Love Kids? Be a Rocket Phonics Reading Tutor

FUN READING TUTORING OPPORTUNITY

Adult or High School Student Tutors for K-2 in Manatee & Sarasota County

ORGANIZATION: Rocket Phonics Foundation

Love kids? Like to play games? Willing to let the child win?

The Rocket Phonics Foundation is looking for volunteers for tutoring to help students in reading. Our program is very simple to use, and is laid out for you step-by-step. Partly because we use lots of games in our one-on-one sessions, the students LOVE our program and our tutors.

With the Rocket Phonics reading program, 90% of our students progress from below grade level to reading above grade level in one year. So it’s fast, fun and easy.

We tutor in various schools, mostly elementary, in Sarasota and Manatee counties. We’re growing, and adding more students.

Tutoring only takes two hours a day, and you can tutor one or two days a week. It’s a couple hours a week for you, but transformation for a lifetime for the children. Days vary depending on the site, and times are morning, mid-day or after school (3:30 - 5 pm). High school students can tutor too, and get volunteer hours needed for Bright Futures Scholarships.

Most of us are Christian and that’s reflected in our conversations--so if you would not be comfortable with that, our program may not be for you.

Our spring session started in January in Sarasota and Manatee County. We provide free group tutor training sessions. They're short, fun and informative.

You’re invited to attend one of our trainings, with separate sessions for experienced and new tutors. It’s the perfect opportunity to get prepared to tutor with us, learn more about our program, and connect with other Rocket Phonics Foundation tutors. Here’s the where and when:

Sarasota County

GULF GATE LIBRARY (7112 Curtiss Ave, SARASOTA)

Meeting Room A

Jan 20, 2026, 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM

Manatee County

BRADEN RIVER LIBRARY (4915 53rd Ave E, MANATEE)

Meeting Room 205 (West Wing)

Jan 22, 5:30 - 7:30 PM

For information or to register, please contact Karen Donahue at 917.723.1091 or karendonahuerpf@gmail.com. We hope to see you there!

We also offer free ongoing individual training sessions by appointment. For information, you can contact Karen Donahue at 917.723.1091 or karendonahuerpf@gmail.com. Or you can go to the Rocket Phonics Foundation site at rocketphonics.org. Click on Volunteer and then on Tutor Preferences.

Volunteers need to pass a background check to be eligible to work with the students.

About the Rocket Phonics Foundation

Location: 7320 Bounty Drive, Sarasota FL, 34231, US

Mission Statement:

The Rocket Phonics Foundation: Saving lives one reader at a time.

We play games with children that teach them to read. For many of our kids reading was a nightmare they dread, but the games and the rapid success turns it into a joy.

By eight-years old most children will decide their future based on one skill--reading. If they are not reading at grade level, they will have a 50% unemployment rate for their adult life. Learn to read at grade level and they replace a cycle of poverty and abuse with cycles of hope, empowerment and success.

Rocket Phonics, a series of reading games, can bring them to grade level in weeks instead of years. By current standards it’s a miracle. For low-income-low-literacy elementary kids it’s a life-saver.

Rocket Phonics was recently featured in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and in a short two-minute report on local TV station SNN. To see the Herald-Tribune article, see https://rocketphonics.org/more-than-a-game-raising-reading-scores/ and for the SNN video see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5VIUuJBQ9A

Private Group Details:

• Group Size Range: 1 - 50+
• Event can be held at organization location(s)
• No Donation

Watch our video to learn more: Unlocking Literacy Using Children's Natural Skills