Last fall, Teresa M. Berglund of Five Star Bank in Salamanca reached out to the kindergarten classes at Prospect School to place bank volunteers as guest readers in the classroom, and it has been a great success. In March, volunteers from the bank completed a “reading to kindergarteners” program. All involved hope to do it again next year. 
   A volunteer from the bank came to each class and brought a favorite children’s book to read aloud. The children loved having guest readers in the class. They learned that adults like to read, that adults have favorite books and that people other than their teachers and family value reading. 
   The visit was followed by a coloring contest. Visitors to the bank voted on the best coloring from each class. 
   After the initial visit, the volunteer returned to children with a goodie bag for each student and a grand prize for the student with the best coloring in the class. The coloring pages were displayed at the bank in Salamanca.
   The program ran from January through March. The bank generously allowed tellers to come to each of the six regular education kindergarten classes and agreed to include the transitional kindergarten and readiness kindergarten, too. 
   The kindergarten children and teachers applaud these wonderful volunteers!

In the photo are Mrs. Caruso’s students and their reader, Kathy Collingwood, a teller from the bank.