Birney’s Inaugural Read-a-Thon Fundraiser is
November 18th - December 15th, 2024

Birney’s 1st annual Read-a-Thon will take place Monday, November 18th through Sunday, December 15th, 2024. During this four-week event, students will focus on reading while raising money for important Birney programs. Your student’s participation and fundraising help make Birney a top school!

Thanks for contributing! If you have questions about the program or donations, please email president@friendsofalicebirney.org. 

How the Read-a-thon Works

We encourage all Birney students to participate in the Read-A-Thon! This event is a way to maintain continuous learning and have fun while reading and supporting our school.

Get Started

In the Read-A-Thon information packet sent home on Friday, 11/15, each student should have received a paper reading tracker to track their reading minutes. Didn’t receive the tracker? Download a copy

STEP 1: Please sign up for an online account at PledgeStar to track reading minutes AND donations. 

Looking for more details? More information about PledgeStar and specific instructions

Set a Daily Reading Goal

Students can set a daily reading goal for the four-week period. No in-school reading should be recorded. All time spent reading outside of school counts, whether your child is reading on their own or being read to. A big exception to in-school reading time is reading with Reading Buddies. Both students receive credit for those minutes; be sure to track those minutes, along with all other minutes, in Pledgestar.

Reading Goal by Grade at End of Four-Week Period

  • TK: 6 hours

  • Kindergarten: 8 hours

  • Grades 1 - 2: 10 hours

  • Grades 3 - 4: 15 hours

  • Grade 5: 20 hours

Secure Donations

Students should share their reading goal with family, friends and neighbors and ask for donations to support their efforts! Students should record all donations whether check, cash or an online contribution in their PledgeStar account. Checks should be made payable to “Friends of Alice Birney Elementary” or “FOABE”.

Want to amplify your donation impact?  Check to see if you or your students’ sponsors can tap into their employer’s corporate matching programs!  If a corporate match can be made, please ask them to let you know and also email donation details (i.e. a donation receipt) to treasurer@friendsofalicebirney.org.  FOABE is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, Tax ID #27-2414127.

Track Reading Time

Read! Read! Read!

Books, magazines, newspapers, comics, recipes, manuals, scripts, poetry - there are so many ways to read! Students mark off how many minutes they read each day in increments on their paper tracker and/or in Pledgestar. Parents and caregivers may help students with this task.

Win Prizes

Reading and fundraising is hard work! To thank our students, there are several prizes the students can reach along the way as they continue to read and fundraise more.

Reading Tips & Strategies

Recommended Times

To make setting a daily reading goal easier, listed below are some sample times for each grade. Please work with your child to set a daily reading goal that is a bit challenging, yet attainable given their reading level and ability. If you have questions about what is appropriate, please contact your child’s teacher.

  • TK = 10-20 minutes per day

  • Kindergarten =10-20 minutes per day

  • 1st =15-25 minutes per day

  • 2nd = 20-30 minutes per day

  • 3rd = 25-35 minutes per day

  • 4th = 30-45 minutes per day

  • 5th = 30-60 minutes per day

Reading Strategies

Make this challenge fun for the whole family! Take a trip to the library and stock up on books that interest your child. Encourage and praise your child as they participate and engage in reading anything that is appropriate for their reading level.

For children in the lower grades, listening to adults or older siblings read counts as reading time. When reading with your child, ask recall questions about characters or details of the story in order to build theirr reading comprehension skills. Talk about the story and relate it to your child’s everyday life when possible.

For families with students in the upper grades, consider having them read in one room with others who are reading quietly — a family reading night! Or, try reading out loud as a family one night a week while rotating readers. Help strengthen your child’s reading skills by asking questions about their reading in terms of comprehension, recall of details, and discussing the book’s theme or ideas.

To parents, family members, and guardians, we encourage you to take the challenge of setting a goal and reading daily as well. Show your child that reading is important in your life too.

When our children see us reading, they learn the value and joy of it. Have fun reading!

Sponsorship Tips & Strategies

Sponsor your child in the Read-a-Thon! You could also offer to match your child’s total collected donations or donations up to a certain amount. All donations are tax deductible!

