National “Read Across America Day” celebrated at Win-E-Mac

Students at Win-E-Mac  Celebrate Reading as Participants in ReadQuest

Students at Win-E-Mac took part in ReadQuest, a nationwide reading event on Friday, February 26, 2016. They joined more than 12,000 educators and tens of thousands of students in Renaissance Learning’s annual one-day reading celebration that encouraged K–12 students to read and share their discoveries.

Students read books, nonfiction articles, and took Accelerated Reader comprehension quizzes on what they had read to contribute to the national reading effort. 

On the ReadQuest website, students were able to see their quizzes count toward the national books-read ticker, the top books and articles read in each state, prize winners, and user-submitted posts, tweets, and photos.

“ReadQuest was a great event for our students,” said Mr. Hanson.   “They loved seeing their Accelerated Reader quizzes count toward the national books-read ticker. ReadQuest supported our mission of promoting reading growth and our students gained valuable reading practice. We’re so proud of all our students.”

Renaissance Learning’s Accelerated Reader 360 is a K–12 program that engages students in personalized independent reading practice and close reading of nonfiction articles.

The web-based program provides over 175,000 independent reading quizzes and 1,200 high-interest nonfiction articles.

There were over 8,006 books read on Friday. The most popular books read? In Minnesota, they were “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School” by Jeff Kinney, “Green Eggs & Ham” by Dr. Suess, and also by Jeff Kinney, “Diary of a Whimpy Kid: The Long Haul”.

WEM kids will enjoy a week to “Read Accross America” 

National Education Association’s (NEA’s) Read Across America is an annual reading motivation and awareness program that calls for every child in every community to celebrate reading on or around Dr. Seuss’s birthday.   

NEA’s Read Across America also provides NEA members, parents, caregivers, and children the resources and activities they need to keep reading on the calendar 365 days a year.  

In cities and towns across the nation, teachers, teenagers, librarians, politicians, actors, athletes, parents, grandparents, and others develop NEA’s Read Across America activities to bring reading excitement to children of all ages. Governors, mayors, and other elected officials recognize the role reading plays in their communities with proclamations and floor statements. Athletes and actors issue reading challenges to young readers. 

Motivating children to read is an important factor in student achievement and creating lifelong successful readers. Research has shown that children who are motivated and spend more time reading do better in school.

Locally, the Win-E-Mac School District set up a week of events to encourage our own youth to continue their excitement with reading, including a lunch menu that reads like a Dr. Suess book! 

Parents and friends are welcome to join in the fun. Thursday morning, “Cat in the Hat” Day, the school will offer green eggs and ham for breakfast. The cost to join in the fun and have breakfast is $2.00.