We recommend you host your MLK Read for Peace the Friday before the three-day MLK weekend. Best practice is to contact the principal or secretary to gauge availability at each school.

Reach out to local school administrators or contacts for guidance on how best to reach K-5th grade teachers. You may use attached template to collect the following information:

• School name (if you are hosting the event at multiple schools)
• Teacher’s name and contact information
• Grade level
• Number of students in the classroom (for activities and reporting)
• MLK Jr. related books they have in their classroom library or school library for volunteers to read during the event
• If school districts may require volunteers to undergo further registration and/or screening before volunteering
• Time the teacher would like the volunteer to come (The event takes 45 to 60 minutes, depending on student questions) Whether or not the teacher would like to combine classrooms with another teacher for the event. If yes, be sure to find out who the other teacher is and how many students are in their class.

ask teachers about what books the school already has so you will be able to determine how many books you need or already have at each school. Allow the teacher to select the book they would like the volunteer to read in their classroom during the event and confirm the book will be in their classroom the day of the event. MTCC has donated MLK books to many schools for the last few years, so they should have them available.

In the case of a school not having enough MLK Jr. related books to use for your event, it is best to deliver books to schools before the event.

Work with the school secretaries to set up a system where your volunteers can check in at the front desk of the school on the day of the event and pick up their book, instructions and activities. Remember, if more than one volunteer will use the same book, let the secretaries know and make sure to leave instructions for each individual volunteer that includes the name of their book. If you will borrow books from the school library, ask the librarians to have the books available at the front desk for volunteers the day before the event.

The activities for your event should help students reflect on the ideas of peace, equality, and the civil rights movement. These are common themes of books about Dr. King’s life and work. Example activities: A drawing and a poem. The drawing activity is typically used in younger classrooms students, and the poem is used with older (3-5^th grade) students. You can find examples and blank copies of the activities attached to this toolkit. Best practice is to ask teachers to select and print enough activity sheets for the number of students in their class before the volunteer arrives.

Work with local volunteer organizations to find experienced, committed volunteers for your event. If available, reach out to local colleges or universities for student volunteers. Examples include: 1) college student volunteers (athletic teams and volunteer organizations), 2) AmeriCorps and Senior Corps members, 3) local representatives such as the Mayor and City Council members, 4) regular classroom volunteers who regularly volunteer at a select school.

This provides a tremendous opportunity for local students to give back to their community by way of Read for Peace. Because AmeriCorps and AmeriCorps Senior members are required to participate in MLK Day of Service, they often constitute the large part of MLK Read for Peace readers. Teachers may also have regular classroom volunteers who would like to work with that particular class. When you begin recruitment, let teachers know they can pass the information on to any parent or community volunteers they know. Consider using online tools when recruiting and scheduling volunteers. Google Docs will allow you to create a spreadsheet with available classrooms and times that volunteers can easily enter their name into. Consider sending an email confirmation and reminders to volunteers as the event approaches with contact information in case questions, request, or cancellations need to be made.

Consider designating one person per school to act as a contact person/coordinator the day of your event. A few members of your organization may volunteer to be back-up readers.

Part of participation in Read for Peace includes reporting the impact of your local project. This information/data helps showcase the impact of Read for Peace events across Montana. Using a Google or Excel Spreadsheet is an easy way to track data. Data to collect includes: number of students, location of event, number of AmeriCorps members who volunteered, number of community volunteers, grade levels of students, and anything else you find pertinent.

Designate an individual to serve as the reporter for your local project.

Schools and teachers will often have designated areas to display student’s work.