NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Davis Elementary School held its Readathon Opening Ceremony last week, launching students on a month-long journey of reading as many minutes as they can.
The event is also a fundraising event for the school’s PTA, which supports enrichment programs for the students.
Principal Anthony Bambrola said students are enthusiastically reading, logging their minutes and enjoying the events planned by the PTA. It is one of three schools holding readathons this month; Jefferson and William B. Ward are the others.
“It’s encouraging us to read,” said third-grader Jack Twardy. An avid reader even when he’s not part of a readathon, he has been logging 30 minutes a night this month, favoring Captain Underpants, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and others. When he learned that by keeping up that pace he could top 900 minutes, he was very impressed.
“That’s more than the time I play video games!” he said.
Olivia O’Briskie, another third-grader, is also reading 30 minutes a night. She reads Cam Jansen mysteries and Rainbow Magic books.
“I like the way the characters are acting, and I like the pictures,” she said.
Today, students met author Gigi Priebe, author of The Adventures of Henry Whiskers. She is the mother of three and the founder of Stepping Stones, an award-winning children’s museum in Norwalk, Connecticut. Bambrola said students enjoyed her presentation and learning about what he called “the writerly life.”
To tie into the month-long event, this week, students also submitted over 100 posters focusing on the importance of reading.
“As we work to nurture confident and independent lifelong readers, the Readathon helps reaffirm the importance of volume and stamina in growing readers, as well as fostering a love for different types of books,” Bambrola said.
