Contact the Guys Read Gals Read Program Coordinator:
Colt Chase | [email protected] | 907-378-7273
Guys Read Gals Read 2024 Schedule Overview
Meet the Books
Thank you for your interest in helping with our program! Guys Read and Gals Read depend on our amazing volunteers to carry stories and good times into the classes, libraries, and hearts of 4th graders throughout the North Star Borough School District. 4th grade is a tough time for a lot of kids, a time when they’re figuring out who they are and who they want to be–and one of those things they’re figuring out is whether they’re A Reader!
Reading for pleasure naturally leads to improved reading skills, which in turn promotes better assimilation of knowledge and higher reading comprehension. All these things have a big impact on a child’s future. However, a lot of kids around this age decide that reading isn’t for them, that it isn’t fun! Introducing adult readers as role models and showing reluctant readers that books can be fun encourages students to read and to use the library. Both Guys Read and Gals Read emphasize fun, so your most important job as a volunteer is to have fun reading with the kids.
So how do we do that? Program packs are delivered to each school, including books, bookmarks, and any reference materials you might need, before the volunteers ever arrive. Volunteers are each scheduled for four sessions throughout the program, two a week and each one lasting a half hour. During your reading session, you and an assigned partner will introduce yourself to the kids and read a preselected graphic novel for twenty minutes while the students eat their lunches. Clean up, hand out bookmarks, and head out. That’s it!
Okay, that’s not quite it. A bit more happens up front. More detailed training takes place the week before sessions start, so you can get extra tips and tricks about running a projector, reading to a crowd, and more. (You can also access training videos [here: link to Training Videos page] if you can’t make it to in-person training.) The training only takes about an hour and then you’re on the schedule and good to go.
You can only read one week? Not a problem. Have a tight schedule and can only read certain days? We can accommodate that. Only want to read in the North Pole area? No worries! Just let us know your restrictions on the Volunteer Registration and we can almost always work the schedule so that you can read with the kids. We’d love to have you on board!
Want a sneak peek at more in depth training? Here’s a video of Guys Read Gals Read, Inc. board president Greg Hill explaining the program to volunteers last year.
Take a peek at this video to learn more
Still have questions? Contact the Guys Read Gals Read Program Coordinator:
Colt Chase | [email protected] | 907-378-7273