A short story from Read Aloud board member and Berkeley County volunteer reader Casey Willson:
“We sent 22 books home with the kids in Ms. Edwards’ kindergarten class at Gerrardstown Elementary. It was ‘Waiting is Not Easy’ by Mo Willems. I kept a copy and Ms. Edwards has the balance in the classroom.
It worked well: I read the book to the class last week; we put in book plates then and the kids wrote their name in the book. Today, I read with the kids page by page, then had individuals come up with me and read a page or two. We then sent them home with the book to read to or with someone at home.
Pictured above is one student, Rhett, after the distribution. The newly independent first grade reader is reading to the baby.”
Story time with Read Aloud had children glued to their books all week long at the Jackson County Fair this summer.
Camped underneath a shady tree, sprawled out on a rug in front of their camper, or standing in the middle of the sidewalk, kids squeezed in whatever time they could to get lost in a book they enjoyed. Cheryl Miller, a volunteer with Jackson County’s Read Aloud chapter, said she was amazed by the passion for reading she saw at the fair.
Jackson County volunteers first set up a read-along booth at the county fair in 2019, and found success. They reached dozens of children by gathering kids around a storyteller, reading to them, and singing songs, Miller said.
Jackson County Read Aloud returned to the fair this summer. Story time was now an official event at the fair, with one hour dedicated each day. Children also browsed through the Jackson County Read Aloud booth throughout the day.
With the help of grant funding, Jackson County Chapter President Janet McCauley said they worked the Jackson County Board of Education to purchase books and supplies. They set up a barn scene in the Exhibit Hall, where kids picked up different farm animal visors and tote bags.
They sifted through eight large bins of books. They took all they could carry. Every book was gone by the end of the sixth and final day, Miller said.
“The folks who remembered us from the first event were just really happy to have us back,” said Miller.
Since kids were choosing the books themselves, they found more interest in them, and let the inspiration from accomplishment transfer to their next book. The enthusiasm for reading was present throughout the fairgrounds in Cottageville, Miller said.
“A lot of kids and their families camped out there all week, and so they just built story time into their daily routine,” she said.
When she wasn’t at story hour, Miller said she pulled a red wagon around to try and reach everyone. Some of the kids had to work most of the week at their family’s exhibit, so Miller wanted to ensure they were included too.
“Jackson County is a communinty that values reading and shows it,” said Read Aloud Executive Director Dawn Miller. “More than once since that fair, I have met people who commented that their children attended story time, and they talked about how much they enjoyed it. This made a lasting impression on these famailies.”
With the success of this year’s event, they want to come back next year. As far as outreach to children and families goes, story time at the county fair couldn’t have been a better method, Cheryl Miller said.
“One day I was walking around, and I heard a dad say, ‘Sadie, you can read that book, but you have to wait until we get back to the camper,’” she said. “Sadie was just standing in the middle of the sidewalk, trying to read her book.”
A friend told Miller about meeting a young child in a local hair salon a week after the fair, who refused to put a book down until she was finished. Her mother said she’d chosen it from Read Aloud’s booth.
The girl finished her book at the salon. She grew even more excited when another woman told her the book was just the first in a wonderful series.
“I think that children are just naturally drawn to stories, and someone who enjoys reading and telling those stories. They were caught up in the enthusiasm of the stories,” she said. “We just made it so much fun.”
by Dr. Mary Boyd, Randolph County Chapter President
Since 2018, Read Aloud Randolph County has been putting brand new books in backpacks for children who qualify for the food program that works out of First United Methodist Church in Elkins. Kids get the backpacks once a week, and the books are put in the backpacks once a month.
Mary Boyd sorting books in May 2022 at First United Methodist Church.
We started this program back in 2018 when I went to a Read Aloud West Virginia conference where many ideas are shared by other counties. Jackson County has a very active Read Aloud program, and they had been putting books in backpacks. I brought the idea back to our board, and it just seemed to resonate with the other folks on the board, so we started looking for ways to pay for it.
