A thank-you for your school reading volunteers: a photo of the book corner as a jigsaw, with your note at the end

Written by the team behind Puzzlify. Puzzlify is our product, so weigh what follows with that in mind. We've tried to make this useful even if you never use it. We're not affiliated with any school, academy trust, school district, nursery, library, literacy charity, reading scheme, parent-teacher association, council or government department, or with Beanstalk, Coram Beanstalk, Reading Is Fundamental, ABC Life Literacy, Volunteer Reading Help, the National Literacy Trust, Reading Partners, Experience Corps or any similar organisation. Nothing here is safeguarding, education, legal or privacy advice. Always follow the guidance of the school or organisation you're involved with.

It's a quarter past nine on a Tuesday morning, and in the corridor outside a Year 2 classroom there are two small chairs, a beanbag and a plastic box of books with coloured stickers on the spines. A retired bus driver in a cardigan is sitting on one of the small chairs, knees nearly at his chin. Beside him a seven-year-old girl is reading a book about a dragon who doesn't like fire, one finger under each word. She stops at "enormous". He waits. He doesn't say it for her. She sounds it out, gets it on the third go, and looks up at him with an expression that is half relief and half triumph. "Brilliant," he says, and he means it. Then she reads the next page, and the next. When the twenty minutes are up, he writes two lines in her reading record, sends her back to class and calls in the next child. He'll hear six children read this morning. He's been doing this every Tuesday for four years, and most of the children have no idea what he did for a living. To them he's just the man who listens.

That is a school reading volunteer. In the UK and Ireland they might be called reading helpers, volunteer readers or reading buddies; in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand they might be reading mentors, reading partners or literacy volunteers. Some come through a national literacy charity that trains them and places them in schools. Some are parents, grandparents or neighbours who answered a note in the school newsletter. Some are local business people released by their employer for an hour a week, students, retired teachers, or members of a church or community group. What they have in common is that they turn up, sit on a very small chair, and give one child at a time their full, patient attention.

This post is about thanking them properly. Most of the ideas below have nothing to do with our product, and that's deliberate. Near the end there's one idea that does involve Puzzlify, a way to turn a photo (of the book corner, a favourite book, a child's drawing, or the school gate) into a small online jigsaw with your thank-you note at the end, but you can skip it and still use everything else.

Who we mean by school reading volunteers

Every school organises reading help differently, but the people who keep it going usually include some of these:

• The weekly reading volunteers, who hear children read one to one, usually for fifteen or twenty minutes each, week after week, and fill in the reading records.
• The reading mentors from literacy charities, who are trained to support children who find reading hard, often working with the same two or three children for a whole school year, with games and books chosen to win over a reluctant reader.
• The parent and grandparent helpers, who give an hour after the school run, and often end up knowing the name of every child in the class.
• The volunteers who run book clubs, story times and library sessions, before school, at lunch or after school, and who turn a cupboard of tired books into a reading corner children actually want to sit in.
• The employee volunteers, released by a local firm or public service for an hour a week, who often say it's the best hour of their working week.
• The volunteers who sort, cover and label books, run the second-hand book sale, organise book swaps and World Book Day, and make sure there's always something new on the shelf.
• The coordinators, often a teacher, teaching assistant or office volunteer, who match volunteers with children, keep the timetable, handle the checks and make sure every helper has a chair and a quiet spot.
• The volunteers who read with children in other languages, or who help children who are new to the language settle in through picture books and patience.

If you know someone in any of those roles, this is for you.

Words first

Before any gift, the thing most reading volunteers say they value is knowing it made a difference. They often don't find out. They hear a child read for a year, the child moves up, and that's the end of the story. A short, specific message can mean more than anything you could buy.

Specific is the key word. "Thanks for your help this year" is kind. "In September Leo told me he hated reading and hid his book bag under the bed. Last night he read to his little sister without being asked, and when I asked why, he said 'Mr Hughes says I'm good at voices.' Thank you for every Tuesday" is the kind of message that gets kept in a coat pocket for years.

