Brenda Leider of Mountlake Terrace was recently awarded the 2013 With Our Youth! Dedication Award from the NRTA: AARP’s Educator Community organization for volunteer work in reading education in the Marysville School District.

Leider was presented the award by Dara Dann, Vice President of the retired teachers’ branch of the AARP. “She deserves this award because of her commitment to helping children become enthusiastic readers and writers,” Dann said. “Brenda is making a real impact in the lives of children learning English in Washington. Even in retirement, she has an endless drive and commitment to give back to her community,”

Leider’s approach in her volunteer work is to help students make a real world connection between reading and writing, beginning with such activities such as decorating cookies, cutting snowflakes, or planting seeds, the award presenters explained. Providing an activity with books offers a connection to the stories, reinforces lessons, and ensures the children have fun. As a result, her students are becoming more proficient at English, increasing their attention span, and improving their listening skills.

The NRTA, founded in 1947, became the forerunner for the AARP organization and currently has more than a million active and retired educators nationwide.