With lots of help from Read Aloud West Virginia, we got grants from both the Tucker Community Foundation and the Snowshoe Foundation to get us started. The state people thought getting grants locally was a good idea, and it worked. The money helped us get brand new books with nameplates, so the kids can take ownership of the books. Also, the kids get to choose the books, so they can get what they are interested in.
The program was put on hold in 2020, but in late 2021, the church started the food program back again, so the kids got books in February, March, April, and May of 2022. Since the county chapter did not apply for grants while the program was on hold, Read Aloud West Virginia provided the books from their stock made possible by community contributions and support. Participating schools have been Jennings Randolph, Midland, North, Third Ward, Elkins Middle and High School, Coalton, George Ward, Tygarts Valley, and Harman.
Randolph volunteer Judie Smith’s vehicle filled with books that she transported from Charleston.
Read Aloud West Virginia started in Kanawha County in 1986 with the mission of motivating children to read for fun, helping them become better readers. For many years, the organization was led by Mary Kay Bond as Executive Director. Currently, it operates in 46 counties, with 29 local volunteer chapters. The state Read Aloud office is based in Charleston, where current Executive Director Dawn Miller and other Read Aloud staff make possible projects like this one across the state.
Read Aloud WV did not shut down during the pandemic – it evolved to continue serving students! Over 26,800 books were given out in 2021, a new organizational record for annual book distribution. Read Aloud is on track to break 100,000 books given by the end of 2022, and the Randolph County backpack program will be part of that achievement.
“We hope we can continue with this wonderful program. We love putting books into the hands of kids and ideas into their heads,” says Dr. Boyd.
The phrase ‘the book will find the child’ holds true for the partnership of Jackson County Early Explorers and Read Aloud of Jackson County.
Cheryl Miller, a longtime Read Aloud volunteer and force behind the county’s Snuggle and Read program, has seen firsthand how impactful the experience can be for young readers.
A Jackson County student visits the Read, Play, Grow station at Cedar Lakes to get an Early Explorers book bag.
“When we were able to have that type of story time, the children picked out the book that appealed to them, one that ‘found’ them that they could take home, along with a blanket provided by Constellium,” she said. “It was so precious seeing that connection.”
It was frustrating not being able to have that family reading time with children and their parents during the pandemic. Miller, who co-founded Jackson County Early Explorers with Jessica Isner, also saw the hugely popular Early Explorers program for young children struggling to be active during COVID-19.
“One day, I had a preschooler come up to me, out of the blue, and beg me to read him a story,” said Miller. “I knew right then, and Jessica agreed, that we had to do something to meet this need.”
A natural collaboration between the county’s Read Aloud program and Early Explorers was formed, initially with books that were left over from a past Snuggle and Read. These, along with a blanket, would be put in book bags for children to find at the Read, Play, and Grow station at Cedar Lakes.
“With our mission and knowing how popular Early Explorers past book bag distributions were,” said Janet McCauley, president of the local Read Aloud board, “it was a win-win partnership.”
McCauley said the concern that children would not get ‘their’ book was quickly dispelled.
“The very first child who picked up a packet said ‘oh that’s just what I wanted’, so we knew we’d done our job,” she said.
But still for Miller there was something missing.
“I had another child come up and grab me by the legs and beg for a story,” she said. “It hurt my heart that I couldn’t do that.”
Miller said she couldn’t get the idea of children not getting their bedtime story out of her mind.
“In this pandemic, we forget that children are hurting and feeling stressed,” she said. “They need a time to settle down and feel loved and safe.”
That child hungering for a story planted the seed for Bedtime Book Club.
Each Monday at 6 pm, Miller posts a story time on Facebook. It can be accessed at any time by going on to the Jackson County Early Explorers or Read Aloud Jackson County page.
“First we get the wiggles out, then settle down for three stories.” Miller said.
The “Story Lady” as Miller has been dubbed, has already gotten a large following, including a grumpy cat who comes out of hiding every time he hears her voice.
