About REAL Men Read Volunteer Program Assistant

We are looking for a volunteer to help in coordinating and scheduling our REAL Men Read program. The program will launch at Elk Lake Elementary School this year and possibly expand into another Susquehanna County school district next year. The Volunteer Coordinator would help in scheduling program volunteers and preparing for reading visits to the school district.
REAL Men Read Program:

This is a great opportunity for students to have a positive role model who values education and encourages the love of reading. From K-3rd grade students are learning to read, and from 3rd grade on students need to be able to read to learn. A child who has trouble reading in 3rd grade is less likely to graduate from high school. Encouraging the love of reading at a young age will help children prepare for a lifetime of success.




What is REAL Men Read?
REAL Men Read is a reading program that acts as an extension of our Dolly Parton Imagination Library Program. Men from the community who are interested in being a volunteer reader will read to a kindergarten class for 1 hour, engage students, act as a role model and encourage the love of reading. Books will be pre-selected and age appropriate. The program connects students with MENtors to provide a fun reading experience and boost early grade reading success.

Who will it serve?
The program will launch at the start of the 2018-19 school year at Elk Lake School District serving the kindergarten classes. There will be 4 or 5 kindergarten classes this year with approximately 20 students for each class.

If support allows, in the future we would like to expand into

How it Works:
Male readers can volunteer to read once a month for each of the 5 months that the program will run or as their schedule allows. A schedule of reading dates will be provided when the program is closer to launching. By the end of the school year we will have completed 20-25 MENtor visits.

Male readers will need to attend a training session, complete a child abuse background check, criminal background check (UWSC will cover these costs).

Before each reading session each MENtor will receive an overview of the book with possible questions to ask students and ways to engage them in the story and copy of the book that you will be reading. A UWSC staff person or another volunteer will accompany you when visiting a classroom. At the end of the reading session a copy of the book read to the class will be provided for each student to add to their own personal library.


We also have opportunities for men or women wishing to participate in another capacity,
Volunteers to introduce our MENtors, help keep the reading hour on track, and help hand out books to the students at the end of the MENtor visit.
Volunteers to assist in coordinating and scheduling the REAL Men Read program at Elk Lake School District.

We need volunteers to help with: