The United Way of Martinsville Henry County has been working hard to improve literacy rates in the area. Through several programs, they have worked in classrooms and at early childhood education centers to engage children with the art of reading in creative ways. To push this further, the Week of Reading has been brought back for 2024 and will take place the second week in June.
The Week of Reading is a five day event running from July 8 to July 12. During this time, 20 early childcare and summer camp sites, including the YMCA and Boys and Girls Clubs, will have volunteer readers interact with students to present story time. The event was previously held in 2019, before a hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are bringing it back to our community, the beauty of it is that it focuses on the love of reading,” said MHC Partners for Children Director Melanie McLarty. “This has been going on for ten plus years.” Previously the event was only a day long, but previous success helped the team to decide to expand the event to the current week.
The age ranges for the event are three to seven. Reading to children helps them gain affinity for literacy, opens them up to explore new worlds and gives youngsters an opportunity to expand their literacy knowledge by hearing new titles, and observing the fun behind reading.
Literacy rates have suffered in recent years, with both the county and city schools looking at literacy plans to help increase literacy scores in schools. The United Way has several other programs that help with literacy in early childhood development including interaction with childcare centers and helping to sign families up for Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library.
During 2022 and 2023, 73 percent of kindergarteners in Henry County and the City of Martinsville met the Fall Literacy benchmarks. However, only 5.8 percent of third graders in the county and 47.11 percent in the city were reading at grade level, officials said.
Erica James, the MHC Partners for Children early literacy coordinator, has been especially diligent in assisting teachers in the area.
“Children learn at different paces, but as long as they’re excited about learning, that’s the most important part,” said Jones.
Volunteers interested in participating in the week of reading can call 276-618-4737 or email Jones at erica@unitedwayofhcm.org for more information. Community members who wish to sign up may do so by making an account on EngageHCM and completing the event volunteer form.
