On Saturday, June 13th, 2026, the Newtown AYLUS members organized and hosted another community reading session for elementary school students. During this meeting, the group continued reading Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder, focusing on pages 108-123.
Unlike modern children’s books, this novel introduces students to a more historical style of storytelling and gives them insight into daily life on the American frontier during the late eighteenth century. The volunteers selected this book not only to strengthen reading comprehension and fluency, but to expose students to literature with historical and cultural significance, and to increase their range of vocabulary.
This time, three volunteers worked with a group of five children in a small and interactive setting.
The children took turns reading sections of the text aloud while the volunteers assisted in pronunciation, pacing, and vocabulary insight. Throughout the reading session, the students followed the Ingalls family as they sent Mary to college while working around arising complications in cleaning the house. More specifically, the reading club group discovered the unfortunate melancholy in Mary’s departure, but also how the girls matured during this time of woe. The children also read about the responsibility that Laura took on when her parents left to drive Mary to the college. For instance, Laura was required to take charge of the household for a week in order to manage housework and to care for Grace, Carrie, and herself. However, although weather, lack of experience, and lack of strength hindered the girls during the week, Laura and her 2 sisters still endured and were able to clean the whole house, portraying the idea of tenacity and fortitude.
As the reading progressed, the group also discussed the personalities and responsibilities of the characters, particularly how family members supported one another despite difficult living conditions. The volunteers encouraged students to think about the challenges families such as the Ingalls family might have faced regarding weather, technological disadvantages, and culture during 18th century America. Through guided discussion, the students were able to engage more deeply with both the story and its historical context.
The session was okay. The majority of the children participated actively and demonstrated improved reading and collective skills compared to previous meetings. That said, some students struggled to focus on the situations within the book and were instead talking to other volunteers/students about unrelated topics throughout the session. In addition, some students secretly played with/bothered other children and even volunteers, distracting the group and interrupting the flow of the event. Oftentimes volunteers wrestled with their ability to keep the students on track due to the disruptive behavior of the group. Nonetheless, the small group environment allowed each student to receive more individual support, behavior control, and encouragement from the volunteers. Overall, the event successfully promoted literacy and reading comprehension for students while maintaining a welcoming and collaborative atmosphere.
Participating members included Edward Soong (event leader) and Kylee Guo, each contributing one volunteer hour.