École North Oyster Elementary stretched B.C.’s Family Literacy Week into an entire month-long Read-A-Thon.
Throughout January, students were challenged to ‘read around the world.’ Each minute spent reading was counted as one kilometre and North Oyster students read around the world 3.03 times, the school reported.
This year’s Read-A-Thon incorporated a fundraising component, with North Oyster raising $6,087. In keeping with the theme of reading around the world, North Oyster donated $2,000 to Little Angels Educational Centre in Nairobi.
“Because of that theme we tried to take our focus a little bit away from our own situation, and focus on the situation of readers all around the world,” said Patrice Mauriks, North Oyster teacher and librarian. “We focused more on issues of privilege, and how we are just so lucky to be living where we are.”
École North Oyster held its first-ever Family Literacy Night on Jan. 21 and had about 150 people turn out for the event.
“There was lots of participation, and lots of great events,” Mauriks said. “We were just blown away by the response. It’s just a further reflection of how engaged parents are, and how much they want to support the literacy of their children.”
Prizes were given to students and classrooms with the highest amount of minutes read. Funding for those prizes was provided by the Ladysmith and District Credit Union.