#757. December Reading Chain (readathon)

Reading/Writing, level: all
Posted Sun Dec 20 00:52:00 PST 1998 by Claudia Nielsen (JN@vip.cybercity.dk).
Hørsholm International School, Hørsholm, Denmark
Materials Required: colored strips of paper, tape or stapler, reading record sheet
Activity Time: The month of December

Before the first day of December, tell the students that
they will be starting a readathon for the month of
December. They will be making a colorful chain to show how
much they have read at home. Give each child a reading
record sheet to be returned each day. When you make the
record sheet be sure to make space for the parents to
initial each day. Decide whether children will record
minutes read or pages read. When the children return
their record sheet each day they can then choose colored
strips to make their length of chain. I gave the students
1 strip for every five pages or five minutes read. Each
student can keep their own chain for the week, then at the
end of the week combine them all into a class chain and hang
it up for all to see.
Note:
At the end of the reading period or before the holiday, have
the students measure the chain, count the links, calculate
how many pages were read or how much time was spent reading.
We displayed our chain at our Christmas assembly and it
was really quite impressive.