The Clubhouse

The Clubhouse at The University of Findlay

Community Engagement

The Clubhouse is a free literacy outreach service provided to the children of Hancock County and surrounding areas sponsored by The University of Findlay's College of Education.

The Clubhouse Mission: to support and enhance the reading skills and needs of area children through relevant and personal reading assessments and intervention.

"When Thomas first started at the Clubhouse he really struggled to learn to read. In the last three years we've seen tremendous growth with Thomas. The extra help has been beyond words. The other day he sat and read a chapter book to me. In the three years he's came here he's not only caught up to his class, but he's also gotten straight A's for the first time."--Patrick Grey, Clubhouse Parent

Assessing Reading Strengths, Needs, and Interests

Teacher reading book to student Research indicates a strong relationship between motivation, interest in reading subjects, and reading performance; therefore, we use books and materials the children find personally relevant and interesting. Using reading assessments, Findlay tutors assess the strengths and needs of each child. They use different inventories to discover the child's interests and beliefs about reading. This information helps tutors create engaging lessons designed to enhance and support the child's reading needs and that utilize interesting texts based on the child's interests. The tutors teach targeted lessons that keep the children interested and learning all with the goal of supporting their reading needs. All sessions are interactive in nature and involve individual and small group instruction.

The Clubhouse Programs

The 1882 Club

Sponsored by Shirley's Popcorn, the club challenges students to 1882 minutes over the course of a regular semester. Students can read books, magazines, newspapers, instruction manuals, anything they can think of other than texts and emails. After posting their minutes read to the 1882 Derrick located in UF's Teacher Resource Center, students will discuss what they read with other club members. Students will receive a record of their minute read and a thank you for reading gift upon completion of their minutes. Open to all readers birth to grade 12.

Spring 2019

The 1882 Club is on hiatus for the Spring 2019 semester and will return in Fall 2019.

3-2-1 Program

The 3-2-1 Program offers free small group (3:1) tutoring from Findlay undergraduate and graduate education students who are enrolled in Integrated Reading Assessment and Instruction.

The program is offered 3 different times through the year, with each session offering 10 tutoring sessions

September - November (one night per week)
January - April (one night per week)
June-July (four mornings per week)

Registration for Summer 2019 will open around the last week of May.

Sessions are 10:30 a.m. - noon unless noted otherwise.

Summer 2019 Schedule
Monday, June 10
Tuesday, June 11
Thursday, June 13
Friday, June 14
Monday, June 17
Tuesday, June 18
Thursday, June 20
Friday, June 21
Monday, June 24
Tuesday, June 25 - Family Celebration Day!!

Open to all readers grade one through nine. Preregistration is required.

CHIP (Clubhouse Individual Program)

CHIP tutors are College of Education students who are paid through a generous grant from the organization Handbags that Help.

The Spring CHIP Program will begin the week of February 4, 2019 and continue until April 22, 2019

Tutoring is scheduled for 45 minute sessions
Monday - Thursday at 4:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m., or 6:00 p.m.

CHIP offers sessions twice per year:

September - December
February - April

Open to all readers grade one through nine.

Preregistration is required. To register, please contact Allison L. Baer, Ph.D. , Director of the Clubhouse Reading Center, at [email protected], or Patty Holcomb at [email protected].

The Clubhouse makes everyone happy!

Interested in giving back to the Clubhouse?

Become a member of the Clubhouse Library.

All contributions to the Clubhouse Reading Center go directly to benefit the children

As a member of the Clubhouse Library, your financial contributions will:

Purchase books to use in tutoring sessions or for children to take home to help build their personal libraries
Purchase relevant and necessary supplies to help create engaging lessons
Pay qualified CHIP (Clubhouse Individual Program) tutors an hourly wage to work with individual children in tutoring sessions

Giving Levels

At every giving level, Clubhouse Library members will be recognized for their contribution with a personalized library card that serves as a certificate of giving.

Contribution levels of $26.00 or more will be recognized with a personalized wooden book that will be added to the Clubhouse Library bookshelf in the atrium of the Davis Street Building. Wooden book with donors name on it