POULSBO — First-grader Schuyler Dosti and home schooling mother Carmen Rees sat in the main hall of Poulsbo Elementary School, outside of Liz Fahey’s rustling classroom, Feb. 7.

“L … E … A … R … N,” the two sounded out together.

“(That) spells learn,” Rees said.

Schyler smiled and went on to read his other simple words for the day like family, father, could and walk. For each new word, Rees would point to its syllables, helping Schuyler manage the construction of his phonics.

After he had finished his lesson for the day, then came Kevin and after that Kenny … all coming out to see Ms. Rees for some one-on-one reading time.

Not a trained specialist, nor a new addition to the Pearson staff, Rees is simply a community member with concerns about the state of the nation’s education.

“I’m concerned about kids getting a real firm foundation in phonics,” said Rees — a mother of five, none of which go to Pearson. “It’s about these kids and helping them so that our society can be helped.”

Rees volunteers weekly with the school’s Rolling Readers program.

She is one of five volunteers for the program which Pearson has picked up again this year after a two-year hiatus, said the school’s certified learning specialist Mary Blocher. On a rotating schedule, those volunteers come in for an hour to an hour and a half each week to spend time reading and working to sound out words with Pearson’s primary students.

“The kids beam when they know that someone is coming in just for them,” Blocher said. “It’s that one-on-one interaction that works wonders, and you can see it happening.”

The national Rolling Readers program was founded in 1991 in San Diego, Calif. by an avid reader and book collector named Robert Condon, who noticed the positive effects of reading aloud to children and wanted to broaden its reach.

The program came to North Kitsap’s schools in 1998, district coordinator Dawn Navarette said. It has since been utilized at various times by Pearson, Poulsbo and Suquamish elementary schools.

Pearson reinitiated the program this year after a hiatus when the school’s full-time volunteer who coordinated the program moved on. Blocher decided to pick the program back up after witnessing its positive effects.

Now — with five weekly volunteers — about 30 kids in five different first and second grade classrooms are helped by a Rolling Reader.

“We’d love for that to triple,” Blocher said. “There’s no requirements for being a volunteer … you’re just there to read with them.”

Anyone interested in becoming a Rolling Reader can contact Blocher by phone at (360) 394-6672 or by email at maryb@nksd.wednet.edu.

Volunteers will be asked to fill out the required NKSD volunteer paperwork and undergo a background check. Blocher then takes each new Rolling Reader through a small training workshop about the program and working with kids in general.

There will also be a group training and question and answer session with Blocher at 12:30 p.m. Friday at Pearson.