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Programmes
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Children
- Club TREASURE
- GROW
- StoryLAB
- iREAD
Club TREASURE is an after-school engagement program for children aged 4 to 12 years. It provides children in the community with a nurturing and fun space where they receive all the encouragement to discover the joys of reading, as well as engage in activities that will develop creativity and critical thinking.
As the focus of Club TREASURE is on strengthening literacy skills, struggling readers are provided with reading support lessons, reluctant readers are encouraged to read for pleasure, and proficient readers get to enjoy reading more extensively.
GROW (Gain Reading Oral and Writing skills) is a weekly structured skills-based programme to help struggling readers aged between 5-8 years old acquire reading skills. We offer both online and face-to-face lessons.
- Tiered small group instruction
- Explicit phonics instruction
- Word recognition training
- Guided reading for reading fluency
- Two 14-lesson modules per year
- 75-minute lessons (F2F), 45-minute lessons (Online)
Registration for the next intake can be done via this link.
If you are a parent who is interested to register your child for GROW, registration for the next intake can be done via this link. You can also drop Eunice Goh at eunicegoh@calvary.sg an email to find out more. We will arrange a screening test to assess your child’s suitability for the programme.
We also partner with pre-schools and SSAs to run our GROW programme for students. Do contact us at +65 65462759 or email care@calvary.sg with the header Partnership Inquiries: GROW to explore this option with us.
Children respond differently to the standard lessons taught in a class of 20-25 children. Some do not receive adequate home support, especially non-English speaking home environments, while some learn at a slower pace and require more individual attention.
Without a good grasp of English literacy, the child will have difficulty coping with the academic demands of school.
The students who will benefit from GROW are preschool children who lack grade-appropriate reading proficiency to cope with the academic demands as they start primary school as well as children who have started primary school but are still struggling to read.
- Systematic screening,
- Tiered intervention and
- Progress monitoring
GROW students show significant progress in their phonics skills, word recognition ability as well as in their reading fluency. They benefit greatly from the close attention they receive in the small group instruction as well as the systematic and differentiated lessons that cater to their learning needs
Testimonies
GROW and Storylab have been a wonderful part of my twins’ lives in pre-school where they were engaged in stories through Storylab where they benefitted from the passion and enthusiasm from the volunteers, whether online or face-to-face.
In particular, the Grow programme benefitted my girl who was initially struggling with reading to one who is now a confident reader in P1 now. Teacher Eunice was very skilful and used a variety of activities to engage my girl in her reading. Would like to take the chance to thank Eunice and all the wonderful volunteers for their passion and hard work put in to grow the literacy of our children in this precinct. Keep it up!
At the start of P1, Shi Ying could read fewer than 50 words. Her mother is Vietnamese and does not speak English while her father is deaf. Thankfully, Shi Ying is a very keen and diligent learner and with the help of the GROW reading support programme, she was able to make tremendous progress in her reading proficiency.
Click here to watch her story!
I wish to express my deep felt thanks to you for teaching my son, Ryan Lim, through the GROW literacy programme. I’ve noticed marked improvement in Ryan’s reading ability. At the beginning of this year he was quite poor in sight words and phonics. Now he reads fluently and takes interest in storybooks and even science magazines and books. He enjoys reading about animals and longer stories with little help. He reads readily and quite independently. Quite amazing!
Appreciate your patience and great care in teaching Ryan. Thank You!
StoryLAB (Literacy Awareness Builders) aims to bring the experience of “bedtime stories” (shared book reading) into the community.
Through StoryLAB, we hope that children, especially those from non-English speaking homes, can enjoy the experience and its benefits. Children aged 4-8 are welcome to join us in our weekly sessions.
- Active and meaningful engagement with stories
- Attention to text
- Weekly 30-minute online sessions
- Small group reading
Volunteers will read to your children in small groups of 2-3 children over Zoom video calls on Mondays, either from 7.30-8.00pm or 8.00-8.30pm.
These online StoryLAB sessions are only available for referrals.
Registration for the next intake can be done via this link.
Registration for the next intake can be done via this link. For more details/information, please contact Eunice Goh at eunicegoh@calvary.sg
We partner with community organizations and SSAs to run our Story L.A.B. programme for their beneficiaries. Do contact us at +65 65462759 or email care@calvary.sg with the header Partnership Inquiries: Story L.A.B. to explore this option with us.
Studies have shown that reading aloud to children is the single most important activity for reading success in children.
Children with poor literacy foundation struggle to develop reading proficiency and become reluctant readers. This in turn affects their school progress. We aim to eliminate the guarantee of academic failure caused by poor literacy skills.
ALL children will benefit from the experience of being read aloud to. However, this experience is especially beneficial and critical to children from non-English speaking homes.
Being read to reaps a lot of benefits for the children! This includes:
- Increasing vocabulary
- Developing oral skills
- Sharpening of observation skills
- Enhancing listening skills
- Providing opportunities for positive social interaction
- Laying the foundation for reading comprehension
- Building reading readiness
More importantly, reading aloud to children can promote a love for reading in the children.
Testimonies
Every 4th Monday of the month, we replace the small-group reading session with a large group story reading followed by a simple craft for the children to do.
This particular week, one of our regular Story L.A.B. attendees, L (P1), came with his own book and kept asking us to read that book to him. When we told him that we were unable to do so because we had other plans for that session, he took his book and started reading to his friends who enjoyed it a lot as well!
It was very encouraging to see the children taking the initiative to read and be so excited about it – that is what Story L.A.B. aims to do!
As Story L.A.B is specially designed to nurture every child to become self-motivated and joyful readers, I hope to be part of this process in igniting the imagination of our young readers through the power of storytelling.
Although there are hard moments, but the joy from the enjoyable moments often transcend the ‘down’ times.
The volunteering journey has been an extremely enjoyable one and it has also allowed me to grow with the children. I believe in the importance of education and the greatness of a village to raise a child.
-Li Ying, Volunteer
iREAD is a reading mentoring programme for children who have basic reading proficiency but are not reading extensively or for pleasure. Reading mentors will have one- to-one reading sessions with the children twice a week.
Each reading session will last between 30min per session. Our reading mentors will engage the children in discussions to extend their vocabulary, comprehension and develop critical thinking skills.
To add to their reading experience and engagement, library visits (optional) for the children will be arranged.
Registration for the next intake can be done via this link.
If you are a parent who is interested to register your child for iREAD, registration for the next intake can be done via this link. You can also drop Eunice Goh at eunicegoh@calvary.sg an email to find out more. We will arrange a screening test to assess your child’s suitability for the programme.
We also partner with pre-schools and SSAs to run our iREAD programme for students. Do contact us at +65 65462759 or email care@calvary.sg with the header Partnership Inquiries: iREAD to explore this option with us.
The children who will benefit from iREAD are children who have basic reading skills but are not reading extensively or for pleasure.
Much research has been done to show that reading enjoyment is more critical for a child’s educational success than their family’s socio-economic background.
Many of our students who have basic reading proficiency are often not able to progress beyond that as they are not reading extensively or for pleasure.
iREAD aims to encourage our students to develop a habit of reading by exposing them to a wide variety of books and topics through the sessions.
Sessions are conducted one-on-one to allow for deeper engagement between the student and their reading mentor.
Testimonies
C3 has been amazing with my kids. The teachers go above and beyond in terms of support and care for the children. They truly try to engage the kids and spark the joy of reading from the children themselves. My kids started out barely reading three letter words, are now confident readers who enjoy reading and actually asks to read more without me chasing them!