Help your child contact at least 10 family members, friends, or neighbors via your Pledgestar account. Sponsors can make flat donations or make pledges based on time spent reading.  Remind adult sponsors to amplify their donations by tapping into their employer’s donation matching programs (where possible).  If a corporate match can be made, please ask them to let you know and also email donation details (i.e. a donation receipt) to treasurer@friendsofalicebirney.org.  

At the end of the Read-A-Thon, consider writing a letter or email to all your sponsors, sharing your child’s final reading minutes total and/or total donations raised.

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FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions

  • Monday, November 18th to Sunday, December 15th, 2024. Reading outside these dates is terrific, but does not count toward the Read-a-Thon.

  • Set a daily reading goal, solicit sponsors and collect donations, read, and keep track of the time they spend reading.  Please visit the “Get Started” section under “How the Read-A-Thon Works” above.

  • Yes! Parents, guardians, siblings and other family members may read aloud to your child. This reading time counts toward minutes read.

  • Any time your child spends reading outside of school time from Monday, November 18th through Sunday, December 15th, 2024. This includes individual reading time and being read to aloud. Homework reading done outside of school time can be counted toward the Read-a-Thon.

  • A Read-a-Thon information packet with instructions will be sent home. We strongly encourage families to use PledgeStar to record reading time and donations received. Please set up your account as soon as you can!

  • Sponsors can be parents, relatives, neighbors -- anyone who has a connection to your child, would like to support their reading, and would like to support our school. This is a major fundraiser for Birney where it is easy to ask extended family and friends to sponsor and donate to our school.

  • That is up to the sponsor. Donations can be flat amounts, or they can be based on time spent reading (i.e. a student’s reading goal is 8 hours, so a pledge can be $x for every hour read).

  • Donations are collected upfront. Students should collect each donation at the time they request it, ideally via PledgeStar. Checks should be written to Friends of Alice Birney Elementary (FOABE). Canceled checks can serve as a tax-deductible donation receipt or donors may request a tax receipt from treasurer@friendsofalicebirney.org.  The FOABE Tax ID number is 27-2414127.

  • You and your student are responsible for collecting sponsor donations.

  • Yes. For a list of all prizes, please see the Prize Table under “How the Read-A-Thon Works.”

  • Yes, all students are encouraged to participate regardless of the amount of sponsorship donations. Have your student track in PledgeStar and/or the paper tracker so they can be eligible for prizes. Birney Students Are THRILLED to Read! The more you read, the more you can succeed. EVERYONE wins when we read.

  • Yes. You can see the pledge request write-up on Pledgestar, and donation requests will be sent out automatically after adding contact information under the “Add Family & Friends + Track Donations” section of your Pledgestar account.  You may also share your student’s donation page on other social media platforms to reach family and friends whose email addresses you don't have.  Check out the “Share on Social Media” section of your Pledgestar account.

    If you’d like to send supplementary requests, below is a message we’ve drafted, but please edit to make it your own! You can send this out in an email to friends and family or post on social media.

    *****
    Hello Family and Friends!


    It's Read-A-Thon time for [CHILD NAME] at Birney Elementary School! [CHILD NAME] has been reading up a storm since the Read-A-Thon started! [CHILD NAME] has set a reading goal of [XX] hours over the course of the four-week Read-A-Thon. This fun event is a critical fundraiser for Birney and is a great way for the kids to raise money for the school they love while discovering new books, giving book recommendations to their friends, and heading into the holiday break with a smile!


    If you would consider donating to [CHILD NAME]'s Read-A-Thon, I know [CHILD NAME] would greatly appreciate it -- as would the school! Please go to Birney’s Read-A-Thon website and click "Donate Now" by Sunday, December 15th: [need birneybees.org/readathon donate button/dedicated PayPal page?] No donation is too large or too small. All donations are tax deductible.


    All Read-A-Thon donations will go directly to the Birney’s Parent Org, which provides funding for programming our community deems essential for creating well-rounded students -- Art, Spanish, and Garden classes, supports for our IB Programme, field trips, library funding, STEM-specific enrichment, and more.

    Thank you so much for considering donating -- and Happy Reading!