Mentor a child right from your computer! - Gainesville

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Mentor a child without leaving your home! Help a child write a better future as an In2Books eMentor.

The ePals Foundation (the foundation of ePals, Inc) is currently accepting virtual volunteers from around the country to participate in an exciting program called In2Books - a curriculum-based eMentoring learning experience for high-needs students that has been shown since 1998 to raise participating students' standardized reading test scores and help them become better readers, writers, and thinkers.

Adult volunteer pen pals play an integral role in the In2Books program by concurrently reading books with students and exchanging online letters to extend reading comprehension. This authentic, yearlong dialogue between students and their adult pen pals motivates the students to read with greater engagement and analysis. In2Books successfully leverages the power of the Internet and caring adults to provide our nation's most vulnerable students with a compelling educational program that not only develops critical skills and encourages digital literacy, but also provides children with role models from different professions around the country.

The 2011-12 school year has started! Teachers in 250 Title I classrooms from 22 states have joined In2Books for the 2011-12 school year, meaning 6,000 students will be eager to be matched with their pen pals in the upcoming weeks. Sign up now to help enhance the reading, writing and thinking skills of a 3rd-5th grade student in need this year!

Here's how it works:

• You sign up on the In2Books website, http://www.in2books.com/
• You watch a 10-minute training tutorial and write a letter introducing yourself to your future student.
• You are matched to a student in the fall and after your student selects his or her first book, you'll be notified by email what book you need to read. You can purchase the book or find it at a local library.
• When you finish your book, you'll write an online letter to your student about the important issues in the book. Pen Pal Place, the In2Books website dedicated to pen pals, provides instructions, tips and examples to get you started.
• Once the teacher has approved your letter, the student will read it and respond back.
• The process is then repeated for the next four books. You and your student read five books total from different genres throughout the course of the year.

The commitment lasts for the full school year, from September-June. Duties are fulfilled on your time from home, and take about 1-2 hours a month.

In2Books invites you to find out more and register to be a pen pal at www.in2books.com/penpal.

• In order to ensure the safety of the students, all volunteers are required to undergo a standard background check which is securely processed during registration for a slight $6 fee.
• When registering, please select "VolunteerMatch" from the affiliation drop-down menu in question 2.

This is a great opportunity for volunteers looking for any of the following opportunities: · virtual volunteer programs · online volunteering · mentoring a student in need · elementary education and literacy · online mentoring to help an under resourced student

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