January 2026: Newspaper article in the WN about the reading club, We are looking for support for the new reading club on Mondays!
Successful reading clubs promote the joy of reading - volunteers organize creative reading sessions at Grüne-Aue School
GRONAU An exciting project to promote reading is inspiring more and more children at the Grüne-Aue School. As reported, the school launched the first reading club in Gronau in February of this year in cooperation with the Gronau public library and Stiftung Lesen. Here, children aged between six and twelve are not only introduced to reading, but their reading motivation is also encouraged and strengthened through creative activities based on what they have read.
On three afternoons a week - Tuesdays from 2:00 to 3:30 pm, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 2:30 to 3:45 pm - the children meet at the reading club. The Thursday club also places a special focus on other languages, especially Dutch, and thus promotes the coexistence of different cultures.
"The aim is not only to introduce children to books in a low-threshold way, but also to allow them to work creatively with what they have read," explains Marina Borninkhof, deputy principal of Grüne-Aue School. The volunteer leaders play a central role in this: they read aloud and thus whet children's appetite for reading, ask or answer questions, let children read aloud and carry out various creative activities together with the children on the subject of books, such as handicrafts, painting, designing their own little books or even practising a little dance - as they recently did to the new song about the city of Gronau's mascot: "Here comes Türmchen". Stiftung Lesen has provided the reading club with extensive media equipment, which offers the reading club a wide range of children's books, digital media and many different materials for arts and crafts. All books are inventoried in the public library and will be available to borrow in the long term. This gives the children access to the books not only at the club, but also at home.
"It's a great project that is not only fun for the children, but also brings joy to the volunteers," is the opinion of the volunteers. "It's great to see how the children discover new worlds for themselves through books and reading and how such
their own reading motivation is stimulated." The reading clubs are not only open to children from Grüne-Aue School, but also to all interested children in this age group. Demand is growing steadily, so from January 2026 a new reading club will be launched on Mondays to give even more children the chance to take part. We are urgently looking for more volunteers for the reading clubs who can imagine supporting one of the existing clubs or running their own reading club - preferably as part of a team. Anyone interested can contact the Gronau public library or the Grüne Aue School.
Contact:
Anne Kammholz
Gronau Public Library, a.kammholz@gronau.de
Marina Borninkhof
Grüne-Aue-School, m.borninkhof@ga.schule.gronau
October/November 2025: Reading club with turrets
Over the past few weeks, the children in the reading club at Grüne-Aue School have been studying the town mascot "Türmchen" in detail.
After the reading club had sung and danced to the new Türmchen song, each child was allowed to make their own Türmchen mascot.
"That was really fun!" the reading club participants agree.
Impressions from the reading club from March to July 2025
Since March 2025, two reading clubs have been held every week for 90 minutes each.
During this time, children engage with books, stories and exciting topics. They read, talk, fantasize and make things.
This exciting reading club time can only be made possible thanks to the commitment of volunteer reading mentors.
With a great deal of joy, creativity and empathy, they manage to enable the children to interact with books and train them to read.
The children discover unknown or long-forgotten stories such as fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm or stories by Astrid Lindgren such as Madita or Pippi Longstocking.
In addition to reading aloud and reading to themselves, the children are encouraged to write their own stories or make crafts based on what they have heard/read.
The last reading club for the time being took place in July 2025, before the children and volunteers took a well-deserved summer break.
The program continues in September after the vacations.
There are a few places available for children. If your child is interested in joining the reading club, please contact Ms. Kammholz at the Gronau City Library(a.kammholz@gronau.de) or Ms. Borninkhof at the Grüne-Aue School(m.borninkhof@ga.schule.gronau.de).
We are also looking for more volunteer reading mentors!
If you are interested in joining the reading club, please contact Ms. Kammholz at the Gronau City Library(a.kammholz@gronau.de) or Ms. Borninkhof at the Grüne-Aue School(m.borninkhof@ga.schule.gronau.de).
First reading club in Gronau
Grüne-Aue School and Gronau public library set up reading club
With the aim of providing more educational opportunities for children and young people locally, Stiftung Lesen, in cooperation with the program "Kultur macht stark. Alliances for Education." program, awards grants every year for the establishment of a reading club.
Following a successful application process, the Gronau public library and the Grüne-Aue School have been able to establish the first reading club in Gronau as part of their educational partnership. The reading club is a leisure-oriented program for children aged 6-12. The aim is to provide educationally disadvantaged children with a low-threshold offer in their neighborhood in order to weaken the link between social background and personal educational path. With the help of dedicated volunteers who read to the children, read with them, talk to them about what they have read, do handicrafts, paint, do research (and much more), the aim is to awaken children's interest in books and discover the joy of reading. Because one thing is clear: reading is a key skill for academic and professional success and for personal development. "Reading trains empathy, fantasy, critical thinking and imagination," explains Ms. Kammholz, Head of the Gronau Public Library. Ms. Borninkhof, deputy principal of Grüne-Aue-Schule, is delighted with the opportunity to get children excited about reading: "Reading is a beautiful thing! If we can get children to recognize that, we've already achieved a lot!"
The reading club takes place twice a week in the afternoon on the premises of the Grüne-Aue-Schule.
We are looking for more volunteer reading mentors for the reading club. If you are interested in joining the reading club, please contact Ms. Kammholz at the Gronau City Library(a.kammholz@gronau.de) or Ms. Borninkhof at the Grüne-Aue School(m.borninkhof@ga.schule.gronau.de).