BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. — It’s reading time for Sherlley.
Her reading tutor Janet Clark follows along in the book.
Due to the pandemic, it's virtual reading.
Janet Clark is a volunteer tutor for the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County.
“Yes, very 2020 pandemic. And I think that I have never met her one-on-one if I remember correctly. I’ve only seen her over Zoom,” Clark said.
Clark made sure reading virtually was fun for the elementary school students through the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County.
But now the tutors can meet their students in-person, so Janet recently met Sherlley.
“You get a sense, you see her eyes every Tuesday, and her mannerisms so when she walked in I knew that she had a little sister, big sister, big brother and a dad and they all walked in together,” Clark said.
The Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County is making sure children keep up with their reading skills during the pandemic.
Kristin Calder is the CEO. “Starting in April 2020 our in-person volunteer tutors adapted to virtual tutoring,” she said.
Every year the Coalition makes sure the kids get several books and during the pandemic they were able to hand out 115,000 books to area kids.
“Up to third grade, you are learning to read. And after third grade you really need to be able to read to learn the subjects and the context that you are learning as you get older," said Kristin. “It’s crucial that the students especially elementary school gain those literacy skills.”
Find out more about the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County at https://www.literacypbc.org/.