Update from SMART Reading: Plans for 2022-23

The past two years have required flexibility, adaptability and creativity as SMART Reading has worked hard to continue serving students with shared reading support and access to books within the Covid environment. While the state of the pandemic and its impact on our programming in 2022-23 is still unknown, we are hopeful and planning for a significant return to our in-person, one-on-one reading model. We will also continue to offer two pandemic-era services that have been well received by educators because of their valuable complement to classroom curricula and ease of access and implementation. 

Our current plan is to offer the following services in 2022-23:

One-to-One SMART: 

Our original model, One-to-One SMART pairs a trained community volunteer with a student for weekly individual, in-person reading sessions.

Classroom SMART: 

Classroom SMART pairs a trained community volunteer with a classroom for regular group read-alouds either virtually or in-person. Developed during the pandemic, this model has proven to be a popular and effective tool for building reading engagement and getting kids excited about books.

Book Support: 

All students served by SMART receive books to keep, which include access to SMART Storytime, our digital library of read-alouds. Book Support is typically paired with Classroom SMART or One-to-One SMART. For sites where that’s not possible due to pandemic-related considerations, we’ll continue to provide books to students.

In Multnomah County, the Children’s Book Bank at SMART Reading offers a robust suite of programs focused on getting books into the hands and homes of kids from birth through eighth-grade. To learn more, visit www.SMARTReading.org/book-bank

Note: For all in-person services, we will adjust our established health and safety protocols as needed based on the state of the pandemic, and will take our lead from our site partners and the Oregon Department of Education to ensure the highest level of safety for all. Throughout the summer and into next year, we’ll continue to talk with our educators about how we can best meet the needs of their students, and strive to be flexible and adaptable with our programming.

Volunteer Engagement

We’ll continue to keep all of our volunteers up to date on opportunities at their site and we hope to have more opportunities for volunteers to be involved in the fall. In the meantime, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to your local SMART Reading staff. 

Resources:

Here is a resource we routinely monitor for information on the virus: Oregon Health Authority COVID-19 Information Page 

Click here for educational resources, virtual story times, reading recommendations, and more.