An after-school program at the Talkeetna library is bringing together young students and adult community members to promote literacy skills and a lifelong love of reading. KTNA’s Phillip Manning visited the program earlier this week, and has this report.
Learning to read is one of the most important things children do in their first few years of school. Literacy is an indicator not only of how well a student will do during Kindergarten through 12th Grade, but also into their adult lives. In Talkeetna, a new program is helping to give some Upper Valley students an extra boost into reading proficiency.
Talkeetna Elementary art teacher and Title I Reading Specialist Bekah Mathiessen came up with the idea for the program.
“Right after school, the kids get bused here. It’s a new stop on the bus route, which is pretty awesome. And people from the community come to read with about sixteen Kindergarten to 2nd Grade kids.”
“Ms. Bekah,” as she is called by the students, says that adding extra reading time in the earliest grades can have a significant impact on how well a child does throughout his or her school career.
“If kids aren’t reading very fluently by the time they’re in 4th Grade, I feel like life is a lot harder for them, so we’re trying to fill the gap just a little bit.”
Making the program work has involved cooperation between Talkeetna Elementary School, the Friends of the Talkeetna Library, the Upper Susitna Food Pantry, and Sunshine Transit. In addition, more than a dozen volunteers give their time each Monday to mentor students. One of those volunteers is Charissa Hernandez. Before the students arrive, she already has a book ready for her mentee.
“I have a girl that particularly loves animals. She wasn’t able to come last week, and they brought in these books that we were able choose—the kids were able to go pick there own—but since she wasn’t here I grabbed her this lovely little dictionary on animals.”
Charissa believes that allowing kids to pick books about the subjects they are interested in makes it more likely they will get value from the program.
“I just let her lead when it comes to that, because you want them to be excited and into what they’re going to sit down to, so she usually carts me around and shows me what she’s interested in.”
Once reading time begins, Charissa and her mentee are indeed reading about animals. Other volunteers and students are spread throughout the library reading about science, nature, fiction, and many other topics.
The spring reading program will end in May, but Bekah Mathiessen says she plans to bring it back in the fall, and hopes that even more students and volunteers will share in the joy of reading.
