Junior Great Books 2025
The Harper PTO is pleased to be offering the Junior Great Books program (JGB) again this winter, and we're fortunate to have Harper parent Chris Ferro as the lead volunteer.
Junior Great Books 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.
This year, beginning in early February, we will be offering a 7 week JGB program for all interested 2nd through 4th graders Each grade is taught separately. The classes are led by trained parent volunteers, and meet in Harper classrooms once a week during the lunch/recess period. Students read a different story at home each week 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. JGB provides a fun and stress-free forum for discussion.
This year, beginning in early February, we will be offering a 7 week JGB program for all interested 2nd through 4th graders Each grade is taught separately. The classes are led by trained parent volunteers, and meet in Harper classrooms once a week during the lunch/recess period. Students read a different story at home each week 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. JGB provides a fun and stress-free forum for discussion.
Class Meetings: 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.Fee: $75.00 per student (to cover the cost of reading and teaching materials as well as the parent volunteer training)
If your Harper student is interested in the program or you are a parent interested in volunteering and you have not previously emailed Chris Ferro, please email him at cferro@jd14.law.harvard.edu.
Per section 9 of the Harper PTO’s financial policy, “All PTO sponsored classes, including but not limited to After School programs, Great Books, Chorus, and Chess Club, will not issue refunds to students once the first class has begun. All cancellations and refunds must take place prior to the first day of class.”
