My First Book Club is a reading program designed to provide students in grades K-1 a unique opportunity to improve literacy and language arts skills through group reading, discussion, and related activities. Participants should be attending kindergarten or first grade, or the equivalent, but do not need to know how to read independently yet. This program does not teach kids how to read but rather serves as a fun and interactive way for beginning readers to practice reading aloud, listening to others read, and talking about stories and characters and language arts concepts, such as theme and setting.

Each session will focus on 1-2 short books with related discussion, activities, games, and/or crafts. You do not need to read the book(s) ahead of time! Copies of the books will be provided by the library at the event, and everyone will have the choice to volunteer to read aloud, including adult caregivers and the librarians. Questions and discussion topics will be carefully structured to promote skills such as reading comprehension, word recognition, pronunciation, and vocabulary-building.

My First Book Club can serve as a transition for kids ages 5-6 who have advanced from typical library pre-school Storytimes but might not yet be ready for elementary school programs like a traditional book club. Key goals are to get them excited about reading on their own and show them how to find books and use various learning resources that are available from the library and the librarians. The program is inclusive: regardless of a child’s initial reading abilities, the goal is to help them improve their skills and confidence by engaging with the reading materials and other kids in a supportive learning environment.