Knowing that children look forward to each week’s story means so much to Miller.
“I had a little girl come up to me just to share how much she loved the little duck story I read the other night,” she said. McCauley said parents have also expressed their appreciation for the efforts of both Early Explorers and Read Aloud.
“They tell us that their children are hurrying in from outside play to read their books,” she said. “Several have said they hear their children singing or reciting phrases from their favorite stories.”
For Miller and McCauley, that’s what it’s all about, connecting children to books and instilling a love that can last a lifetime.
Suzette Lowe serves on the Read Aloud of Jackson County board
With possible restrictions again this year for reading aloud in classrooms, we hope you will consider recording yourself doing your normal read aloud to share remotely with teachers and students. Read Aloud of Monongalia County is specifically seeking videos from local volunteers to be shared with local schools through a new Read Aloud of Mon. County YouTube channel. If you are a volunteer from another county who wants to share video read alouds, please email Amanda, our statewide Communications & Development Director, at aschwartz@readaloudwv.org for further guidance.
Here are some guidelines to help you make a successful video:
1. Pick a quiet spot in your home, where your read aloud won’t be interrupted by loud noises or people walking past.
2. Use the best video camera you can find. This may be your phone. If so, set it for Do Not Disturb or place it in Airplane Mode during the recording. Then be sure to turn it horizontal before you start recording.
3. Make sure your camera is stable. If you’re having someone else record you, let them rest their arm on a table or on the back of a chair so the picture doesn’t wobble. Also locate where the camera is on your device so that you can look more toward that area.
4. Follow the rules you normally would use for a read aloud session – practice reading the book at least three times out loud beforehand. You may want to use voices or props (if you are comfortable doing so) to make the story engaging, and remember to show any pictures to the camera!
To share your video with the Mon. County chapter, upload it to this Google drive folder: www.readaloudwv.org/monvideouploads. Please remember to include your name and school in the video title.
Once successfully uploaded, email Diana Claydon of the Mon. County chapter board at dsclaydon@gmail.com with your school and teacher’s name, as well as the name of the book you recorded. Diana will upload your video to the Mon. County YouTube and Facebook pages, and email you back a link to the video to share with your child’s teacher. Then your teacher can share the video with their classroom!
If you have any trouble making or uploading your video, email Diana at dsclaydon@gmail.com.
Our chapters have been hard at work! Here are some highlights of things they’ve accomplished recently or are working on right now:
— Read Aloud of Greenbrier County plans to read aloud for Alderson Elementary students during their deliveries of school grown produce to a local farmer’s market.
— Read Aloud of Fayette County is planning a Snuggle & Read event. They are also developing another partnership with a local drug recovery court to provide books to participants and their children.
— Read Aloud of Mercer County held a COVID-conscious Snuggle & Read for 117 children at a local library.
Students at Ripley Elementary peruse options at their book tasting event.
— Read Aloud of Wood County has a Summer Book Binge coming up at Jefferson Elementary Center, funded through support from Tri-State Roofing & Sheet Metal. Wood County schools are also planning to let volunteer readers return to the classroom in the fall, so the chapter is preparing for that.
— Read Aloud of Kanawha County had classroom book tastings for all grades at Alban Elementary.
— Read Aloud of Jackson County has a lot of great news! Second graders in the county received personal copies of the first in The Fantastic Frame series, while all the second-grade classrooms received the entire set of five books to complete the series. A volunteer recorded the first book in chapters, which were made available to classrooms for them to follow along. This project was funded through a grant from Jackson County Community Foundation.
Additionally, children of families who received Christmas packages from Epworth Church each received a new book through our Jackson chapter. Book tasting events were held at Ripley, Evans, and Kenna Elementary, including twelve classrooms covering first, second, and fourth grades. And finally, Read Aloud of Jackson Co. provided books for Jackson County Early Explorers to include in two sets of theme-based Read! Play! Grow! packets. This program was so well-received that Jackson County Schools is funding similar packets for students through the summer, and Read Aloud of Jackson County board member Cheryl Miller is helping create those packets for the youngest students.
