Greenfield Elementary School recently held a read-a-thon event in conjunction with National Read Across America Day.
The read-a-thon kicked off March 1 and ended March 15. Students read for a total of 6,748 minutes, raising more than $1,500 thanks to online donations from families and friends who sponsored individual readers and classes.
During the two-week event, community members were invited to visit classrooms as guest readers. To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, Greenfield Police officer Frank Shea read “Green Eggs and Ham” to kindergarten and first-grade students. Tom and Claudia Sysyn also read to second-graders and shared Irish music with them.
Other guest readers were Carele Mayer, who volunteers in kindergarten classes every year; Brighid Wood from Stephenson Memorial Library; GES custodian Chris Gagnon; GES nurse Martha Pitt; and ConVal School Board member Katharine Heck.
Families and friends supported the efforts by reading with students at home as well. Students logged their reading time online through personal read-a-thon pages.
“Thank you to all of the students, staff and community members for making this event so fun and successful. It was a great way to bring students and the community together to encourage building reading and literacy skills,” Principal Colleen Roy stated.