send schools a letter letting them know one of their students is in a tutoring program,” said Program Director of Literacy Volunteers of Buffalo and Erie County, Amy Lawrence.
Buffalo is home to thousands of refugees, of whom do not speak English as their primary language. Of the eight locations for the program, the First Presbyterian Church provides services to the Liberian community.
“The younger the students start, the more progress they achieve,” said Program Director for the Liberian community, Dao Kamara.
However, some of the refugees are much older when they come to the program and it’s much harder to keep their focus and maintain attendance.
“Getting them to come every week is a struggle,” said Janca. “And finding books and activities with high interest and low readability is hard too.”
But Janca explained that when they do come on a regular basis, their test scores increase dramatically.
The benefits of Simply Excellent Students are not only seen in improved test scores but also in the children’s attitudes.
“They are behind in their studies and they don’t have a love of reading,” said Janca. “So we foster that and by the time they leave us, they want book after book after book.”
For enrollment, visit http://www.literacybuffalo.org/pdf/SES_application_1_09.pdf and download the application. Also visit Literacy Volunteers at www.literacybuffalo.org.