A few things that help:

• Name the child, the class and the year, or the book that changed things: "the dragon book", "the one about the football-mad cat".
• Say what you noticed at home: a child who now reads in bed, who asks to go to the library, who reads the cereal box at breakfast, who stopped crying on reading nights.
• If a volunteer helped a child who found reading especially hard, a child with dyslexia, a child new to the language, a child going through a difficult time at home, say that if your family is comfortable with it. It's often what volunteers are proudest of.
• Keep it short and warm. Many schools and charities share messages from families, with permission, at volunteer celebrations or in newsletters.
• You don't need to know the volunteer's surname. "The lady who reads with Year 3 on Thursdays" is enough for the school office to know.

Who it suits

A thank-you for school reading volunteers suits:

• Parents and carers whose child has grown in confidence, fluency or love of books with a volunteer's help.
• Grandparents who can see the change during visits and want to say so.
• Children themselves, with a drawing, a card or a few words written in their own wobbly handwriting.
• Teachers, teaching assistants and head teachers thanking the volunteers who give their classes extra time no budget could pay for.
• Fellow volunteers thanking a coordinator, a long-serving helper or someone who first persuaded them to sign up.
• Parent-teacher associations, school governors and literacy charities marking the end of a school year or a volunteer's long service.
• Families of a volunteer who has listened to hundreds of children read over the years and is finally hanging up the reading record pen.

Gift rules and good timing

Most schools and literacy charities have clear rules for volunteers, because volunteers work with children. A few gentle points keep a thank-you comfortable for everyone:

• Keep it small. A card, a note or a small token is plenty. Many schools have a gifts policy, and many volunteers would be embarrassed by anything expensive.
• Go through the school or charity. Send your thank-you through the class teacher, the school office or the charity's coordinator, not to a volunteer's personal phone, home address or social media account. That protects everyone, including the volunteer.
• Never arrange contact outside school. Reading volunteers are not usually allowed to meet children or families outside their role, give out their personal details or stay in touch privately. A thank-you is a one-way message, not an invitation.
• Donations go to the school or charity. If you want to give money, a donation to the school library, the book fund or the literacy charity is usually welcome, and often matched by an employer.
• Respect the children's privacy. Photos of children, their names and their reading records are personal information, and schools have strict rules about them.
• Let the school lead. If there's a volunteers' assembly, a celebration tea or a certificate evening, join that rather than running something in parallel.

Good moments to say thank you:

• At the end of the school year, when volunteers and children say goodbye and the child moves up a class.
• At the end of a mentoring programme, when a charity's year with a child comes to a close.
• Around World Book Day, a national reading week, or the school's own book week, when reading is already being celebrated.
• During a volunteers' week, if your country marks one.
• When a volunteer moves on, retires from reading after years of service, or in memory of a volunteer the school has lost.
• Any time a child has a breakthrough, reads their first chapter book, or chooses a book for fun for the first time.

Why a jigsaw can fit

Learning to read is a puzzle of small pieces. Letters become sounds, sounds become words, words become sentences, and one day, often without warning, the sentences become a story the child actually wants to finish. A reading volunteer helps fit those pieces together one at a time: one tricky word, one page, one book, one Tuesday after another. A photo turned into a small puzzle that reveals your thank-you note when the last piece goes in is a light way to say "we saw you help put it together, piece by piece, and here's what it meant to us".

It isn't the only way, and it isn't always the best one. Some volunteers would much rather have a box of new books for the reading corner, or another volunteer on the rota. But for people who spend their mornings helping children turn small pieces into a whole picture, a picture to put together themselves, with a note at the end, can be a nice moment.

For parents, carers and grandparents

If your child has been helped by a reading volunteer, a few ideas:

• A photo of the book that changed things, open on the kitchen table or held up against a bright window, needs no faces at all.
• A photo of your child's bookshelf at home, the library card, or the pile of books they've read since September.
• A child's drawing of the volunteer, the reading corner or a favourite character, photographed flat in daylight, is often the best picture of all.
• A photo of your child reading at home, if your family is happy to share it, sent only through the school.
• A photo of the outside of the school or the school gate on a sunny morning, with no children in it.
• Send it through the class teacher, the school office or the charity coordinator, and ask whether it's all right to pass on.

