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.
— 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.
— 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.
To find contact information for your local chapter, visit readaloudwv.org/participating-counties.