9/30/2026 - First Day of Volunteer Reading for Fall 2026 School Year!
The books in my bag this week
It felt great to get back in the classroom today and kick off another year of volunteer reading!
As far as preparing for today, you’ll see the usual things in my bookbag: books (of course), reading list, baby wipes, hand sanitizer, name tags, and markers. One item that is a new addition this year (not to the bookbag, but to me) is a high Vitamin C / immune support supplement. I’ve had several educators recommend this to me - especially for the beginning of the school year when colds are so ubiquitous. An example of this type of supplement is “Emergen-C”. I purchased a generic version with similar ingredients. I will take this every morning before I volunteer. Hopefully it will help me avoid the colds that are so common this time of year.
Other supplies in my bag
Although most of the year I work one-on-one with the students, I like to kick the year off by reading with the entire class. This gives me a chance to introduce myself to everyone. This year I brought two large format books for the group reading. Large format books are great when reading to a group because everyone can see the words and pictures even if they are sitting further back. It might be hard to tell the scale of these books from the images below, but they are about 3 feet wide when opened.
This year I started with “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” which is always popular. Kids eat this book right up (pun intended 😉). It has an activity built-in (counting the fruit that the caterpillar eats) and was perfect for creating a bonding moment with the group. This second book that I read as a group was “Mouse Paint” which the students also enjoyed. The large format book came with a set of flash cards which we used to do another group activity.
Large Format version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Large Format version of Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh and flash cards
After reading with the group, I began reading with students one on one. I keep track of who I’ve read with to make sure that all students get a turn (using my reading list – see below). I spend about 15 minutes with each child, so it takes about 4 sessions to read with everyone.
The reading list with student names blacked out for privacy
This year’s group of Pre-K students are more advanced than any of the other years that I’ve been volunteering. They already know their basic numbers, letters, and colors. One of the repeat students from last year wasn’t content with just naming the letters, she wanted to write them too, and she did a great job! Normally I wouldn’t see this type of skill until well into the school year. This is very exciting to me because I expect that I’ll be able to introduce more interesting books to this class. They will tire of the old standbys more quickly and be ready for more sophisticated stories. I look forward to sharing more of my library with this class!
