Recently, Valley Stream Union Free School District Thirteen’s Willow Road School held their “Intergenerational Reading” event. Members of the Willow Road community came to the school to read to young students. Mrs. Lorainne Grosso, Building Aide at the Willow Road School, has successfully been running the Intergenerational Reading program since 2007.
“The readers all enjoy spending time with our students and have said that the smiles and excitement of the children are priceless to them,” said Dr. Constance Evelyn, Superintendent of Valley Stream UFSD Thirteen. “The students always look forward to receiving visits from our community member readers and view them as role models.”
Willow Road’s Shared Decision Making Team came up with the program in 1997 in order to better connect students with community organizations such as local civic associations and senior centers. The inspiration for the program came from research that showed that the more you read to children, the more incentive they have to read for themselves. The program has been extremely successful, with many of the current readers participating for 12 years or more.