Inspiring a love for reading in Oklahoma City students

The Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation is dedicating efforts to the development and enhancement of classroom resources to benefit the district, its teachers and its students. 

One of the Foundation’s most influential resources provided to OKCPS students is the ReadOKC program, with the ultimate vision ensuring young students practice reading well into their adulthood, not out of obligation, but because they enjoy it. 

The foundation is currently seeking individuals passionate about reading to instill the same joy into the children within ReadOKC’s Reading Buddies and Book Clubs programs. Volunteers will act as a mentor to OKCPS students, strengthening active reading skills, enhancing knowledge, boosting confidence and implementing responsibility. 

Reading Buddies was designed for elementary students, where mentors collaborate with the same group of one to four students at an assigned school from September to March, excluding holidays. Mentors meet with their students weekly, holding sessions for about 30-45 minutes. 

“When our students go to Reading Buddies every week, they are filled with excitement,” said Victoria Hill, Elementary Education Teacher at Adams Elementary School. “Students get to partake in different reading activities and build new reading skills. The small group setting allows students to grasp new (or old) information. The amount of growth these students have made has been amazing to watch.” 

One Reading Buddies volunteer said being a mentor was a transformative experience, rewarding to watch the students’ growth and dedication blossom under supervision. 

Book Clubs were created for older students, where mentors work with assigned middle or high school students for 30-45 minutes a week. Mentors may work with the same group of five to seven students from September to March, excluding holidays. 

Reading Buddies and Book Clubs are not the only way that volunteers can get involved. ReadOKC organizes various resources for students, including exciting challenges that incentivize reading and providing an abundant reading materials to ensure access to books. 

Reading Challenges, a ReadOKC resource designed for school breaks, encourages students to read for at least 20 minutes per day during breaks. ReadOKC hosts a reading challenge for every fall, Thanksgiving, winter, spring, and summer break, the last of which is active until August 12. Since the program’s start in 2017, more than 71,000 OKCPS students have met the Reading Challenge goal. 

ReadOKC also has two mobile resources, On the Go! Book Buses, and Little Libraries, that allow students to gain reading material outside of the typical brick-and-mortar library.  

On the Go! Book Buses are school buses remodeled into traveling libraries with consistent routes stopping at OKCPS elementary, middle, and high schools. More than 60,000 books have been gifted to students through these buses. When the bus makes its rounds, OKCPS students can go inside and select a book from an array of genres. 

Little Libraries are much like On the Go! Book Buses in that they are not on school property. Little Libraries, which are mailbox-like in appearance, are located all over Oklahoma City, including at each OKCPS school and in many local parks. 

If you are interested in volunteering for ReadOKC, or any of its programs, contact [email protected] for more information.