Jen Baldassarre shows up as a Reading Hero every day in her work as a teacher’s assistant at Pineville Elementary School, her colleagues said.
“Jen is in charge of our Queen City Readers program at Pineville Elementary,” said Brittany Stedman, a third to fifth grade literacy multi-classroom leader at the school. “She is a Reading Hero every day at our school by working hard with the students and also supporting the teachers in so many ways.”
The Queen City Readers tutoring curriculum, which was developed by Read Charlotte in 2023, helps build basic word reading skills. It’s been in use to tutor students at Pineville Elementary since spring 2023.
“Jen has connected with so many volunteers to support the program and our school,” Brittany said. “She is always trying to find ways to support more learners.”
It’s rewarding work, Jen said, and she sees it pay off in students’ progress.
“When the kindergarteners and first graders make the letter sounds of a word and then put it together and figure out what the word is, they are SO proud of themselves,” she said. “It’s a really great feeling to see kids working hard and being proud of their effort.”
Jen loves books and reading, and that comes through in her work with students.
“Jen does a word of the day to introduce the students she works with to different and interesting vocabulary,” Brittany said. “She constantly finds different ways to engage the students in reading.”
She added: “She is so wonderful. Thank you, Ms. B!”