Each year the Hyde Park School PTO organizes a Read-a-Thon to help raise money to support field trips for our kids and to meet classroom needs identified by our teachers. This year, beginning on September 30th and through October 22nd, the entire school will participate in a contest to see which team of students can read the most. Classes will be paired in cross-grade teams, celebrating teamwork and friendship in our favorite children’s stories.
We kindly ask for your support, by sponsoring a reader, encouraging your student(s) to read, and helping to make this fundraiser a fun experience for the kids. Prizes will be awarded for the team with the highest amount of minutes read, the team with the highest average of minutes read per student, as well as the top reader in each homeroom. There will also be participation prizes for returning or submitting your forms at the end. We hope that every family will participate, as this is our second largest fundraiser of the year and provides so much for our school community!
Every child is encouraged to participate no matter how much money they raise. Homerooms with the highest participation (meaning reading logs completed, with or without pledges) will earn a pajama day at school, and free reading time during ELA period on pajama day.
Important Dates
- September 24th: Read-A-Thon packet goes home in Tuesday folder
- September 30th: Read-a-Thon Kickoff Rally; set reading goals; first day to read
- September 30th – October 22nd: Gather sponsors
- October 22nd: Last day to read
- October 23rd-25th: Turn in days. Students turn in minutes read via the Google Form OR drop off printed sheets, pledge form, and money (if collected) from 7:30am – 7:40am in front of the school entrance or the car drop-off line. Students will receive game tickets to the annual Pumpkin Chuck when forms are submitted.
- October 31st: Literary Character Parade
- November 1st: Winners announced at the end of the day. Group picture of winners from each homeroom taken at the end of the day with their prizes.
- November 2nd: Pumpkin Chuck at 12 pm!
Read-A-Thon Instructions
Setting a Goal: Help your child decide on a realistic number of minutes that s/he can read (or be read to) during the reading period, September 30th – October 22nd. Record this at the top of the Reading Pledge Form. Only minutes read outside of school (including for homework), count towards this goal. Your student may include time spent reading, being read to, or listening to audiobooks.
Sponsors: Sponsors are people who agree to support your child’s reading by pledging a dollar amount to the Read-A-Thon. This year, we will be sending an online link for your student’s team, to make it easier to share with family, friends, and neighbors. Sponsors may pledge either a certain amount per minute OR a flat pledge, paid if the child meets his/her reading goal. Use your student’s donation page link provided by their homeroom teacher to collect pledges or Pledge Form to record each sponsor’s pledge and the amount collected.
Completing Your Reading Log: Students will keep track of their minutes on the enclosed Reading Log (an adult must initial each day).
Collecting Pledges and Turn-In Days: All students are able to submit their final minutes read through the Google Form that will be available on through your child’s homeroom teacher. Pledges can be made through your student’s online page (https://app.99pledges.com/fund/hps2024). In the case that online is not convenient for your family, students are able to drop off their paper forms, cash, and/or checks (made out to HPS PTO) from October 23rd through October 25th outside of the school at the walker door and car line door.
Prizes are awarded for reading!
The team with the most minutes read by all students in the class and the team with the highest minutes read per student (averaged among the number of students) will win a pizza party. The top reader in each homeroom will receive a book store gift card. Homerooms that have the highest participation (classroom reading logs submitted, pledges are not required to win) will earn a pajama day & extra free reading time in class. Simply for turning in their forms by October 25th, students will receive game tickets to be used at Pumpkin Chuck on November 2nd. Winners will be announced, and individual prizes awarded, at the end of the day on November 1st. Winning classroom/team parties will be coordinated with homeroom teachers at a later date.
If you have misplaced the documents that were sent home, you can download and print them by clicking the links below:
Thank you to all the students and teachers who read and collected pledges for this year’s Read-A-Thon. Together, HPS students read over 383,699 minutes… that’s 6,394 hours!!… AND raised over $23,000 for the school!
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
Now for this year’s winners:
The team with the most amount of minutes read is Team Aaron Blabey. Congratulations Ms. Roberts and Ms. Besl’s homerooms. Together they read 44,067 minutes!
The team with the highest average of minutes read per student at 1,090 minutes per student is Team Laura Ingalls Wilder. Congratulations Ms. Jaspers and Ms. Ries’s homerooms!
The following classes have earned a Pajama Day for the highest participation: Ms. Roberts, Ms. Lorenz, Ms. Belcuore, Ms. Chasnoff, Ms. Snyder, Ms. Forman, Ms. Lavelle, and Ms. Wozniak.
And now for the class winners!
Homeroom Class Winner Runner Up
Besl Emme Williams Ajay Hill Roberts Grace Nolan Owen Wolfer Fischer Charlie Miller Lucy Wyrabkiewicz Lorenz Hadley Gregoire Kahlan Bradley Belcuore Charlie Amos Odette Bround Chasnoff Parker Haynes Alex Hindery Boada Ausar Mazloomi Priscilla (“Cilla”) Harrison Quinn Hunter Faris Caroline Menninger Bidlingmeyer Faryan Mazloomi Livia Monroe Carroll Lila Rudick Nakota Hoehn Dibowski Mika Abrams Noelle Jensen Snyder Aueen Mazloomi Louie Godsey Forman Ariana Wilson Georgia Grace Scott Ella Hammond Simon Lucas Jaspers Blaise Haber James Anderson Ries Amelia Han Laney Moore Eby Walter Godsey Claire Vandivort Witkowski Aiden Richardson Joanna Brownlee Gallup Paxton Ballard Hadley Wolfer Lavelle Anne-Marie Lee Elsie Mattox Cassidy Knox Hammond Laila Wilson Neaton Julian Gambini Emma bantel Sims Enzo Franzese Florence Adams Wood Caroline Hubert Lilly Dribin Casteel Hannah Eisenstein Arlo Leslie Wozniak Hazel Lukin Graham Eisenstein
Thank you again for all of your efforts and congrats to all the students who participated and helped make this such a successful event!