​As the weather warms, the days become longer and the sun shines brighter, students begin to experience the “Spring Slump.” The end of the school year is in sight and students begin to day dream about playing outside all day. End of year testing becomes a stressor and students may lose interest in learning and in challenging themselves in the classroom.
 
Don’t worry, we have the perfect antidote. Our Spring Enrichment Clubs! These programs are specifically designed to engage students in learning. We create opportunities for students to see the value in literacy and connect it to their interests. A student in our upcoming Mars Explorer Club at the Kindergarten through 5th grade levels can expect to practice their reading, writing, thinking, speaking and listening skills by designing a plan to colonize mars! They will research the geology of Mars and the planet’s atmosphere using traditional texts and IPADS. They will work with professional writers in the valley to explore how to put their thoughts down on paper and they will complete engineering and science projects to help them explore and apply the knowledge they’ve gained.
 
If your child cannot attend one of our enrichment clubs there are plenty of opportunities to involve your children in learning outside of school and afterschool programs. Study gravity through traditional and online texts and then take a ride on the Mountain Coaster at Snow King Mountain Resort and discuss how the theory of gravity is put into practice. For additional benefits, try to design your own gravity based ride!
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If you have children under the age of five, try sensory play indoors and out. Learn about your five senses as a family using traditional texts or online apps. Check out a few “touch and feel” books from the library. Explore the inside of your home using your senses. What does it smell like? Then take a walk into your backyard or the local park and explore. Compare the two settings.
 
By providing our students and children opportunities to read and then apply and explore the concepts they read about, we allow them to see the value of reading and learning. When students understand the value of learning they are more apt to “push through the spring slump” and finish the school year strong!
 
Haven’t signed up for our Spring Afterschool Clubs yet? Click this link to apply! Applications close on March 9th, 2017 

Jackson Hole News & Guide
POSTED: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2017 4:30 AM
By Kylie Mohr | 0 comments
Teton Literacy Center staff refused to let $200,000 in state budget cuts last year derail them from their mission: helping valley children and families become literate.

A year after swallowing these cuts — almost a third of the nonprofit’s total funding — the center is thriving, but never completely out of the clear.

“We were first on the chopping block, so it’s an interesting perspective,” Executive Director Laura Soltau said. “We never wanted to shut our doors or reduce our programs, and I’m just amazed by the support of the community. We’re lucky that we live in this small town. Everyone is so generous.”

Teton Literacy Center is a family literacy center with enrichment, tutoring, parent and early childhood opportunities for preschool through high school aged children and their families. It’s the only free after-school, summer, tutoring and family resource in the county.

Soltau said that when times get tough, systems of care — the umbrella of human and social services — tend to be the first to get cut, causing “everyone to panic.”

Teton Literacy Center is the only family literacy center left in Wyoming — the eight other sites disappeared last year due to budget cuts for family literacy centers.

As Teton County School District faces upcoming budget cuts from the Wyoming Legislature, the importance of education programs like the literacy center continues. Last year, district officials estimated that the literacy center saved them $800,000 a year.
“Budget cuts are the new normal,” Soltau said. “But some of the most powerful donations are the smaller gifts we see, coming from people who interact with literacy efforts every day like teachers and parents.”

When it looked like the literacy center needed help to stay afloat, community members stepped up as volunteers and as donors. On Feb. 23, the literacy center’s Pop Quiz Challenge and Dinner Fundraiser raised a total of $111,750 — a combination of $66,000 in donations, $20,750 in ticket sales and sponsors and a $25,000 match by an anonymous donor on the condition that event guests raised more than $50,000 by the end of the night.

The literacy center also just completed a $1 million sustainability campaign that will allow programs to continue for the next five years — enough time to finalize sustainable funding sources for the future.
Community members who recognize the importance of reading are integral to Teton Literacy Center’s continual success.

Paul Hansen, a conservation consultant, has volunteered as a tutor for eight years.
“I first got involved because I was keenly aware that our students in the United States are falling behind other countries,” Hansen said. “For an hour or two a week, I could directly help out with that.”
Hansen said the tutoring is rewarding because “it builds relationships.” One student he tutored for three years is graduating from University of Wyoming this year. They keep in touch and visit when the student comes home over the holidays.

Teachers find this kind of mentorship extremely valuable to help fill gaps that can occur during the day in the classroom.

