After two years of offering our Reading Heroes and Math Heroes programs virtually, Little Lights is excited to celebrate the in-person return of these programs!
During the first week of March, we welcomed students and volunteers to two of our program sites for the first Reading Heroes and Math Heroes sessions. Students were excited to learn and reunite with their volunteers in-person, while volunteers were excited to begin building caring and compassionate bonds with their students.
Prior to the COVID pandemic, Reading and Math Heroes took place at three of our program sites. Each tutoring session allowed students to work with their very own tutor. During each session, the site leader assigned lessons that provided intervention, remediation, or challenged our students. No matter how the students tested academically, the student and tutor pair received tailored activities to target that student’s specific needs. Through these weekly sessions, tutoring pairs were able to build meaningful relationships while working together to strengthen reading and math skills.
On March 12th, 2020, Little Lights canceled Reading Heroes and Math Heroes until further notice in response to the D.C. Mayor’s state of emergency declaration. On April 1st, 2020, we launched Zoom Heroes, an adapted program that allowed our curriculum to be implemented over Zoom to meet the needs of our students. With trained volunteer tutors, we continued to offer those tailored activities and rekindle some of the lost relationships between tutors and students. After recognizing the additional emotional support our students needed during the pandemic, program sites leaders incorporated social-emotional learning activities. This component of the lesson has become permanent and is built into our in-person Reading Heroes and Math Heroes sessions.
If you would like to support the Reading Heroes and Math Heroes programs, you can learn more about becoming a volunteer tutor here and can donate here.