For teachers, schools and fellow volunteers

If you're thanking your own volunteers, you know them best. A few thoughts:

• A photo of the reading corner, the library shelves or the box of books with coloured stickers is a lovely picture for a whole group of volunteers and needs no faces.
• A class drawing, a wall of thank-you notes from the children (with names hidden) or a pile of handmade cards photographed together works beautifully.
• Name the jobs nobody sees: the person who covers the new books, the one who sorts the book sale, the one who drives a less mobile volunteer to school, the coordinator who juggles the timetable.
• If someone is stepping back after years of reading, involve the whole school in the message, and perhaps a few words from former pupils who are now teenagers and still read.

Photo consent and choosing the picture

Children, volunteers and schools all need protection. Choose the photo with that in mind:

• Don't photograph children at school. Schools usually have strict photo policies, and parents and visitors generally shouldn't take photos of children on school premises without permission. Use photos the school has approved, or no faces at all.
• Only use your own child's photo, and only if your family is happy for it to be seen by the volunteer and the school.
• Never include other people's children, including in the background of a class or library photo.
• Leave out names and personal details. Reading records, name labels on drawers, register sheets, class lists, timetables and children's work with full names on it should stay out of the frame.
• Ask before photographing volunteers. Some are happy to be in the picture; many would rather not.
• Check the background for school entry codes, sign-in screens, safeguarding notices with phone numbers, house numbers, car number plates and anything that shows where you or a volunteer lives.
• Book covers and illustrations belong to their publishers and artists; a photo of a book you own, for a private thank-you, is very different from copying the artwork, but don't build the puzzle around someone else's whole illustration if you can avoid it. A child's own drawing of the story is better anyway.

Getting a good JPG

Book corners and drawings can be lovely puzzles if you take care with the photo. A few things help:

• Colourful book spines, bright beanbags, painted reading corners and children's drawings in felt tip make satisfying puzzles at almost any piece count.
• Big areas of plain wall, white paper or grey carpet are hard to solve, so crop in on the books or the drawing, or go lower on pieces.
• Classrooms and corridors are often lit by fluorescent tubes that make photos look flat and greenish; a photo near a window, or a drawing photographed outside on a bright day, looks much warmer.
• Photograph drawings and cards flat and straight on, with no shadow from your phone across them.
• If there's writing you want people to read, like "Thank you Mrs Patel" in a child's handwriting, take the photo straight on and pick a higher piece count.
• Save the original JPG straight from your phone or camera rather than a copy from a messaging app, which compresses it. If your photo is in another format, save it as a JPG first.

Privacy, an optional PIN, and saying it's from you

The puzzle sits behind a private link, so only people you send it to can open it. If you'd like an extra layer, add a short PIN and share it separately, for example in a card handed in at the office.

Schools and volunteers are rightly careful about links from people they don't know, especially anything that mentions children. Tell them clearly that the link is from you and that it's a thank-you, not a request. A one-line message helps: "This is a thank-you puzzle from Leo's family in Year 2, for the volunteer who hears him read on Tuesdays. It's from us, not a request for anything. The PIN is in the card." If you want to stay anonymous, say so: "from a Year 2 family who'd rather not say who". Sending it through the class teacher or school office means the school can check it, pass it on, and the volunteer can see it's genuine.

How many pieces?

Times vary with the photo. For a thank-you, finishing beats difficulty; 48 or 80 is a gentle middle. A colourful bookshelf or a felt-tip drawing can be easier than it looks, while a page of plain text or a white wall is harder, so go lower if most of the picture is one colour. For volunteers new to puzzles on a screen, 24 or 48 on a tablet is often the kindest choice.

