Avon Maitland District School Board building young readers
October 6, 2025
Helping kids develop strong reading skills at an early age can change their lives.
OMERS employer Avon Maitland District School Board (AMDSB), alongside Strong Start Charitable Organization are hoping to do just that, through an evidence-based "Letters, Sounds and Words" program to be introduced at schools across Huron and Perth counties for the first time this fall.
The program will run for 10 weeks at a time, and supports children in their second year of Kindergarten through to Grade 2 who are paired with a trained volunteer coach for two weekly 30-minute sessions. Letter recognition, phonemic awareness, sound blending and word reading skills are developed through interactive games and hands-on activities, including board, matching and movement games. The games are organized in four strands: Letters, Sounds, Words, and Building Words, and children are enrolled in 2-3 strands at a time.
In a recent joint announcement with the Strong Start, AMDSB Director of Education Graham Shantz said, “We are thrilled to partner with Strong Start in order to support our efforts to ensure all AMDSB students begin their educational journey with us with a strong foundation in reading skills. Letters, sounds and words supports the latest research in reading development and we look forward to having our youngest students benefit from this engaging program.”
The program was designed specifically to engage volunteers with little to no previous experience working with children. The required training, prescriptive program manuals and enjoyable activities, are designed to make it easy for anyone to volunteer.
You can learn more about the program, including how to volunteer, program results, stories from program participants and more, on strongstart.ca. If you’d like to volunteer, or know someone who would be a great fit, Strong Start and AMDSB welcome community members to step forward and be part of this rewarding experience.