Girl Scouts of Troop 1774 Madison Boylan, Isabelle Williamson, and Abby Mabley delivered books to Little Free Libraries from Barboursville to Kenova in Cabell County.
— Read Aloud of Berkeley County is exploring partnership opportunities for book distributions with their local Boys and Girls Club and Norborne Daycare center. They are also planning to work with a sleepaway camp for children of families that have been impacted by drug abuse to provide books to participants. There may be upcoming opportunities for in-person read alouds for Berkeley county-wide summer school.
— Read Aloud of Putnam County is rebuilding a local presence with a recent school-wide book tasting event at Poca Middle School, serving almost 300 students with books of their choice.
— Read Aloud of Cabell County volunteer and troop leader Linda Beaver has been working with local Girl Scout Troop 1774 from Community of Grace United Methodist Church to stock Cabell Little Free Library boxes with gently used books.
In this issue, our Raleigh County Chapter took over Ten to Try! Longtime Raleigh volunteers, Ruth Baker, Ann Cline, and Judy Robinson reviewed and recommended the following books.
The Wall in the Middle of this Book
By Jon Agee
There is a wall in the middle of this book that is supposed to protect one side of the book from the other side. Supposed to. This story elicits enthusiastic discussions.
Grades K-4
Insectlopedia
By Douglas Florian
Delightful art and poems about insects for all grades. Bring it along as an addition to your read aloud selection.
The Quickest Kid in Clarksville
By Pat Zietlow Miller
As they wait for Wilma Rudolph’s hometown parade to celebrate her three olympic gold medals, two girls challenge each other to a race. Conflict turns to cooperation.
Grades 1-3
The Eye of the Whale: A Rescue Story
By Jennifer O’Connell
A true story about saving a humpback. Dramatic pictures.
Grades 2-4
Stick and Stone
By Beth Ferry
Friendship matters. An enchantingly simple story for PreK and up.
Rotten Ralph
By Jack Gantos
A Read Aloud hit that appeals to children’s fascination with tales of misbehavior.
Grades 2-4
Hidden Figures: The True Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race
By Margot Lee Shetterly
An ode to Mathematicians, including one from West Virginia. Why did the extraordinary contribution of these women remain hidden for so long?
Grades 4-5
Lulu and the Brontosaurus (The Lulu series)
By Judith Viorst
We read this in first grade, and they loved it and laughed. We are not all perfect, and we can change.
Grades 1-3
A Hundred Billion Trillion Stars
By Seth Fishman
Math in gigantic form! How many trees in the world? How many ants? Can you imagine so many…of anything? A visual illustration of estimation.
Grades 3-5
The Day you Begin
By Jacqueline Woodson
This book celebrates the bravery it takes to go forth even when you feel like an outsider.
As the President of the Marion County Chapter of Read Aloud West Virginia, you might assume I was always a great reader. I even have my Master’s Degree in Reading; therefore, it sounds a little crazy when I say that I didn’t believe reading was “fun” until I became an adult.
Reading as a child was never easy for me, no matter how hard I tried. I would practice regularly, but it just never seemed easy or enjoyable. I had many smart friends who were great readers and excelled in school. They were always in the “Blue Birds” reading group, reserved for the best readers. I always made good grades, but reading didn’t come easily to me the way it did for my friends. I strived to be a “Blue Bird” and achieved my goal for a short time, until being demoted again. I wondered what was wrong with me.
I remember my dad and grandmother reading stories to me when I was growing up, and I loved it! My grandmother was a teacher, and she read with many voices and a lot of inflection. But when I tried to read to myself, I read very slowly and had to reread things over and over to understand and make sense of the story.
Even so, I really wanted to be a teacher just like my grandmother. I worked hard to get the grades I needed to get a degree in elementary education. I realized that reading should be easier than it was, so I decided to also get a certificate to teach children with learning disabilities. I reasoned that if I studied this field, I would learn strategies that would not only help me better educate the children in my care but would also help me to improve my own reading experiences. I learned a lot, and I did see an improvement in my own reading comprehension, but it was still difficult.
