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Can you spell FUN??
Eighteen SCRABBLE® teams from all over Maine could on Sunday, March 29th and they got six or more points for doing so!
The second Annual Team Scrabble Tournament took place at the Senator Inn that day and the overwhelming consensus was that it was a great way to spend an afternoon. With help from Celebrity Judges Bill Bridgeo, Augusta City Manager, and Mark Johnston, President of Kennebec Savings Bank the teams spelled their way to prizes and trophies! Ryan Cote from WABK served as Master of Ceremonies making sure that fun was had by all in attendance. The New Scrabble Cheez-its Brand were a big hit with the players even though they couldn’t use them in actual play!
Prizes were awarded for the biggest fundraisers. All told, the players brought in over $2,000.00 in pledges. Tricia Chayer from the D.A. Scrabbleteers raised a whopping $235.00! She was followed by Arlene McVety from Ladies of the Letter with $200.00 and Cindy White from Lipman, Katz, and McKee Spellcheckers with $197.00. Each of them had their choice of three prizes including a video camera, an MP3 player, and a digital picture frame. (See list of all teams below)
There were six Competitive teams competing this year. Gorham Scrabble Club took first place, with A Bingo Ate My Baby team coming in a close second. Third place was snatched by Team Sleek. Each of the members garnered trophies. In the social division, games were very close leading to much suspense on who would take home the trophies! First place went to the Spelrite Systirz with Lipman, Katz, and McKee Spellcheckers taking second and MacPage sneaking into the top three!
Throughout the afternoon there were drawings for gift certificates and snacks for all to enjoy.
The event turned out even better than our expectations raising $5,600 to continue our work in helping others learn to read! We are grateful to our sponsors for their support in this endeavor and the tremendous work of the players in gathering pledges. Our tournament coordinator, Jenny Small, made it all run smoothly and we don’t know what we would do without her!
We can hardly wait for next year’s tournament. Look for “Save the Date” notices early in 2010!
~Jenny Small
More images of the SCRABBLE Tourney
The LV Board recently voted to re-establish the monthly “Drop-In Night” beginning next month. The purpose of this program is two-fold:
To assist people with a specific reading/literacy related issue such as completing a job application, reading or understanding a letter, help in decoding words etc. There will be no commitment to the program beyond that one visit, but we certainly hope that people will find it beneficial and decide to continue with our services.A tutor will be on hand as well as a board member, on the second Tuesday each month from 5-7pm to offer assistance and answer any questions.
Listen to WABK radio for promotional advertising of this wonderful outreach effort!
Many things together can help form the right combination: a little salt and some butter on your popcorn, a seed planted into rich soil. As many of you know, when it comes to tutoring a good attitude and a lot of fun can be a great way to support learning. You might say that Susan and Jodi, one of our student/tutor pairs, are their own special combination. Susan is an ESOL student from Africa. She was shy, answered in one word responses, and last year struggled enormously to get by in English. Jodi was a nervous but upbeat new tutor eager to dig in. Both quickly found that a sense of humor and a lot of laughter could turn one year’s time into a miracle.
Today, Susan is a smiling, outwardly spoken, and an eager-than-ever to learn individual. She can be found occasionally training co-workers on procedures, something that a year ago would have been impossible. She shares openly that her “teacher” has helped her by learning English to make friends, talk a lot more (her children say) and have more self-confidence. They both agree that laughter, their new-found friendship and a lot of hard work turned out to be the right combination for them.
What’s your combination?
Augusta and Waterville are once again teaming up to offer a spring tutor training workshop. Jenny Small (Augusta) and Carla Gade (Waterville) will be conducting the workshop at the Winslow Public Library (only 20 minutes from Augusta!) from 5-8pm on Monday and Wednesday evenings, May 11 & 13 and May 18 & 20. Whereas the “class time” of this format is a bit shorter than usual, trainees should plan on doing a bit more “homework” outside of class. If you know of anyone interested, please ask them to call Gail at 626-3440.
Do you ever get stuck for new ideas in your tutoring?
Most of us do, so…………..
Let’s get together to share tutoring stories and get some new ideas on creative lesson planning! Jenny Small has been doing some research on the subject and is excited to share some different and fun approaches to using every day materials in LV tutoring. The workshop will be held on Tuesday evening, June 2 from 6-8pm at the LV-Augusta office.
Please RSVP to Gail by May 27 to reserve your seat; we hope you will join us!
Literacy Volunteer of Greater Augusta is very pleased to introduce four new board members who have joined its hard working team:
Jodi C Williams PhD grew up on a farm in Connecticut and moved to Maine five years ago to teach at UMA. Living in an 1820’s farm house here, she enjoys gardening and the country lifestyle. Jodi has worked with an ESOL student for a year now after completing the tutor training course.
Elizabeth Cooper was born in Texas and has lived in Maine for several years now. She works as a policy analyst for the Maine State Legislature. Elizabeth completed tutor training last fall with the Farmington affiliate and is anxious to work with an LVA student when time allows her to do so. Community outreach is a passion of hers.
John Brandt is a resident of Augusta, Maine and currently the proprietor of jebswebs.com a web design, development and consulting firm. A native of Brooklyn, New York, John has a Master’s in Education in School Psychology from Pace University and has worked in a number of educational and nonprofit settings over the past 30 years. Most recently John was the Executive Director of Maine ASCD, an association providing professional development for educators in Maine. He has graciously been LVA’s webmaster for the past few years. We are very grateful for this service.
Debbie King-Johnson works for the Maine State Housing Authority. As the Education & Outreach Coordinator, Debbie works with local non-profit organizations to provide homebuyers with the skills, knowledge and information to buy and maintain a home, as well as financial literacy education and housing counseling. She has a long standing interest in literacy and community service.
We welcome these wonderful members of our community and look forward to working with them in the futures.
Competitive Teams: |
Social Teams: |
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A Bingo ate My Baby |
The Days LK&M Spellcheckers D A Scrabble-teers Ladies of the Letter Messalonskee Madness - Macpage |
Scrabble Dabble Doo! |
Triple Word Sponsor:Winthrop Area Federal Credit Union Double Word SponsorSingle Word Sponsor
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Letter SponsorJet Signs Business SponsorsBlue Moon Grafix |
