Reading to Kids News

March 15, 2000  

Esperanza Kick-Off a Huge Success at March Reading Club!

The expansion of Reading to Kids' reading club program to Esperanza Elementary School on March 11 was a tremendous success. Over 100 children at Esperanza were read to from books related to March's theme of "young women in children's literature." Because invitations were extended to only a portion of the students for the initial reading club, March's strong showing sent a signal of the large numbers of children that will benefit from Esperanza's reading club in the future. A very hard working group of volunteers, teachers, and administrators made the tremendous success of the initial reading club at Esperanza possible. Smiles were plentiful at the end of the day as the children left their classrooms carrying some amazing arts and crafts related to the books read during the day (including hats, drawings, and colorful cut-outs.

As the reading club program kicked off at Esperanza, the growth in popularity of the reading club continued at nearby Gratts Elementary School. Over 90 volunteers (a new record by far) read to a group of nearly 200 children. Making a particularly strong volunteer showing were Bruin Corps, Bruin Belles, LA Works, Alpha Phi Omega, GE, NBC, and Boston Consulting Group. As always, a dedicated group of teachers and administrators were on hand from Gratts to make sure everything ran smoothly.