There had to be more. I decided to get my Master’s in Reading from WVU, and this is what turned the corner for me. In my Master’s program, I discovered how enjoyable and fun reading could be, especially when reading books I chose! I found myself excited about reading and teaching reading to others. I am so glad that I didn’t give up, because I truly love to read now. I like to read for information, pleasure, and for self-help. I also read to my granddaughter all the time and many other children too! I even create read aloud videos for children to enjoy. Quite the turnaround from where I started!
Please know that if reading is hard for you or your child, I’m positive you are NOT the only one going through this. Yes, practice always helps. Creating pictures in your mind of what you are reading is important. Experiences are helpful when you think about how what you already know relates to what you are reading.
But, perhaps the most important thing is choice! Find a book that you or your child is interested in reading and read it! You will be surprised how much enjoyment and growth can come from spending time in a good book. You may struggle and get discouraged when comparing yourself to others like I did, but I hope you won’t give up. Reading is magical, and it can take you to places you never realized were there. Take it from someone who’s been there — it’s worth the effort.
Do your best to stay on mission, while keeping yourself and your communities safe. That is the advice Read Aloud volunteers, chapter leaders and colleagues have traded back and forth since spring. Keep up the good work.
By Dawn Miller
Read Aloud West Virginia continued to work all spring and summer toward the mission of motivating children to read for fun, to nourish their reading skills for life.
Here’s how we’ll keep doing it.
Classroom readers
Brooks Bower tries out one of the new reading hammocks on the first day of Coda Engage, a project of Coda Mountain Academy in Fayette County. Read Aloud West Virginia is a partner, offering books for children to choose and to keep, and for the academy’s growing library.
In our regular end-of-school survey, teachers overwhelmingly said that they would welcome live, virtual read alouds from a dedicated volunteer, if in-person visits were not possible. Most often, these would occur via Zoom or Microsoft Teams, though individual schools or counties may have other preferences.
To assist returning readers, Read Aloud chapters have been working on their own video-conferencing skills, and developing an updated orientation (delivered virtually, of course) to help readers grow confident for reading this fall.
Virtual orientations can also be scheduled for new readers. Anyone interested in attending either type of orientation may call 304-345-5212 or email stateoffice@readaloudwv.org. Registration is required.
Some readers and teachers have favored pre-recorded videos. The Fayette County Chapter is establishing a studio for making read aloud videos, but most readers simply use their smartphones. (See tips, right)
Book distribution
Schools closed just when it was time to start one of our most important efforts, a distribution project called Summer Book Binge. Based on research that shows a bag of freely chosen books given at the end of the school year does more to prevent summer learning loss than summer school, Read Aloud has developed this project over years, starting in Greenbrier County, and then Raleigh and Fayette and this year Wood and Berkeley. The pre-pandemic model relied on multiple visits to schools and much in-person contact, including a school assembly where the books were delivered with great activity and enthusiasm.
With those options closed, Read Aloud quickly reorganized an order process by mail. A $10,000 in-kind matching grant from First Book made it possible for Read Aloud to send more than 7,000 books to the homes of 870 children in the five counties. Children got to choose their books, a key ingredient in motivation, according to research.
Lessons from that project, combined with the prolonged interruption to school and uncertainty about fall, suggested a way to serve children and their families this summer and beyond.
In July, we softly launched Read Aloud Families (with the help of partner Energy Express). Based on the same data and methods as our Book Binge, combined with research on habits and motivation, Read Aloud Families delivers monthly books — that children choose — and materials to motivate families to read together through the pandemic and beyond.
Membership is by invitation only for now, but we plan to expand it as capacity allows. Each chapter identifies groups of families to be invited, through schools or other organizations they work with. At this writing, more than 125 families had joined, with more than 250 children, all over the state.
