Michael F. Devine, Superintendent
180 Harborview Road
Hull, MA 02045
For Immediate Release
Friday, March 1, 2019
Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net
Jacobs Elementary School Read-A-Thon Raises More Than $9,000
HULL –Students at Lillian M. Jacobs Elementary School simply couldn’t put their books down this winter during the school’s annual Read-a-Thon.
Students read for a total of 203,408 minutes during the reading initiative and raised $9,069 for the school’s Parent Teacher Organization (PTO). The school began the Read-a-Thon with a goal of reaching 200,000 reading minutes, which students far exceeded.
“Each year, students are so excited to read during the Read-a-Thon,” Principal Christine Cappadona said. “It’s wonderful to see kids in every grade get so invested in reading and have fun doing it.”
The 16th annual Jacobs School Read-a-Thon officially began on Saturday, Jan. 26 at 8 a.m. and ended on Sunday, Feb. 3 at 8 p.m. Students were given reading logs and a PTO fundraising log at a Friday, Jan. 25 kickoff assembly led by Assistant Principal Kyle Shaw.
During the Read-a-Thon, the “Reading Pirate” paid a visit to every classroom in hopes of catching students reading. The Reading Pirate’s visit was captured on video and shown to students during the Read-a-Thon wrap up assembly on Feb. 15.
As an incentive for students to read and participate, staff at the school volunteered their names to the “Read-a-Thon Wheel.” If students met a reading goal during the Read-a-Thon, at least one of the staff members would be silly stringed from head to toe at the wrap up assembly.
Adjustment Counselor Maureen Rosenplanter and School Physiologist Lauren Snowdale, were the lucky two chosen through spins of the wheel, and were promptly covered in silly string.
“I love reading,” said Molly McCarthy, a kindergarten student. “I read new books and read to my little brother. The Read-a-Thon was really fun and I liked watching the silly string.”
During the assembly, individual, classroom and raffle awards were announced and prizes presented. The assembly ended with students giving the PTO representatives, Mel Harper and Elizabeth Naylor, who worked to put on the Read-a-Thon a “Pirate Cheer.”
“I love reading and I got to read Harry Potter books one through four in two weeks,” said Patrick Lancaster, the third grade student who read 3,049 minutes — the most of any student in his grade. “I knew I worked really hard, but I wasn’t sure I’d be the winner for third grade. It’s going to be hard to beat my record next year. I hope that I can beat the Best in the School record by the time I’m in fifth grade.”
Students were also awarded a school-wide movie in the cafeteria in the afternoon in appreciation of their hard work.
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