Included in This Packet Is a Color-Coded Tally Sheet. One Tally Sheet Should Be Handed

February 1, 2010

Dear Parents:

Welcome to the 2010 Reading Incentive Program (February 1–12):PES READERS GO FOR THE GOLD, in honor of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The more students read over the next 2 weeks, the faster they will help their class advance across the cross-country ski course posted on the library bulletin board. Classes will be awarded medals for the minutes they read on a daily basis (in levels of gold, silver, and bronze), as they make their way toward the finish line along a book-character-studded alpine landscape. At the end of the program, the grade with the greatest number of gold medals will be crowned the Olympic Reading Champions.

Included in this packet is a color-coded tally sheet. One tally sheet should be handed in to your child’s teacher every morning to register the number of minutes s/he read the night before. PARENTS, PLEASE NOTE: ONLY AT-HOME READING should be counted towards the daily minutes. We will not be counting any reading done in school that day. Independent reading as well as any book read aloud by a parent or older sibling is all valid reading minutes. Older brothers and sisters who read to a younger sibling get to count those minutes, too! To keep the competition fair, reading will be capped at 200 minutes per night. Please sign your child’s tally sheet daily after you have agreed on the number of minutes read.

Each grade is assigned a color (the color of your tally sheet: K-red; 1st-orange; 2nd-yellow; 3rd-blue;
4th-purple; 5th-green) that will correspond to the same color skier on the board outside the library. Check the progress of your class by watching as the color-coded skiers advance across a wintery terrain. This year, each class has also been assigned a country. Match up your classroom flag with a skier in the race to see how your class is faring in the competition. Bonus points will be awarded to those who read a book about a winter or sports theme. Please circle YES on the tally sheet if this applies (check once per book only).

Kids, test your knowledge by visiting the second bulletin board by the library on which we will post trivia questions pertaining to Olympic history and Olympic sports, with answers revealed under a concealed flap.

Activities will include:

* Tuesday, February 2–Thursday, February 11: Guess the number of snowflakes in the jar in the Main Lobby. The closest guess will be awarded a prize on the last day of the program.

* Thursday, February 4: Wear your craziest ski hat to school.

* Tuesday, February 9: Write a poem about your favorite winter activity. Poems will be hung up in the library and a selection will be read over the loudspeaker. See attached guidelines for the poems.

* Friday, February 12: Support Team USA and wear red, white, and blue to school today!

Random prizes will be awarded daily to one student from each grade. On the final day of the program, we will award prizes to the top 3 readers per grade level, as well as the class in each grade with the highest tally of reading minutes. So get reading, kids! “Luge” yourself in a good book and you’ll find yourself in the winner’s circle!

Reading Incentive Committee:

Jeanne-Marie Hudson, Debbie Klein