Marion County chapter president Beverly Richards, loads her car up with magazines to distribute via local feeding sites.
In the future, chapters will organize events for members, virtually, as necessary, but perhaps outdoors if it can be done safely. These events will be opportunities for children and their families to share the books they love, recommend and receive recommendations, and grow their reading communities.
Meanwhile, chapters are distributing books by other means. Jefferson and Marion are among those providing books for families when they collect school meals. Nicholas and Jackson are making plans to restock Little Free Libraries or other community bookshelves.
Partnerships
Even before the pandemic WVU Extension and Read Aloud were exploring ways to work together on Energy Express, the federal program that provides both literacy opportunities, including reading aloud, and nutritional meals to children during summer break.
This summer, Energy Express staffers attended Read Aloud orientations (virtually, of course). Read Aloud offered the first memberships to Read Aloud Families to Energy Express participants. Families have joined from all over the state, even in counties where Read Aloud has no active chapter. Each one affirms their intention to read with children, just for fun, most days of each week. They agree to give children a choice of books to read and to protect children’s reading time.
In Fayette County, thanks to Fayette Chapter President Marion Tanner, Read Aloud has partnered with the Coda Mountain Academy. About 25 children had the opportunity to choose Read Aloud books of their own. Coda started as a music camp, but has grown into many fields, including science and art. This summer the academy completed its outdoor classroom, just in time for the need for physically distanced and outdoor learning spaces.
Ten new reading hammocks invite elementary-age children during Coda Engage, a summer day camp run by Coda Mountain Academy. Elsewhere, masked and physically spaced, children engage in other activities, including robotics and violin lessons.
Coda President Esther Morey said children were happy and relieved to be outside and to be together, even with modifications and safety rules.
As they were walking toward the first circle game, Morey told us one girl said, “That looks funner than being on my iPad and phone all day.”
When Marion Tanner asked a probation officer what would help Fayette County’s drug court the most, she was told: Incentives.
Defendants who participate in drug court look forward to reconnecting and bonding with their children more than anything else, Probation Officer Jennifer Smith said.
Naturally, as passionate as Tanner is about early literacy, her wheels started spinning. What better way to incentivize participants to meet their goals and help them to spend quality time with their children than with books? Books provide a loving way to bond with children and build skills that set children up for lifelong success.
Tanner, co-chair of Read Aloud’s Fayette County Chapter, worked with Read Aloud’s state office to get 200 books to Fayette County for the adult drug court program last fall.
A list of participants’ children (age and gender only) were shared with volunteers. Books were chosen, bagged and passed on to Smith for distribution at participants’ October hearing.
“I love the books. My kids are excited to get them every month,” said Paula, a drug court participant.
November, December and February 2020 book distributions followed. Fayette County Read Aloud is currently serving 12 families with a total of 26 children and a distribution of 85 books and counting.
“Fayette County Adult Drug Program is more than just supporting participants in recovery,” said Fayette County Circuit Judge Thomas Ewing. “We help restore lives. I see the participants get excited when they receive the books. This tells me we are repairing vital relationships at home. We are helping to facilitate bonding with children. There is nothing better than helping reunite families, one step at a time.”
Fayette County’s drug court was established in 2016, the 26th in West Virginia. Fayette is the 45th county served by a drug court. Only nonviolent offenders are considered for the program. Defendants spend at least a year receiving intense monitoring and counseling. Addicts are held accountable to the community, their families and victims who have been harmed.
“Everyone around the addict is affected in some way,” Tanner said. “Children may be removed from the homes, only to be placed with grandparents or trusted relatives. Others may enter the welfare system and/or the foster care system.”
Both children and parents look forward to receiving their books every month, Smith said.
“Sometimes we do not have to do big, great things to enable this,” she said. “We are seeing that small suggestions and simple parenting prompts go a long way.”
“I see my son every other weekend,” said Eric, another drug court participant. “I have to read one of the books every night at bedtime.”
Calentha Quesenberry is a Read Aloud of Fayette County volunteer.
