Students fully engaged in annual read-a-thon

Students in kindergarten through Grade 9 at St. Marguerite Bourgeoys Catholic School spent some extra time hitting the books this month.

The school held its annual read-a-thon to raise money for the school council between Oct. 3 and 19.

“This read-a-thon is an opportunity for students to set a goal during a 17-day period, in terms of how many minutes they would like to read every day,” said Erin Donlevy, Grade 2 teacher at the school.

During the 17-day read-a-thon students read by themselves or with someone, such as a parent or sometimes a friend, noted Donlevy, adding parents or students keep track of how many minutes they read in a particular day.

Father Tom Puslecki of Innisfail's Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church visited the school on Oct. 19 and read to students in different grade levels, encouraging them to read.

“Students go out and collect money from a sponsor to try and promote this read-a-thon,” said Donlevy, noting the student's hard work to reach their goal. “It encourages them to keep reading as much as they can.”

Money raised goes towards school activities, projects, class trips and other school related items.

“Literacy, especially in the younger grades, is so important. This is just a way for kids to bring their books from home and read or have them bring a book from the classroom and read with a relative at home,” explained Donlevy, adding all reading is done outside of the classroom on a student's own time.

“We're really proud of them and the amount of time that they've spent doing this,” she added.

She noted the positive feedback from the students and the overall encouraging experience the read-a-thon provides students year after year.

“This is something that they really seem to enjoy. They're very proud of the fact that they can (collect) pledges and that they're able to stick to that (fundraising) goal,” said Donlevy. “Especially for the younger grades. Students know that they're contributing to their school.”