Skill Builder Workshop - Lets the Creative Juices Flow

When Maggie Rollings, long time education advocate and mother of two, saw the long summer months of lost learning time peering at her over the horizon, she began to plan. Her plan? To create a learning environment that is fun and "strengthens the mind."

Spending the past few years volunteering in multpile classrooms with varying age groups, along with conducting the Read Naturally program at Copperopolis Elementary, has allowed Maggie to "learn where kids need to connect the dots...and to use their talents to connect those dots." With this knowledge she created the 'Skill Builder Workshop' held at the Copper Branch Library every Tuesday this summer from
1-3 pm. This workshop is free and fun.

Imagine my surprise when the first words I heard as I walked through the library doors were ,"I want to learn...." There were children of all ages all engrossed in various forms of learning, from letters to sounds, math to logic, and solar cars to computer learning games. One child was enthustically saying she wanted to learn letter sounds, while another was wanting to learn chess. The children assembling the solar car were head to head reading instructions and excitedly building.

There were two adult volunteers at the workshop on June 14, 2011, Maggie Rollings and Dorothy Galloway, along with youth mentors.

When a child comes to the workshop Maggie will talk with the parents to see where they think their child may need a little extra help, she also askes the child. Sometimes its a matter of teaming the child up with another child in a mentoring situation; other more specialized needs are met by the volunteers themselves. Youth mentoring reinforces what a child already knows while bestowing their wisdom on one willing to learn.

There were approximately 16 children attending the workshop on 6-14 and all were actively engaged in a mind stretching and creative learning activity. Smiles were plentiful.

By, Charity Maness