Junior Great Books Returns
The Harper PTO is relaunching a pre-Covid favorite called Junior Great Books (JGB) this winter, and we’re fortunate to have Harper parent Chris Ferro as the lead volunteer.
The Junior Great Books program is an engaging reading program for children at all reading levels. The main goals of this exciting program are to make literature fun and to provide children the opportunity to share their unique perspectives and interpretations of stories with their peers.
Beginning in mid January, we offer a 8 week program for all interested 1st through 4th graders (parent volunteers read the stories to the 1st graders.) Length of time for the program depends on school holidays and classroom availability. Each grade is taught separately. The classes are taught by trained parent volunteers, and meet in Harper classrooms once a week during the lunch/recess period. A nut free, bag lunch, including a drink, should be brought from home on days that Great Books meet.
Once a week, students read a different story at home and then meet in Harper classrooms over lunch with trained parent volunteers who will lead them in discussing the story. The reading materials will be drawn from varied sources like children’s classics, modern short stories, and folk tales, and will address different topics each week like friendship, bravery, responsibility, and honesty. The classes are a fun opportunity for students to share their ideas and perspectives with their peers and to practice key skills like reading critically, thinking independently, and articulating their thoughts to each other.
The Junior Great Books program provides a fun and stress-free forum for discussion. Students will be encouraged to read critically, to think independently about what they have read, and to articulate their thoughts amongst their peers.
The cost for each student to participate in the program is $85 (to cover the cost of reading and teaching materials as well as the parent volunteer training).
Please note: the grade-level JGB discussions will be held over lunch and recess once a week so participating students will bring a nut-free lunch and miss recess on their designated JGB meeting day.
For Registration- please complete a 2 step process to register (click link below) AND pay via ZELLE. Please include the words “Junior Great Books” or “JGB” in the Zelle note.
Please note, you are not fully registered until you have submitted payment via Zelle.
Please note the Harper PTO does NOT have a Venmo account. Please do not send money via Venmo.” Using Zelle will save the PTO $8/registrant.
![](https://harperpto.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Harper-Zelle-QR-Code-300x285.jpg)
Use the button below to register. Please make sure that your payment is completed or your registration will not be valid.
Questions? Send an email to jgb@harperpto.com for more information.
If you are a parent interested in volunteering to lead the JGB discussions, please email Chris Ferro at jgb@harperpto.com. The Great Books Foundation runs the parent trainings which can be done remotely and on demand.