“The more you read, the better you get at it; the better you get at it, the more you like it; and the more you like it, the more you do it.”
― Jim Trelease, educator and author of The Read-Aloud Handbook
National Young Readers Day was started in 1984 by Pizza Hut, with a national reading program called ‘Book It’. Maybe you remember it? Children were encouraged to read books to earn free pizza. What the children did not know was that as they were reading to earn yummy pizza, they were also becoming better readers and traveling down the path to becoming lifelong readers and learners. While the ‘Book It’ program has evolved over the years, expanding to celebrate young readers for an entire week, the purpose is the same: to keep children reading and learning. Reading is important and essential for growing lifelong learners, and at Colorado Academy we are committed to this purpose.
How do we encourage, celebrate, and feed the minds and imaginations of the readers at Colorado Academy all year long?
- Two active campus libraries serving grades Pre-K through 12
- Culturally relevant library collections that support both independent reading choices and school curriculum
- Read alouds – click here to learn more about getting ‘inside’ a story and the long-lasting impact of a read aloud
- The Lower School Scholastic Book Fair – see photos from this year’s fair!
- Colorado Academy’s Used Book Sale
- National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)
- Student book clubs
- Middle School Book Bingo
- Author visits – for example, in February, award-winning author Andrea Wang will visit with Lower School students
- Engaging book displays
As Jim Trelease says in The Read-Aloud Handbook, “Education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire.” If we want to ignite the fire of learning in our students, we need sparks. Fortunately for CA students, our librarians and teachers are experts at sparking, and sustaining, the kind of passion for books and learning that not only drives their success in school, but also leads to continued engagement with ideas throughout their lives.
CA’s mission is to create “curious, kind, courageous, and adventurous learners and leaders.” What could be more central to fulfilling that promise than a culture that celebrates reading—the spark that connects CA students of all ages to each other and to the world that they will transform.