Actress Reads Into Part of Pal

Erika Carter’s first- and second-grade students at Arminta Street Elementary School in North Hollywood have discovered a great pal in Susan Talbot. The actress has arrived with a book in hand every Friday afternoon for more than a year to read aloud some of her favorite stories, such as “The Giving Tree” and “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.”

A member of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation’s Book PALS (Performing Artists for Literacy in Schools), Talbot said she volunteered for the school program to help kids discover that reading and writing are fun.

“When I arrive and sit down, they welcome me excitedly and are immediately rapt; they’re right there for me,” Talbot said. “They dictate stories to me, and I type them up. The kids enjoy this, and it’s really rewarding for me.”

Book PALS was the brainchild of actress Barbara Bain, who six years ago asked the Guild to dip into its pool of skilled performers to help capture the imaginations of children through dramatic book readings. Today, about 200 Guild volunteers fan out to dozens of Los Angeles schools.

“The kids love it when Susan reads a story and then asks them to make sound effects,” Carter said. “She always talks to the kids about their own experiences, based on the books she reads. They just love her.”

PROGRAM NOTES

Helping Hands: Residents of the New Horizons Home for Boys in Altadena are in for a big surprise, thanks to the efforts of the Bay Laurel Elementary School student body. The Calabasas students will deliver bicycles, televisions, bookcases, toys and other much-needed equipment to the home for abused and neglected boys. A school spokeswoman said the community-service project was designed to make a difference in the lives of other kids.

KUDOS

Winning Video: A group of students from Pamela Cohen’s Van Nuys High School video production class captured second place at the recent University of Laverne Multicultural Video Festival. Ninth-graders William Perez, Ricky Mata, Edith Flores, Lucy Kim and Lissette Roldan produced “Close to Death,” a young man’s reflection on why gangster dress may not be so cool. Two other Van Nuys High group entries were awarded honorable mentions.

Honored: Lennie Ciufo, director of job training at Valley College, received a Student Success Award on Monday at the eighth annual Board of Governors and California Community Colleges Conference in Monterey. The Valley Glen college’s job training program has been chosen by the board as exemplary in the state.

END NOTES

El Camino Real High School’s vocal music department is holding its annual Spring Festival/Pops Concert tonight at 7 in Anderson Hall on the Woodland Hills campus. The singers will perform music from the film “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” among other popular songs . . . Actress Stephanie Satie stars in her one-woman play, “Refugees,” Thursday at noon in the Glendale College auditorium. The play is based on immigrants’ stories she has collected from her Cal State Northridge students . . . Emelita Street Elementary School’s top third-, fourth- and fifth-graders will compete in the second annual Multiplication Bee at 10 a.m. on the Encino school’s patio . . . San Fernando Middle School has begun free adult classes in computer education Mondays from 6 to 8 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. New students are welcome.

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Class Notes appears every Wednesday. Send news about schools to the Valley Edition, Los Angeles Times, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311. Or fax it to (818) 772-3338. Or e-mail them to diane.wedner@latimes.com.