Fireside School is gearing up for its third annual Read-a-thon, looking to top the fundraising goals of previous years.
Starting Friday, Jan. 26 and running until Feb.12, kids from Kindergarten to Grade 8 will be reading as much as they can. Aside from racking up reading minutes, the event also aims to fundraise for the school.
Assistant principal Tara Sly said the goal this year is to reach 400,000 minutes.
“We’re hoping to raise $5,000,” she said. This year's fundraising will go toward adding new literacy kits and book sets to the school's literacy resources. Each student has a pledge form for Read-a-thon and they can ask their parents, family, neighbours, and other members of the community to sponsor them in one flat fee or per minute of reading.
“Each student will have a personal reading goal,” Sly said.
The goal of the event is to foster a love for reading and a sense of community.
Two of the school’s top readers of last year’s event will be the Super Reader Leaders for the Read-a-thon. The duo’s role will be helping other classes reach their benchmarks and support them through the event.
A love of reading and fostering reading growth is a cornerstone at Fireside School (has been since it opened). Our Read-a-Thon is an important part of that aspect and of our literacy journey here at school. It is a way for students, staff, families, and our community to all get involved together around a love of reading; it's a way to come together as a community of readers (a phrase coined by our 2022 Top Grade 7 Reader Bella Tanzola during the first Fireside School Read-a-Thon).
The theme this year is "Book Love: Growing Readers,”
“love of books/reading is a seed we plant and grow each year, as students and staff; we are growing as we share our love of books with others; our readers are growing as they engage with reading; and (given that we are a school and place of learning) "growing" readers is part of the gig, so to speak,” Sly said.
Thus, this year, the classroom trackers will be gardens or flowers or something to do with growth and the outdoors (as learning in and about outdoor spaces is also a key aspect at Fireside School).
As an added incentive for students to hit the books this month, community businesses have partnered with Fireside School to sponsor the event, and will provide varying prizes that students can receive after all the minutes have been counted at the final assembly, in addition to weekly draws for the readers.
Sly said the community businesses that sponsor the event are very generous.
“We are very grateful to them,” she said.
The list of sponsors currently includes The Friends of Fireside Society, SLS Centre, Cochrane Movie House, Found Books, Calaway Park, and Bow Valley High School.
