Stories for Scholarships

Throughout the month of March, the students at Pinnacle Classical Academy had an opportunity to participate in a creative fundraiser called Stories for Scholarships. It was like a walk-a-thon, except instead of walking, the students read books that were appropriate for their particular reading level and collected pledges for the number of books he or she read in the month of March. The end result will be a party for all the students who participated, and all the money will go toward scholarships for next year.

My kids got really excited about Stories for Scholarships. My daughter loves to read, and though my son is a good reader, he usually prefers to look at books with lots of pictures of legos. All throughout March they were much more motivated than usual to read lots of books. I took advantage of this motivation and checked out a number of books from the library that were at their current reading level, and many that would stretch their reading level.

By the end of the month, I could confidently say they had both stretched themselves to a new level of reading. My son read more books than he had thought possible in a month, and my daughter read books longer than she had been willing to pick up before. One of the last books she read was Lynne Reid Banks’ award winning book The Indian in the Cupboard. She loved it so much that I checked out the rest of the series from the library and she has now read through The Return of the Indian, The Secret of the Indian, and The Mystery of the Cupboard in less than a week. I expect she’ll finish the last in the series, The Key to the Indian, tomorrow.

I love that even a school fundraiser is challenging and motivating my kids to engage in learning and love it. Way to go, PCA! Another homerun.

In my next post, read about how to find great reads for your student and how to make your library trips quick, intentional and worthwhile. Summer is coming soon, and it’s a great time to read!