Ken Kuo, the administrator of the Alliance's Tuning In to Music program, announces the formation of an orchestra program for students in grades 4 through 8 through his locally-based Connecticut School of Music. The students will learn a repertoire including music from Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Pirates of the Caribbean. Please see the flyer for more information about this exciting opportunity!
Going Places With Books
The building blocks for literacy and love of learning should be part of every child’s experience beginning early in life.
The mission of Going Places with Books (“GPWB”) is to promote early literacy in Greenwich by providing and supporting programs and services for young children (birth to five years), families, caregivers, educators and others in the community. We strive to foster enthusiasm for books and language and promote young children’s mastery of the early literacy skills they will need to succeed in kindergarten.
What we do: We bring the specially-designed RV -- the “Storymobile” -- to preschools around the community, providing interactive read-aloud experiences which integrate multimedia and bilingual elements into a carefully-designed literacy curriculum. We are currently serving hundreds of children, from Byram to Riverside, every month, free of charge. All aboard!
The Alliance is also the proud initiator of the first Parent-Child Home Program ("PCHP”) in Connecticut. PCHP is a nationally-acclaimed program through which we provide twice-weekly home visits to families with children ages 2-4 who are challenged by poverty, limited education, and other obstacles. Using protocols developed and tested over 40 years, Home Visitors model behaviors for parents or primary caregivers that expose young children to the joys of books and reading and to quality verbal interaction.
If you are interested in learning more about our early literacy program, please contact the Alliance’s Executive Director, Julie Faryniarz at
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.
Looking to Donate Books?
People often ask us if we take gently-used books for Going Places With Books. We appreciate the thought, but our early literacy programs have a professionally-designed, set curriculum of specific books and lessons. However, here is a link to Byram Schubert Library's donation information. Check it out, and thank you for contributing to the community!
Our Tuning In to Music Program!
Watch how fifty-five Tuning In to Music students, who had never played together before, came together to perform in a spectacular concert! Play video
Tuning In to Music
As many of you know, Greenwich High School consistently produces award-winning bands, orchestras, chamber groups, and jazz ensembles. We, the Greenwich community, are justifiably proud of this. At the Alliance, we are enthusiastic about our students’ high level of music performance and want our music groups to reflect the same wonderful diversity as our town.
As those of you who have children in the Greenwich Public Schools (GPS) music programs know, the greatest progress in band and orchestra comes from weekly private lessons. Through our Tuning In to Music (TITM) program, the Alliance provides for private instrument lessons for GPS band and orchestra students in elementary and middle school whose families could not otherwise afford it. It is the Alliance’s hope that these students will continue their interest and participation in music at Greenwich High School.
This year dozens of Tuning In to Music students will receive private lessons in violin, viola, cello, clarinet, flute, trombone, trumpet, and saxophone. Tuning In to Music is run for the Alliance by Ken Kuo, a concert cellist and founder of the Connecticut School of Music. In addition to playing in their schools’ ensembles, TITM students will perform in the annual year-end recital in Spring 2010. This is an extra concert where students from GPS elementary and middle schools get to perform together in an opportunity that they do not normally have.
