Library District needs volunteers for Reading Buddy program

Back-to-school sales are beginning and as school starts again, the Spokane County Library District will relaunch its Reading Buddy program designed to help young readers grow in skill and confidence.

The district is looking for new volunteers for the program to sit and read with students for an hour a week in eight-week sessions. An hourlong online orientation for new volunteers is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday.

The district has run the Reading Buddy program for years, public services manager Gwendolyn Haley said. The program was on hiatus during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and volunteer numbers were down when it resumed, Haley said.

“Last year was a rebuilding year,” she said. “We had kids waiting for adult reading buddies. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough.”

While the program is designed to encourage developing readers, it is not all about reading, Haley said. It also gives kids a chance to meet with a supportive adult. Teachers and administrators in schools where the program has been offered say it has a positive impact, Haley said.

“It’s actually very effective,” she said. “They’re seeing the difference.”

Volunteers must be over the age of 16 and submit an online application as well as pass a background check. There are three eight-week sessions during the school year and volunteers are asked to commit to at least one of them. An application and information about orientation is available at www.scld.org/volunteer.

Many volunteers have a love of reading and enjoy working with children, Haley said.

“A lot of our volunteers are teachers,” she said. “We get a lot of grandparents, too.”

New volunteers are taught reading strategies to help their students and how to help them pick out a book of the appropriate reading level.

“We talk about meeting kiddos where they’re at,” she said.

Reading Buddies do not teach their students how to read, but do assist with sounding out words that might be unfamiliar. The important thing is to make the experience both fun and educational for students, Haley said.

“When they see more adults around them that like reading, it’s a great role model,” she said. “They get to pick the books they want to read. We train our reading buddies to do paired reading, reading aloud with some support.”

The Reading Buddy sessions take place in the school of each student, typically after school. There is always a school staff member present while the volunteers and students read, Haley said.

Most students involved in the program are in grades 1-3.

“It’s not a great program for kindergartners because they’re just not there yet,” she said.

Parents interested in their child getting a Reading Buddy can sign up through their child’s school if the program is available. The district’s Ready Buddy program is offered in Broadway, McDonald and Progress elementary schools in the Central Valley School District; Salnave Elementary in the Cheney School District; Otis Orchards Elementary School in the East Valley School District; Brentwood Elementary School in the Mead School District; and Pasadena Park Elementary School in the West Valley School District.

Haley said the Reading Buddy program can be expanded to other schools if volunteers sign up. Additional volunteers are also needed at the enrolled sites.

“We’d love to have 10 to 15 at each school,” she said.

Past volunteers say they find it fulfilling, she said.

“They say it fills their bucket,” she said. “It’s a small thing with a big impact.”