Roberts Road Elementary (RRE) is taking a different approach to reach its students and spark a new interest in reading. Principal Amy Carranza came up with the idea of “Story Time,” posting videos of staff reading books on social media. The idea is to create a way for students to enjoy reading at home. The first Story Time debuted the night before the first day of school with RRE Librarian Kelli Schmidt.

Every pre-recorded video features a different RRE staff member or teacher reading a book of their choice. The school plans to post a new Story Time video every few weeks. A teaser of the video is posted on Twitter and the entire video is posted on Facebook. Students immediately responded with excitement after the first video aired. Several students admit to watching the video multiple times with family.

“A student asked me when I was going to post another bedtime story,” Schmidt said. “We are hoping this brings a love of reading into student homes.”

During school, Schmidt takes the time to read to the classes that visit the library. She does these read alouds for each group, every day. Groups visit the library once a week. During this time, she attempts to connect to students while also exposing them to different authors, characters, themes, and genres. Schmidt sometimes asks students to review something they learned in class that they found interesting.

“Most children love being read to and if this encourages them to read to their siblings, that would be incredible,” Schmidt said.

RRE also promoted literacy at their Family Reading Night. Families were able to visit stations to learn about strategies and ideas on how to encourage reading at home. Stations were set up with books and ideas tailored for each grade level.