February 17, 2019
Dear Parents,
We continue to see huge advances in students’ interest in reading. In addition to the textbooks of our regular curriculum, our 7th and 8th graders have been encouraged to read what they enjoy and our teachers have been modelling good reading habits. This consistent focus on reading continues to create enormous demands on our library collection. Indeed, we are struggling to keep the books that students want to read on our shelves.
This is a “problem” that I am excited to have. We know that when students enjoy what they are reading, they read more. When they read more, they become stronger, more confident readers. Having strong, confident readers is the essential foundation upon which we can build the excellent analytical readers and writers we know our students can be.
Once again, we’ve reached out to our Parent Teacher Group (PTG) and our Lurgio Student Council to partner with us on our Lurgio/PTG Read-a-Thon.
Last week, we announced the Read-a-Thon to the students during a kick-off presentation. The Read-a-Thon Fundraiser & Book Drive will run from Monday, February 18 through Friday, February 22. We will culminate our Fundraiser & Book Drive with a School-Wide Literacy Day that will take place on Friday, February 22, 2018. We will begin the day with a full hour of all-school, silent, sustained reading. After that first hour, students will rotate through their regular classes and our content teachers will engage their students in literacy activities that are pertinent to their curricular areas. The day culminates in an all-school meeting pep rally and raffle event.
We have asked students to collect donations for their participation in the Read-a-Thon. Friday, students brought home special collection envelopes for the Read-a-Thon. We will be collecting envelopes and tabulating donations throughout this week and next week. Proceeds from this fundraiser will go to support literacy at Lurgio and 15% of the proceeds will go to support the Bedford PTG. Please see this promotional flyer [LINK] for more information on Read-a-Thon raffle prizes and incentives.
Finally, in conjunction with the Read-a-Thon, we are also having a Book Drive to support the Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF) http://clifonline.org/about. This non-profit organization helps to provide books and literacy programming to at-risk, low income, and rural children in NH and VT. Homeroom teachers will be collecting new and lightly-used kids (pre-K to middle school age) books for CLiF from Feb. 18-Feb. 22nd. Donated books will provide students even more chances to win raffle prizes!
Thanks for supporting literacy at Lurgio!
Sincerely,
Ed Joyce
