|
|
|
|
Erving Elementary School Library
|
The Erving Elementary School Read-a-thon is a ten year old community-wide annual event. The goal of this event is to promote community literacy and to raise money to supplement the technology and library budgets.
Our local corporate sponsors (who, in the past, have included Renovator's Supply, and the Erving Paper Mill) pledge one penny per page read. This adds up! Other local businesses (which have included World Eye Bookshop, the Montague Book Mill, and the Miller's River Wildlife Art Gallery), donate books, gift certificates, and other presents for our top readers.
How does it work?
In the dark, cold, New England winter, people like to stay in and be cozy. From January through early March, Erving folk may be hibernating along with their neighbors but, instead of watching tv, they're reading!
Who participates?
Everyone who wants to may participate in the Read-a-thon! Even children who are too small to read may participate; parents, grandparents, older siblings, and friends can read to small children and record the pages for them.
Parents, students, and community members keep a log of every page that they read. At the end of each week, pages are submitted to Erving Elementary School volunteers, who bravely tally them up.
What kinds of materials count?
You may read just about anything: novels, textbooks, journals, magazine articles, newspapers. Our goal is to get everyone reading!
Click for a printable Read-a-thon Tally Sheet
Special Events
Every year, a special author, illustrator, storyteller, or performer comes to visit our school during the read-a-thon! These exciting presenters offer a variety of programs to our students and wider school community. We have wacky hair days, dress as characters from some of our favorite books, and participate in Family Literacy Evenings. At the end of the Read-a-thon, we have an after school party for our oldest students. In 2007, our theme was "Read to Succeed." In 2006, we rallied for "Team Read." In 2005, we read our way to one million. In 2004, we read our way through all 10 categories of the Dewey Decimal System. In 2003, we went "Wild About Reading." In 2002, we built up our brains with reading. In 2001, we held a "Reading Olympics," and competed against ourselves in literary events. In 2000, we "Read Around the World," and learned about the countries in which the stories we read took place. These events have been made possible by generous donations from the Erving Cultural Council, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and Reach Out and Read.
Past visitors to Erving Elementary School
2007 Blood and Guts from Franklin Medical Center
2007 Ed the Wizard
2007 Marion Overgaard, sign language interpreter
2007 Cyd Scott, DJ
2007 Beth Lux, lawyer
2004 Ruth Sanderson, author and illustrator
2003 Rainforest Reptiles, environmental awareness and conservation
2002 Don Lessem, paleontologist and author
2001 Edward L. Cope, Jr., magician
2000 Davis Bates, storyteller
1999 Betsy and Giulio Maestro, author & illustrator
1999 Lahri Bond, artist and storyteller
1998 Deborah Savage, author
|