The leaderboard: only for a group of volunteers

If you're thanking all the reading volunteers at a school, you can turn on the leaderboard so everyone solves the same reading-corner photo. Ask the coordinator or the head teacher first; some groups would rather keep things simple. Keep it light and optional, never a contest that singles anyone out. For one volunteer, or a puzzle in memory of a volunteer, leave the leaderboard off.

A few note ideas

The note appears when the last piece goes in, so keep it short and warm:

• "Leo read to his sister last night without being asked. Thank you for every Tuesday."
• "To the man who listens: you never said the word for her. She'll always remember that she worked it out herself."
• "From Year 3: we drew you the dragon. Thank you for reading with us."
• "Four years, six children every week, about a thousand small chairs. Thank you from all of us at school."
• "To the book club volunteers: our lunchtimes are quieter and our library is busier. Thank you."
• "From a family who'd rather not say who: she chose a book for fun today. That's down to you."

How to make one (about a minute of setup)

1. Open Puzzlify's puzzle maker in a browser: https://puzzlify.app/en/puzzle-maker/
2. Upload the photo (JPG works best).
3. Choose a piece count for how much time they might have and how detailed the photo is.
4. Add your thank-you note and, if you like, a PIN and a leaderboard (for a group of volunteers only).
5. Preview for free. When you're happy, publish the link with one credit and send it with a message, a card, or through the class teacher, school office or charity coordinator.

Honest pricing and notes

The preview is free, so you can see exactly what the puzzle looks like before paying anything. You only pay when you publish the link: one credit is €3.99, three credits are €8.99, and Plus is €14.99 a year for ten credits. If you're thanking several people (the reading volunteer, the coordinator and the book club helpers, say), three credits works out cheaper per puzzle; for one thank-you, one credit is enough. If you'd rather put that money towards new books for the reading corner instead, that's a perfectly good choice too. If you'd like to see it first, the free preview is here: https://puzzlify.app/en/puzzle-maker/

The person who receives the link doesn't need an account, an app or a printer; it opens in a normal web browser. Photos are not used to train AI and are not shared with third parties.

This is a digital jigsaw you play on a screen. It isn't a cardboard puzzle in the post, a printed product, a book, a reading resource or a public puzzle board, and it isn't connected to any school, library, literacy charity or council. It's also not puzzlify.io (a chess site), Puzzlit, Puzzly or Puzzify, which are different things with similar names. A message in your own words is often what people remember, so the puzzle works best alongside one rather than instead of one.

Keep the gift small and separate from any donation. Never present a personal gift as if it came from the school, a charity or a class unless they've asked you to send it on their behalf.

Other ways to say thank you (no Puzzlify needed)

1. Volunteering yourself: an hour a week hearing children read, covering books, helping at the book fair or running a lunchtime book club. Most schools and literacy charities are always looking for more readers, and for many volunteers that's the thank-you that matters most.
2. A donation of new or good-condition books to the school library or reading corner (ask first what they need), or a donation to the literacy charity that trained the volunteer.
3. A handwritten card from your child, handed in at the school office (say whether you're happy for it to be shared).
4. Reading at home: ten minutes a night, a library card, a trip to the library at the weekend. Volunteers say the thing that helps most is knowing their work carries on at home.
5. A specific, kind message to the head teacher, the governors, the charity or the volunteer's employer, naming what the volunteer did, so the right people know.
6. For a long-serving volunteer stepping down, a small book of thank-you notes and drawings from children, families and staff, put together by the school.

Whatever you send, the most important part is the sentence that sounds like you, written to the people who give up their mornings to sit on very small chairs and wait, patiently, while a child works out a hard word for themselves, so that one day that child will pick up a book just because they want to know what happens next.

Written by the team behind Puzzlify. Not affiliated with any school, academy trust, school district, library, literacy charity, reading scheme, parent-teacher association or council, or with Beanstalk, Reading Is Fundamental, ABC Life Literacy, the National Literacy Trust, Reading Partners or Experience Corps. Not safeguarding, education, legal or privacy advice. Check your school's own rules on volunteers, gifts and photos.