To kick off its annual Read 2 Me book giveaway and reading challenge, United Way of Cascade County is looking for volunteers to go into every Great Falls public elementary school and read books to 2nd graders.
This is the fifth year United Way has organized Read 2 Me, where every 2nd grader receives a book. Last year, students read 51,000 minutes at home as part of the challenge.
Readers are needed on Tuesday, Feb. 7, and Wednesday Feb. 8. Most shifts are in the morning with a few in the afternoon and span between 30 and 90 minutes.
Volunteers would go into the classroom, talk to students about why reading is important and read from one of the books that every student takes home.
The project is part of the Graduation Matters initiative, which is working to increase the number of local students who graduate on time. United Way and the school district wanted to focus on second-graders because of how important it is for students to be proficient readers by the time they finish third-grade.
After third-grade, students must read in order to learn math, science, history and literature. Consequently, studies show that students who aren’t reading at grade level by third-grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school.
To volunteer, contact Kim Skornogoski at the United Way office 727-3400 or by email at kim@uwccmt.org.
