On Tuesday, January 21, 2025, Tarkio Elementary students kicked off an exciting reading event. The event will extend to a 15-day reading experience which will engage preschool through 5th grade students and their families. Each family will read a preselected book at home while celebrating and exploring the novel at school. It’s all part of a unique, national family literacy program called One School, One Book from the non-profit Read to Them. It is designed to strengthen the educational connection between home and school.

Tarkio Elementary will join the schools and districts across North America who have undertaken this family literacy strategy. Families will read and discuss the story at home. In school, students will experience dynamic assemblies, answer trivia questions, and participate in creative extension activities.

One School One Book is the flagship program of Read to Them, a national nonprofit based in Richmond, Virginia.  The organization’s mission is to create a culture of literacy in every community. “The secret sauce of family literacy is to create a symbiosis between home and school. When students see their book being read and shared and discussed at home and school, they are surrounded by the culture of literacy,” explains Read to Them Director of Programs Bruce Coffey. Read to Them’s family literacy programs have reached over 2 million families in over 3,000 schools in all 50 states (and six Canadian provinces). A continually growing body of research demonstrates that children who are read to at home are better prepared to read, succeed in school, and graduate.