“I support the Teton Literacy Center because this organization provides children ‘reading mentors’ — the kind of mentors teachers cannot be because our attention is divided among 20 or 25 students at the same time; and the kind of mentors parents cannot be because few are trained reading specialists,” said Libby Crews Wood, a fourth-grade teacher at Wilson Elementary School. “Growing readers need big doses of time, attention and expertise. Teton Literacy staff and volunteers provide all three.”
In addition to the generosity of volunteers, the fundraiser Jackson’s Got Talent has also tremendously helped the Teton Literacy Center. In November of 2016, event organizers say they raised a little more than $100,000. Co-chairman Christine Watson said that at the time, the fundraiser shone light on how much in need the literacy center was.

“Some people didn’t know that Teton Literacy Center had a budget cut, or that our center here is the only remaining program in the entire state of Wyoming,” Watson said. After finding that out, Watson said one generous donor doubled her donation.

“At that moment, it gave her an awareness and a realization that we need to continue this program to increase literacy.”

Watson knows firsthand the positive impact the center can have. Her son, a fourth grader now, didn’t especially like to read as a child.

“When he was in first and second grade, he didn’t have the confidence in reading and he didn’t have any desire to read,” Watson said. “Reading was almost a punishment to him.”

Watson thought the literacy center might make reading a more engaging pastime. She said the center has had a huge impact on her son.
“He started building that confidence and cultivating that culture of reading,” Watson said. “Now, he doesn’t want to stop reading — even if it’s time to go to bed or time to go to dinner.”
Despite widespread support, being a nonprofit in Jackson can be tough. According to the Jackson Hole Community Foundation, there are 221 nonprofits in the valley — saturating the landscape for those with money to give.

“The community has stood up and really helped the literacy center make up for their cuts,” Hansen said. “But what happens when you get a couple years out and get donor fatigue? There are a lot of generous people here but there are lots of groups looking for that money. It’s never easy and it’s never something you can take for granted.”

Teton Literacy Center is still in need of resources. Although the county is seeing an increase in the percentage of students reading at grade level — from 65 percent two years ago to 79 percent last year — Soltau said those who are behind just keep getting farther behind.

“We’re seeing an increase in the intensity of need,” she said. As older students progress through the grades, deficits can increase and make it harder to catch up — especially when the loss compounds over summer break.

Interested donors can sponsor a reader for a year at $1,200, for a semester at $600 or for a quarter at $300.

Luckily for Teton Literacy Center, Jacksonites value education.

“It’s obviously a critical benefit to our society,” Hansen said. “Every dollar we spend on early childhood education is really well spent in terms of the return we get as a society from a lifetime of someone who can read.”
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Contact Kylie Mohr at 732-7079, schools@jhnewsandguide.com or @JHNGschools.

Community Rallies Behind Teton Literacy Center. Thank you! TLC Raises over $110,000 in two days!

On February 23rd over 150 people gathered at Hotel Terra to support Teton Literacy Center programs and students. The annual Sponsor a Reader Pop Quiz Challenge Dinner proved to be an exciting night when a $25,000 challenge grant was announced just a day before the event. The challenge grant asked TLC staff, board, and event guests to raise $50,000 by the end of the event. It was an ambitious goal, but the community stepped up. Generous community members contributed over $66,000 in donations in just 48 hours! Combined with the $25,000 challenge grant and $20,750 in ticket sales and sponsorships, the event raised $111,750 to support programs! In addition to record breaking funds raised, the evening also proved to be a tight race between the three competing teams. First Interstate Bank took home the win, with Jackson Hole News and Guide and Fine Dining close on their tail.

The evening was a perfect representation of the community support that TLC has felt over the past year since state funding was cut in February 2016.

Our community has rallied around TLC to complete a $1 million Sustainability Campaign that allows TLC’s critical services and programs to continue for the next 5 years. This allows our Board and Staff time to map out long term funding solutions and ensure that our services remain intact. 

“The generosity of this community has blown us all away. Our supporters have ensured that TLC not only survived this past year, but instead that we continue thriving with high quality programs and services,” commented Soltau. “We are sincerely grateful to everyone who made this campaign and the Sponsor a Reader event such a huge success.” Sponsors included First Interstate Bank, Fine Dining, and Jackson Hole News and Guide. Over 131 community members, foundations, and businesses have stepped up to Sponsor a Reader over the past year.
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THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!