By Reading Specialist Roberta Snyder and

Library Media Specialist Kristen Zastrow

This year, in honor of Read Across America Day (RAAD) March 2, we are hosting a week-long literacy event for grades 4K through fifth, from March 3-7. Each day will center around fun literacy activities, such as masked readers, a door decorating contest, and themed dress-up days. Activities can be found on the Event Calendar or by utilizing the QR code at right to go to our RAAD website. Some of our major events are detailed here:

Book Trivia Night: “Our Great Big World” Book Trivia Night will be held in the Amherst Elementary School from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, March 7. We have selected 25 picture books that students are asked to read over five weeks. These books are the basis of the questions that will be asked during our Book Trivia Night. We encourage you to embrace the goal of RAAD by reading and discussing these books as a family (which will also help students remember details for trivia).

Book Exchange: The annual used book exchange is scheduled for March 4-6. The primary goal of this activity is to give new life to books that families currently own but are no longer reading.

On March 4 and 5 (Tuesday and Wednesday), there will be staff stationed in the hall outside the Elementary Office before school to receive children’s books brought in by 4K through fifth-grade students. Students will be given a ticket for each usable book brought in.

Books must be:

• Children’s books, hardback or paperback
• Intact, in readable condition, published within approximately the last 10 years and/or deemed acceptable by staff members
• Books that families are willing to part with as no books will be returned.

On Thursday, March 6, students will have an opportunity to exchange their tickets during class times (teachers have signed up). A selection will be set aside for 4K students on March 10.

If successful, the turnover will provide inexpensive reading for many and an opportunity to reuse books not being read. We hope to have enough books to make it a really big turnover, and we encourage students to bring the same number of books as they would like to trade for new ones.

Read-a-Thon: Our last big event occurring for RAAD is a Read-a-Thon taking place from February 24 to March 9. Students will bring home information on how to participate by mid-February. The Read-a-Thon is really simple:

1. Students get donations based on how much time they are going to spend reading.
2. Students read.
3. The school library raises funds for books, flexible student seating, and events and activities (such as Family Book Club). Students may also be eligible for rewards based on their minutes read (in addition to getting time to read some awesome books)!

Tomorrow River Reads T-Shirts: Going along with our RAAD Week, we will sell special “Tomorrow River Reads” t-shirts through Amherst Spirit Wear that lists all of our events. These will be ready to wear during RAAD Week as an additional fun way to celebrate! Families can order online at 3kcustom.com until February 7 or use the order form sent home. 

We think this week is going to be so fun and create so many amazing memories for our students. Please encourage your student(s) to participate in as many of these great activities as possible, and thank you in advance for your support!