by Jen Oemig
CHELMSFORD – Chelmsford’s Community Read-In, a longstanding tradition bringing community members into the schools to read to students, returns March 3-7.
During the week, volunteers visit classes for about 20-30 minutes to read a book or two to students in grades Pre-K through 6.
“Our goal is to instill a love of reading in our kids, and to reach reluctant readers,” said Melissa McCaffrey, Byam PTO member and Community Read-In organizer.
McCaffrey said coordinating the weeklong event is a lot of work, but is incredibly rewarding.
“Literacy and reading have always been a huge part of my life,” she said. “I’ve been a reader my whole life and I work in a book-related field, so anything that gets more books into classrooms is important to me.”
The date for the Community Read-In was set in the fall and McCaffrey has been able to get 83 teachers to sign up to host readers.
“I also started posting to social media in late fall and reaching out to local agencies to find people who’d be willing to come in and read,” she said. “And we have about 45 volunteers so far.”
Those volunteer readers include local parents, librarians and members of the Chelmsford Police and Fire Departments, as well as some Read-In regulars.
“There’s one very sweet gentleman named Alan, whose grandkids are now in middle and high school,” McCaffery said. “And he requested to come read to their former teachers’ third and fourth grade classes at South Row.”
Of course, the most in demand of all the readers is School Resource Officer Dan Sullivan, along with Officer Ozzie. McCaffrey said he will be reading to nearly 20 different classes over the course of the week.
“The teachers are really excited and they look forward to it each year,” McCaffrey said. “I personally organized one virtual reader for my daughter’s class, so that could open up some interesting options in the future. … And I’m eager to get feedback from the teachers to see how it went and what could make it better.”
Anyone who volunteers to be a reader for the event should arrive 5 to 10 minutes early to check in and bring a photo ID, along with an age-appropriate book or two.
“Kids love picture books and short stories are great,” McCaffrey said. “Or you can read the first chapter of a book that entices them to keep reading it. I can provide recommendations, and all of our CPS librarians are great resources as well.”
If you’re interested in reading to a class at one of Chelmsford’s schools, please sign up using the following link:
Any questions about the Community Read-In may be directed to McCaffrey via email at chelmsfordreadin@gmail.com.
