Star Quest

Program Overview

Star Quest is a free Sarasota-based program to help families support their children in developing the skills needed to read.

At each Star Quest event, there are stations representing different skills needed for learning to read. Parents/family members accompany children to each station, and get to see their real-time performance.

Any skills that are ALREADY mastered are celebrated - with stickers!
Areas that are NOT YET mastered are clearly identified, and you receive suggested materials to practice these specific skills at home.

There are three levels of events to help children at different levels of learning to read:

1. Pre-Reading - recommended for Preschool children to help prepare them for success. There is no actual reading - each station helps with a different aspect of oral language.
2. Early Reading - recommended for children working on Kindergarten level with letter and sound identification and reading simple words and sentences.
3. Ready to Read - recommended for children working on First Grade level with more advanced phonics and text.

The events repeat once a month, throughout the year so children can return and celebrate progress. Please check website for upcoming dates and locations.

Cost Info

Student and Volunteer Success Stories

Parent comments:

"I love it when I know where he's standing in reading and everything – phonics and letters and blends and everything."
"I like that we can actually see his skills – I wish you could do it all the way through 5th grade. It is so great to see what the kids are really learning."
"I like how it gives the kids the chance to show off what they know in front of their parents. It gives us something to work on at home. Then she can come back and show how hard she worked. We love having the paperwork to practice at home."
"We like it because it gives us a snapshot on areas of opportunity that may not have daily visibility – and when we come back it gives us instant feedback on something we worked on to see that she improved."
"It's the same challenge [as testing] but less stress. She didn't use to like reading but now she really does!"

Student comments:

"We should keep doing it! If we don't know some stuff, we get to learn it!"