St. Mary’s County Library is recruiting literacy volunteers to use the Story Champs curriculum to work with small groups of children on reading comprehension in an afterschool program. The Story Champs curriculum is designed to help students learn information retelling, vocabulary learning, and writing in a fun way. It’s a structured program, no teaching experience required. These story skills are fundamental in learning to read well. Students need background knowledge about the world to be able to understand what they read and the Story Champs program helps children understand the process of learning new words. The Library will provide volunteer training and support for selected literacy volunteers.

Requirements for volunteers:

• Apply and be interviewed for an afterschool program site
• Pass a background check
• Commit to attend the trainings on January 4 and 11, 1 – 5 p.m.
• Commit to six months of leading small-group tutoring sessions with the provided curriculum (January to June 2026) one weekday per week, 3 – 5:30 p.m. Grade levels will range from kindergarten to 8th grade.
• Have the patience and flexibility to work with struggling readers!

Thank you for making a difference in students’ lives!