The Christian County Literacy Council is looking for volunteers to participate in Community Reader Day on Friday, Nov. 4. Volunteers may register online to read aloud for a classroom in one of the county’s schools on that day.
“Community Reader Day is important because it exposes children to the basic skill of reading,” said Francene Gilmer, the literacy council’s executive director. “It also involves our community — adults engaging with our students and it lets students see how important reading is.”
This is the first time since 2019 that volunteers have been able to go into classrooms for Community Reader Day. The pandemic prevented in-person visits in 2020 and 2021.
Gilmer said the two books selected this year for volunteers to read to students — “We Are Still Here!” for kindergarten through second grade, and “Treaty Words” for grades three through six — are companion topics to this year’s Big Read selection, “There There.” A debut novel by Tommy Orange, who is a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of Oklahoma, “There, There,” explores what belonging means for Native people, who often live between two worlds.
Gilmer said the literacy council needs approximately 300 readers to cover all of the elementary grade classrooms in the county. Readers have the option of volunteering to read in more than one classroom, she noted.
Pembroke Elementary School teacher Jennifer Jatczak is the coordinator for this year’s Big Read. Anyone who has question may email her at jennifer.jatczak@christian.kyschools.us.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
