Reading Soul Mates

“Children receiving one-on-one tutoring set up by community groups have shown greater progress than children without that support.”

– Howard Lee, N.C. School Board Chairman

Reading Soul Mates (RSM) is a preventive program providing support to identified children in 2nd grade who need some assistance in improving their reading/literacy skills.  RSM was created in 1999 by Gaston Literacy Council, Inc. in partnership with Gaston County Schools.  

The program produces extraordinary results! Data from the past five school years indicates that 96-98 % of the students participating in the program make reading gains by the end of the year.

RSM is designed to help children develop a positive attitude toward reading, achieve success in school, and build self-confidence. It also fosters children’s creative thinking and problem-solving skills, nurtures a love of books, and aids in the development of comprehension skills. Reading activities help children relate the story to their own lives, ensuring success by linking prior knowledge to what they have read.

Gaston County Schools served by the Reading Soul Mates Program in 2023-24:

  • Belmont Central
  • Bess Elementary 
  • Bessemer City Primary
  • Brookside
  • Carr
  • Catawba Heights
  • Gardner Park
  • H.H. Beam
  • Lingerfeldt
  • Lowell
  • North Belmont
  • Pleasant Ridge
  • Rankin
  • Robinson
  • Sadler
  • Sherwood
  • Woodhill

In 2023-24, RSM paired 140 volunteers with 269 students across 16 elementary schools within Gaston County. We hope to continue to expand our program to more schools in the area. In order to continue that growth, we need more volunteers who want to make a difference and help a child on their journey toward literacy. We promise that the experience is just as rewarding for the volunteers as it is for the student. 

Volunteers

Through Reading Soul Mates (RSM), second grade students, reading below grade level and at-risk of grade retention, are matched with supportive role models who tutor, set expectations, and provide motivation and guidance. Reading Soul Mates provides students with extra, targeted tutoring that improves their reading abilities so they can read at grade level with their classmates. Many describe the program as a mentorship with a literacy focus. 

RSM tutors are Gaston Literacy Council volunteers who complete a pre-service training that includes strategies in reading instruction, the characteristics of children to be tutored, and an overview of Gaston County Schools volunteer policies and procedures. 

Contact us about volunteer training and opportunities.

 “A child cannot learn academically if they are not emotionally healthy. Making connections and building trust lays the foundation for a successful student. RSM is key in providing these necessary tools to become a well-rounded student.” —Sally Taylor, RSM volunteer

Curriculum

The curriculum is very open-ended and includes a variety of language skill-building activities in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, to be adjusted for each student’s needs and the individual volunteer’s experience. Students are taught to utilize phonics, focus on meaning and to use problem-solving strategies to figure out words, deal with difficult sentence structure, and understand concepts they have never encountered in print. More than anything, our volunteers try to impart that reading is fun! 

Age-appropriate picture books also provide students with opportunities to expand their vocabulary, to interpret stories, and to recognize how illustrations contribute to the story. School administrators and teachers determine student eligibility for participation through school-administered reading assessments as well as teacher referrals.