Hello, my name is Kerry Schmidt and I have been a Bilingual Elementary Teacher for twenty-three years with the Redwood City School District in Northern California.   I have been a  bilingual kindergarten and first grade classroom teacher (Spanish/English) for most of my career.  This year, I am working as a Reading Intervention Teacher and have had the opportunity to train in Reading Recovery/Literacy Lessons.  This is an intensive reading program from New Zealand that is designed to meet the needs of the lowest readers.   The main goal of this instruction is to accelerate below level readers to grade level, within a twenty week period through daily one on one work with a teacher.   I would like to continue to advance my skills further by taking part in a class called, Descubriendo La Lectura, which is the Spanish equivalent of Reading Recovery/Literacy Lessons.  In order to take part in this course, I will need to pay for the cost of my credits through St. Mary's College in Moraga.   Due to the high cost of living in the Bay area, my modest teacher salary, and because I am a single parent I will be unable to cover these cost on my own.   If you are a person who is passionate about supporting youth, public education and believe in literacy for all, please donate to my cause.    Thank you for your attention!