Sight Word Busters

Sight Word Busters Endowment Fund

Since 2011, Sight Word Busters has provided trained and caring volunteers who go into classrooms in Placer County and work individually with kindergarten, first and second grade students to ensure they master a progressive series of letters, letter sounds and sight words needed for early reading success. Because the program is hands-on and tailored to each student’s needs, the risk of young children falling behind is dramatically reduced and teachers are able to efficiently deliver curriculum in their classrooms. The volunteers themselves feel immense gratification by leading students through these important literacy milestones. Sight Word Busters facilitates greater success in reading mastery for children, thereby enabling measurable academic success with long-term positive impact.

Sight Word Busters started with eleven volunteers working in four primary classrooms at Rock Creek Elementary School in Auburn. Today, the program has grown to over 300 volunteers working in more than 100 classes in schools at Auburn, Lincoln, Rocklin, Roseville, Sacramento, Meadow Vista, Colfax, Newcastle, Alta/Dutch Flat, Foresthill, Grass Valley, San Jose, Lynchburg-VA and Clearwater-FL. The reason for the explosive growth is the program meets a fundamental education need — helping young students learn to read — and it is relatively trouble free for schools and teachers to implement. Volunteers are fully trained and only work in classrooms where they have been invited by both the school principal and classroom teachers.